"People love our home plans. They love our locations," said Chris Gamvroulas, president of Ivory Development Co. "Our home plans are designed for the Utah market.

"I think the reason people like doing business with us is because they know that they will be dealing with someone who's going to be there for years to come rather than just here while they can just make a buck and then they'll leave."

In 2003, Ivory brought in $174 million in revenues and had roughly 50 subdivisions.

"We focus on fundamental business principles — homebuilding and land acquisition," Gamvroulas said. "Our company has grown because of it. We don't have a growth goal like other builders, like these nationals want to grow just for the sake of growing."

Of the top 10 Wasatch Front homebuilders in 2003, only three had headquarters outside of Utah — Richmond American Homes, California-based Fieldstone Homes and Idaho-based Hubble Homes, which recently announced it was pulling operations out of Utah.

"Historically, at various times national organizations have come in and spent a lot of capital and effort. At some point later on, three, four or five years later, they have pulled back out," said Taz Biesinger, executive vice president of the Utah Home Builders Association. "Many of them just don't understand the aspects of larger families and some of the niche things that Utah homebuyers are looking for."

Those aspects include larger bedrooms and a floor plan that caters to family activities rather than formal entertaining.

Nate Pugsley, division president for Utah-based Woodside Homes, which operates in five other states, cites two reasons why national builders find Utah a challenge. First, most of the single-family building permits in the state go to owner-builders, those who act as their own general contractor.

"The No. 1 builder is people who want to do it themselves," Pugsley said. "If national builders are going to do anything they are going to have to convince every entrepreneurial-minded person in the state to build with them instead of doing it themselves."

The second challenge is the state's high number of large property owners.

"We don't have any large landowners that dominate the development world," Pugsley said. "In a lot of states outside of Utah, they have large master plan owners and developers, and they typically will sell to large public builders. Here it's very fragmented, a lot of small farmers. It's kind of like everybody and their dog can develop. It's one of the easiest states for a small builder to get started in."

But Richmond American is confident that Stubbs' knowledge of the Utah market combined with his 18 years of experience with Ivory Homes will translate into increased sales.