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In June 2005, Pringle Development celebrated its first year as a 100% employee owned company - and what a first year it was! We suffered through four hurricanes, unprecedented demand, escalating commodities prices, materials and labor shortages (and their resultant effects on construction cycle times) and the startup of our most ambitious new community.
While the first year was a wild ride, the pace at the start of the second year has been no less frenetic. Installation of the corporate-wide IHMS system (the largest software installation in company history - affecting about 75 current users and many others who will be guided by reports generated therefrom) happened at the same time that we moved our headquarters from a single 6600 sq. ft. building in Leesburg to the Eustis location with approximately 20,000 sq. ft. under air. Amazingly, we already are almost at full capacity here in spite of our continued use of the old Design Center on Hwy. 441 in Leesburg for our SMART CENTER and CIC operations.
The "baptism by fire" that new owners have had to overcome and the need to adapt to a "new reality" seems to be growing at light speed. Our employee owners have increased in number from 108 to over 190 since the ESOP was first formed.
Of the many issues we face, none is more important than recognizing and addressing the satisfaction of our customers  who have been caught up in the cycle of increased demand for our product and all of the resultant problems that has created. They are having to deal with extended timelines for design appointments, increased build times, less communication, and delays in new community site preparation - all of which have led them to question what is going on with Pringle Development.
The answer, of course, is that we are still the same company that was built on the values of our founders - values which permeate every facet of our business. In short, we to be guided by one principle: Credibility. We must continually strive to do the right thing for our customers, trade partners, and employees.
- Dedicated employees (owners);
- Long-term stable relationships with our trade partners;
- Customer's ability to opt for an up to 2-year construction delay;
- The possibility for customers to purchase one-of-a-kind custom homes;
- Provision of consistent, accurate communications from initial contact through home ownership; and
- Enhanced utilization of technology to benefit our customers, trade partners, and employees.
Most importantly, our core value of "doing the right thing" will enable us to adapt, overcome, and persevere in the years to come as we grow into our new level of business activities with our current and future customers, trade partners and employees.
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