Lotsa Layoffs - WCI Layoffs - Mostly Due to Issues in Florida

Wow, Southwest Florida seems to be getting hit particularly hard with the layoffs. WCI, Centex, Lennar Bonita Bay Group all announce major layoffs and restructuring...Stories of more homebuilder layoffs follow:

Bonita Springs-based builder WCI Communities Inc. has eliminated 575 jobs as part of a restructuring plan announced last week amid the continued housing slump. About 80 percent of the cuts are due to restructuring in Florida — the core of the company's operations — and the rest come from changes to operations in the Mid-Atlantic states and the Northeast, said Jim Dietz, chief financial officer."In Florida, we've combined our tower and traditional homebuilding teams," Dietz said.

Many of the jobs cut were division leaders and managers whose jobs were redundant when the two operations merged, Dietz said.The move will cut the company's work force to about 2,100 jobs — down about 46 percent from a 2006 peak of 3,889 — and generate annual savings of about $46 million in salaries and benefits. One-time costs of the restructuring, including severance, are about $5.4 million.

"This prolonged downturn requires that we continue to assess our overhead and make reductions in order to remain viable through the trough of this cycle," President and Chief Executive Jerry Starkey said in a statement.The cuts are the latest in a wave of job losses that have hit the home-building industry in Southwest Florida since the real-estate boom fizzled:• First Home Builders in Fort Myers, which two years ago was Lee County's biggest residential contractor with almost 1,200 employees, will be down to about 50 following its layoff — announced Oct. 29 — of 200 workers effective Dec. 28.

• The Bonita Bay Group, based in Bonita Springs, has trimmed about 60 jobs since May.

• On Sept. 4, Lennar Homes announced the layoff of 72 people from its Southwest Florida division, from Naples to Manatee County.

• In March, Centex Homes laid off 141 employees from Naples to Sarasota.WCI reported a net loss of $33.2 million in the quarter ended June 30 and is expected to announce quarterly results today. Alex Perez, an advertising director in the marketing department, was among those let go. Perez said he was notified when he got to work."They give you a severance package you can take and they are paying for the week, but they basically tell you to gather your things and leave," Perez said. Perez, 42, had been with the company for about 18 months. He said his severance package offers six weeks pay and some extended medical coverage."I came just after the last cuts and you kind of wonder if that is it," Perez said.WCI cut about 600 jobs in July 2006, citing the slowdown in construction.

The company also announced David Fry will assume the post of chief operating officer and will be responsible for WCI's Florida tower homebuilding in addition to his previous responsibilities for the company's traditional homebuilding, real estate services and amenities lines of business. In the new organizational structure, the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic traditional homebuilding regions will be combined, reporting to Fry. The Northeast and Mid-Atlantic Tower
Homebuilding divisions also will be combined and will report directly to Starkey.

The company's board also announced that seven members will take no compensation for the rest of 2007 and all of 2008 and the remaining two members — Hilliard M. Eure III, chairman of the audit committee, and Jonathan Macey — will accept reduced compensation of $50,000 each.

Board members earned between $140,000 and $180,000 in 2006.The move will save the company about $1 million, Dietz said. Billionaire investor Carl Icahn was elected to the board of directors in August and then was named chairman, ending months of a proxy fight for control of the company. In March, Icahn had offered $22 per share for the company, but the move was blocked by the board at the time.

WCI Layoffs, Centex Layoffs, Lennar Lay offs, Bonita Bay Group Layoffs

First Home Builders of Fort Myers Lays Off 200

Fort Myers-based First Home Builders announced Friday that it will lay off about 200 people across all sectors of the company effective Dec. 28.

“This is a painful action, but a necessary one to right-size the company,” said Tim Graney, vice-president of finance. “We are now positioned to operate more efficiently at a lower volume than we have enjoyed in the past few years.”

Despite the layoffs, First Home Builders will continue targeting first-time buyers for the sale and construction of new homes, according to a company press release.
Company spokesman Ray Casas said the layoffs are a reflection of a sluggish Southwest Florida real-estate market.

“The conditions are what they are, and this action had to be taken to right-size the company,” Casas said, adding that recalls remain a possibility in the future. “Obviously market conditions could change.”

Bill Berry, owner of WB Home Builders in Lehigh Acres, wasn’t surprised by First Home Builder’s announcement.

“The market is down for most builders, and First Home Builders built up so quickly that when the market crashed, I don’t think they were ready for that,” Berry said. “Right now, it’s a buyer’s market, and instead of building, people are snatching up foreclosures because they can buy them $20,000 to $30,000 less than what it costs to build.”

Sluggish market or not, Berry believes business could pick up quickly in Lee County.
“Lee County is such a fast-paced market that I think the market could correct itself pretty fast — stabilize and become normal in anywhere from eight months to two years,” he said.
Though operating on a much smaller scale than First Home Builders, Berry said he also recently had to let two employees go.

“I had to let a trade guy and an office lady go, mainly because work is so slow and there’s no work to give out right now,” he said.

That said, the slow building market hasn’t yet cast its shadow over the world of home-improvement sales, according to John Sandford, manager of the Lowe’s at 14960 S. Tamiami Trail in Fort Myers.

“We’re pretty happy with the way things are going now,” Sandford said. “There have been brisk sales in the remodeling portion of the business, with kitchen upgrades and upgrades of people’s current housing. Overall, the real-estate and building industry is down, but we’re happy with our business, happy with the average homeowner continuing to improve their home.”