Pewaukee home builder Regency Builders will expand into several new markets in southeastern Wisconsin after acquiring Carstensen Homes, a Franklin-based custom home builder.
Regency Builders, which specializes in custom luxury homes with starting budgets around $900,000, will absorb many of Carstensen’s subcontractors, said Jonathan Schoenheider, a Regency Builders partner. The acquisition will allow Regency Builder’s predominantly Waukesha County market to expand into Franklin, Racine, Caledonia and Mount Pleasant.
“We are excited about expanding into the Racine, Franklin and Mt. Pleasant markets because we saw such great opportunity for us with the Foxconn development, Amazon, Uline and the expansion of hospitals,” Schoenheider said.
Carstensen Homes President and CEO Greg Marso chose to sell the company because he and his family wish to relocate closer to extended family in Toledo, Ohio, Marso wrote in a letter to his clients.
Marso interviewed a total of five companies and chose Regency even though it was not the highest bidder, according to the letter.
“During the interview process, Regency has conveyed a sense of trust and commitment to their past clientele and promised me that they would do the same for my referrals,” Marso said.
Regency absorbed three homes in the design phase from Carstensen with three new projects that will start in three to six months for estimated volume of $3 million to $4.5 million, Schoenheider said.
The company typically employs anywhere from 200 to 400 subcontractors on any given day, but Schoenheider expects the acquisition to increase employed subcontractors by 50%, he said. With the acquisition, Regency picked up a cabinet shop, multiple carpenters and painters, he added.
“To get this subcontractor base from Greg to help us with qualified individuals that can frame over in the Racine and Franklin area was huge,” Schoenheider said.
However, Waukesha will continue to be an important part of the company’s client base, he said.
“I’m not diluting my core base in the Waukesha County area, I’m just adding on to our core base that’s in that corridor there,” Schoenheider said.
Editor’s note: This post has been updated to more accurately reflect the starting budget of Regency’s homes.
