Fulton Homes customer-first style of home building was borne of their top executives’ vast experience in retail sales and makes them very unique in their industry. Before he had even dreamed of building single family homes, founder Ira Fulton started a chain of Eagleson’s Big & Tall stores that grew from 2 stores to 33 in Arizona and California. Along the way, his son Doug, son-in-law Norm Nicholls and current Fulton Homes VP of Operations, Dennis Webb, all worked for Ira Fulton’s men’s clothing outlets. Fast forward to the present and Doug Fulton is now CEO of Fulton Homes. Norm Nicholls is President of the homebuilder. Each one will tell you that in retail, the customer always comes first and repeat business is the only way to prosper. They’ve taken that approach to homebuilding, where the product usually is the focus, not the buyer.
Beyond just good old-fashioned customer service, Webb says Fulton’s Design Center is a big advantage for them when it comes to the home buying process. He will be the first to tell you that the 13,000-sq.-ft. center is set up just like a retail shop, where the customer has hundreds of options from floor to ceiling to pick from. Colors, styles, sizes and brands of all kinds are at the fingertips of the buyers. Whether it’s cabinets, appliances, flooring, bathrooms, the buyer has 100’s of choices and 1000’s of combinations to pick from. “It’s really up to the individual, or family who is making the decisions at our design center. Part of tailoring our product to the buyer is giving them the chance to price out all their options in advance. Just like you wouldn’t buy a suit without looking at shoes, belts and ties, we know that purchasing a home without knowing what the interior options are is not a good buying experience. At Fulton Homes we changed all that and it’s why we outsell other builders in our communities by 2-to-1,” says Webb. Webb spent six years working for Ira Fulton at Eagleson’s Big & Tall and another 20 years at famed retailer Hart Schaffner Marx.
Fulton Homes latest community is Glennwilde in Maricopa. The new models there are what’s called “ultra-configurable,” which is yet another buyer-friendly option, allowing for adding lofts to any floor plan, extra garage stalls or even dual master bedrooms. With all of these options, in addition to the seemingly endless choices at the design center, it’s easy to see why Fulton Homes proudly says that they put the buyer first. ––Ross Trumble
