Building New Homes, Austin, TX
The leadership team behind Buffington Signature Homes has
helped build and maintain some of the strongest home building
brands in the country. From top to bottom, they bring an in-depth
knowledge of the new homes Austin market and extensive experience in
all aspects of the home building process.
Thomas B. Buffington – CEO
Tom Buffington has over 38 years of experience in the real estate
business. He began his career in 1969 as a salesman for Nash Phillips
Copus (NPC), which was the largest private home builder in the southern
region of the United States. Tom became president of NPC's Austin and
Central Texas Division in 1980.
In 1987, Tom started his own home building company, Buffington Homes, which flourished to become the second largest home building company in Austin. The success of Buffington Homes comprised of building 1,100 units per year and accumulating $150 million in annual revenue in Austin and San Antonio combined.
In 1996, Tom joined three national home builders forming The Fortress Group, a holding company that acquired and consolidated local and regional home building companies. The Fortress Group became a nationwide home building conglomerate with annual revenue of $1.6 billion leading it to be taken public at the close of 1996. Tom served as chief operating officer and as a company board member until his retirement in 1999.
In 2001, Tom co-founded Buffington Capital Holdings for the purpose of acquiring and developing property for master-planned communities in Central Texas. Since its establishment, the company has commenced development of eleven projects totaling over 8,000 single-family home sites. In addition, the company has developed residential condominiums and a commercial retail center.
He has served on the board of two banks and on the board of KLRU, a community licensed public television station in Austin.
Now, Tom Buffington leads yet another successful company into the Austin home building market as CEO of Buffington Signature Homes.
James Giddens - President
James Giddens began his career in home building in 1983 in the construction department of Nash Phillips Copus (NPC), where he
learned the basics of purchasing, estimating and construction management. In 1987, James co-founded Buffington Homes,
where he would serve as Vice President and help guide the company to become the second largest builder in central Texas.
In 1996, James aided the merger of Buffington Homes into the newly formed Fortress Group, which was then taken public in 1997 to help the company become a national home building presence. Under James' guidance and leadership, the Central Texas division of the Fortress Group, Buffington Homes, flourished and continued to dominate the home building market. In 1999, James resigned as President of Buffington Homes and accepted the position of Division President with Lennar Homes, Austin. With Lennar Homes, James was charged with starting up the division from scratch. He proceeded to build Lennar's Austin division from zero homes in 1999 to one of the largest home building presences in Austin and San Antonio with over 2,000 homes per year by 2007. In July of 2007, James resigned as Regional Vice President of Lennar Homes, Texas to co-found Buffington Signature Homes.
Patrick Starley – CFO
As co-founder of Buffington Capital Holdings, Patrick has been directly involved or responsible for the sourcing, structuring, financing, and operations of every real estate project in the company portfolio. Under Patrick's supervision, Buffington Capital Holdings has acquired and developed projects that will produce over $350 million in sales revenue over the next four years. Patrick has structured $250 million in debt and over $60 million in equity. In addition, he has expanded strategic relationships with the company's joint venture partners.
Patrick holds a BA from The University of Texas at Austin. He serves on the advisory board of the Real Estate Finance and Investment Center at the University of Texas, and he is a member of the Real Estate Council of Austin.
Today Patrick serves as the CFO of Buffington Signature Homes.
Bill Barton - VP of Construction
Bill Barton began his home building career in 1992 in the construction department of Milburn Homes where he learned the basics of construction management. In 1998, Bill was awarded the Max Award for Volume Construction Superintendent of the Year. Bill was promoted to Project Manager for Milburn Homes in 2000 and oversaw the construction of all Round Rock new homes in the area.
In 2005, after Milburn Homes had become DR Horton, Bill moved to the College Station area and started a separate division of the company. Bill was charged with building the new division from scratch and proceeded to help it grow until he returned to Austin in 2007. Bill then accepted the opportunity to join Buffington Signature Homes as the Vice President of Construction Operation.
Gary Colvin - VP of Purchasing
Gary Colvin got his introduction to the home building industry at an early age. He began working for his father's home building business in Louisiana when he was 13 and was trained in all aspects of land development and residential construction. After college, Gary moved to Houston and worked for the next six years as a purchasing agent and expeditor for Hudson Engineering.
His strong ties to the home building industry brought him to Austin in 1979, where the building boom had just begun. He opened his own custom home building business and continued building homes in the Austin and surrounding areas until 1989. By this time, the Central Texas building industry had experienced a severe decline and Gary decided to move to San Francisco. There, he worked as Vice President of Operations for Bay Builders, a Sausalito-based construction firm that was involved in commercial and residential construction, as well as earthquake and fire re-construction. In 1993, Gary returned to Austin and joined Buffington Homes.
He worked as an estimator for buyer-requested changes for the next three years and was then promoted to Estimating Manager. In 2000, Gary was hired by Lennar Homes as Purchasing Manager for their Austin Division and later went on to become the Austin Division President. He retired from Lennar in May 2006. Gary recently decided to come out of retirement and re-join his colleagues from Buffington Homes in their new venture, Buffington Signature Homes, where he currently serves as Vice President of Purchasing.
LaNelle Deardorf - Controller
After graduating from the top-ranked Professional Accounting program a0.t the University of Texas at Austin in 1994, LaNelle Deardorf began her career as an auditor with Deloitte & Touche in Dallas. In 1996, she became a Partnership Accountant for Goldman Sach's real estate investment management company Archon Group.
LaNelle's eight years of home building experience began in 1999, when she took the position of Division Controller for Lennar Homes in Fort Worth. In 2002, she transferred "home" to Austin to start up the NuHome and Village Builders Divisions of Lennar as their Controller. In 2005, LaNelle joined Taylor Woodrow Homes as Director of Financial Analysis for the Texas Region, primarily responsible for planning and budgeting for the Austin and Houston Divisions, as well as financial analysis for new acquisitions. LaNelle recently rejoined her former Lennar colleagues as Controller of the newly formed Buffington Signature Homes.
