Toll Brothers is a company which designs, builds, markets, sells, and arranges financing for residential and commercial properties in the United States. In 2020, the company was the fifth largest home builder in the United States, based on homebuilding revenue. The company is ranked 411th on the ''Fortune'' 500. In 2021, the company sold homes at an average selling price of $844,400. Average prices ranged from $663,700 in the South region to $1,376,800 in the Pacific region.

History

Toll Brothers was founded in 1967 in Pennsylvania by Robert I. Toll and Bruce E. Toll. Robert received a law degree from

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest- ...

and his B.A. from

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...

, while his brother Bruce had an accounting degree from the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, i ...

. Their father, Albert, built homes and the brothers believed that the new home industry had more to offer. Bruce was 26 and Robert was 27 at the time. Toll Brothers was incorporated as a

Delaware corporation The Delaware General Corporation Law (Title 8, Chapter 1 of the Delaware Code) is the statute of the Delaware Code that governs corporate law in the U.S. state of Delaware. Adopted in 1899, the statute has since seen Delaware become the most im ...

with a public offering raising $40 million. In addition to luxury single-family,

carriage house A carriage house, also called a remise or coach house, is an outbuilding which was originally built to house horse-drawn carriages and the related tack. In Great Britain the farm building was called a cart shed. These typically were open ...

townhouse A townhouse, townhome, town house, or town home, is a type of terraced housing. A modern townhouse is often one with a small footprint on multiple floors. In a different British usage, the term originally referred to any type of city residence ...

and

condominium A condominium (or condo for short) is an ownership structure whereby a building is divided into several units that are each separately owned, surrounded by common areas that are jointly owned. The term can be applied to the building or complex ...

residences, Toll Brothers offers luxury rental apartments (Apartment Living division) and luxury student housing (Campus Living division). They also operate various ancillary businesses including

mortgage A mortgage loan or simply mortgage (), in civil law jurisdicions known also as a hypothec loan, is a loan used either by purchasers of real property to raise funds to buy real estate, or by existing property owners to raise funds for any ...

insurance Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to hedge ...

, home automation/security, and

landscaping Landscaping refers to any activity that modifies the visible features of an area of land, including the following: # Living elements, such as flora or fauna; or what is commonly called gardening, the art and craft of growing plants with a goal ...

Executives

Robert Toll stepped down as Chairman in 2018 and served exclusively as Special Advisor to the company. Douglas C. Yearley, Jr. joined Toll Brothers in 1990 and was promoted as Chief Executive Officer in June 2010 and currently holds the position of Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Doug also serves as Co-Chair of the Pennsylvania Chapter of

American Cancer Society The American Cancer Society (ACS) is a nationwide voluntary health organization dedicated to eliminating cancer. Established in 1913, the society is organized into six geographical regions of both medical and lay volunteers operating in more than ...

's CEO's Against Cancer. Martin Connor was hired as Chief Financial Officer in 2010. Robert Parahus was promoted to Chief Operating Officer and Executive President in 2020.

Acquisitions

Toll Brothers has made thirteen acquisitions since 1995: West Texas Woodlands Geoffrey H. Edmunds in Scottsdale, Arizona (1995), Coleman Homes' Las Vegas Division (1998), Silverman Homes in metro Detroit (1999), Richard R. Dostie (2003) and The Manhattan Building Company (2003) in northern New Jersey, the central Florida Division of Landstar Homes (2005), CamWest Development in Seattle, Washington (2011), Shapell Industries in California (2014), Coleman Homes in Boise, Idaho (2016), Sharp Residential in Atlanta, Georgia (2019), Sabal Homes in South Carolina (2019), Thrive Residential in Nashville and Atlanta (2020) and Keller Homes in Colorado Springs (2020).

Awards

In 2014 Builder Magazine and in 2012

Professional Builder Pro Builder Media is a business-to-business media entity that includes a nationally distributed trade publication (print and digital magazine), website, social media channels, and events. It provides award-winning, timely, and topical content to ...

Magazine named Toll Brothers 'Builder of the Year'. In 2016, Toll Brothers takes the #1 spot for the honors of the "World's Most Admired Company/Home Builders" by ''FORTUNE'' magazine and "America's Most Trusted Builder" by ''Lifestory Research''. In 2020, Toll Brothers was named the #1 Most Admired Home Builder for the sixth consecutive year in the ''FORTUNE'' magazine survey of the World’s Most Admired Companies.

Disputes

Toll Brothers was sued in April 2007 by a group of investors claiming they were misled by directors about their ability to maintain historically high-earnings during the downturn in the U.S. residential real estate market. Toll Brothers agreed to settle the suit for $25 million, though they did not admit any wrongdoing. Six residents at the Northside Piers development complained of faulty window seals that leaked in air and rain when windy. The project gained notoriety in 2007 when a kettle of roofing tar on the top level caught fire during construction and although quickly contained produced a significant amount of smoke. After meeting with the residents Toll Brothers agreed to fix the seals. Toll Brothers sued the contractor who installed the windows for $10 million. In 2012, the company was required to pay a penalty of $741,000 for numerous alleged violations of the

Clean Water Act The Clean Water Act (CWA) is the primary federal law in the United States governing water pollution. Its objective is to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the nation's waters; recognizing the responsibiliti ...

, including more than 600 relating to runoff of stormwater at its building sites, among them sites in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. Toll Brothers agreed to implement storm-water training and prevention techniques across the entire company.

References

{{Authority control Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange Construction and civil engineering companies of the United States American companies established in 1967 Home builders Companies based in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania Construction and civil engineering companies established in 1967 1967 establishments in Pennsylvania