The Villages at Santa Fe Springs http://www.comstockhomes.com view photos

Staying Focused on Solar

Southern California Edison, Breitburn Oil Co. and builder Comstock Homes saw an opportunity to re-purpose a onceused oil field and re-energize housing in the city of Santa Fe Springs, Calif., with The Villages.
By Evan Lancaster
Photography By Anthony Gomez

Through a collaborative effort to revive housing in Santa Fe Springs, Calif., Comstock Homes, in partnership with Breitburn Oil Co. and Southern California Edison, formulated the idea to transform a once thriving oil field into a livable, green home community. By developing land previously dedicated to 162-oil wells, Comstock Homes began developing The Villages at Santa Fe Springs in late 2009.

With a strict focus on sustainability from the start, the builder wanted to create a community that would benefit homeowners financially and protect the environment. According to Peter Perea, vice president of construction for Comstock Homes, up to 90 percent of construction waste was recycled and The Villages was able to exceed the National Energy Standard by 50 percent. The City of Santa Fe Springs had not seen a new home community built in more than 15 years. Perea also noted that this was an opportunity for Comstock Homes to reinvigorate housing projects back into the area. Perea explained that the City of Santa Fe Springs is an ideal place for commuters due to the easy access to major highways.

By introducing a new community into the city, Comstock Homes marketed The Villages at Santa Fe Springs not only as a place to live, but a place to lead a healthy lifestyle and take advantage of the benefits from standard residential solar tax rebates, radiant barrier roof, water-efficient plumbing, along with several other financial and ecological incentives brought on by Southern California Edison’s California Advanced Homes Program, including Energy Star-rated appliances. The community covers a 52-acre site and features a wide variety of individual floor plans with two attached and two detached models starting at 1,300 square feet. One of the attached floor plans, Jasmine, is priced starting in the low $300,000s. The detached models include the Magnolia with 1,400 square feet of living space, priced starting in the mid $400,000s. Each residence at The Villages features a 1.2 to 1.5 KwH residential solar system, energy efficient Radiant Barrier Roof, tankless hot water heater and Energy Star appliance package.

After construction began, competing with a down economy proved to be a challenge for Comstock Homes. According to Perea, the biggest challenge during the construction of The Villages was finding quality work at a time when the economy was pushing hardships on subcontractors due to the lack of ongoing projects. “In regards to construction, it was quite challenging because a lot of the work force has diminished, due to lack of construction,” he said. Perea added that with the initial crash of the market, many contractors and subcontractors were in need of work and chose to look for opportunities outside of California.

“A lot of work force leaves the state, which leaves you with maybe less qualified people. You have to go out and search and interview subcontractors and find out what quality of work they do,” Perea explained. He noted that the economy also projected negative effects on the homeowner’s ability to qualify for new homeownership. “The banks have been a huge critical part of the housing downturn because people don’t get financing as well as they used to,” Perea said. He added, “Today, you go through four to five people sometimes to get financed correctly. [Homeowner’s] are scrutinized about their financial aspects, so it’s hard to get people to qualify anymore.”

However, Steve Cauffman, director of sales and marketing of Comstock Homes explained that The Villages at Santa Fe Springs would erase the potential homebuyer’s fear of not qualifying for the home of their dreams by providing a team. Cauffman explained that through The Villages, Comstock Homes is offering homeowners an opportunity receive benefits of the residential solar tax rebates available and a team dedicated to finding the best financial avenue for homebuyers to take when considering a residence at The Villages. “We have a whole team of prequalified lenders that work with our prospects and get them qualified,” Cauffman explained. “I think it’s challenging times for everybody, but you bring in good people and you build a strong team that deals with the challenges.”

Cauffman explained that Comstock Homes had to re-think it’s marketing strategy and focused on what could benefit the homeowner, not only in the long-term, but also in terms of getting them into a house they can afford sooner than later. By utilizing social media marketing techniques and a new website, this has given The Villages an opportunity re-brand itself. Cauffman explained that as a component of Comstock’s new marketing techniques the builder has also revisited The Villages in terms of reintroducing the community with a fresh new look.

In March 2012 The Villages held a re-grand opening to signify Comstock Home’s new approach to attracting an array of potential homeowners. “In terms of what we were doing [in March], is we are really rebranding it and coming up with a fresh look,” Cauffman explained. “People weren’t that aware of the Villages the last year. We are reintroducing the community and making sure people understand what we are offering. Not just our location, but [also] our solar capabilities, our wide variety of floor plans. I think the re-launching is critical marching forward and getting things into a rapid absorption.”

Perea credited Cauffman for creating a marketing strategy that has potentially re-ignited the Villages market presence. These new strategies include the social media aspect as well as running ads in local and mainstream newspapers along with the use of a sales trailer.

“It’s only fair to tell you that we have completely revamped our sales and marketing department. Steve has brought to the table a lot of new and innovative ideas to the table,” he said. “That’s where the sales trailer comes in, we were having issues getting our people to the right model complex, it was kind of confusing but Steve brought a plan to the table that draws everyone to the central location.”

By incorporating the sustainable technology from Southern California Edison’s California Advanced Homes Program, Comstock Homes was able to offer residents a well-rounded energy efficient program. Perea explained that Edison was Comstock’s first choice when seeking a program that would benefit owners immediately.

“We went with Southern California Edison’s California Advanced Homes Program early on to find out what the perimeters were to make sure we would meet, if not exceed [the requirements].”

Today, Comstock Homes continues home production at The Villages at Santa Fe Springs, with 75 out of 530 homes currently completed. Comstock Homes plans to keep actively building The Villages for the next few years.


Evan Lancaster is an assistant editor of Builder and Developer. He may be contacted at elancaster@penpubinc.com.