Patrick L. O'Toole, Senior Editor, Professional Builder

Mick Galatio had many roles in home building between arriving in Las Vegas in 1975 and opening Desert Wind Homes in 1994. He did framing and finish work. He poured concrete, hung drywall and did remodeling work before joining an insulation firm. Eventually he became a superintendent for a small builder before taking the entrepreneurial plunge.

"The whole key to my ability as a smaller builder is that I come from the trades, and I was a superintendent and a project manager," says Galatio, whose firm builds starter and first move-up housing in a crowded field. "I also have a real good knowledge of the dirt process and the entitlement process and the development-end things."

But that's not enough to get by as a smaller builder (fewer than 100 production-style closings last year) in a metro area dominated by Pulte's Del Webb, KB Home, Richmond American, Centex and many others. His longstanding relationships with trade contractors enable him to ask for and get competitive labor pricing. He also has built strong working ties to local marketing experts, Realtors and land brokers who serve as an informal team of consultants on product, pricing and land.

Until the late 1990s, Las Vegas was wide-open. The GIANTS and small-volume builders coexisted because there was enough land to go around. Between the likes of The Howard Hughes Co., American Nevada Corp. and swaps with the Bureau of Land Management, large builders had access to enough lots to meet soaring demand. Even smaller builders could acquire lots in master-planned communities such as Summerlin and Southern Highlands. If not, small builders also could assemble privately owned parcels and quickly get a map for the assemblage. Lately, however, the situation has changed. Even GIANTS are buying 10-acre parcels.

"We used to have an open market on the little infill pieces," Galatio says. "But now as soon as I assemble two pieces and get a tentative map on it, I have offers coming in from the bigger builders."

All of which makes Galatio's continued victories in head-to-head competition with the big guys more impressive. Not long ago, competing against Kimball Hill Homes and KB Home in popular Southern Highlands, Desert Wind delivered four models at 2,000, 2,500, 2,700 and 2,800 square feet for move-up buyers. Galatio says they succeeded because of their in-house designs, one of which won a Homer Award from the Southern Nevada Home Builders Association.

But after a while, Desert Wind noticed it was doing particularly well selling the same product to picky move-down buyers by developing a reputation for flexibility and customer service. One elderly customer moving from California needed a ramp and a wheelchair-accessible home. Other buyers asked about "doggy doors" for their pets. Sensing a point of differentiation with the big guys, Galatio was only too glad to oblige.

"Doggy doors are real simple," Galatio says. "But if you do it after the fact it is quite troublesome. So we started a little frame-out package and set them in a couple of locations in the house. Then if someone wanted one, we told them where they had the option of buying. That's just one example of the kind of thing that gave us a pretty good edge."

Today Desert Wind is enlisting the help of the top Southern California designers for new house plans. But early on, the company's award-winning designs were drawn in-house with a patchwork of ideas from scouting trips around the West. Many of the design refinements came via local sales and marketing consultants. "My broker and her staff are really good at scrutinizing our floor plans and knowing the features that sell," Galatio says.

Land remains the greatest challenge Desert Wind faces. Galatio says the challenge is being met by a strong, consistent networking focus that runs the gamut from land brokers to other builders, even GIANTS. A joint venture with smaller builders on land just outside a popular master-planned community recently netted Galatio 79 lots. He is friendly enough with executives at D.R. Horton and other GIANTS that they occasionally send him a package of lots to review. But developing lots is the name of Desert Wind's game.

Galatio says his longtime broker recently brought him a prime parcel that originally had been sent to a GIANT. While waiting for the GIANT's answer, the broker's contract with the seller nearly expired before the broker offered it to Galatio, who snapped it up.

"They have a lot of layers to go through," Galatio says of the GIANTS. "The broker had the assemblage. He was starting to sweat, and it was to my advantage."

© 2009, Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All Rights Reserved.