COREY BARTON: BUILDING AN AMERICAN DREAM

Photo by Ted Harmon

What Drives The Man Behind CBH Homes

WORDS BY JAMEY BAUMGARDT

Corey Barton is described as a daredevil. Sure, he enjoys the occasional skydiving jump, but this risk-taking, thrillseeking side of his personality also manifests itself in his business practices, helping fuel the decadeslong success of his company, CBH Homes. “I love the rush and excitement of the future,” Barton says. “That feeling of not being certain what’s going to happen, but you take the jump. This fuels me every day.” The key to his success? CBH Homes, with Corey at the helm, walks a constant tightrope, balancing profit and affordability with quality and sustainability. No easy feat, especially in an industry that is constantly evolving.

...the "secret sauce" to his success is, hands down, his team.

Barton remembers when he started out over thirty years ago, how he would edit house plans by hand on the tailgate of his pickup. There was no process, no schedule. Premium design features weren’t a thing. Now, there are multiple phases of approvals with government agencies and substantial investment in up-front planning to mitigate these housing developments from having any negative effect on the community or environment, whether today, or in five or even fifty years from now.

So, how did this Idaho-born, local kid make good? How did Barton launch what would become a multi-million-dollar business straight out of high school? “I spent some time in Southern California,” he says. “I watched these houses being built and was enamored by it. I wanted to do that too. But Idaho is and will always be my home. My family is here, and I love the Treasure Valley.” He’s also a big fan of numbers, leveraging any and all trackable data for the business that he can crunch and report on. He refers to it as the “CBH scoreboard,” explaining that “we don’t watch sports to simply watch teams play, we want to know who’s winning and what’s the score.” Barton, it seems, likes to win. He says the “secret sauce” to his success is, hands down, his team. His mantra is, “the only way we get there is together.” The CBH team has grown to over 200, and the organization has expanded too, to include a real estate brokerage, HVAC company, electrical company, property management, truss plant, and interior finishes supplier.

Speaking of the talented team that makes the machine hum smoothly, it’s impossible not to notice how some of the women of CBH bear a striking resemblance to the cast of the popular Netflix show “Selling Sunset” as seen in their most recent commercial. CeCe Cheney, Communications Director for CBH, says CBH is 70% women, and they want to show the fun, powerful vibe that they bring to the Treasure Valley. And this magical vibe has delivered impressive results. Over the past 32 years, CBH has supplied 500,000 jobs to local trade partners and built over 26,000 homes.

The team is equally proud of their 20 years of support for Camp Rainbow Gold, a local nonprofit serving Idaho children diagnosed with cancer and their families. This past August, with the help of more than 60 companies, 1,000 trades, and 160 volunteers, the CBH crew managed to construct six brand- new beautiful cabins in just three days—and it only took 200,000 pounds of lumber and 720 cans of Red Bull energy drinks! This incredible feat, truly a community effort, resulted in 72 much-needed beds added to the camp, enabling the organization to expand in their mission to provide empowering camp experiences to the children of Idaho diagnosed with cancer.

So, where does CBH go from here? Barton hopes to double in size and spread the reach of his business even farther. “The area is going to continue to grow,” he says, “and we want to be the leader of that growth.” CBH headquarters will soon be moving into a new location that is 21 times the size of its current location, allowing for all of CBH’s sister companies to exist under one roof, which has been a goal of Barton’s for some time. But his primary ambition, he says, “will always be to provide homes to the valley and work every day to keep prices affordable.” Barton firmly believes that homeownership is vitally important, the first step in building true wealth. “We don’t want it to be a renters’ nation, we want it to be a homeowners’ nation. We believe in the American dream, and that’s homeownership.”

Corey Barton is one busy daredevil. When asked if he ever sleeps, he told me, yes, but not much because he’s so excited for the future and ready to go each and every day. But when he does find time to relax, like most of us, he spends it with his family. “First and foremost, I’m a father. I spend a lot of time with my kids. You’ll find I’m at a lot of cheer tournaments!” Barton’s advice for any young person out there today who shares his love of building and working with their hands? “Do what you love. Don’t be afraid to just start. It’ll take a lot of hard work, but it’s so rewarding.”