BUILDER / RE TAILER
College Visit Leads to New Business Plan, Affordable Home Builder by Patrick Revere
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Sean Geehan was at a father-daughter weekend at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, when he was struck by a notion that would stick with him and change the course of his career. That was the spring of 2016. “I couldn’t get a hotel room and started doing some research on apartments, or hotels around colleges in rural areas and I didn’t see much,” he said. “I came across modular, and felt like it would be a great solution. But it became clear we wouldn’t want to get into apartments or hotels, and we really wanted to get into residential, which continues to be the real need. “I worked on this for a year and a half before I even told my wife,” he said. “My background is in technology, and merger and acquisitions. I have no background in building, so I needed to do my research. I didn’t want everyone to think I’m a fool, which they probably still did.” Geehan found some investors and began to put a team together that would provide the much-needed trades and industry experience. “None of us were in modular two years ago,” Geehan said. “We were at 15 people at the end of 2019, and we’re bringing on another 10. We want to continue with all on-staff labor.” Slate Homes launched at the end of 2018, closed its first deal a year ago, and did three more projects through 2019. In 2020, Slate Homes is in full production. »
52 | MARCH / APRIL 2020 • MHINSIDER.COM
