Alair Homes, one of North America’s largest residential developers, has promoted Rob Cecil — who will retain his existing title as president — to chief executive officer.

This marks Alair Homes’ first leadership change since it was founded in 2007 by Blair McDaniel, whom Cecil succeeded as CEO on Sept. 15, and will remain as chairman. The leadership shakeup will also see veterans of the Nanaimo, B.C.-headquartered company, Stu Hopewell and Duane Johns, transition to chief compliance officer and chief operating officer, respectively.

But Cecil’s promotion is particularly noteworthy. Hired in 2013, he has been instrumental in Alair Homes’ substantial growth to 109 locations across the U.S. and Canada.

Under Alair Homes’ brand are custom builders, construction management companies, renovators and contractors.

And while the plan to succeed McDaniel was years in the making, the company spent the last three years migrating its internal server, office by office, onto a new platform that will facilitate, among other things, data sharing from its myriad of continent-wide projects in real time.

Alair's unique franchise system

And with that multi-million-dollar endeavour’s conclusion in August, Cecil said it is, once again, business as usual at Alair. With Cecil at the helm, that means growing Alair Homes’ franchises.

Cecil is quick to point out, though, that the company is only “by legal definition a franchise system.”

“Most franchise systems say you have to do things exactly the same way, that you have to serve the same product across the board, but in our case, every single project we do is a prototype of a home that’s never been built before,” Cecil told RENX in an interview.

“Everything is pure custom.”

Although effectively a brand, Alair’s franchise model is akin to a network in which everything from best practices, floor plans, real-time insight into disparate, cross-border markets, and more, are shared.

However, as Cecil added, Alair Homes’ franchise model is particularly advantageous for mature companies — and herein is one of the Alair Homes franchise model’s most salient value propositions.

“It makes more sense in the long run because an Alair company with brand value behind it, that’s still doing the exact same revenue and achieving the exact same profit margin, becomes a more valuable business to sell in the marketplace if you’re ever wanting to exit,” Cecil said. “Many of our partners (join) because they made it through a certain stage of their career where they’re looking for an exit."

Alair's 'investor group'

The Alair network also has what Cecil called an “investor group,” which has helped broker acquisitions for retiring members.

“Most people don’t want to buy a job, they want to buy a business, and we have a built-in investor group simply because of our existing partners who are also waiting to expand,” Cecil continued. “They’re far more interested in acquiring an Alair business because it’s instantly a plug-and-play. They already know how to run an Alair business and they already know the technology. They know all the systems.”

The growth of Alair’s brand through its franchise model has thus been successful because it only partners, and quite carefully, with established organizations well-entrenched in their respective locales.

All the better if they have that particular habit for innovation that only the most ambitious custom builders possess, because it has helped Alair distinguish its brand in an industry that is, by and large, populated by independent firms, and also that does not simply lend itself to the franchising business model.

However, Cecil believes the industry is already headed for consolidation, whether most of its players realize it or not.

“The residential construction industry is absolutely headed toward consolidation; it has to, because you’re competing with much larger ‘spec builders,’ if you will,” Cecil said. “You’re going to have a hard time maintaining what you’ve built in the marketplace, because as land gets more scarce, opportunities will get more scarce, and you’ll need something more valuable than a standalone business.”

And, having presided over Alair Homes’ most successful stretch, Cecil anticipates more growth in the company’s future.

“We simply bring them future opportunities and future business structures that either allow them to scale, which is what we’re seeing a lot of, or create an exit strategy for themselves,” he said.

Legacy of growth

Five years after Alair Homes was founded in Nanaimo, it established its first franchise in Edmonton. Two years later, the company established a foothold south of the border with a location in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Late last year, Alair Homes opened its 100th office in Alexandria, Va.