In this conversation, Lance walks through what it takes to build a homebuilding business that lasts. He talks about why his first hire made his first project successful (because he knew what he didn't know), how to structure your first deal with enough margin to survive mistakes, and why contingency planning isn't optional.
When Lance Williams started his homebuilding company in 1996, his equity partners were his wife, mother-in-law, and sister-in-law. Talk about pressure!
He'd just been laid off during a market downturn, took a short vacation, and came back ready to tie up his first deal: a 12-unit project that required $300,000 in equity and $2.7 million in debt.
The problem? Banks weren't lending. So he and his mentor, California development legend Ray Watt, drove around Southern California meeting with lenders, getting the same answer: "We can't make loans right now."
They eventually found financing through a U.S.-based Chinese bank. The project worked. Since then, Williams Homes has built over 3,200 homes across 85 communities with a combined value exceeding $1.7 billion. Lance has never walked away from a project - not through the Great Financial Crisis, recessions, or California's regulatory maze that can add 18 months of delays and balloon costs by $50 million mid-project.
"We have 100% success rate. So we've never had a deal that busted that we didn't complete. And that's through the great financial crisis, through a lot of ups and downs."
Lance explains the difference between building in California, where a pre-application meeting now includes 20 people from 20 different agencies, versus building in Idaho and Montana, where permits come faster and prices are more attainable.
Lance gets into the mechanics: building relationships with lenders over decades, why you need both bank financing and equity partners on almost every deal, and how to structure family trusts. He shares why he's shifting Williams Homes from 90% for-sale housing to a 50-50 split with rentals, driven by California's affordability crisis.
"It's a very capital intensive business, especially in Southern California where you have these long term projects. We have traditional bank financing and over time you build relationships with lenders and loan officers. And sometimes we'll have the same loan officer for 20, 30 years."
But this isn't just about numbers. Lance talks about what drives him: the permanency of the product, driving past neighborhoods and seeing families at the dinner table, and why his favorite project is always the next one.
He discusses the Williams Hope House project serving transitionally homeless families, becoming a licensed pilot alongside his son, and why the two words that define a private homebuilder are "resilient and relentless."
Whether you're a contractor thinking about your first development or a builder navigating your tenth, Lance's approach is grounded in fundamentals: do your due diligence, start small, buy it right, understand all risks, and keep overhead low. One out of every 10 to 20 deals will go sideways. Plan for it. Build contingency into your model. And whatever you do, complete what you start.
"My favorite deal is my next deal. That's the one that's leveling me up."
About Lance Williams
Lance Williams is co-founder of Williams Homes, started in 1996 with industry legend Ray Watt. With 35+ years in construction, Lance has built 3,175+ homes across 85 communities valued over $1.7 billion. He holds a degree in Finance, Real Estate, and Law from Cal Poly Pomona and is both a licensed real estate broker and general contractor. He's also a licensed jet pilot. Builders describe him as driven, disciplined, and deeply committed to the communities his company creates.
Learn more at https://williamshomes.com