Finding a general contractor who understands how to efficiently design and construct a residential community that achieves the financial goals of the client can, at times, be easier said than done. Harrison Homes takes a commercial approach to residential developments, providing optimized solutions that maximize their clients’ return on investment. They achieve this by offering a robust portfolio of services, powered by an A-list team of professionals and hand-picked subcontractors that excel at creating quality spaces for people to call home.
Headquartered in Chamblee, Georgia, Harrison Homes is an award-winning real estate development and design-build general contractor with a reputation amongst clients and competitors for being as solid as the homes they build. Founded in 2007, Harrison Homes grew their foundation from a luxury speculative homebuilder, to custom homebuilder, and then finally tackling townhome and single-family home developments. Today Harrison exclusively focuses on detached single-family and multifamily townhome neighborhoods and will deliver over 110 units in 2023.
Diverse services from qualified professionals
Harrison Homes offers developer clients a single-source solution for their residential communities. With a professional team of 10 office and field staff, Harrison can lead architectural design (or work with existing plans), interior design, site development, permitting, procurement, preconstruction planning, vertical construction, and unit sales.
Harrison’s tightknit team holds years of experience in residential construction. Their background in speculative and custom homebuilding serves their clients well, as they understand what today’s homeowners and home renters desire in each residential product. These skills guide the design of the homes, and help their clients achieve attractive rental rates and sales prices.
Access to their in-house architect save their clients time and money, as they move quickly and agilely to work through challenges, create solutions, and implement change orders through effective cross-functional team collaboration.
A well-vetted group of trade partners also ensures that Harrison can deliver units on time and on budget, with smart management of the construction schedule and subcontractor relationships.
Working with Harrison is simple. They begin with a thorough discovery of the project to understand every client’s needs, and clearly communicate next steps and deliverables through each phase of the build, making it easy for clients to stay abreast of all the important details for their development.
An impressive portfolio
Currently, Harrison is completing a build-to-rent townhome community close to Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Hapeville, Georgia. Offering 68 high-end modern farmhouse rental units, 801 North Central Avenue is set to be completed by the end of Q4. Harrison was engaged as the design-build contractor and managed horizontal construction.
With options from just under 1,300 square feet to about 1,900 square feet, tenants can choose from two- to four-bedroom units and several floor plans. Complete with luxury finishes, fire pits, a dog park, and outdoor activity space, the townhomes are actively leasing and have already welcomed tenants this past summer.
Another representative project of Harrison’s was completed in 2022 in Brookhaven, Georgia. Brookhaven Commons features 26 detached single-family homes with seven stunning modern farmhouse elevations and three floor plans. The community sold out within a year and was deemed by voters of the Atlanta Parade of Homes as “Best Overall Home” and “Best Kitchen.” Brookhaven Commons also received an Obie Award recognizing the development as the “Community of the Year.”
The future of Harrison Homes
Next Harrison Homes will begin vertical construction on another exciting build-to-rent development in Northern Fulton County, delivering 74 townhomes by January of 2025. These rental townhomes are in complement to the master developer’s traditional 335 apartment units and 35,000 square feet of retail.
When asked about the company’s trajectory, President and Owner Scott Hudson had much to say about what to expect from Harrison Homes in the coming years.
“We have a lot of pride in the product that we build; we feel that we are scalable. We’re looking to gain market share and increase the number of units that we deliver each year,” says Hudson. “Georgia’s rental market is evolving, and in the southeast, there’s just not enough housing to keep up with the population growth. Throw higher interest rates on top of the inventory problem, and there’s a bigger demand for more rental housing,” he says of the shifting real estate environment forcing the industry to adapt to the changes to keep with the growth.
“Managing growth is obviously important and represents a big change [across the region],” he adds.
Consequently, 2024 brings the company’s most ambitious goal yet: building around 200 units over 12 months, and then expanding that to an annual figure of 300.
Harrison and their team are hugely enthusiastic about being in the ideal position at the ideal time. “We’re excited to be part of the continued growth of the area,” Hudson enthuses. “We’re committed to exceeding our clients’ expectations, and safely delivering quality homes for the growing Atlanta market.”
Giving back to the community they serve
Beyond striving for organizational growth, the team at Harrison Homes prioritizes giving back to the communities in which they build to also foster team unity.
For the past two years, Harrison Homes has donated and raised funds for Make-A-Wish GA, a national non-profit with local chapters serving critically ill children. Most recently, Harrison’s Director of Architecture, Jason McBryde, rappelled down 22 stories at the Buckhead Intercontinental Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia, an effort that collectively raised over $90,000 to grant wishes for sick children. In the past, Harrison has also donated to The Rally Foundation, an organization devoted to research for childhood cancers, and partnered with Home Aid to demo old apartments that provide transitional shelter for women and children experiencing homelessness.
With a list of successful builds now totaling over 400 homes in Metro Atlanta and a scalable model, Harrison Homes is undeniably set up to become one of Georgia’s future legacy businesses.
