The Builder's Story

"Growing up in a family that started building homes in 1925, I knew early on what profession I would choose. At the same time, I was determined to make my own mark in the field, envisioning a company that would take the family tradition of delivering value and personal service to new heights, larger markets, and an ever wider variety of home buyers."

“When I started this company in 1992, the vision was to build a successful national homebuilder,” says Ryan, founder, and CEO for William Ryan Homes. “Our hard work and dedication to quality, customer satisfaction, and a close-knit company infrastructure have remained the cornerstones of our growth and success and our vision remains the same.”

Ryan, a native of Pittsburgh, PA and family homebuilding, grew up in Cincinnati, OH and attended Marquette University in Milwaukee, WI.

“My grandfather built his first home in Pittsburgh in 1925,” says Ryan. “My dad and uncles eventually became part of that business, with my dad taking on the role of opening up new cities for the company. That’s how we ended up in Cincinnati. Having attended Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, I spent some time in nearby Chicago and fell in love with it. By 1990, I had an overwhelming urge to start my own homebuilding company and, at that time, Chicago was picked to be the country’s leading home building market. So that made the decision pretty easy and I packed up my family and headed to Chicago.”

Ryan’s move paid off as the still privately-held company has built more than 15,000 single-family homes and branched beyond Chicago to markets in Wisconsin, Florida, Arizona and Texas.

“While we are definitely a production builder, it is imperative that we give each of our homebuyers a higher level of customer service throughout the building process. That’s what sets us apart.” Ryan says.

In addition to the company motto “Making Homes Personal,” referring to building, personalizing and living in a William Ryan Home, Ryan takes pride in the company’s industry-leading MyHome24-7 program. MyHome24-7 is a private, personal website that gives each William Ryan Homes customer access to their home throughout the building process. Real-time scheduling and photos allow them to watch their home’s progress from the ground up and anticipate construction milestones and delivery dates. Buyers can also make selections and manage warranty requests through the website.

The company offers single-family homes at communities in Phoenix, Arizona; Tampa and Fort Myers, Florida; Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas; Madison and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Chicago, Illinois. Ryan emphasizes the core principals and business processes remain the same company-wide. Whether it’s a new plan or improving a process, we always start with ‘what would the customer want?’ If you get that part right, you’re halfway home. The other part is work hard toward the goal of building employee and vendor teams that will follow that thinking, and like to win.”