How Two Brothers Survived the Housing Crisis and Scaled to 1,000+ Homes | Chris & Clif Poston

There's something rare about sitting down with two brothers who genuinely like working together. Chris and Clif Poston make running a homebuilding company that closes over 1,000 homes a year look almost easy, but their story is anything but.

Clif: "Doing what we say we're going to do is really, really important. A foundation of our business. And we try to get that out to people in every aspect of the business, from our employees, to the marketing side, to the sales side, to dealing with our vendors, to dealing with the public when it comes to buying land and rezoning."

The Poston brothers didn't just inherit Traton Homes, founded 54 years ago, when their father and uncle started handing over the reins. They earned it the hard way. After executing a substantial buy-in in the mid-2000s, they watched the world fall apart during the Great Recession.

Chris: "Something called the great recession or the great financial crisis, whatever you want to term it, came. We had executed a substantial buy-in of the company, and then the world started going down and down and down."

Clif: "We earned our way into the business. The world ended. We put all of our money collectively back into the business and we recapitalized and we're just kind of earning our way back to where we want to be."

What makes this conversation different is how honest they are about the messy parts. Clif talks about deals where they were writing checks for $30,000, $40,000 at every closing just to get through it. Chris shares how their dad's old-school wisdom about not getting greedy saved them from disaster.

Chris: "Dad and Milburn telling us, 'Hey guys, pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered.' That's great we can write 10 contracts. Let's only write five or let's only write six."

The brothers bring different strengths to the table. Clif handles the land side, scouting and acquiring sites across metro Atlanta with help from their father and uncle, who still come in every day as what the brothers jokingly call "chief second-guessing officers." Chris runs operations, making sure 25 active deals in various stages of permitting and entitlement actually move forward.

Chris: "We are a very collaborative group with all of our managers and all of our employees. We sit around and beat it about until kind of everyone agrees. I don't think you'll ever have one of our employees be like, 'Hey, we shoved this deal down your throat.'"

Clif: "The one thing you can be certain of in this industry is that whatever you planned is definitely not going to happen. It's going to be some variation off of that. And I think you just got to acknowledge that going in and know that you're going to have to roll with the punches."

But here's where it gets interesting. When Michael asks Clif what advice he wishes someone had given him earlier, he doesn't talk about underwriting models or construction techniques. He talks about networking.

Clif: "This industry, business at all, is so much about hard work, but it's about who you know and the relationships that you meet and leveraging those relationships. Get out and know as many people as you can, starting in college. I look now at how many bankers and lawyers and people that we can reach out and touch, and I think the more the better."

They're also thinking hard about AI and technology. Chris is pushing his department heads to understand it, not because he wants to replace people, but because he thinks it can make workers more efficient and accurate.

Chris: "How do we leverage AI without replacing our entire workforce? Because we'll find ourselves in a bad spot if we let AI do all of it and we have nobody to buy our products anymore because we don't have jobs. That's how I view it. How do we make our workers more efficient, more productive, and more accurate?"

The most powerful moment comes at the end when Michael asks what would keep them from heaven's gate. What haven't they finished? Clif talks about wanting to give more, to leave an impact on his community beyond just building neighborhoods. Chris echoes it, referencing the verse "to whom much is given, much is expected."

Chris: "I used to think that meant I need to write big checks to people. And through this men's group that I'm in, that's not just doing that. That's your time. It's probably the bigger thing that you can give. While everybody wants your check, if you take the things that mean something to you and you give your time to it, that's what I'm trying to do more of."

Chris: "The company can fold tomorrow and we can go try and start a new thing. You don't get redos on the family stuff. And as your kids get older, you especially don't get that."

It's a conversation about scaling a homebuilding business, sure. But it's really about two brothers who figured out that success isn't just about the homes you build or the money you make. It's about showing up, doing what you say you'll do, and leaving things a little better than you found them.

About Chris & Clif Poston:

Chris serves as Chief Operating Officer, overseeing all company operations including land planning and development. Since joining Traton in 1997, he's led the successful development of communities throughout metro Atlanta and Florida. He currently chairs the City of Marietta Construction Board of Adjustment and Appeals, chairs the Marietta High School College and Career Academy, and serves on the University of Georgia Parent Leadership Council and Cobb County Kennestone Hospital Authority Board.

Clif, Executive Vice President, handles strategic functions across product development, land acquisition, construction finance, and property dispositions. He leads the due diligence and acquisition of residential development sites while helping shape the company's long-term direction. A University of Georgia graduate, Clif serves on the Board of the Marietta Schools Foundation, is active with UGA's Parent Leadership Council and Leadership Cobb, and serves as President of the Marietta High School Governance Council. He previously served on the board of HomeAid Atlanta.

Together, they've taken Traton Homes from its 1971 roots in Marietta to become one of the Southeast's most respected private homebuilders, known not just for award-winning communities but for their contributions to local organizations and civic efforts across the Atlanta region.

Connect with Traton Homes:
Website: https://www.tratonhomes.com

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Chapters:

00:00 Introduction
01:47 Sound Capital
02:04 Michael's Introduction
03:23 Welcome Chris and Clif
04:35 Foundations of the Family Business
05:31 Career Paths and Early Experiences
10:08 Succession Planning and Family Involvement
16:50 Building Strategies and Market Adaptations
29:28 Company Culture and Employee Relations
34:22 Land Acquisition and Market Positioning
37:00 Equity Partners and Financing Mechanisms
37:44 Employee Mindset and Financial Prudence
38:53 Memorable Builds and Unexpected Successes
39:58 Navigating COVID-19 Challenges
42:30 Sales Strategies and Market Adaptations
45:06 Award-Winning Neighborhoods
46:54 Future of Building and AI Integration
53:20 Internal Sales and Marketing Approaches
59:44 Reflecting on Business and Personal Growth