Building the Homes Families Are Looking For
Thoughtful homes inspired by how East Tennessee lives.
Home Development Inc.
What does a family really look for in a new home? Quality and character. Thoughtful design. A great setting. Features that make everyday living easier. And the confidence that the home was built for years of making memories—not worrying about things going wrong.
At Home Development, Inc. (HDI), those aren’t simply assumptions about what homebuyers want. They’re based on personal experience.
From Homebuyer to Homebuilder
HDI was launched in the wake of COVID, when East Tennessee was experiencing tremendous growth and a significant housing shortage. But the founders saw an opportunity to offer something more.
“We saw an opportunity to add something distinctive to the market—homes that combined thoughtful design, quality construction, and the features we ourselves would want to live with every day,” HDI President Rebecca Walls explains. “That continues to inspire us today: creating homes that feel beautiful, comfortable, and especially well suited to the way people want to live in East Tennessee.”
That philosophy was also rooted in experience. Members of the HDI family had relocated to East Tennessee and struggled to find the kind of new construction they wanted. Limited inventory, poor quality, inexpensive materials and homes lacking character eventually prompted a simple question: Why don’t we build them?
Putting the Meaning of Home Into Practice
For Walls, the idea of “home” is particularly meaningful. Raised in East Tennessee and a University of Tennessee graduate, she spent 25 years in Chicago with her husband, Adam, and their two sons before returning to be closer to family. Today, her definition of home goes well beyond the structure itself.
“It’s where life happens, where families gather, and where some of our most meaningful everyday moments take place,” she says. “That perspective influences the way we approach every home we build.”
Purpose-Built for Real Life
That means looking beyond how a home appears to how people actually live in it. “To us, a purpose-built home is one where every space has been considered with real life in mind,” Walls says. “We spend a tremendous amount of time thinking about how a homeowner will actually move through and use the home; from the layout of the kitchen and the placement of storage to the way rooms connect.”
It’s where life happens, where families gather, and where some of our most meaningful moments take place. — Rebecca Walls, President
Visitors to the builder’s townhome designs during Parade of Homes will experience this “purpose-built” philosophy first hand. “I love the overall look and feel of these townhomes,” says Walls. “They have a very high-end, refined appearance, but they still feel completely at home here in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains.”
Building What They Would Want for Themselves
Perhaps HDI’s most meaningful standard is also its simplest: Would we want to live here? That question involves the entire HDI team, whose different perspectives and ideas help shape and improve the company’s designs. And it comes back to HDI’s connection to East Tennessee.
“These are our communities, our neighborhoods, and our neighbors,” Walls says. “We want the homes we build to reflect the same commitment to quality, thoughtfulness, and livability that we would want for ourselves and for the people we care about.”
Then she sums up HDI’s philosophy perfectly: “At the end of the day, that’s a pretty good standard to build by.”
Contact
Home Development Inc.
12748 Kingston Pike, Suite 204
Knoxville, TN 37934
