profile is broad and practical: young professionals, move-up buyers, and buyers transitioning from apartments into ownership—customers who want quality and value, and who benefit from a builder that has refined a repeatable model over decades. “We’re not the absolute lowest cost, and not necessarily the highest end,” Thompson explains. “We try to focus our market on where there are quite a lot of people purchasing, and we tend to do customized cookie-cutter homes.” A VERTICALLY INTEGRATED MODEL BUILT AROUND CONTROL Thompson Quality Homes operates across the full lifecycle of a development.Thompson describes the business as an integrated company that conceives, designs, builds, markets, and sells its projects—and in many cases continues to provide some level of management after completion. That vertical integration isn’t just a business structure; it’s a risk-management strategy in a market where planning approvals are bureaucratic, timelines can be affected by process delays, and efficiency is tied closely to controlling the moving pieces. Thompson has been active in construction and development since he was young, with family roots in the industry. While he doesn’t recall the exact year the “Thompson Quality Homes” brand was formally adopted, he notes that he began developing homes in 1987, and over his career estimates he has delivered somewhere between 250 and 400 homes across Grand Cayman. “CUSTOMIZED COOKIE-CUTTER HOMES”: WHY STANDARDIZED PLANS WIN At the core of Thompson’s approach is a set of established floor plans—refined over time and reused with slight modifications. The model is designed to provide customers with a strong product at a reasonable price, while allowing the company to build efficiently and consistently. What’s notable is that Thompson doesn’t frame repeatable plans as rigidity. He frames them as a way to protect outcomes. Designs evolve as lifestyles change. Features that mattered decades ago—such as dedicated points for TV dishes or extensive hardwired cable infrastructure—have largely given way to Wi-Fidriven living. Interiors have shifted too, with open concepts and kitchen islands displacing older room configurations and furniture-centered layouts. The “base plans” remain, but the details evolve as buyer expectations evolve. Customization is possible, particularly when a buyer purchases pre-construction. However, Thompson is careful about how far that flexibility goes—because in his experience, frequent plan changes introduce cascading impacts across engineering, electrical, plumbing, and permitting. 19 BUSINESS VIEW CARIBBEAN VOLUME 13, ISSUE 02 THOMPSON QUALITY HOMES
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