Boom Brings Builder Back

New residential building permits have nearly tripled from a year ago in Sioux Falls and the number of closed home sales jumped 88 percent in the same time period. That's lead to a building boom in the area and one builder who left the area in tough times sees new opportunity. 

Daron and Nikki Petit of Legacy Homes moved their business a little more than a year ago. Before the move, they'd spent a decade in the Sioux Falls home building market. 

"We've kind of seen it all. We've watched it skyrocket. We were part of that and we watched it slow down and virtually come to a halt there for a while," Daron said.

The Petits took that as a sign to move back to the Black Hills where they were from to test the market there.

"Business is good, steady; but it's not booming," Daron said.

Daron didn't believe that the Sioux Falls building bust would last though.

"Especially a market like Sioux Falls, anytime it slows down that much, essentially what you're doing is creating a backlog.  You're not going to stop Sioux Falls from growing," Daron said.

And in the last few months the Petits have reconsidered their decision. 

"Watching the news, watching the market here, we just kind of put some feelers out when we heard how things were rolling here. Literally within a few days we had several hundred thousand dollars worth of work if we wanted it," Daron said.

And that demand was enough for them to bring their business back to Sioux Falls.

"We're very excited to come back to Sioux Falls and pick up where we left off and hopefully things will continue to grow the way they have been in the last year," Nikki said.

While the Petits have one new home project already in the work in Sioux Falls, they see the need for spec homes.  They're hoping that once they get settled back in the community they're able to help fulfill that need.