Forty Under 40: John R. Rausch

John Rausch grew up in Fort Smith doing the fun stuff of home building — framing and pouring concrete. He learned the trade from his grandfather, Buddy Coleman, who built his first house in 1955.

Coleman’s enterprise would eventually become re-organized by the two men in 1999 as Rausch Coleman Homes — three years before Rausch graduated from high school.

Rausch became increasingly more involved in the company’s operations while attending Southern Methodist University in Dallas, where he graduated in 2006 with a degree in real estate finance.

Since its founding, RCH has branched out from Fort Smith and added offices in Tulsa (1999), Fayetteville (2002), Oklahoma City (2004), Little Rock (2005) and Kansas City (2008).

To date, the company — which moved its headquarters from Fort Smith to Fayetteville in 2013 — has built more than 20,000 homes in four states, many of them first-time homeowners.

“We love being able to improve people’s lives and taking care of the customers that we have,” Rausch said.

RCH, which has about 175 employees, is annually ranked among the top 50 home builders in the country, and had $153 million in sales in 2014.

The company is currently pursuing expansion into Texas and Tennessee.

Rausch is a licensed pilot and an outdoorsman, and he is active at Springdale-based Cross Church.

He lives with his wife and two children in Lowell.