Then & Now: Rausch sells home business, launches real estate company

On Feb. 7, John Rausch, chairman and CEO of Rausch Companies, rang the bell on the New York Stock Exchange floor. The bucket list moment, shared with his family, including his grandfather, Buddy Coleman, marked the sale of Rausch’s company, Fayetteville-based Rausch Coleman Homes.

It was the nation’s 21st largest homebuilder, building 5,000 homes a year in seven states. The company sold for more than $1 billion to Lennar Corp., the second-largest homebuilder in the country.

Coleman, now 88, built his first house in 1955 when he was 19. As a kid, Rausch went with him to business meetings, and as a teenager, they started Rausch Coleman Homes. “My grandfather built his first home when he was 19, and I built my first home when I was 18, so getting one year ahead of him was always fun,” Rausch said.

From his grandfather, Rausch learned work ethic, how to treat people, and observed “his passion for improving people’s lives and giving them an opportunity to better themselves.”

Rausch graduated from Southern Methodist University with a real estate finance degree in 2006 and became chairman and CEO the same year. The recession that followed was challenging but shaped Rausch’s business mindset and “how we invest and operate today.”

Self-described as “loving people, driven and competitive,” Rausch, 40, was named to the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal’s Forty Under 40 class in 2015 when he was 30.

He said the key to his success has been staying true to the company’s mission of “improving the quality of life one home at a time and honoring God through our commitment to integrity and excellence and how we build our company and the future.”

Rausch studied the examples of faith-based companies like Hobby Lobby and Chick-fil-A in building the culture at Rausch Coleman.

“What drives me is seeing our people flourish” in the culture he created. He is motivated by “creating great businesses and giving platforms for people to grow beyond what they ever thought they would.”

“I’d say our faith is paramount to everything we’ve created,” Rausch said. “We give God the glory for the things that we’ve been able to do and go through. The major thing that drives us is the impact we can have on people through Christ. And so, our faith has really been our north star in how we’ve operated our companies. Our main things are God, people and excellence.”

Seeing the sale of the company as “a launching pad,” Rausch started a new company, The Calara Group, a real estate development company focused on large-scale development of single-family and multifamily homes and commercial development.

“We will continue to build out and develop communities for Lennar as well as other builder partners, doing more large-scale master plan communities where we’re able to tackle different price points, different areas — not only single family — but different areas within the residential realm, as well as commercial,” he said. “We’ve got strong roots in real estate and home building,” and so the plan is to continue to focus on “being part of building the American dream.”

Rausch Companies also consists of four other companies: American Residential Group, a single-family home rental company; ADG, an excavation and site work contractor; LTS Engineering; and Energy Works, an oil and gas exploration company.

Rausch is also planning to start a charitable foundation, the Rausch Family Foundation within the next 12 months. “When we do good in our business, we’re able to help other people by giving to our communities or our churches,” Rausch said. While the foundation is in the early stages of development, it will work on “ways we can improve people’s lives.” Rausch supports the Northwest Arkansas Children’s Shelter, and the foundation “will have some focus on children and being able to help those who can’t help themselves yet.”

Rausch and wife, Ashley, have three children and are members at Cross Church Springdale. Rausch is on the board of the Fort Smith Boys and Girls Club. He coaches his three children in their sports, and the family enjoys summer vacations “out West” in their RV. Rausch also enjoys duck and quail hunting.