Career Path Of A Forward Planner At D.R. Horton

Avery's career path started with an agricultural business degree at Cal Poly, but a childhood fascination with home building, spurred by their father's work, led them to pursue a real estate property development minor and internships at Meritage Homes and Brand on Development. This experience culminated in Avery's current role at D.R. Horton as a Forward Planner, where they now focus on "the front end of development," encompassing land acquisition and entitlements.

Career Exploration, Real Estate, Home Building, Land Acquisition, Entitlements

Advizer Information

Name

Job Title

Company

Undergrad

Grad Programs

Majors

Industries

Job Functions

Traits

Avery Jones

Forward Planner

D.R. Horton

California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo

Environmental & Related Sciences

Real Estate

Took Out Loans, Greek Life Member

Video Highlights

1. Avery's career path demonstrates that a background in agricultural business can be a valuable asset in the real estate and home building industry.

2. Avery's internships at Meritage Homes and Brand on Development provided her with practical experience in home building before she started her career at D.R. Horton.

3. Avery's current role involves the front end of development, including land acquisition and entitlements, showing the diverse aspects of a career in forward planning for home builders.

Transcript

Could you walk me through your career path, starting with your experiences in college? Please include any internships or jobs you had before your current role.

Yes. I studied agricultural business at Cal Poly. I loved the major; I always say it was really just like getting a business degree with an agricultural focus.

I learned finance, accounting, and business management. However, by my sophomore year, I knew that wasn't totally what I wanted to do for my career. They suggested many sales roles, and I didn't see myself in sales.

I thought about what I wanted to do for my future career. My dad was in home building, and I remembered how he used to take us to model homes and half-finished job sites to see the framing of the homes. I really liked it, so I decided to explore it more.

Cal Poly has a real estate property development minor, so I started that in my sophomore year to get some school experience. For my internships, I worked for home builders. I interned at Meritage Homes, a large public builder, and then worked at Brand on Development, a small private builder in the East Bay.

After college, I started at D.R. Horton in 2020 as an Assistant Forward Planner. After a year, I was promoted to a Forward Planning position. I still have forward planning tasks, but more recently, I've been in an entitlements and land acquisition role.

Even though my job title is Forward Planner, I usually say I work on the front end of development. My role involves anything from purchasing land to getting it entitled to managing a project.

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