Most homebuilder rankings are self-reported closings or national estimates sliced by state. This one is measured: every building permit pulled by Arizona’s verified production-builder licenses over the trailing 12 months — 4,644 permits across 19 brands — counted from the public record, with where each builder is actually building.
Trailing 12 months, measured 2026-08-14 from live AZ permit records
PERMITS BY BUILDER · TRAILING 12 MONTHS · TOP 8
ARIZONA PRODUCTION BUILDERS · PERMITS LINKED TO VERIFIED ROC LICENSES · TRAILING 12 MO
| # | Builder | Permits | Jurisdictions | Declared value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Taylor Morrison | 925 | 7 | $107.1M |
| 2 | Pulte / Del Webb | 567 | 7 | $100.6M |
| 3 | Starlight Homes | 464 | 5 | $43.7M |
| 4 | Mattamy Homes | 437 | 7 | $26.0M |
| 5 | Lennar | 416 | 9 | $70.3M |
| 6 | Ashton Woods | 412 | 6 | $37.7M |
| 7 | Meritage Homes | 387 | 8 | $55.4M |
| 8 | D.R. Horton | 337 | 1 | $50.6M |
| 9 | Richmond American | 143 | 6 | $17.0M |
| 10 | Fulton Homes | 101 | 4 | $33.1M |
| 11 | Toll Brothers | 90 | 4 | $32.8M |
| 12 | Robson Ranch | 68 | 2 | $8.8M |
| 13 | LGI Homes | 67 | 3 | $3.6M |
| 14 | Beazer Homes | 66 | 5 | $13.6M |
| 15 | Century Communities | 57 | 2 | $16.2M |
How this ranking is measured
The count behind each builder is the number of building permits linked to that company’s verified Arizona ROC license numbers over the trailing 12 months, measured from the live statewide permit database. The roster is curated: 37 individually verified license numbers across 19 production-builder brands — builders run parallel entities and license classes, and permits land on any of them, so each brand’s licenses are grouped. Every underlying permit is a public record you can pull yourself.
Three honesty notes. First, these are floors — a permit that names a builder imprecisely enough that it can’t be confidently linked isn’t counted, so true volumes run somewhat higher. Second, permits are not closings: a permit is pulled at the start of construction, so this ranking measures who is STARTING homes, not who delivered them — which also makes it the earlier signal. Third, we deliberately publish no year-over-year growth numbers: several jurisdictions entered our coverage during the comparison window, and a growth figure would partly measure our coverage expansion rather than the market. The ranking window has full coverage.
The ranking
Taylor Morrison leads Arizona outright — 925 permits, 7 jurisdictions, $107M in declared valuation — with a footprint stretching from the West Valley through Pinal County. Pulte/Del Webb takes second on the strength of massive Buckeye activity (306 of its 567 permits) plus its Del Webb active-adult communities in Florence and Oro Valley.
The middle of the table tells an entry-level story: Starlight Homes (Ashton Woods’ entry brand) and Ashton Woods proper combine for 876 permits — which would rank second as one company — and Mattamy’s 437 keeps the value segment crowded. Lennar’s 416 spread across 9 jurisdictions is the widest geographic footprint in the ranking.
D.R. Horton is the concentration outlier: 337 permits in effectively a single jurisdiction — unincorporated Pinal County — where it builds through its DRH Phoenix Construction entity. The luxury and specialty tier (Toll Brothers, Robson Ranch’s active-adult communities, Fulton Homes) rounds out the table at meaningful but smaller volumes.
Where Arizona’s homes are actually being built
The geography is the study’s sharpest finding: unincorporated Pinal County is the state’s single busiest tract-building jurisdiction — 1,396 builder permits in 12 months, ahead of the City of Phoenix at 947. San Tan Valley, Coolidge-adjacent corridors, and the Maricopa–Casa Grande spine are absorbing the metro’s growth at scale.
The West Valley is the other engine: Buckeye (640) and Avondale (364) together exceed 1,000 builder permits, with Goodyear (175) behind them. On the Tucson side, unincorporated Pima County (367) carries most of the south’s production volume. For anyone selling into new construction — trades, suppliers, services — this list of places IS the target map.
What this means if you sell to builders
Every permit in this study carries a jobsite address, a builder entity, and a date — which means the ranking above is also a lead list. A supplier or subcontractor can watch these exact builders’ permits land daily, filtered to their trade and territory, and reach the site before the slab is poured. That’s the product this data comes from; the numbers here are simply its public-record layer, measured.
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Frequently asked questions
Who is the biggest homebuilder in Arizona?+
By building permits pulled over the trailing 12 months, Taylor Morrison — 925 permits across 7 Arizona jurisdictions, ahead of Pulte/Del Webb (567) and Starlight Homes (464). Measured from live public permit records, not self-reported closings.
How is this ranking different from other homebuilder lists?+
Most lists rank national closings or revenue. This one counts actual Arizona building permits linked to each builder’s verified ROC licenses — public records, measured directly, so it captures who is starting homes here right now.
Where are Arizona homebuilders building the most?+
Unincorporated Pinal County leads the state (1,396 builder permits in 12 months — more than Phoenix at 947), followed by Buckeye (640), Avondale (364), and unincorporated Pima County (367).
Why don’t you show year-over-year growth?+
Because several jurisdictions entered our coverage during the comparison window, a growth figure would partly measure our coverage expansion rather than the market. We publish only what the data cleanly supports; the ranking window has full coverage.
Are these numbers homes closed or homes started?+
Neither exactly — they’re permits pulled, the public record filed before construction begins. That makes this the earliest broad signal of builder activity, ahead of starts and closings.
Why might a builder’s true volume be higher?+
Counts are floors: only permits confidently linked to each builder’s verified license numbers are included. Permits filed under unlinked entities or without a named contractor aren’t counted.
Can I see the underlying permits?+
Yes — every permit is a public record. Search any builder on PlumbIntel’s free contractor lookup to see their license, permit history, and where they’re building.
How often is this updated?+
The study is refreshed quarterly against the live database; the measured-on date above always reflects the current numbers.
Chris Brannan· Founder, Plumb Intelligence
Founder of Plumb Intelligence. Building the honest layer over Arizona’s public construction records — permits, parcels, licenses, and sales, fused and measured daily from Gilbert, AZ.
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