Homebuilder builds on triumphant return

The recession, and the carnage it brought to the homebuilding industry, forced Jeff Eslinger to shutter his family-run new-home construction firm in 2009.

Founded in 1976 by Eslinger's father, D. James Eslinger, the firm, Eslinger Homes, built up to 60 houses a year in the Sarasota-Manatee region at its peak. Jeff Eslinger ran the business with two of his siblings for a time, until they decided to shut down when new-home sales tanked.

More than five years later, Eslinger, a past president of the Sarasota Homebuilders Association, is finally back in the business. He was recently named director of sales and marketing for the residential homebuilding division at Sarasota-based Jackson & Associates. The general contracting firm wants in on the current homebuilding market rebound.