Meet John Cook: Epcon Franchise Builder in Knoxville, Tennessee

John Cook, Epcon Franchise Builder and owner of Cook Bros. Homes embarked on his entrepreneurial journey with his brother in 2004. 

John’s Journey in Home Building

John and his brother started with remodeling, rentals and flipping homes. It wasn’t long before they obtained their contractor’s license and transitioned into home building.

“We just recently passed the 20-year mark. My brother is more involved in the construction aspect, and I’m more involved in the business aspect. We really got hurt, like every other builder in 2008‑2009, but we bounced back by 2014‑2015.”

By 2018, Cook Bros. Homes made a shift in their business to production building for the 55+ market. “We found a niche in doing more production 55‑plus building and moved away from the custom home business. We’ve been doing pure production since late 2018 and joined Epcon Communities.”

Discovering Epcon Franchising 

John’s path to becoming an Epcon Franchise Builder was sparked by a peer in a builder group. “One of the builders from Columbus suggested we look into Epcon. We started exploring Epcon ourselves, visited their headquarters and checked out their communities. It made sense for us and fit well with what we were doing.”

John noted that joining Epcon was a symbiotic relationship. “Prior to Epcon, we were building on scattered lots. The biggest learning curve with Epcon was land development. We had never done any development before. Epcon has been very helpful, and now, we’re working on our third community.”

Challenges in Home Building

John highlighted the current supply constraints as a massive challenge. “We’re seeing supply constraints across the board. It’s affecting our ability to close homes on time, and we have to communicate delays to our clients, which is demoralizing.”

For advice and overcoming challenges like supply constraints, John relies on Epcon’s network of builders and key advisors. “We’ve developed relationships with builders across the country. Surrounding ourselves with good advisors like financial advisors, accountants and attorneys has been crucial.”

Advice for New Epcon Franchise Builders

John emphasized the importance of understanding land development. “Development is completely different from building homes. Take your time to figure it out. Surround yourself with folks who have done it before and lean on Epcon’s resources and other experienced builders in the network.”

John’s experience with Epcon has been overwhelmingly positive. “Whenever we have a question, we get a straight answer. The network of Epcon builders is friendly and helpful, which is a key piece to the whole Epcon experience.”

To learn more about John, watch Finding Their Niche in the 55+ Market.

About Epcon

Headquartered in Dublin, Ohio, Epcon is a leading 55+ home building franchise in the United States. For more than 35 years, Epcon has integrated smart, innovative new home designs with the most desirable modern amenities popular with 55+ home buyers. A growing home building business or real estate development company can leverage Epcon Franchising’s proven home designs, technology, marketing and sales resources. Epcon Franchise Builders are given a competitive advantage to build smarter and scale faster in the 55+ home building market. Epcon is ranked on Builder 100 and Pro Builder Housing Giants as a top U.S. home builder and the Franchise Times Top 400 list, has ranked on Entrepreneur’s Franchise 500 and has won many awards from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). Learn more about what we offer.