1.   New loans now typically come from large Wall Street investment houses and real estate investment trusts that favor large builders.

2.   Another large builder active in the area is Island Estates of Ronkonkoma.

3.   Large builders offer benefits to spur business while others simply wait out the slow periods.

4.   Large publicly held builders are under pressure to find lower-cost land to continue to produce increased earnings and revenue.

5.   Phoenix also has more large publicly traded builders, which must produce returns for shareholders, than any other area in the country, he said.

6.   Some big service providers, like SBC Communications, US West, and Cox Communications, are seeking large builders and developers to wire planned communities.

7.   The community groups ended up working with small contractors, who often lost out to large builders on workers and materials.