About Us

The West Tennessee Home Builder's Association is a proactive, not-for-profit trade association that unites all segments of the housing industry in Shelby, Tipton and Fayette Counties. Founded in 1944, the West Tennessee HBA serves its members and the community by promoting quality housing through education and professionalism.

The West Tennessee Home Builder's Association is the voice of the building industry, advancing home ownership through public policy, education, networking, professionalism and charitable giving in Shelby, Tipton and Fayette Counties.

West Tennessee HBA is the largest local home builders association in Tennessee and is affiliated with the Home Builders Association of Tennessee and the National Association of Home Builders. Wallace Johnson, a business associate of world renowned Holiday Inns founder Kemmons Wilson and a national housing figure in his own right, served as the first president of the association when it was founded in 1944. Over the years, the Home Builders Association has been led by a veritable "who’s who" of Memphians who have built new homes over the past 50 years. Included in this distinguished line of leaders is Kemmons Wilson, universally acclaimed as one of America’s all time greatest entrepreneurs, who served as West Tennessee HBA President in 1955.

In the fifty-plus years since its founding, the West Tennessee Home Builder's Association has changed its name, expanded its service area, seen membership numbers increase in good times and decrease in down times, moved and built an office and meeting center, seen fathers and sons serve as President of the association, and has constantly changed the range of services offered to both members and to the public. Through all the changes that have occurred over the past half-century, one constant has been an unwavering commitment by the association to serve the Memphis community. Members of the association have built a new dining hall for the Boys Club of Memphis, turned old railroad refrigerator cars into low income housing for MIFA, helped Habitat for Humanity and the Nehemiah Project build affordable homes, developed the first phase of Estival place, and have given a portion of the proceeds from the annual VESTA show and Home Expo to area charities.

Another example of this commitment is the Registered Builder Program. The Registered Builder program of the West Tennessee HBA is designed to distinguish those home builders in the Memphis area who have made a commitment to quality, excellence, and ethics. Registered Builders know that for most people a new home is far more than just shelter. A new home is the single largest investment they will make in their lifetime. One of their most important concerns when buying a new home is a sense of security that the home was built by a builder dedicated to maintaining the highest levels of quality and professionalism throughout the construction process.