Product Profile: Toll Brothers

 

INDUSTRY

housing

Category

single-family home development

product Profiled

housing built and communities developed by Toll Brothers

 

H-Score

 

60

ranked 8th of 13 within the housing industry

ranked 20th of 76 overall

 

product description

 

Toll Brothers is a luxury home development company that ranks the 5th largest in the United States. Toll Brothers builds single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums, and both luxury rental apartments and student housing in 60+ markets across 24 states. Toll Brothers delivered over 10,000 new homes across 350 communities, at an average price of $924,000 in its 2022 fiscal year.(1)

 
 

who’s affected

 

Toll Brothers sells to home buyers of all types, but it is clearly aimed at the higher end of the market. Its average sales price of $924,000 puts it well above the median new US home sales price of $436,000.(2)

 
 

influence on health-related behaviors

 

EATING

slight positive influence

 

Proximity to grocery stores with healthy food options can positively influence eating habits. One metric of a neighborhood’s food environment is whether it is characterized by the USDA as “low access to food stores.”(3) In a sample of new Toll Brothers locations reviewed by Building H, 5% were in low-access neighborhoods.

 

opportunities:

  • Review the food environment – both access to fresh foods and prevalence of unhealthy food outlets – as part of the decision to build in a certain neighborhood. Use the potential of aggregated demand that a new development would create to encourage investment in local fresh food outlets like grocery stores.
  • Include raised beds for vegetable gardens as part of home landscaping design – or establish community gardens within the developments.
 
 

PHYSICAL ACTVITY

neutral influence

 

The walkability of a geographic location has an influence on the physical activity of its residents. In a sample of Toll Brothers locations reviewed by Building H, 3% were in neighborhoods rated as “Somewhat Walkable” and 3% were in neighborhoods rated as “very walkable” or better by Walk Score.(4) Ninety-five (95) percent of locations were in neighborhoods rated “car-dependent” by Walk Score and 30% scored 0 out of 100 on Walk Score’s scale. Mean Walk Score was 11.0; the median was 4.5. A higher Walk Score rating for a given neighborhood has been associated with increased physical activity among neighborhood residents.(5)

In a sample of Toll Brothers locations reviewed by Building H, 10% were in neighborhoods rated as “very bikeable” or better by Bike Score.(6) Five (5) percent were in neighborhoods rated “Bikeable.” Eighty-five (85) percent of locations were in neighborhoods rated “Somewhat Bikeable” by Bike Score defined as having minimal bike infrastructure. Mean Bike Score was 26.2; the median was 25.0.

Toll Brothers provides a number of amenities that facilitate physical activity in their communities.They offer fitness centers at 25% of a sample of housing communities reviewed by Building H, swimming pools at 53%, playgrounds at 42%, sports courts at 36% and walking trails at 47% of their communities.

 

opportunities:

  • Review the walkability, bikeability and access to transit of a neighborhood as part of the decision to build in a certain neighborhood. Use the potential of aggregated demand that a new development would create to advocate for and encourage investment in sidewalks and bike lanes, if not available.
  • Publish data on the walkability, bikeability, and access to transit of new developments.
  • Provide bike sharing and scooter sharing services at properties.
  • Provide amenities such as fitness centers, playgrounds, swimming pools, parks and walking paths at more of its developments.
 
 

Sleeping

neutral to slight negative influence

 

There is no indication that Toll Brothers does anything in the design of their properties to enhance their residents’ sleep experiences.

To the extent that Toll Brothers’s locations and property designs influence physical activity and time spent outdoors, they could indirectly influence sleep as both of those behaviors are positively correlated with better sleep.

opportunities:

  • Promote healthy circadian rhythms by:
    • designing for exposure to natural light through larger windows, skylights and solar tubes where possible
    • installing circadian LED lighting systems that adjust color temperature to mimic natural light throughout the day
  • Build in air quality monitors, as poor indoor air quality has been shown to influence sleep.(7)
  • Build in smart thermostats in order to optimize nighttime temperatures for better sleep.
  • Use soundproofing and other acoustic design techniques, such as sound-absorbing materials, to reduce noise that could interfere with sleep.
 
 

Engaging Socially

slight to moderate positive influence

 

In the sample of new Toll Brothers homes reviewed by Building H, approximately 45% featured front porches. Neighborhoods with high prevalences of design characteristics such as front porches have been associated with more frequent talk among neighbors.(8)

Toll Brothers offers amenities at many of its communities that can facilitate social interactions among its residents. These include clubhouses or other social gathering areas (in 39% of a sample of communities reviewed by Building H), outdoor grills (63%), playgrounds (42%), swimming pools (53%), sports courts (36%) and dog parks (19%).

 

opportunities:

  • Design new homes with front porches or other street-facing outdoor spaces that facilitate casual social interactions among neighbors.
  • Design new homes with open floor plans and gathering/entertaining interior and exterior spaces that facilitate socializing.
  • Offer indoor and outdoor common spaces – such as lounges, clubhouses, playgrounds, parks, swimming pools, sports fields/courts and outdoor cooking facilities – that facilitate both planned community events and casual social interactions among neighbors at more of its developments.
  • Engage with residents to understand social interests and develop social programming to foster social interaction and bonding over common interests.
  • Experiment with buddy programs, where longtime residents welcome new residents and help them get situated.
  • Developing in more walkable, bikeable neighborhoods would also facilitate social connection.
 
 

Getting Outdoors

slight positive influence

 

Neighborhood walkability is a key driver of spending time outdoors. The walkability of Toll Brothers’s locations (discussed above in physical activity) has an influence on how much time its residents spend outdoors.

Access to public parks can also encourage people to go outdoors. In the sample of new Toll Brothers homes reviewed by Building H, 27.5% were within a 10-minute walk from a public park.(9)

The natural environment around one’s home can influence how much time people spend outdoors. In the sample of Toll Brothers locations reviewed by Building H, 93% were rated “Nature Rich” or “Nature Utopia” by NatureQuant, an organization that characterizes the natural environment around any location.(10) Only 5% of Toll Brothers’ locations were rated “Nature Light” or “Nature Deficient.” Mean NatureScore was 82.2; the median score 91.1. A higher NatureScore for a given neighborhood has not been directly correlated with more time spent outdoors by its residents, but it has been correlated with many improvements in health outcomes that are consistent with more time spent in nature.(11)

Toll Brothers offers a number of amenities that can facilitate outdoor activities. These include playgrounds (in 42% of a sample of communities reviewed by Building H), parks (53%), outdoor grills (63%), sports courts (36%), walking trails (47%) and dog parks (19%).

Toll Brothers noted in its inaugural ESG report that it built 28 parks and 83 miles of walking/biking trails in 2022.(12)

 

opportunities:

  • Pursue opportunities noted above related to neighborhood walkability, bikeability and access to transit.
  • Pursue opportunities noted above related to outdoor amenities such as playgrounds, community gardens and walking paths.
 
 
 

Notes

 

  1. Toll Brothers. Company Overview. April 30, 2023.

  2. US Census Bureau. Monthly New Residential Sales, July 2023.

  3. The “low-access to food” designation means that a significant portion of residents of the Census tract are more than one mile (if urban) or more than 10 miles (if rural) from the nearest supermarket or large grocery store. See U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service. Food Access Research Atlas: Measuring Access to Food.

  4. Walk Score is a methodology for assessing the walkability of a location, using a proprietary algorithm that factors in walking proximity to amenities and pedestrian friendliness. Walk Score is based on a scale of 0-100. Locations scoring 49 or under are considered “car-dependent;” Locations scoring 70 or more are rated “very walkable.” Those scoring 90 and above are labeled “walker’s paradise.” See https://www.walkscore.com/methodology.shtml for more on the Walk Score methodology.

  5. Erica Twardzik et al. Walk Score and objectively measured physical activity within a national cohort. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. Volume 73, Issue 6 (June 2019), pp. 549-556.

  6. Walk Score is a methodology for assessing the walkability of a location, using a proprietary algorithm that factors in walking proximity to amenities and pedestrian friendliness. Walk Score is based on a scale of 0-100. Locations scoring 49 or under are considered “car-dependent;” Locations scoring 70 or more are rated “very walkable.” Those scoring 90 and above are labeled “walker’s paradise.” See https://www.walkscore.com/methodology.shtml for more on the Walk Score methodology.

  7. Jianhong Liu et al. Air pollution exposure and adverse sleep health across the life course: A systematic review. Environmental Pollution. Volume 262 (July 2020).

  8. Carrie LeVan. Neighborhoods That Matter: How Place and People Affect Political Participation. American Politics Research. Volume 48, Issue 2 (2020), pp. 286–294.

  9. Based on a geographical analysis using ParkServe, a tool provided by the Trust for Public Land.

  10. NatureScore is a methodology for measuring the amount and quality of natural elements of any location developed by NatureQuant. NatureScores are on a 0-100 scale and are translated to descriptive assessments using the following code: 0-19.9: “Nature Deficient”; 20-39.9: “Nature Light”; 40-59.9: “Nature Adequate”; 60-79.9: “Nature Rich”; 80-100: “Nature Utopia.” See  Delivering Technology to Assess and Promote Nature Exposure. NatureQuant White Paper. 2020.

  11. NatureQuant (2020).

  12. Toll Brothers. ESG Report. Toll Brothers website, accessed November 21, 2023.