In this episode of Smith Lane, we’re joined by David Smith, President of the Active Adult Division, at Dream Finders Homes. Dream Finders, recently named Builder of the Year, is a national homebuilder head-quartered in Jacksonville, Florida, operating across various states and markets, including the Southeast, Mid-Atlantic, and Midwest. David shares his unique journey from law enforcement to leading one of the nation’s top homebuilding teams, and how that transition shaped his approach to building experiences.
We explore Reverie, the Dream Finders active adult brand, designed around the pillars of Connect, Explore, and Thrive and discuss how Reverie is building communities that exceed buyer expectations. From thoughtful kitchen and laundry room layouts to broader community planning, David walks us through the mindset of today’s active adult buyers — and the importance of delivering great homes at attainable prices.
Our conversation dives into how to create memorable, energetic spaces through intentional design and David’s fascination with emerging technologies in the homebuilding industry. We close the episode with book recommendations, including Unreasonable Hospitality and Extreme Ownership.
About David
Born and raised in Oxford, Ohio, David graduated Miami University in 1991. Following graduation, he moved to Atlanta, GA to work for the Secretary of State’s office. In his three years, he served as a Senior Special Assistant to the Secretary of State and as an Investigator for the Secretary of State’s office on white collar crimes and Internal Affairs matters. In 1993 David attended the Georgia Police Academy and became a certified police officer in the State.
In 1995, he resigned from his position with the state and moved to Florida where he worked with Lennar Homes as an Assistant Superintendent in Broward County. David worked his way through the ranks to Land Manager for the County, and after 5 years, moved over to Pulte Homes in 2001 in Jacksonville, FL as the VP of Land. By 2002 he was promoted to Jacksonville Division President. David was propelled into leadership roles and has held several positions for other builders since, such as AV Homes as a FL Regional President prior to their sale to Taylor and most recently with Dream Finders Homes for the last 7 + years.
Connect with David
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.