In the past four to six weeks, several builders have pared their staff once again in the latest round of layoffs that started about 14 months ago.

Beazer Homes cut its staff nationally by 25 percent and that reduction was felt in its Las Vegas offices. Pageantry Homes and Woodside Homes also made cuts, said Dennis Smith, president of Home Builders Research. Richmond American Homes, Astoria, Centex, KB Home, Pulte Homes, Celebrate, Rhodes, Ryland, Distinctive, Engle, Meritage and Lennar have also recently cut staff.

Monica Caruso, spokeswoman for the Southern Nevada Home Builders Association, said she has heard of more layoffs in recent weeks.

"We are still coming down from the boom, and the numbers are slow," Caruso said. "It's just a function of the lack of sales activity."

The number of home closings are down 44 percent for the year. Permits are down 25 percent.

Builders have been tight-lipped about the details of cutbacks in their offices.

Smith said some area developers, title companies and lenders have made cuts as well.

"I had someone tell me ... they were referring to today (Nov. 30) as Black Friday," Smith says of First American Title.

What gets overlooked, Smith said, is the job losses in related industries, such as concrete, associated with homebuilding. The one industry not affected is appraisers. They are swamped, Smith said.

Staffing cuts at Toll Bros.: A November issue of Big Builder magazine that was placed on inside billboards at a housing conference last week in Las Vegas featured Gary Mayo, the group president in Nevada for Toll Bros. He says that since January, his staff has dropped from 348 to 174, a 50 percent reduction in three rounds of layoffs.

The layoffs are in line with the company's home closings in 2007, which are down about 50 percent from the 368 closed in 2006. The company indicates 2008 may even be bleaker.

"We won't cut back on the sticks and bricks, and the land cost is what it is, so the only area I can look at is doing it with few but better people," Mayo said.

Unlike most companies, Mayo said that rather than trim mid- or upper-level managers with heftier compensation, he's kept people who have been with him for 10 to 12 years. That method saves less money, but the managers have to juggle more responsibility with the cutbacks, he said.

"Land acquisition is almost nonexistent, but we have shifted their focus into production housing to preserve them," Mayo said. "I have vice presidents all the way up to division managers who are out in the field again — now running one, two or three communities as well as maintaining what their day job was before. It breeds loyalty with these guys. They know that as long as they are willing to take a step back, we're willing to continue to hold on to them."

Mayo said Toll Bros. is in a different position than most public builders. It uses incentives but won't sell homes at any cost.

"I do need to generate enough cash flow to pay the bills, but I don't need to do it at a loss. So you're going to see us with much less market share than we have had over the last 12 months ¦ and we are ready for that. When things pick up, I will just need to hire some construction managers, and I'll be ready to go again."

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