John Cannon collects cannons, but that wasn’t his idea. Clients began giving them to him as tokens of appreciation, turning his office into a lighthearted shrine to his surname.

Cannon and his wife, Phillipa, were newlyweds when they opened the business in 1987. She worked at a bank, while he persuaded a developer to finance his first model home because banks wouldn’t fund a speculative build. They sold that home in 1990 in Misty Creek, east of I-75 in Sarasota County.

Today, the company builds throughout Sarasota, Manatee and Charlotte counties, from master-planned communities and in-town lots to barrier islands.

“When we opened, we hoped to build more than just beautiful homes,” says Cannon, the company’s president and CEO. “We wanted to earn the trust of the community. What means the most to me is that, nearly 40 years later, locals still recognize the care our team brings to every home. That continued confidence is something I’ll never take for granted.”

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