HORSHAM, Pa., Dec. 20, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- Toll Brothers, Inc. (NYSE:TOL) (www.tollbrothers.com), the nation's leading builder of luxury homes, was recently named a big winner in the 5th Annual International iNova Awards. The competition honors excellence in corporate Web sites. Toll Brothers' DesignYourOwnHome.com Web site won first the Gold, then the Grand Award; the Company also won Honors Awards for their HudsonTea.com and TollCareerCenter.com sites. All awards were in the Marketing category.
DesignYourOwnHome.com allows prospective buyers to customize a home by choosing from among a popular set of options. Users can select homes from a wide variety of models in single-family and age-qualified luxury home communities in 21 states. They can choose by the number of bedrooms, baths and garages, as well as by square footage; then narrow the search by community location. Users can select from a list of hundreds of options that include a guest suite, sunroom, conservatory, atrium, bay windows, ultra shower, coffered ceiling, ceiling fan receptacles, recessed lighting, speakers, the number and location of cable television, phone and data jacks, and more. As options are selected, the floorplan of the home changes to reflect that option.
Hudson Tea, presented by Toll Brothers City Living, is a spectacular waterfront residence on Hoboken Cove in Hoboken, New Jersey. This distinctive landmark, the historic original headquarters of the Lipton Tea Company, offers gracious, loft-style living; breathtaking, panoramic views of Manhattan and the Hudson River; and world-class amenities. Hudson Tea is set on 16 acres of beautifully landscaped grounds and gardens at one of the finest locations on New Jersey's Gold Coast.
The Toll Career Center allows candidates to post resumes and create a Job Search Agent using criteria that includes desired locations, category and keywords. Even if the ideal position isn't immediately found, the Agent will complete a thorough search each time a new position occurs -- comparing skills with job requirements. Then, when a match is found, the candidate's profile will be given directly to the appropriate hiring manager, who notifies the candidate by email immediately. "We've had a tremendous response to the Toll Career Center," said Jon Downs, Vice President of Human Resources. "The site is drawing excellent candidates from a wide range of fields." Approximately 40% of new hires come through TollCareerCenter.com, which offers employee bios and a wide range of information on everything from employee perks and discounts to savings plans and medical benefits.
According to MerComm, Inc., Sponsor of the iNova International Awards, over 260 entries were received from 10 countries. Web sites are evaluated for content, design and technology in a painstaking process that began with preliminary judging by over 40 Web developers, designers, site builders, and interactive media specialists.
"This wonderful award is the result of a lot of hard work by my entire team," said Michael Klouda, Internet Manager. "Their creative vision, innovative thinking and commitment to excellence is evident in everything we do -- they've made Design Your Own Home a very useful tool for our customers and our employees." DesignYourOwnHome.com, which has already won numerous awards, is used extensively by customers, Toll Brothers employees, architects and vendors.
Toll Brothers, Inc. is the nation's leading builder of luxury homes. The Company began business in 1967 and became a public company in 1986. Its common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and the Pacific Exchange under the symbol "TOL". The Company serves move-up, empty-nester, active-adult and second-home home buyers and operates in 21 states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia.
Toll Brothers builds luxury single-family detached and attached home communities, master planned luxury residential resort-style golf communities and urban low-, mid- and high-rise communities, principally on land it develops and improves. The Company operates its own architectural, engineering, mortgage, title, land development and land sale, golf course development and management, home security, landscape, cable T.V. and broadband Internet delivery subsidiaries. The Company also operates its own lumber distribution, and house component assembly and manufacturing operations.
Toll Brothers, a FORTUNE 500 Company, is the only publicly traded national home building company to have won all three of the industry's highest honors: America's Best Builder from the National Association of Home Builders, the National Housing Quality Award and Builder of the Year. Toll Brothers proudly supports the communities in which it builds; among other philanthropic pursuits, the Company now sponsors the Toll Brothers - Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network, bringing opera to neighborhoods throughout the world. For more information, visit tollbrothers.com.
Certain information included herein and in other Company reports, SEC filings, statements and presentations is forward-looking within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including, but not limited to, statements concerning anticipated operating results, financial resources, changes in revenues, changes in profitability, interest expense, growth and expansion, anticipated income from joint ventures and the Toll Brothers Realty Trusts Group, the ability to acquire land, the ability to secure governmental approvals and the ability to open new communities, the ability to sell homes and properties, the ability to deliver homes from backlog, the average delivered price of homes, the ability to secure materials and subcontractors, the ability to maintain the liquidity and capital necessary to expand and take advantage of future opportunities, and stock market valuations. Such forward-looking information involves important risks and uncertainties that could significantly affect actual results and cause them to differ materially from expectations expressed herein and in other Company reports, SEC filings, statements and presentations. These risks and uncertainties include local, regional and national economic conditions, the demand for homes, domestic and international political events, uncertainties created by terrorist attacks, the effects of governmental regulation, the competitive environment in which the Company operates, fluctuations in interest rates, changes in home prices, the availability and cost of land for future growth, the availability of capital, uncertainties and fluctuations in capital and securities markets, changes in tax laws and their interpretation, legal proceedings, the availability of adequate insurance at reasonable cost, the ability of customers to finance the purchase of homes, the availability and cost of labor and materials, and weather conditions.