Frank J Scardina

Only a year after taking the post, Frank J. Scardina has resigned as president of Birtcher Homes. He will continue to work for the home builder as a consultant. "I felt that I could be as effective as a consultant as I could working full time," Scardina said. Scardina came to the newly founded Birtcher Homes, based in Laguna Niguel, a few months after leaving Kaufman & Broad Home Corp. to spend more time with his family.

Only a year after taking the post, Frank J. Scardina has resigned as president of Birtcher Homes. He will continue to work for the home builder as a consultant. "I felt that I could be as effective as a consultant as I could working full time," Scardina said. Scardina came to the newly founded Birtcher Homes, based in Laguna Niguel, a few months after leaving Kaufman & Broad Home Corp. to spend more time with his family.

BUILDING LEADERS 1995 Company Sales in millions *--* Rank 1995 Company 1995 1996 City, Key Officer Volume Projection 1 Kaufman & Broad Corp.* 432 ** Los Angeles, Bruce Karatz 2 Greystone Homes Inc. 293.9 ** Los Angeles, Jack R. Harter 3 Standard Pacific Corp. 266 ** Costa Mesa, Ronald R. Foell 4 Pardee Construction Co. 231 297.5 Los Angeles, David E. Landon 5 Lewis Homes Group of Companies 210.5 210 Upland, Richard A. Lewis 6 Centex Real Estate Corp.* 191 212.9 Corona, Larry B.

Kaufman & Broad Development Group, the West Los Angeles firm that claims to be the largest home builder in California, has split its Southern California housing operations into two independent divisions. The Northwest division will include Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties, while the Southeast division will encompass Riverside, Orange and North San Diego counties, according to Bruce Karatz, the firm's president. In 1984, the group's pretax profits rose to a record $30.

Chalk up a three-peat for a Westwood powerhouse. Nope, not UCLA, at least not yet. This winner is Kaufman & Broad Home Corp. The Southland's biggest home builder for the last two years has retained its No. 1 ranking in 1995 in The Times' 25th annual survey of residential building in Southern California. K&B built 2,722 single-family homes and apartments last year, more than twice as many as its closest competitor, and generated $432 million in revenue.

* Dick Sadai has been named vice president of global business development with Lynx Photonic Networks in Woodland Hills. Sadai joins Lynx after six years with Lucent Technologies. * Ray Pearl has been promoted to chief executive of the Building Industry Assn. of Southern California's Greater Los Angeles / Ventura County Chapter in Calabasas. He will oversee all chapter operations. The Building Assn. of Southern California is a nonprofit trade group representing home builders in six counties.

Birtcher, which got its start as a small, family-owned Santa Ana home builder and later became one of the largest commercial developers on the West Coast, has come full circle. The Laguna Niguel developer said Tuesday that it has named former Kaufman & Broad executive Frank J. Scardina to head its new home-building unit, marking its return to its origins.

For the fourth year in a row, Kaufman & Broad Home Corp. tops the list of largest Southland home builders, according to The Times' 26th annual Survey of Residential Building in Southern California. K&B built 2,173 single-family homes, 867 apartments and 134 condos in Southern California in 1996, generating $413.7 million in revenue.