Page 20 - RE-NJ May 2020

18 MAY 2020
AT THE HELM
Amato, a second-generation homebuilder, faces new tests as Shore Builders Association leader
It was 2009, two years after Chris Amato had returned to his family’s homebuilding business, when
he was mulling the idea of joining the Shore Builders Association of Central New Jersey.
He asked his father’s advice, knowing the elder Amato, a former president of the New Jersey Realtors Association, knew the importance of trade organizations.
“He encouraged it, but with a smile,” the 41-year-old Amato recalled. “Or with a smirk, maybe.”
His father continued.
“He said, ‘You’re going to get involved and it will be very valuable to you, but it’s going to take a ton
of your time,’ ” Amato said. “And
it does ... but because I’m such an active participant, it really is very valuable to me personally, but also for my career and (the business) and some other development things that I’m working on as well.”
The younger Amato, now the CEO and president of CMM Custom Homes, is more just a satisfied member. A decade after joining the Shore Builders, he recently took the reins as president of the Lakewood- based trade association, providing
a leading voice for the region’s homebuilders while providing benefits to his own business.
He does so while guiding CMM Custom Homes as its second-
generation leader. The Wall Township-based company has grown steadily over the past decade and now has anywhere from eight to 12 projects in development at a given time, up from three to four around 2009.
Focused largely on the waterfront of Monmouth and Ocean counties, the firm’s homes range from $250,000 to $5 million in value, Amato said. And its clients have the added benefit of what’s known as CMM Service Plus, a business unit that helps maintain and does small projects at homes that the company has built.
But with the COVID-19 crisis now looming, Amato is also navigating those challenges for both CMM and
the Shore Builders, a chartered local chapter of the New Jersey Builders Association and the National Association of Home Builders. He recently noted that the 75-year-old organization, which serves 300 member companies in Monmouth, Middlesex, Mercer and Ocean counties, will be more important than ever during an unprecedented and difficult time for the industry.
“Your approach should be safety first, and production will fall in step,” Amato, who succeeded Michael Kokes as the board president, wrote in a recent message to the association. “We are working hard to ensure we are providing
the best information available to our members about how to operate safely, while also giving the financial and operational procedures coming from trusted sources like NAHB, NJBA, as well as our sponsors.”
Founded by Amato’s parents, Paul and Joyce, CMM Custom Homes has been serving the Jersey Shore since 1983. The younger Amato first joined the firm in 2003 and worked there for two years before moving to New York City to work for a renovation company and general contractor.
He returned to the family business in 2007, he said, before setting his sights on trade associations around two years later. Among them was the Shore Builders Association, which offered health care packages that would provide an opportunity to reduce his own expenses.
It was one of several reasons Amato felt compelled to join the organization by 2011, he said. After participating on committees and joining the board, Amato spent the past five years on the association’s officer ladder, rising to become president earlier this year.
He is quick to list the benefits: knowledge, professional relationships, access to architects
By Joshua Burd
Chris Amato, pictured at a construction site in Spring Lake, is CEO and president of CMM Custom Homes in Wall Township. He also recently took over as president of the Shore Builders Association of Central New Jersey.
Photo by Aaron Houston for Real Estate NJ