Blog > Taylor Morrison leads most-trusted rankings for 11th year in 2026
For the past five-plus years up to this very day, an 800-lb gorilla takes a seat at the table at every meeting in every Taylor Morrison conference room in every one of the organization’s offices. From its Scottsdale, AZ headquarters, to its three national operating regions, to its divisional hubs in 20 markets across 12 states, to its sales centers in 345 actively selling neighborhoods, that gorilla is physically there in the room – in all of those meeting rooms involving Taylor Morrison’s 3,000 or so team members.
That 800-lb gorilla, in Taylor Morrison’s case, comes disguised as an 18-inch-or-so, impossible-not-to-love plush teddy bear.
“When we introduced our ‘love the customer’ initiative internally five years ago, what we did – I know this might sound silly – was to make sure this bear sits in all our conference rooms across the country,” Sheryl Palmer said. “We don’t want our folks to ever forget that the customer’s voice needs to be at the table, right? We can sit here and talk about the business and make financial decisions, and we always have to do it, underscored by an understanding of what our customers want. It’s a silly metaphor, but it’s a daily reminder for our teams.”
Ernest Hemingway is famously said to have said, “The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them.” Hemingway’s quote leans into the most important thing about trust, which is that its verb form, “to trust,” is essential to its meaning, period.
Trust: an action word
Trust isn’t a badge – like a Good Housekeeping seal – nor is it something that just happens. Trust is an active action in two directions, and it only comes when somebody clearly says what they’re going to do and clearly does what they say they’re going to do. Repeatedly. Reliably. Predictably. Without hesitation.
Earning evidence-based recognition as homebuilding’s “most trusted” organization once is an honor signaling a firm’s commitment and investment in standing out and standing for clearly saying what it will do and clearly doing what it says it’s going to do.
Earning that distinction 11 years running is something else altogether, echoing what homebuilding strategic legend Larry Webb would call a core operational driver for every firm that wants to succeed in homebuilding.
“You have to ask yourself, ‘Who are we, as a company?'” Webb would urge homebuilder peers. “And you have to ask yourself who you want to be.”
That 2026 marks the 11th consecutive year that Lifestory Research’s annual consumer-homebuyer-facing study concluded that Taylor Morrison ranks first among single-family homebuilders, offering an unequivocal answer to those two questions.
“This is no longer just a lucky streak,” Sheryl Palmer tells The Builder’s Daily. “This is part of who we are and our legacy. Eleven years is a long time. When I sent a video to my team on Tuesday morning to announce it, I emphasized how long 11 years is. Our kids start kindergarten and reach high school in 11 years. Think about all the high-tech fads that come and go in 11 years. It adds up to a long time. It has shifted from this honor alone to who we are and how we operate, enabling us to deliver results for our shareholders. And, if you don’t have this, I don’t think you can succeed financially. I think we start with who we are, how we interact, what matters to our customers and to us, what matters to the quality of our communities, and recognizing the impact we have on people’s lives. When they buy a home, it’s more than just an investment.”
Trustworthiness is never just a “how-we-got-here” steady state. For it’s always about continuing to practice and improve through homebuilding’s up-and-down cycles, through policy turbulence and uncertainty, and through the tightening squeeze of cost-of-living challenges.
“In good and bad markets, I think trust is something customers would strongly value in the organization, and it starts internally,” Palmer says. “It’s particularly important in a market where stress might run higher. Not everything goes as planned, but how we respect and trust each other is where it starts.”
Why Taylor Morrison’s 11-year streak matters now
In a market flooded with options and driven by pricing, incentives, and amenities, the Lifestory Research America’s Most Trusted® Home Builder Study centers trust as a differentiator that outlasts cycles. In 2026, Taylor Morrison achieved a Net Trust Quotient Score of 115.7—the highest ever for the brand, and the most elevated score across the entire homebuilding category.
Behind the number is more than sentiment. It reflects thousands of systems, behaviors, and choices made by team members every day. The company’s “Love the Customer” internal rallying cry continues to shape products, policies, and practices, helping it meet a rising bar of expectations from digitally fluent, trust-sensitive consumers and from among business and channel partners who gravitate to a “builder-of-choice.”
“Trust is just anchored in everything we do,” Palmer says. “Yes, it’s hard work, but I would suggest it’s how we operate. It’s truly the organization’s DNA. You’ve heard me talk about our No Asshole Rule and everyone’s important role within the organization. When that’s well respected, it becomes a natural habit for our customers.”
That kind of trust—inward and outward—has a direct business impact. This year, Taylor Morrison posted its highest year-over-year increase in trust scores, and its active adult brand, Esplanade, also rose in the rankings. The message? Trust compounds.
Operationalizing trust in a digital world
Palmer points to Taylor Morrison’s digital innovations—from reservation systems to AI-powered chatbots—as proof that trust and technology must evolve together.
“We’re building that trust with people through our website, through interactions, through phone calls,” she says. “A high percentage of buyers never visit a community in person before placing a deposit. So trust has to be there from the very first click.”
She describes how 40% of buyers make deposits online, and 40% of those have never physically stepped into a model home. That invisible decision-making arc—powered by consistent digital messaging, seamless customer service, and responsive tools—requires a deep commitment to data-informed empathy and clarity.
“We’ve trained our chatbot for over a year to answer questions not just about Taylor Morrison, but about communities, homebuying, neighborhoods—everything,” she says. “That’s where trust lives now too. In those moments. On that screen. In that tone of voice.”
Shared trust across the ecosystem
Trust, in Taylor Morrison’s case, is not something confined to sales, marketing, or even customer service. It’s embedded in land deals, construction scheduling, zoning conversations, and even investor communications. The company’s internal mantra—reflected in its customer teddy bear mascot—is that every decision, even the ones that seem operational or financial, must pass through the filter of “what does the customer need?”
That level of cultural integration isn’t accidental. It’s designed, upheld, and revisited.
“We spend a full day with our board on innovation and how it’s part of how we do business,” Palmer said. “But we’re not doing it just to check a box or say we use AI. We’re doing it to understand and respond to customer needs. All of those things—the research, the design, the care—build trust.”
A parallel lesson from Trilogy by Shea Homes
Taylor Morrison’s 11-year streak finds a kindred benchmark in Trilogy, Shea Homes’ resort lifestyle brand, which earned the top ranking in the Active Adult category for the 14th consecutive year. Its Net Trust Index score of 117.2 was the highest in the entire study, across all segments.
“It’s true that people don’t always remember what you said or did, but they remember how you made them feel,” said Trilogy President Jeff McQueen. “Our entire team leads with heart.”
Like Taylor Morrison, Trilogy has embedded empathy and consistency into every touchpoint in its build cycle—from web interactions to in-person experiences in its boutique and resort-scale communities. And like Taylor Morrison, they see trust not as a marketing message but as a way of doing business.
Trust as the ultimate long game
Taylor Morrison’s repeat distinction isn’t just about outperforming peers—it’s about embedding a customer-centric mindset deep into the operational core.
“There isn’t a descriptor I could want more than ‘our customers trust us,’” Palmer says. “That’s what matters to our team members. That’s what keeps us proud. And that’s what drives results.”
For homebuilding strategists watching these rankings from the sidelines, the message is clear: trust isn’t earned with slogans or surveys. It’s built by making hard decisions with customers in mind, by aligning internal cultures around mutual respect, and by adapting—thoughtfully and continually—to the changing ways people search for, buy, and live in homes.
Trust, in other words, is not a legacy. It’s a living strategy.