'More Than Just Building Homes': Essayon Construction Group's Approach To Housing For All

After reaching a period of stabilization, the U.S. multifamily market is moving forward with cautious optimism. 

In Atlanta, one of the Sun Belt’s largest multifamily markets, the story mimics what’s happening on the national stage. 

After a wave of new units came online in the past five years, only about 16,800 apartment units are in the construction pipeline this year in Metro Atlanta. While this is on par with historical averages, it doesn’t quite keep up with the pace of previous years. Annually, rents rose 1.6%, underscoring that the market has leveled off. 

Although the market still faces some capital constraints and labor shortages in addition to stagnant rent growth and fewer deliveries, it is only headed up from here, said Israel Brown, CEO and founder of Marietta, Georgia-based Essayon Construction Group. 

“While the market isn’t making the same gains it did the past few years, overall, it’s faring well and proving to remain in a strong position moving forward,” Brown said. 

Essayon Construction is a veteran- and minority-owned general contractor and wood framing specialty contracting firm headquartered in the suburbs of Atlanta. Founded in 2012, the company works in the Atlanta area and greater Southeast across a variety of sectors, including multifamily, affordable housing, senior housing, hospitality and commercial. Essayon was even recognized in 2024 by Inc. magazine as one of the region’s fastest-growing private companies.

Under Brown’s leadership, construction means more than just building apartment units. It’s an opportunity to serve communities and give people homes where they can live comfortably and thrive, he said.  

“Affordable housing is more than just building homes for people,” Brown said. “Out of all the creatures that God created, the human is the only species that cannot survive without shelter. We must make shelter and housing affordable because nobody can survive without it. It's the greater need of all humans that we're trying to combat.”

This belief is Essayon’s guiding principle on each project. But while affordability and impact are two important factors in getting deals over the finish line, the financials — making sure the project can pencil — are equally important, Brown said.

“Even with affordable housing, there’s still a rate that has to be paid,” he said. “How do you build in a given place with land acquisition and construction costs, yet still make it affordable? That’s our starting point.” 

With that question in mind, Essayon applies a robust filter to each project before it’s pursued, Brown said. It begins by assessing the proposed timeline and budget, doing research into the client and evaluating the purpose of the proposed project.

Essayon puts a heavy emphasis on the preconstruction phase because, as Brown said, “Before you can eat the fish, you have to fall in love with cleaning it first.”

After the preconstruction phase, it’s all hands on deck to execute the project on time and on budget, Brown said.

Essayon’s projects are wide-ranging, from apartment complexes and hotels to student housing and mixed-use developments. One project the team recently completed was specialty framing work for Capstone Builders, Herndon Homes Phases 1 and 2 in Atlanta. 

Herndon Homes Phase 1 was a 91K SF affordable housing building for seniors, offering 97 one- and two-bedroom units. Herndon Homes Phase 2, slated to be completed this spring, is a 335K SF mid-rise building featuring 201 one-to-three-bedroom units. These developments were named in honor of Alonzo Franklin Herndon, Atlanta's first Black millionaire, Brown said. 

While the firm has worked on dozens of specialty wood framing projects, as well as many projects as general contractor, Brown said its expertise has led it to tackle a new challenge from a different angle: potentially becoming a developer.

“Our experience in general contracting and wood framing has pushed us more towards development,” he said. “As we’ve talked with city officials and housing personnel over the years, many of them want us to help build projects, but what they're really asking for is for a developer to help build.” 

Multifamily units, especially affordable ones, are in high demand, Brown said, especially with thousands of people moving to the Southeast every day. For Essayon, partnering and diving into development was the potential next step. 

Brown said a good subcontractor must have good relationships with general contractors. Likewise, a general contractor needs a good rapport with developers.

For a developer, the most important relationship is with lenders. But for a minority- and veteran-owner business, this ecosystem can look a little different, he said. 

“As a minority developer, there's not a lot of minority banks,” Brown said. “That’s not to say that you can't get money or lending from other places, but there's just not a lot of minority banks that are dedicated to lending to minorities. You have to be able to play within those lanes while also looking for opportunities to work with veterans and minorities.”

As it moves forward, Essayon wants to create economic opportunities for all, Brown said. 

Going back to Reconstruction, Brown said, minority groups often performed the trades, including carpentry and construction. As time went on, these communities shifted more toward knowledge-based work. Essayon is aiming to give these communities the opportunity to have a career in construction, but on both sides of the equation: labor and management.

“A lot of people don't believe that there is a real career for them in the construction space,” he said. “When they think about construction, they think about only the labor piece. But it’s a robust industry. We have a lot of opportunities in management, in marketing, accounting and business development.”

Brown said Essayon has a strong presence across Georgia and Alabama, but it has its sights set on the rest of the Southeast, including Tennessee and North and South Carolina — everything that touches Georgia.

“Growing wisely for us looks like not skipping a step,” he said. “Before we head elsewhere, we need to be able to build a bridge there. You always need a home base to launch and grow from. But no matter where our path leads us next, we will always place our trust in God to guide us in all of our ways.”

This article was produced in collaboration between Essayon Construction Group and Studio B. Bisnow news staff was not involved in the production of this content.

Studio B is Bisnow’s in-house content and design studio. To learn more about how Studio B can help your team, reach out to studio@bisnow.com.