Personality Plus

When homeowners can walk into their new home and feel a deep connection with it each time, they know they have created a space that addresses their needs on both a physical and emotional level. Such nirvana, however, can only be achieved through finding the right builder, researching styles, and opening the lines of communication. Without a good relationship, many things in the process could start to unravel.

“The spaces that people spend time in are very important to their lives,” says Mark Youngdahl, CEO of Senn & Youngdahl, a homebuilding firm based in Stillwater. “Whether you call it charm, warmth, or personality, our surroundings influence our lives.”

We talked with four homeowners to see how they chose their builders and worked with them to develop a home that truly reflects their personal styles.

Finding a Builder through His Work
Even though they weren’t in the market for a new home, Dana and Joel Campbell were out enjoying the Parade of Homes^SM in the late 1990s when they came across a Senn & Youngdahl home. “We immediately liked it. It was well thought out,” Dana Campbell recalls. “We became groupies. Every year we would search out Senn & Youngdahl homes.” The Campbells have since hired Senn & Youngdahl to build two homes. “I never thought we would build. I had heard such horror stories,” Dana says. “I used to think: ‘Why would I put myself through that?’” Now they think differently.

Once the Campbells sat down with Mark Youngdahl and discussed the possibility of building a home, they knew Senn & Youngdahl was the builder for them, not only because they loved the builder’s quality and style, but also because they trusted the company. The first of the Campbells’ two Senn & Youngdahl homes was built in Stillwater’s Liberty on the Lake development. After living in that home for a few years, the Campbells decided they wanted a larger lot for their growing children, but they also wanted to stay in the Stillwater school district and in a Senn & Youngdahl home. Their wishes were granted when they heard that the builder was investigating land in nearby Lake Elmo in the Tapestry at Charlotte’s Grove development, where they now live.

During the building process, Dana says because she and Joel were so impressed with the builder’s homes, they trusted Youngdahl and his team to brainstorm and suggest different options. For example, Dana says she was unsure whether she wanted her kitchen cupboards flush with the ceiling, and if so, how that would blend with the woodwork. “They actually came up with three different designs,” she says. “The whole house was really a collaborative effort.”

The Campbells also found that doing their own research and speaking up when something was not quite right were also paramount in achieving personality in their new home. “Don’t leave it all up to the builder,” Dana says. “Come in with pictures and descriptions of what it is you are looking for.”

The sheer number of selections involved when building was one of the biggest surprises for Dana, but she didn’t let it overwhelm her. “Until you build, you just don’t realize how much thought goes into an outlet,” she says.

The Campbells’ current farmhouse-style home not only reflects the family’s rural roots, but it also blends with the lot’s natural surroundings. “We wanted a feeling of the outside and inside flowing together,” Dana notes. “My favorite element of the home is the screened-in porch with French doors off the kitchen. In the summer and spring, I can have the doors open and have a fresh flow of air through the house.” They also put on a metal roof and installed quarter-sawn oak cabinets in the kitchen to retain a rural feel.

Youngdahl also knew that the Campbells were a good fit with his company soon after he met them. “They liked the simplicity and cleanness of our work,” he says. Furthermore, what the Campbells sought in a home was a perfect match for Senn & Youngdahl’s building style. “That provides for a wonderful experience, and a lot of value is created in the process,” Youngdahl says. Building Up
Pete and Deb Mergens also found their builder, McDonald Construction of Apple Valley, while visiting the Parade of Homes^SM. The Mergens family had already zeroed in on Northfield as their next place to live, so they looked at a variety of homes by a number of different builders. “We looked at models, and what an amazing difference,” Pete Mergens says. “The prices were the same, but McDonald had a high-end finish.”

The Mergenses’ home in the Charles Ridge development in Northfield is the third home Pete and Deb have built and the second home McDonald has built for them. Each time they traded up. Pete says that now that he has lived in two McDonald-built homes, he knows that quality is a driving force in the firm’s building methods. “For instance, McDonald uses finger-jointed construction lumber,” Pete says. “It makes for a very strong and straight wall.” And, as Pete notes, the walls provide the foundation for everything else, even personality.

How McDonald and its subcontractors handled adversity was a pleasant surprise for the Mergenses. “I understand new construction is not a perfect process,” Pete says. “We didn’t have a lot of issues, but when something was missed or not done as we had wanted, the subcontractors just said ‘OK’ and did it. There was never a question about whose responsibility it was. Those conversations never took place.” Pete believes that McDonald’s longstanding relationship with its subcontractors is the reason the process progressed so smoothly.

The first home McDonald built for the Mergens family was a custom rambler. “We loved it, but once we were in it, we wondered if we had looked at all the options,” Pete says. “The second time, we literally started from scratch.” The family’s second McDonald home is a modified two-story with a main-floor owners’ suite. “We took the best from the first home we ever built and the rambler, and we started drawing a house plan on a blank sheet of paper. It was awesome,” Pete says. Because they started the building process from scratch, Pete says, “I now walk into my home and think, ‘I’ve never seen this exact house anywhere else.’ I’m a realtor, and I’ve seen many homes.”

The great room’s unique triangular design, which includes a two-story fireplace and two-story windows, fits the family perfectly. “You can sit in each room—kitchen, dining area, family room—and have a feeling of privacy, yet it is very open,” Pete says. “We love to cook. We love to entertain, and we love to spend a lot of time at home. We wanted a place to hang out. It’s nice to be home.”

Building a relationship is as important as building a home, says Bill Winter, production manager on both of the Mergenses’ homes. “The relationship the homeowners built with the company was critical, and it’s the reason they came back a second time,” Winter says. Listening is an essential part of that process. Not only does it help build the relationship, but it also helps ensure that the homeowners’ personalities will match that of their new home. Trusting the Name
Alli and David Reynolds found their builder, Bacchus Homes in Maplewood, through their realtor. “We originally wanted to purchase an existing house,” Alli Reynolds explains. “We found our perfect house in the Parade of Homes^SM, but it was about 1,000 square feet too big.” Randy Bacchus, owner of the third-generation, family-owned company, and his architect sat down with the Reynoldses to see if one of the firm’s available lots would work and whether Alli and David’s vision fit with Bacchus Homes. “I knew the Bacchus name,” Alli Reynolds says. “Randy asked us a lot of questions about what was important to us. He didn’t want to take the project on if it wasn’t going to be a good fit. I trusted the name. I trusted him.”

That trust was very important to the Reynoldses, who had a poor prior building experience with a different builder. They wanted assurance that this time their builder wasn’t going to build and then abandon the project, leaving the homeowners with unresolved issues. “When there was a problem, Randy always came up with a solution or multiple solutions,” Alli notes. For example, after Alli and David had signed off on their cabinet selection, they realized the microwave was hung too high. “I couldn’t even reach it,” Alli says. “Randy asked the cabinetmakers to come up with a solution. He could have said, ‘You signed off on the plans, so this is what you get.’ Instead, he worked with us and the cabinetmakers.”

Flexibility was also important to the young family, whose new home is in the Hidden Hills Preserve in Hugo. “We were in the middle of selling another home,” Alli says. “When we started the project, we thought we would sell our other house quickly.” When the Reynoldses realized, however, that their old home wasn’t going to sell prior to the original completion date, Bacchus Homes pulled contractors from the project and put them on another for as long as he could. “This enabled us to buy some time to sell the old house,” she adds.

People who are thinking about building need to have a clear idea of what they like, whether that’s a style or a color scheme, Alli advises, because the builder and designers need a solid foundation to build upon. “My kitchen and great room are the epicenter of our home” and are full of personality, she says. “They’re warm, inviting, and rich, with lots of wood. It’s where we hang out.”

Designers are a good liaison who can help builders and homeowners bring personality into the home, Bacchus says. They speak the language of both the homeowner and the builder, and communication is key to producing a home with personality. “A builder needs to set the communication level so that everyone is on the same plane,” Bacchus says. Looking for Integrity
Tim and Valerie McKee fell in love with a tract of land and then put the builder through his paces. “We first found the development we liked, Wild Meadows in Medina,” Tim McKee says. “There were four or five lots, and each was controlled by a different builder.” Water Street Homes in Excelsior was assigned to that lot and had planned a spec home for it. The McKees, however, had their own vision. When they first met with Rick Carlson, owner of Water Street Homes, they discussed their dream home, and both sides determined that the McKees’ home concept was a fit for the builder.

After that conversation, the McKees began checking references and looking at homes built by Water Street. “One of our dearest friends had known Rick for fifteen years,” Tim says. “Rick had built and remodeled their home. Our friend and Rick were also Bible study coaches for kids, so we knew of him in ways not related to the industry.”

But the McKees still asked many questions. “We had three or four meetings for a total of five hours to get a feel for Rick’s style,” Tim recalls. “That’s important, too. You need to connect on an artistic level when making a decision about a homebuilder. If we hadn’t liked the builder, we would have given up the lot and approached the other builders in Wild Meadows.”

Today, the McKees are fully satisfied with their new residence, an old-style Italian countryside home. “We wanted something rustic and rugged, even kind of masculine,” Tim says. “It came out just the way we envisioned it.”

Tim also acknowledges that the process of melding a family’s personality with the home is not easy for everyone to comprehend. “It’s a function of the connection between the homebuilder and the client. There has to be a personal, almost spiritual, connection between the builder and homeowner,” Tim notes. “My wife and Rick connected. They had the same vision for the home. At times, I didn’t even get it.” Because of that, Tim says Valerie made the bulk of the decisions.

What many homeowners don’t know is that when they are interviewing the builder, the builder is also interviewing them. “When you build five or so expensive homes a year like I do, you can’t afford to have a bad client, just like they can’t afford to have a bad builder,” Carlson says.

When trying to achieve personality in a home, Carlson advises that builders and subcontractors should keep in mind that “expensive” is a relative term. “What may be expensive to you or me may not be expensive to the client because they value it,” he says. “And only invite a limited number of opinions: owner, builder, architect, and/or designer. Too many opinions can lead to indecision and a lack of continuity. For a home to have personality, it generally means there is continuity.”

Questions to Ask Your Builder To fully understand the process and to determine if you’re going to be a good fit, consider asking these questions when meeting with a prospective homebuilder: 1. What are you good at doing? 2. How do you create value as a building company? 3. What standards do you hold your subcontractors to? 4. How long have your subcontractors worked for you? 5. Do you use the same subcontractors when you build a $200,000 home as you do when you build a $1 million home? 6. How are your subcontractors paid? 7. How do you collect lien waivers? 8. Can I review the contracts you use? 9. How long has your company been in business? 10. What is your standing with the Better Business Bureau? 11. Can you provide ten to twenty references? (Anyone can satisfy three customers; you want a builder who satisfies them all.) 12. Can I see several of the homes you’ve built? 13. What quality of products do you use on the hidden features of your homes, such as insulation, electrical elements, and wall materials? 14. How flexible are you with your schedule in regard to the closing and choosing selections? 15. What happens if we make a wrong decision or selection and decide we want to change it?