Personality Plus

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.”