It is Adair Home’s privilege to help wonderful customers like Marla and Kevin Howell realize their dream of building a custom home. Our unique homebuilding process ensures that each of our homebuyers receives a tremendous value for every dollar they invest—making their completed home a very wise financial investment.
MARLA & KEVEN HOWELL'S DREAM HOME
Marla and Keven Howell chose the McKenzie plan and built their custom home with us last year.
The McKenzie plan is perfect for personalization. The size and shape of the kitchen, with a large peninsula counter, plentiful cabinets, and natural light, means every home cook is in heaven! The Howell’s choice of warm oak tones and ocean blues gave the space a simple, sweet farmhouse vibe that—along with crisp white woodwork—carried through the rest of the home. Additional custom touches like a sliding barn door into the second bathroom and the open beam-covered porch created a unique living space designed specifically for the Howell’s. When the project was completed, we asked them to share a little bit about their journey with Adair Homes.
Q. What made you decide to build with Adair Homes?
We had been looking at lots of plans and trying to find one with a large living room that opened into the dining room with the kitchen not seen when walking in the front door. We couldn’t find a floor plan we liked. A coworker of mine had recently built an Adair Home and recommended I look at the floor plans offered by Adair. When we saw the McKenzie it was exactly what we had been looking for.
Our home site is at the top of a hill with limited space and the McKenzie just fit perfectly. Our kids have grown up and moved out, so 1920 square feet is ideal for us and the company we have.
Q. What was your personal experience building a home with Adair?
Signing on with Adair was the best decision we could have made because of two unique situations.
The first was the Alameta fire that burned hundreds of homes, and the second was Covid and increased costs of building supplies. The local Adair office was flooded with requests to build homes because of the homes that were burnt in the fire and others like us wanting to build a new home. If we wouldn’t have signed on with Adair we would not have been able to build our home due to additional building supply costs and lack of subcontractor support.
Once we received our site approval and were put on the schedule, our home was built on schedule and within costs—which says a lot based on the unique time we were having a house built.
Our Construction Supervisor always answered my questions, almost always on the same day.
Q. What made you decide to build the McKenzie plan?
The floor plan, square footage, and flexibility to make changes.
We knew what we wanted and our Home Ownership Counselor quickly put it on paper and into reality. They even visited the site before we finalized the floor plan to ensure it would fit on the property because it is at the top of a hill.
Adair was also very helpful with helping us receive approval for a replacement home with the County.
Q. What is your favorite part of your Adair Home?
It is very open with the vaulted ceilings and the extra windows in the living room give a beautiful view of the valley, especially at night. The square footage is just the right amount for us plus the company. My wife even has a craft room out of the deal!
Q. Did you do any DIY projects on the build or take advantage of Adair’s Sweat Equity program?
I painted and trimmed the outside of the house and also built a gazebo off of the dining room atrium doors. It is rough-cut lumber and matches the roof line and asphalt shingles. I insulated, sheet rocked and painted the inside of the garage.
Q. Building a home is not an easy process, even with the help of the Adair team. What
advice do you have for others who are looking to build a home?
Spend the time knowing what options and special additions you want in your home before having the drawings sent for design and approval. If the house is in the country, have the site completely ready before starting the process (water, sewer, electrical, etc.)
I would also suggest asking the ProTeam for all of the available options. That will give you a good idea of what you do and do not want. I also believe understanding how a house is built is very helpful. I did construction in my earlier years, so I understood the process.
Q. If you had the chance to do it again, would you? Why/Why not?
We lived in our old home for 27 years and when we built this home, we said this would be the first and last. We had never built a home before so we planned it out in detail; that was a big investment in time. We put a lot of effort into making it what we wanted so it will be ours through the retirement years.
Q. Most Adair customers receive the keys to their new home with “move-in equity” What was your equity position at the time your home was completed?
We already owned the land and sold our house before building our new home. In the end, our new home cost less than what we sold our old home for, so it all worked out great. The price of the McKenzie was very reasonable, and we appreciated the locked-in price (regardless of what happens in the economy or building suppliers).
If I had built the house myself, or with a contractor, the house would have not been completed in our desired time frame due to the increase in building costs and the lack of subcontractors to do the work in a timely manner.
In our area, there are homes that started at the same time as ours and they are still not completed.
Q. Of all the things you personally did on your Adair Home build, what are you most proud of?
Painting the house turned out great even though it was a lot of work. I spent a lot of time caulking and painting the trim!
The End is Only the Beginning
Thank you to the Howell's, for entrusting their dream home to Adair. We love what we do!
Since 1969, Adair Homes has been building on-your-lot custom homes and changing lives in the West — one dream at a time. Over more than 50-year history, we've built more than 24,000 beautiful custom homes, each one portraying the unique personality of each family. Our work and guiding principles have made us the largest custom home builder in the region and earned us a highly regarded reputation established in honesty, integrity, and respect.
Adair Homes
Whether your land is located in a rural or urban area, our Home Ownership Counselors are proud to assist you on the path to building your dream home. We offer a wide variety of plans, a commitment to value, and guidance in the design process.
If you’re still in the early stages of the homebuilding process, we can help you find land and provide financial services through Adair Financial.
Stop looking and start building today by downloading our 2021 Floor Plan Catalog.
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