There are times that I have to pinch myself at the way things seem to fall into place. When I first got into business for myself I was 23 years old and I couldn’t possibly imagine what I didn’t know and how even what I knew or thought I knew would change even more radically than construction science has over the last almost 2 decades (my gosh I sound old). When I first started, the idea of passing on a job or admitting something wasn’t what I, or the company did well was scary and therefore avoided at all cost. Now it seems like a huge relief to do what I know and understand and do it well. I am so excited to be growing as a company, from Jason Gaines who I have mentioned in the past to a new bookkeeper who has assured me she will keep me from pulling my now graying hair out and that would be amazing.
In the last month or so here is a little snap shot of what has been going on.
We have started construction on 2 of the 7 houses we are going to build in a subdivision in Oregon City called Toman Heights. This is an exciting project in which we are working in conjunction with an awesome marketing team to build out a great subdivision for an investment group.
Toman Heights, Oregon City, OR
This week we are wrapping up a home in SE Portland off of SE 53rd just north of Powell for another investor and it has been an amazing and smooth relationship (other than a little delay by PGE, not that we are into blame over here). In fact it went so well that we are finalizing the particulars to build this person 2 more homes in the next couple of months.
We are also preparing to start two more homes in Oregon City off of Maple Lane. These two homes will be a lot of fun and again we are getting to build with an investor we have never previously built with.
But wait, there is more! This week we will also be submitting permits on a presold home that we will be building for a great couple in Milwaukie. This house has been a lot of fun to design and work through particulars with these enthusiastic buyers. We have also had the privilege of working with Hedley Zeller with Alpine Mortgage for the first time. What a rock star. She has her ducks in a row and is a bulldog when it comes to helping her client.
We also just signed contracts on another presale in Hillsboro, the lot is right in the heart of downtown. This couple is going to be a blast to work with. We have been fortunate to work with Troy Farnsworth on the home design and our great real estate team on the west side of Portland for this one.
In upcoming opportunities, we have two possible presales that would both be very rewarding to build for each client. One project is an incredibly modern home with one of the best kitchens I have seen in a while. This home will have a flat roof and a lot of really unique features. The other project is a creative design that will have some really upscale energy options and it should be no shock since it is for one of the owners of a cornerstone company in our industry. Closing documents were just signed on a property that we will develop and then build 20 townhomes in Sellwood. This project has been in the works for us for quite a while, now the adventure of building begins, pictures and updates to follow. We also have a 23-lot development project that is working its way through Washington County as we speak thanks to the help and hard work of Emerio Engineering. Last but not least my beautiful wife Bri and I bought a piece of property here in Oregon City to build our home on. I can’t wait to go through this process with her. It will no doubt make me a better builder. It already makes me look at things through a little different lens. Certainly more to come on that as I will be sure to have a guest blog from my wife about the building process and her experience as we build.
In closing, I confidently know that without all of the lessons, changes, adjustments, more lessons and more changes over the last couple decades there is no way I could be sitting here with absolute peace in my heart saying, “heck yeah we can handle all this, we can handle this and more.” That confidence I would like to believe comes from a belief that we will never again take a project just be because we are afraid to say no, we will instead take it because we know we are the best fit for that project and the client.
As always if you know of anyone who would like to meet and discuss having a home built, has property that they are interested in selling or just has questions on the process please send he/she my way Michael Harn, 503 522 4357. Looking forward to talking to you soon.