BUILDER OF THE MONTH – MARCH 2011
Douglas DeHaan, President
DeHaan Homes
Q: Over all these years, what would you say has been the guiding principals in your business philosophy? What are the challenges to keeping those principals alive?
Douglas: The main focus of my father, grandfather and great uncles has always been the workmanship and fine art of homebuilding…and I grew up with this training and values that have been passed down from generation to generation. What I have experienced over the last 26 years, is that craftsmanship is just one of the facets that clients are looking for today. Our family of artisans was hired for their craft, but their internal systems were not sophisticated and were not required to be years ago.
Our challenge has been to integrate a system that combines the art of peerless construction techniques while demonstrating the science of building with current technology.
Q: What should a potential homeowner be looking for in a builder?
Douglas: Building a home starts with building a relationship. You must trust who you build with and make sure they are competent. Asking for references of past clients is a great place to start, along with obtaining trade and lender referrals. I would make sure the contractor has great construction knowledge, design savvy, and systems that provide financial literacy which make the entire process comfortable.
Q: What would you say best describes the type of building you do as far as types of homes, location of homes, etc.
Douglas: Our projects are built for the discriminating buyer who desires an executive custom home. In the last few years, we have found many of our projects to be located on water and generally it involves the removal of an existing home to initiate the process.
Q: What is your take on the new governor? Is he going to be good for business? And, economically speaking, is the housing market really picking up or is it more talk than an actual up tick?
Douglas: It’s difficult to comment on…so early in the term. In speaking with a Senator, who is also a personal friend, I feel that this governor is going to work hard to eliminate bureaucracy and make our state more business friendly, which will be a welcome change. We have been blessed to have been steady over the last few years, but we have recently experienced additional activity which we feel is directly related to consumer confidence rising a bit.
Q: You spoke about the majority of your homes built on the water. Do you have many clients coming from outside of West Michigan or out of state to have their homes built on Michigan’s waterways?
D: Currently we are involved in projects for clients from Detroit, Ann Arbor and Chicago. Several clients are not from this area and have been referred to us through past clients.
Our projects tend to be second homes on some form of water.
Q: Do you have many employees in house or do you sub-contract most of your work?
D: We have really changed our business model like many companies in the last few years. We have internal resources to execute our finance and supervision, and outsource many of the trades. This has made us much more flexible yet forces us to be very mindful of the projects we do undertake. We are very intentional on the projects we consider. Although we interview for projects, we also interview the client to make sure it is the right fit for both of us. We actually passed on two projects in the last two years, understanding the client’s intentions of trying to over profit from the economy. We want all of our tradespersons and partners to be successful. If this model cannot be met, we will pass.
Q: Do you have in-house designers and architects?
Douglas: We partner with several residential plan designers, interior designers, and architects. If, in the interviewing process, we are asked with whom we work, we try to make this recommendation based on budget and availability, along with a design fit.
Q: Do you ever feel like there’s something else you’d rather be doing than building?
Douglas: No, I love the whole process of building. I really enjoy meeting a client and walking their property and listening intently to their vision. From initial design through final construction, from excavating a clay basement to hanging pictures on the day of move in, there is no more rewarding career.
I also have a passion for interior architecture, and I love hand design. The process of sketching while the client is sharing their dream is very rewarding. For instance, in the Rivershores Holland Design Center, I worked with Steve Vander Wiede and planned an entire streetscape to demonstrate their building products…shingles on the “roofs”, “exterior siding” on the interior walls, etc. I love the look you get from bringing the outside in. It changes the paradigm. I love doing a home’s lower level bar, for instance, with an outdoor café theme or make it look like a fishing wharf…putting down brick pavers on the floor so it looks like a streetscape …it’s all great fun!
Q: What’s your relationship with Rivershores?
Douglas: At present, we have two large projects partnering with Rivershores Hardwood Flooring. When they began supplying environmentally friendly flooring, their first Bamboo floor went into a cottage we built on the channel in Grand Haven. Jim Fongers, our Rivershores salesman, is doing a good job getting our products to us on time and with affordable pricing along with the quality our reputation demands.
Q: What message do you want to relay to our readers with this interview?
Douglas: I realize that probably 40-50% of your readers are other tradesmen, contractors, designers and many others that have a working relationship with Rivershores, and ironically, we are all competing for similar business. Many potential or past clients may be reading this article as well. We believe in the formula we use in our business and have been blessed that it works well. What we desire to communicate through this interview is that the relationship to your trade partners is very valuable. Be respectful with everyone; treat them with the same dignity that you would give to your client. If there are errors, give them a second chance realizing that there are many unplanned, unknown events that can occur during a project.
Also, the market is really tough right now. We have many trade and supply partners we’ve worked with for years. The client today will often request that to build their home they want us to get three or four bids on every product line. It is difficult, due to the fact the suppliers we’ve had great relationships with, aren’t always rewarded with the job. We feel it is the builder’s job to educate the client on the difference between price and value…not always is the lowest price the best choice!!! There are several factors in making these final decisions.
Q: Any advice for budding homebuilders?
Douglas: Here are just a few thoughts:
- Stay true to your core values. Trust your work; when the economy was at its peak, we didn’t raised our rates, but when it went through the slow down, we didn’t lower them significantly either. Our service, our product, our quality…our deliverable didn’t change so why should our rates? If someone wants to invest considerably less than what you believe you are worth, they probably don’t appreciate your value.
- Building a home is as much art as it is science. So, don’t treat it as just a job site or a construction zone; look at it as building someone’s dream home. Most clients wait a lifetime to build; honor the process. Always “inspect what you expect” when building someone’s vision.
- Respect your tradesmen and vendors; don’t advocate to customers that you’ll “beat the suppliers up for lower costs”. That’s not right…you are a team working together. Also, if your suppliers/team partners are expecting to be paid by a prearranged agreement, honor it. You not only have a responsibility to your client, you have a responsibility to your partners that help you build the home.
- Make sure you or your client invest in an articulate construction document that identifies all the areas and items needed to construct a home. Just because you find a cinnamon roll in the garbage can, don’t call it a bakery. Just because you have a blueprint, don’t rely solely on that. Remember that this home has never been built for this client on this site, and may never be repeated again. Estimating a home accurately is very important; be careful how much you rely on your own professional judgment.
- Make sure your employees and trade partners are presentable and polite on the job site. It’s not always easy to be “clean” when it’s a dusty job site but you can always be presentable and respectful. Keep your standards high.
- Live by the Golden Rule.