Kevin literally married the girl next door. He and Karla lived two miles apart, but in their rural farming community, that was considered next-door neighbors. They went to school together from first through twelfth grade. To no one’s surprise, when they decided to build their new home, they picked a property that was five miles from where they grew up.
“We had built a home together for 35 years, but we’d always had an idea of what it would be like if we had the opportunity to build a house.”
Kevin and Karla loved the concept of a custom home designed around their love of entertaining family and friends. A large kitchen with plenty of cabinet space, an island for food prep, an open floor plan with everything in reach for hosts and guests alike to feel comfortable.
After living in an older home comprised of smaller rooms for so many years, Kevin and Karla knew exactly what they wanted. They knew they would find it in a custom home. When seeking a builder to meet their needs, they asked around and Schumacher name came up again and again for a positive experience. Several of the people they asked encouraged them to find out for themselves by visiting one of Schumacher’s model home centers.
Seeing a Model Home was the deciding factor
Following these referrals, Kevin and Karla were eager to discover what Schumacher was all about. They visited several model homes and landed on the Beverly II model. This floorplan offered them the balance of open and flexible space they’d been looking for.
“As soon as we walked in, we knew that was it,” said Karla. Both Kevin and Karla highly recommend anyone considering a custom-built home to take a virtual tour or visit a model home before proceeding further.
“If it’s a particular floorplan you might be looking at, to see it and experience it, that’s really the selling point,” said Kevin.
We couldn’t agree more. Model home tours at Schumacher allow potential homebuyers the opportunity to picture themselves in the floorplan they’re considering. A model home tour is a pressure-free, no-strings-attached way of experiencing one of our floor plans. Our locations are open to the public, seven days a week.
Kevin was also impressed with the virtual tour: “I loved the online virtual tours where you can walk around a kitchen island and see how things are laid out. A virtual tour made it easy to envision yourself in a Schumacher home.”
They needed teamwork as they worked through the process
Even though Kevin and Karla had been married for a long time, they still had divergent opinions about their vision of the home. During their price quote meeting, they experienced a calm understanding from the other side of the table.
“The New Home Consultant we worked with during our price quote meeting was very patient with us,” Kevin said. “We’ve lived together for all these years, but we had different likes and dislikes. We appreciated that we were allowed to take our time to consider all the options.”
One thing they agreed on was this would be their last home, and they wanted to plan accordingly in case of health issues down the road. They made plenty of customizations to plan ahead for aging in place. It was a smooth process that Kevin really enjoyed.
“We are a little older to be building a home, but if we were going to build our forever home we wanted to take into account that we could lose the mobility we have now,” Kevin said. “We wanted a single floor plan and asked for countertops and showers that could be rolled up-to and into.”
Having grown up and lived in the same community their whole lives, location was essential to where Kevin and Karla wanted to build. But their selected site came with some obstacles. Although it wasn’t an ideal location, the couple knew it was right for them. Working with their builder, they found the right compromise and balance between the lot’s capacity and their floorplan’s presentation. In the end, it was situated exactly how they envisioned.
Turn-key experience
Building in their hometown also afforded them the chance to visit their build site as frequently as they desired. However, building a home wasn’t the couples only priority. Kevin and Karla were independent, small business owners. As excited and passionate about seeing their custom dream home come to life was to them, before they ever broke ground, they knew they wanted a turn-key experience.
This weighed heavily into their selection of a home builder. “I wanted someone that was reputable. Someone that was trustworthy,” Kevin told us. And he said their decision to build with Schumacher Homes was rewarded. “Our builder made it easy.”
Kevin and Karla have described the most exciting moments of their homebuilding journey as seeing the foundation and frame of their new home begin to take shape on the lot of land they selected.
“It was exciting. We were able to visit that house everyday after work,” said Kevin. “Being able to dream it and then see it come together, that was just the icing on the cake.”
Their new build came with new savings
It might come as a surprise what Kevin found to be the most exciting part of the process. As a person who likes to think about what could happen down the road, such as rising energy costs, he was jazzed about, you guessed it, insulation.
Kevin and Karla had watched their heating and cooling bills fluctuate drastically in their previous home. They wanted energy efficiency to be a part of the details that went into the design of their customized Beverly II’s construction.
“When I saw the insulation being installed, and the way they sealed every joint around the floor and up the walls, I was impressed and excited,” Kevin said. “After a couple of months of heating bills I could see the savings. It was great.”
Knowing what you want and being able to achieve it is what led Kevin and Karla to build a custom home. For many of our customers it allows them a chance to plan for the future in ways that pre-existing homes simply can’t.
“I sat down in my chair, propped-up, looking at the fireplace, watching Guardians of the Galaxy — and that was awesome, Kevin said. “Fireplace, television, and no complaints. Our new home was a perfect fit.”
At Schumacher Homes we build dream homes for today and tomorrow. If you’re ready to learn more about a custom home, contact us to get started.
About Schumacher Homes
Schumacher Homes, based in Canton, Ohio, is America’s largest custom homebuilder, with operations in 32 markets in 12 states across the country. The National Housing Quality award winning company has built over 20,000 homes, customized to fit each family’s lifestyle, since its founding by Paul Schumacher in 1992. Schumacher Homes takes each customer’s inspiration and gives it a home. Each Schumacher Homes location includes a one-stop shopping design studio and model homes displaying the latest in architectural and product trends. Stop in today, be inspired and receive your no obligation price quote.
