B U I L D E R P
R O F I L E
GALLERY OF NEW HOMES
August 2000
How Do We Do It?
The Story of One Family's Home Design & Building Experience
In various ways a customer may become a member of our Andrew
Homes family. Often they visit our open
houses and like what they see. They may
research the company through our website or CD-ROM. (In fact, as I type this, Len has walked in and given
Craig the name of a man from Tennessee that called today and is certain he wants to build
with us...just from looking at the website!) Or
they may hear about us through a friend or family member…as was the case with Carl
and Paula Geishirt.
“Len Backus and Craig Dorn were very helpful in the beginning
by assisting us with ideas to customize our home,” says Paula Geishirt. The family started off having a substantial amount
of needs and wants for their home. They
generated some very good ideas about the kind of floor plan in which they were interested. As it turned out, the basics of Carl and
Paula’s ideas very closely resembled an existing Andrew Homes plan called the
Stonegate. By using this plan, our Design
Team was able to better estimate the time, resources, and costs associated with their
project. In other cases, Andrew Homes may
work off the preliminary plan of the homeowner or even draw a plan totally from scratch.
In any of these cases, the homeowner finds it to be a great advantage to be able to visit
our model homes. A specific model home floorplan may be very different from what the
customer has in mind but there is often something about the model that acts as a reference
point to help the customer better understand their own unique and custom dream home plan.
Our
team has always listened well to learn about the lifestyles of each of their homeowners. “The people at Andrew Homes get to know their
customers on a very personal level,” Paula commented.
“They truly treated us as part of the family. We especially appreciated expeditor Eric
Leksander’s help with everything. He
really put us at ease throughout the building process.”
The
final plan, a modified version of the Stonegate, is shown here as the “After”
plan. Look, for example, at the addition of
the sunroom just off the kitchen/dinette area. What
a wonderful way to better appreciate the wooded area behind the home! We have seen deer there while constructing the
home. Note the new placement of the fireplace to another wall of the family room…a
great way to improve the view. Moving along,
we see that the Geishirts decided to convert the den into a guest room complete with its
own private bathroom for their guests. Recognizing
the household’s love of books, Carl and Paula requested transforming the living room
into a library by adding built-in bookshelves.
Expanding the garage for one more vehicle, adding extra shelving to
the laundry room, and adding a covered porch are some other details the Geishirts worked
out with Andrew Homes.
Looking
to the second floor, we notice the entire master bedroom has moved to the opposite end of
the home and is now oriented to the beautiful view of the woods in the back of the lot. A
fireplace was added on the rear wall with a TV alcove above it.
“Paula’s closet seemed to get bigger and
bigger every time we discussed it,” Len remarks jokingly. “That’s what she wanted, so we made it
happen.” The Geishirt’s two
teenagers get their own space, as well, with the addition of a loft overlooking the family
room below.
This
story is just one of many that describe the process of designing a custom-built home. We at Andrew Homes make every effort to ensure
that your new home is built to reflect your dreams and with your lifestyle in mind.
We invite
you to visit Carl and Paula’s completed home on display at the Green Bay Showcase of
New Homes on September 16-17, and 21-24.
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