Newsletter June 1998
Parade of Homes
First on the event schedule…our Oshkosh Parade Home will be located in the Brushwood-Nestle Subdivision in the Town of Algoma. This houseplan…The Syracuse…has not been featured by us in a parade before. Sized at 2,630 square feet, it features a 2 story foyer with 3 bedrooms upstairs plus a 4th bedroom or den on the first floor.
In Fond du Lac we will have 2 homes including the above mentioned plan located in the newest phase of Country Club Estates Subdivision. Our second offering is a new four bedroom 2,300 square foot saltbox…The Augusta…also never shown in a parade before. This home is located in the White Pines Subdivision on Mustang Lane.
For the Brown County Parade we will feature our York plan with 2,260 square feet and four bedrooms. Located on Red Wing Trail in east De Pere it has graceful columns flanking an arched partition between the living and dining rooms. Its 10 foot ceiling height accents the open stairway.
I am writing this at home and must pause to tell you of the female Baltimore oriole that just landed on Kathy’s nectar feeder. Wait…now a hummingbird took over the oriole’s spot and I see four brilliant, yellow, male goldfinches on the sunflower-seed feeder. Great place for quiet composition…uninterrupted except for the birds. Life is good! Now back to work.
Our Fox Cities Parade home is our Kensington model with its 2-story family room and foyer. Nearly 3,300 square feet fill-out this dramatic 4 bedroom plus den home.
Early Andrew Home
We’ve come a long
way. This tree house was constructed in our back yard by company namesake, Andy Backus, in
sixth grade. A recent graduate of U.W. - Madison’s construction management program,
Andy just accepted a job with a fine builder in the Milwaukee area. What a lucky builder!
My son and psychology graduate, Chris, continues to enjoy his temporary, care-giving job while he ponders his next education or career move. He also has a strong music background and plays in a band for fun.
Daughter Barbara is majoring in marketing with an international emphasis at Madison and was just accepted to study for the fall semester in Seville, Spain. She has taken quite a few years of Spanish language and looks forward to her adventure. My wife, Kathy, and I plan to visit her in Spain this December.
(We love them all! A little sentimental but this is my newsletter and I can write whatever I want to!)
Valley Cabinets/Corian Tour
All of our homes now feature custom cabinets by the Valley Cabinet Company. Their manufacturing facility is located in De Pere and they have showrooms there and in the Fox Cities. Yesterday my team toured the operation in De Pere to see how the product is made. Very impressive, state-of-the-art equipment enables their craftsmen to create superb cabinet quality with a true custom touch. We also learned how the solid-surface, Corian® countertops are fabricated. In surveys nationally, 98% of current Corian® owners are so satisfied with its quality that they would want it in their next home.
Your Plan or OursLast year over one-third of the custom homes we built for people were plans other than our own. We have many active Andrew Homes plans that can be modified for your unique needs. Or… you can also bring in your own plan or just your ideas and we’ll design something for you.
Most people have a hard time visualizing a completed home from just viewing a blueprint. It helps that we can tour our models to give you ideas or to help you visualize how the various elements of your plan might turn out. You may like the kitchen in one model and the master suite in another. We like no surprises when you move into your dream home.
Customer Service
"It’s been over five years since we purchased our home, yet your service team treated us as if this repair was something that was key to closing the original sale...From discussions I have had with friends and co-workers, your philosophy, backed by your actions, sets Andrew Homes apart!"
-Joe and Cindy Thompson, homeowners
Lumber Country Tour
Earlier this year construction manager Jim Armstrong traveled as a guest of Truss Joist McMillan Company to Oregon. As part of our constant effort to learn more of products and quality, Jim toured a plant that manufactures "The Silent Floor" I-joist system. We have been using this higher cost system for about 2 years now and are just thrilled with the quality results. We have found a reduction in floor squeaks of about 80% since switching about 100 houses ago.
Jim also toured a still operating 85 year-old sawmill. Powered by steam, wood scraps from its own logs are used for fuel. Next a retired US Forest Service ranger showed the group stands of timber that the Weyerhaeuser Company cuts. These current trees are the third generation that Weyerhaeuser has planted and are 30 years old now. These trees will probably be cut at age 50 and at that time will have a diameter of 18 to 24 inches.
Old growth trees…those of 100 years and more and with a diameter of over 36 inches…are no longer cut in this country. It is the lower available quality…more shrinkage and warping…of today’s younger trees that has caused the industry to switch to superior engineered wood products such as "The Silent Floor". There was a discussion of other "cutting edge" technology wood products that are being developed to improve quality in the home building industry. Andrew Homes plans to be ready to take advantage of these upcoming improvements.
The timber industry is now planting hybrid trees which have been genetically engineered to grow faster. Jim saw the planting operation. The pine seedlings are 18 inches tall and are dug in by hand on the steep hillsides.
Oh…be sure to ask Jim about his free day when he was able to travel to the higher elevations of Oregon’s Cascade Mountains for his first western mountain downhill skiing adventure! What a tough job he has!