I started in the industry over 4 years ago and was urged by my colleague and mentor, Todd Nowicki, to join the Southern Homes family.  I am glad I took his advice and have been blown away by the close-knit, family oriented professional atmosphere every since.  So when I found myself looking for my first home I thought, “Hey! What am I doing?  I know what I want and I know Southern Homes can build it”.

As I started building in the Cyprus Crossing community, I had no concerns about how things were going to turn out because I know personally what happens behind the scenes at Southern Homes.  The people are really genuine and truly want the best for every customer.  I really have been enjoying the experience of working with my fellow coworkers as a customer.  It’s great to be able to talk to your builder when you need to and work with a professional team with a great attitude.  And the location was perfect!  I don’t have a family yet but I plan to, so I really wanted a nice kid-friendly community with good schools nearby.  Cyprus Crossing was a great fit.

Currently, my home is 3 weeks away from completion*, which is actually a little bit ahead of schedule.  To be honest, I’m ready to move my stuff in righ

t now. Even though it is not finished it looks so great!  After building hundreds of homes for other people I am really excited to have one of my own.

This process has refreshed my mind toward what Southern Home customers experience.  When people are building a new house, they are looking to invest 20-30 years of their life into that home.

People need to know things are going to be done right and they need to have a builder who understands how important their home is to them.  Southern Homes does understand and delivers the best product. I admit, I may be a little biased because I believe I am the best builder in the world and by extension, also the company I work for but, in all honesty, I can say that homebuyers can trust in Southern Homes for quality work and to get their home the way they always hoped it to be.

*Ted’s house has now been completed.

My primary objectives were location and value. After being a part of the construction team with Southern Homes for a few years, I was confident that quality was not going to be an issue. They give you the best product for your money; the best in features, aesthetics and quality craftsmanship. As far as location, I always wanted to live by a pond and, with 3 young children, a secluded street was very important. Southern Homes located a perfect home site in their Del Sol community to fit both these needs.

I got to see first hand how all our staff works seamlessly together to handle the nitty-gritty details of building a home; even down to securing a mortgage lender! From the sales person to the project manager to the preferred mortgage lender, everyone knew what to do and even sent me reminders to help me stay on track with the process. They were all easy to contact with questions, eager to assist during the transition to my new home and even willing to help me prepare for future needs and plans.

I have always enjoyed the great family atmosphere as an employee of Southern Homes. But through this experience I was able to see how impacting it is as a customer to have a builder you can talk to on a first name basis and who really wants to get to know you and your family’s desires for your new home. It was a great hand-holding experience, which really makes a difference when building a home.

When I first saw my new home all I could think was “WOW!”. I mean its one thing to envision your house as your building, picking colors and design features, but to see it all finished is something else. Because I got to choose everything about the way it all looked it really had my stamp of personal ownership on it.

From my experience, a lot of other builders are hard of get in contact with after you sign the contract. Many times you may not get to speak to them again until closing.

But with Southern Homes, open communication is encouraged with anyone at anytime. You can interact with your project manager, ask your questions and get answers. Also, what is unique to Southern Homes is that they encourage customers to frequently visit their home site during the process, regardless if a representative is there or not. This is discouraged by a lot of other builders I’ve worked with.

The bottom line is that with many builders it’s strictly business, but with Southern Homes, it’s strictly family! All of my neighbors are satisfied Southern Homes customers and the family atmosphere the company promotes resonates throughout the communities it builds. I would recommend Southern Homes to anyone, not as an employee, but as a Dad who wants the best home for his family.

Recently, our own company president, Chris Kornman was profiled in New Orleans City Business. You can hear more about his background and how he got back into the home-building business after pursuing his PhD in Psychology at Vanderbilt University.

Read the entire article in New Orleans City Business