Located in Historic Downtown McKinney






Thursday, February 14, 2008

Jered Homes- Article from the McKinney News.net

Article below from McKInney News.net. If you havent seen Jered's homes in person, you need to. If you are looking to build a new home with historic architecture these are the guys!


Two good-ol’ boys and a very pretty lady joined forces more than 10 years ago and accidentally stumbled into a niche. Tuesday afternoon, Ed Boughtin, Jerry Carlton and Kristi Carlton – all three partners in the home building enterprise known as Jered Custom Homes – talked (a lot), joked (a lot), laughed (a lot), about what has become perhaps the premier home building juggernaut inside the bounds of McKinney’s prized historic district. That is if you can call Jered’s relatively small operation a juggernaut. To date, Jered Homes (a creative melding of “Jerry” and “Ed”) has quietly built more than 41 custom homes – no two are identical -- valued anywhere from $200,000 - $500,000 in the downtown vicinity, establishing a name for itself through a modest, though certainly proven, form of advertising: being real. “A lot of people interview builders, but they’re just suits,” Kristi said. “They’re around, but they’re not around. People like us for who we are. We’re casual people.”“We don’t put on airs and we don’t sit around drinking champagne,” Boughtin said. “See Jerry’s shoes (he asks as he points to Jerry’s dusty work boots)? He builds the homes, he’s out there and accessible.” But there’s more to building a home than a couple of colloquial guys and a gal dressed up in boots and coveralls.

©2008, McKinneyNews.net“We’re never gotten greedy,” Boughtin said immediately when asked to explain Jered’s success. “I feel like we lucked into this whole deal.”It started in 1992 with father (Ed) and daughter (Kristi) securing homes in the historic district and letting Jerry, Kristi’s husband and a former builder with Huntington and Darling Homes, do the remodeling. At the time, property was relatively cheap and a decent profit could be made.Slowly, with gradual improvements to downtown, home values in the area began to creep up and profit margins began to dwindle. In 1998, at a time when nobody was building in the historic district, and ignoring advice from friends and investors, the three partners bought an $18,000 lot (they’re now running anywhere from $60-75,000) and built a 1,750 square-foot home on the property. “Nobody thought we could build a house over there that was nice, there wouldn’t be a market for it,” Boughtin said. “They told us to build duplexes.” In a couple months, the home was sold and Jered Custom Homes was in business, acquiring new lots, building spec homes and selling them almost as fast as they could be built. As demand grew, Jered began taking orders. The Jered model for success was, and remains, straightforward: build the best house for the money.Boughtin and Jerry rattled off a number of examples beginning with 11/8 inch sub floor decking on all second floors. “People get up there and don’t feel it bounce or squeak,” Boughtin said.

Then there’s the “tighter,” blown-in cellulose insulation that Jerry said can save new homeowners upwards of 22-percent over regular fiberglass bat insulation, and the 30-year (as opposed to 20-year) shingles. Kristi, the interior decorator and designer for the outfit, was quick to add a several of the more obvious Jered mainstays: “real” hardwood flooring, double crown molding, stainless steel appliances, open floor plans, granite counter tops, and, of course, an exterior façade that looks historical. “We basically take the same things you’d find in a five to $600,000 home and put them into a new home that looks old,” Jerry said. As the interview drew to a close, Boughtin sat back and shared a final motivational secret to Jered’s success. “We like to be stroked,” Boughtin said with a chuckle. Allena Pilkinton, who owns a Jered home, was more than willing to oblige.“We have been more than satisfied,” Allena said. “The thing that we wanted was the look of the older house, but didn’t want to deal with having to put one back together. Every time we have a get-together people look around the house and say, ‘Now when did you remodel this house?’ That’s like, Mission accomplished.”

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