By Kathy L. Deely

Whatever building material Ed Hall,founder&president of Elegance in Design Custom Homes is working with, this proud veteran’s core values constitute a building block common to all of them: namely, that the customer absolutely comes first in every respect.

This award-winning builder, recently chosen by his peers to chair the Custom Builders Council, prides himself and his staff on their relentless attention to detail and unsurpassed customer service. “I’ve been called a perfectionist, in the sense of my wanting things done not only right but the best they can be done, and I plead guilty as charged. Our mission at Elegance in Design is to complete the job on time,bring it in under budget and exceed our customers’ highest expectations. That’s a secret for success I’m glad to share with anyone.”

“We are not here for the money; for me,making the great American dream of home ownership come true is almost a sacred calling. I take home ownership very personally — maybe because I grew up in a trailer instead of a real home,” he explains.

Hall’s father was a truck driver for Coca Cola; his mother worked in a New Hampshire weatshop as a seamstress. “Though we were poor, my parents were too proud to take welfare of any kind. They instilled the values of self reliance in me and my younger brother.”

But despite those tough times, this obviously happyman was an equally happy boy. “My family was always really close – and not just because of the close quarters in that trailer – though it was definitely smaller than some of the master suites I’ve built!” he jokingly adds. “Mom made sure we had supper and came together as a family every single night. She knew about ‘quality time’ long before the concept was invented.”

At 17, Hall took his first industry related job – as a carpenter. “The work was hard but satisfying. I decided then and there to eventually pursue the dream of becoming a builder.” But first, at 19, he joined the Air Force, where he worked as a paramedic. “Taking care of people has been indoctrinated intome, and that’s how I treat my customers, guiding them through the entire design / build process, making it as seamless and pleasant as possible.”

Asked to name one of his single proudest moments, he instantly responds, “It was the day a few years ago when I took my mom for a ride when she was visiting us here one summer. We pulled up to a little 1,400 square foot house I’d custom built and I handed her the keys, telling her, ‘It’s all yours, Mom.’ ” He shakes his head. “I don’t know which of us was crying harder.”

Hall’s classic rags-to-riches experience has made him highly sensitive to sparing his customer’s economic anxiety. “When I go over costs with my clients, I tell them, I want you to live BENEATH your means,not just within yourmeans…” If they think they can afford a $250,000 house, I try to find a way to build them a home of equal quality for less than what they had originally planned for.”

Professional Home Designer, Greg Setzer, of Setzer Home Designs, has worked closely with Elegance in Design on several projects, and can’t praise them enough. “Ed & his team not only demand excellence,they achieve it. Their level of commitment and meticulous planning is unparalleled. Ed has an uncanny ability to foresee potential problems and head themoff at the pass. The result is a seamless construction endeavor, and an unsurpassed attention to details.”

“We welcome customers”, says Ed, who’ll be active partners in the design/build process, so we can ensure a smooth, continuous process from initial contact to the closing.” “We rejoice in taking our customer’s unique vision and bringing it beautifully to life . . .”

Hall, a proud member of GSABA, is also proud of Elegance in Design’s recent Certified Green Professional Designation, an honor accorded to a select group of builders committed to incorporating environmental considerations and technology into every step of the building and development process. “We find ways to do this without driving up home prices.

For instance, there’s a substance,’ No-Burn’,we can spray on every stick of lumber used in a home that makes it not only fireproof but also extremely resistant to mold and mildew proof. The best part is, this adds less than 1% to the final cost, resulting in lower insurance costs, greater peace of mind, and is 100% green. Green home owners also enjoy lower maintenance and utility bills, and better indoor air quality. “This dovetails with our mission: We’ve given our customer their dream; now, we want to maintain & protect that dream.”

Small wonder then that Elegance in Design Custom Homes is a multiple year Summit Award winner. One reason for that success states Ed is JimTucker, his Director of Residential Construction.

“Jim won the prestigious Construction Superintendent of the Year for builders with a volume of less than 20 homes per year for the second consecutive year in a row.” “Jim is as indispensable to our company as my main partner is: my wife, Carrie, who runs our back office operations as well as she runs our home and mothers our four kids. I’m a very lucky man...”

Maybe so, but it also seems as if this selfmade man has made much of that luck
himself.