by RENEE PATRICK Cascade Business News Feature Writer
Adair Homes has been a fixture in the northwest for 42 years during which time they have been serving the Central Oregon community since 1971. With approximately 3,000 homes built in the area, Adair has become a well established option for those individuals and families looking to construct affordable housing.
Founder Pete Marsh created Adair Homes on the belief that homeownership directly impacts the positive growth of families and communities. With an array of systems in place to save materials, costs and labor, Adair has engineered efficient construction of new homes from start to finish.
The Bend office is run by Home Ownership Counselor Kirk Sandburg and Senior Construction Superintendent Russ Purtzer. The two have been with Adair a combined 25 years and have lived in Bend for decades, having been attracted to the area for the outdoor pursuits and recreational lifestyle.
Business has been tough for home builders in the area in the past few years, but Adair has continued to do well. Sandburg states, “Economic struggles have affected everyone, but the need for housing is always present and so we have succeeded in the fact that we have not purchased land like other contractors have done and had subdivisions sitting on the ground, we work with individuals who purchase their own land. We are seeing good activity in the current economy.”
The concept Adair has adopted can take future home owners through the process of financing land and construction with Adair Financial Services (a mortgage brokerage firm) and will put them in touch with a realtor if they need to find that perfect plot. Once land is available to begin building, customers have 33 home plans to choose from. The benefit to the carefully engineered plans is the prevention of any waste in building materials. Huge quantities of materials are purchased and home plans are designed to base the length of walls and the size of rooms on multiples of standard sizes to make full use of what has been purchased.
Home plans can range in size from 512 square feet to over 3,900; with the recent addition of new daylight basement plans and the three tiers of finishing system, Adair customers now have many more options to customize their home. Sandburg states, “We have become a lot more flexible with our building practices after hearing feedback from our customers. Our Three Tiers of Finish offer options on the amenities, appliances and finish of homes giving more of an opportunity to provide people with what their personal pocketbook can handle and what their needs and
desires are.”
Another popular feature in the Adair system is the option for home owners to participate in the building process through sweat equity. Through arranging for excavation of the building site, getting permits, painting, landscaping and more, customers can be involved in the construction of the home as much as they would like, or not at all.
Adair has recently become an EnergyStar certified builder. For home owners this means access to energy efficient building practices, materials and appliances. These efficiencies can mean lower cost in utilities and the use of materials that have been recycled or can be easily recycled.
“We have always been a green builder, we are careful not to order too many supplies, we are very careful in purchasing and not creating a lot of waste, we try to eliminate waste as we go and build an air tight house. The next step was to go to an EnergyStar program. The EnergyStar rating has opened up a new avenue of clients that otherwise were not as anxious about building,” said Sandburg.
The building design system can have homes up in 120 days or less from foundation to finish with prices from $34 to $57 per square foot. The home is backed by a ten year building backed warranty which is fully transferable to any future buyer.
As Adair negotiates with subcontractors, prices are fixed for every home model. The entire Adair Homeownership Alliance includes owned subsidiaries providing cabinets, building materials, and mortgage services. The benefit of partnering together with subcontractors and the home builders themselves is lowering the overall project cost and providing more people with the option to build their own homes.
63309 Nels Anderson Road, Bend, 541-382-4068,, www.adairhomes.com.
