________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
in 2025, and just hired Julianne Hughes, a talented design assistant,” John adds.“ For our goals in expanding the business, I want to be sure we are focused on all staff working strictly within our systems. Building unique luxury estate homes is not nearly as efficient as building identical production homes in a subdivision setting. This makes it imperative that we strictly adhere to the systems in place to help streamline the process.
“ Also, I have become noticeably more selective in the projects we contract to ensure a reasonable growth pace. I prefer to find the best client fit and build larger, more spectacular homes. It has not and never will be my goal to transition DCH into a large local or regional building company,” John explains. as desirable as Wake County, it was crucial to load the home with upgrades and be sure it stood out since the buyer was more driven by the home style and setting. I realized the value of building with this process and spent the first 13 years in quiet Chatham County communities under the radar until business began to expand,” John elaborates.
Looking to the future, John’ s focus is on continually improving both the homes DCH
Continuous improvement
DCH’ s first contemporary home, the goldaward-winning Bueller, attracted considerable attention heading into the 2025 selling season and currently has strong prospects.“ We are hopeful it may be sold by the end of April 2026,” John continues,“ but it will remain viewable until then. We’ re excited about being part of a new luxury home community which will commence early 2027 in Pittsboro, and we also have several remaining large acreage estate lots ten minutes from downtown Pittsboro.”
With 25 years in business, John believes this longevity is due to several factors.“ In the early years, I strategically took contracts where the client already owned their property and financed their projects. After two-to-three years of that formula, I was able to secure financing but always stayed in this framework. Out of the four homes I averaged annually, I only built one spec home a year which was always a Parade of Homes entry. The awards won helped me secure the following year’ s build. That kept me from being leveraged with loans and provided a good stream of a more specific Chatham County buyer in those years. As the location back then wasn’ t quite
64