My wife, Jeannetta, and I started to plan our new home in Tennessee in the spring of 2007. We started to hunt for the location in the southeast part of Tennessee as to be closer to family and to retire to a nicer climate and area than Southwest Ohio. The winters and the crime were getting to be too much for us. We were able to find a wonderful community located in Dunlap, TN and it was exactly as we wanted. There were terrific views and quiet wooded spaces to choose from. The people that were already living there were very inviting and friendly. We purchased the property in September 2007. We had started the design of our new home by learning everything we could about Timber Frame and hybrid Timber Frame homes. We started to work with a Timber Frame contractor and the affiliated company to put together our design. After many revisions, the contractor and the Timber Frame company had guided us to a design that was twice our set budget. It was a very expensive learning experience. We then went back to our drawing board and started to design a less expensive home with our new education. That is where Homestead Timber Frames came into our lives to help us realize our dream and to guide us toward the finished home we have today. Bruce Gardner, his wife Cyndy, and all the team were extremely helpful and the kind of experts we needed to get a great product. The designer Erik Toplis was open and totally able to take our ideas and create the design we envisioned with expertise and listening to be his greatest assets. We broke ground in April 2013 and our building contractor, Marcus Otto Builders, got us started by getting the foundation and the floor decking ready for our timber frame great room. The timbers arrived on the 13th of May and in 2 days the frame was erected, and it was beautiful and majestic. The crew was efficient, and the raising was flawless. Each team member knew his task and they worked as a complete unit to get the frame in place. Once the frame was up and complete, the builder was able to get the rest of the home put together. We had the structured insulated panel walls brought in and by the end of May, the house was completely enclosed. The SIPS allowed the house to cut at least a month off the time schedule as opposed to having a standard wall system created. The home is also 3 times more energy efficient. That will pay for itself in the years to come. We are so happy with our home, and we are so pleased with the Homestead Timber Frame company for their expertise and their friendship, and the help that they gave us for this project. They are more than a building products company; they are warm and caring folks that help to make dreams come true.
