Introduction

A little about me; I am a graduate of Roncalli High School, class of 2001, and a graduate of IUPUI, class of 2005. While attending IUPUI, I received an Associate of Science with an emphasis on residential construction and a Bachelor of Science with an emphasis on construction technology. I have had an interest in construction since a very young age and became actively involved with it my sophomore year of high school. I took 3 years of drafting and considered attending Ball State to major in architecture. However, my drafting teacher, Jim Ratliff, told me about the construction management program that Purdue, IUPUI and Indiana State offered. After a little research and talking with Mr. Ratliff and my parents about the advantages, I decided to pursue a degree in construction management. I decided to live at home and attend IUPUI for several reasons, but one of the main reasons was family. We had just started construction on our new office building and I thought it would be a great learning experience. Fortunately, I was able to implement what I was learning in the classroom into some of the design elements of the new building.
The following summer I decided to work for Princeton Homes as an assistant to a new homes consultant. I learned a lot, but realized that this was not what I wanted as a career. I started working for Mike Watkins Real Estate Group the same year, typing fliers, formatting pictures and doing other odds and ends between classes. By the summer of 2003, I had my real estate license and was helping the buyer department with incoming calls. My job quickly evolved to not only helping with the buyer department, but also helping clients that we represent who decide to build. For the clients who decide to build, I negotiate with the builder to get the best possible price for them. After all, a builder is more likely to negotiate with me because I can potentially bring eight to ten clients a year to them where a single person may build a house every 5 to 6 years. Once the construction process starts, I try to attend every construction meeting that our clients have with the builder. Those usually include, but are not limited to, a pre-construction meeting, pre-drywall and the final walk-thru. I also try and check on the new home periodically between meetings, but stress to our clients that if a question or concern arises please call me and let me know what the problem is. I try to be as readily accessible throughout the construction as possible.
You will see in our monthly blog frequently asked questions and concerns that clients have during the construction process. We are also going to interview builders and post tips to think about when deciding to build. If you have any questions please feel free to reply.