Sunbelt Homes, Inc. - late 1985 to 1987 Page 1 |
I answered an ad to sell and build prefab homes, complete
with a financing package. I had to build the house and get it approved
before I could close on the financing. I was still on vacation/sick
leave time, officially an employee of PHI and had excellent credit so I lined
up all the credit lines I could muster and applied for some new credit cards.
This gave me a source of funds to stay alive and build my first house.
I set up a corporation called Sunbelt Homes, Inc. and placed an ad in the local
papers, that anyone who had an acre of land, free and clear, and decent credit,
could have a new home. Soon I had a contract to build my first house.
The guy who sold me the plan and was providing me the house packages had
told me I could build these houses profitably for $28 per square foot and, being
basically ignorant, I took him at his word. I ordered the package which
consisted of prefab wall sections, with insulation, windows and doors, roof
trusses, decking and shingles. The house could be easily erected and "blacked
in" in a day, once the slab or foundation was in place. Then it was
local materials and sub contractors for plumbing, electrical and inside finish
work. I was not the most efficient builder and, this being my first house,
I went all out and ended up losing $3000 on the job. I figured it cost
me $30/sf to build so I raised my price to $32/sf and using my bought experience
from the first house managed to turn a profit on the second. That I learned
to build and finish a small house in 30 days, was also a plus. It looked
like I had a new career. For the next 2 years, I sold houses about
as fast as I could build them. In 1985, my daughter, Nita, met Dr. Robert A. Best, who was filling in at the office of a local Veterinarian, who had recently died. She took her cat in and came home saying she was in love. They were married in Oct 1986. and we met our new "grand daughter", Amanda Best, Bob's daughter from his previous marriage, who was 3 years old.. For the next several years we spent as much time with Amanda as do most grand parents and loved her dearly. Shortly afterward. the vet clinic closed, Bob was out of a job and they both started helping me with the house building business. I was the only building contractor around with a Doctor of Veterinarary Medicine and a Licensed Practical Nurse on staff. Go to Next Page |