Will Bown has built on his father’s legacy. After taking over Turnkey Builders, he’s continued to deliver the high-quality, energy-efficient designs his father was known for, while making it his mission to educate clients along the way.
Like many builders, Will started working alongside his dad and watching This Old House as a kid. Building 15 treehouses and constantly renovating the family home gave him plenty of hands-on experience, as did his later project-management job at a commercial building company. But it was his father’s methods that stuck with him.
One of those practices was painstaking sitework. “He took the time to make sure the house elevation and orientation worked with the land,” Will says. It’s rare for a builder now to do what his dad did—everything from clearing the land and siting the driveway to digging the foundation and building the structure.
Maintaining the design-build model his father used, Will has expanded and elevated the design aspect of the business. Designing a project with clients from the start not only ensures that he clearly understands their needs, but it also feeds his love of problem-solving. “You have to put your arms around the whole problem,” he says. “The buck starts and stops with you.”
“You have to put your arms around the whole problem. The buck starts and stops with you.”
– Will Bown, Owner, Turnkey Builders
Educating homeowners is another driving passion. Early in the design process, Will asks clients about their priorities and then walks them through the building-science principles that shape every aspect of the build—from creating the right enclosure, to choosing HVAC systems, to selecting finishes. In fact, one of the first things he does with new clients is hand them a copy of Pretty Good House, a guide to practical high-performance home building, to show them the principles that guide his process.
Will’s initial proposals to clients always include HVAC planning, insulation, window-performance metrics, and other considerations for high performance. His baseline designs are tight, efficient buildings that exceed code requirements, and that standard is built into his estimates.
“That baseline plan is non-negotiable,” he says. “If a client wants to do it another way, then I might not be the right builder for them.” And that’s fine by Will. His father would be proud.
— Jennifer Morris, editorial assistant. Photo by Caleb Kenna.
Keep Craft Alive is our campaign celebrating those who have chosen to passionately pursue a career in design, building, and remodeling. Find out more and show your support by visiting KeepCraftAlive.org, and use #KeepCraftAlive to share your passion for the cause.
|
RELATED STORIES
