`My favorite house is the one I’m building right now, but that’s true any time,” says Wendy Mahren, a St. Charles-based custom-home builder. “I get into it so much. With every house, I learn a better way or new idea that I can take to the next project.”
Mahren builds three homes a year in the $300,000 to $1.5 million range, plus two whole-house remodels. The entire process, from her first meeting with the clients to the closing, usually takes a year. “Counting my one-year warranty, we’re together for two years, so it has to be a relationship that works,” says Mahren.
Mahren grew up in the restaurant business, which she says taught her to work backwards.
“When you cook Mother’s Day brunch for 300 people, you have to plan ahead and schedule everything back from the completion date,” she says.
When she launched her business in 1987, Mahren named it Belwether Builders. Add the letter “l” and you have the Old English word “bellwether,” meaning trendsetter or leader.
Most of her clients are veteran home buyers, says Mahren. “Usually, this is their third or fourth house, so they know what they want,” she says. “They come to me with stacks of magazine clippings.”
Before Mahren drafts the design, she asks the clients to complete a 20-page questionnaire that defines their family and lifestyle. Are you inside people or outside people? How much closet space do you have now and is it enough? What are the measurements of your furniture? Do you have a boat? Do you have allergies? Do you run your business from your home?
“I insist the husband and wife fill it out together,” she says. “They usually learn something about each other. The wife finds out he’s thinking European castle and he finds out she’s thinking Georgian.”
Their answers give Mahren a client profile. To that she adds the requisites. “For example, you should have at least three bedrooms in this price range, even if you’re empty-nesters, for resale,” she says. “And it has to fit into the neighborhood and fit the lot.”
As Mahren and her clients fine-tune the design, which usually takes several months, she says her No. 1 job is to listen.
“I have to figure out what they need, which is different from what they want,” she says. “Most of us want 30 percent more house than we need. And, everyone has a budget. At every price and income level, people compromise to fit the budget.”
Although each Belwether home is unique, Mahren says she does see recurring themes. “Now, everyone wants low-maintenance homes because they’re so busy,” she says. “Also, many want separate formal areas, first-floor master bedroom retreats and swing rooms that can change in the future.” A library, for example, may morph into an extra bedroom when a boomerang child or grandparent moves in.
Her greatest challenge was designing ing a house for a mother and grown daughter who wanted separate quarters in the same, single-family house.
“The final design looked like a French cottage from the street,” she says. “But it had two outside entrances and living areas so separate that one had a cat and the other, who had cat allergies, could avoid the cat.”
Final plan in hand, Mahren schedules her corps of subcontractors. Although each house calls for different specialties, some of the subcontractors Mahren calls regularly include a stained-glass artist, cabinetmaker and custom stairmaker. One job she does not subcontract is landscaping. “Gardening is my thing, so, for me, that’s the fun part,” she says.
Much of her job involves keeping the crew on schedule, says Mahren. “One delay causes a chain reaction,” she says. “When delivery of a front door was held up nine weeks by the UPS strike, it set back the brickwork, concrete, electrical wiring and flooring.”
A super-organized listmaker, Mahren insists team members be prompt. “If I can be on time–with three kids, a business, a dog and a cat–you can be on time,” she tells them.
Complicating the schedule are change orders issued after the clients change their minds about a product or alter the design. Rare is the custom house built without a change order, says Mahren.
While Mahren dashes between job sites, client meetings and her home office, her husband, Jim Mahren, who doubles as her concrete contractor, oversees the subcontractors.
Mahren encourages her clients to visit their homes-in-the-works.
“During the first stage, when the walls go up, it seems like a lot is happening,” she says. “Then clients ask what we’re doing because it looks like nothing’s happening while we’re putting in the heating, air conditioning, plumbing, electrical, sound wiring and central vacuum. Then, when the drywall goes up it looks like things are moving along again. That’s when they get excited because they see all the colors they had agonized over all come together.”
Being female in this mostly male profession works to her advantage, says Mahren. “I bring a more empathetic interpretation to the design,” says the mother of three, ages 10 to 14. “I ask questions that male designers might not ask, like `How often do you go the grocery store?’ That makes a big difference in kitchen storage.
“As a mother, I know families need big laundry rooms with outside entrances and near bathrooms. I know kids’ rooms need walk-in closets for all their stuff, phone jacks and room for their computers.”
Mahren’s most popular feature is the Christmas closet.
“It’s in the master bedroom and has a lock,” she says. “That’s where Santa Claus keeps his gifts. I’ve also had clients who wanted Christmas tree closets off of the family rooms. One client had a holiday closet with separate sections for her Christmas, Thanksgiving, Halloween, Easter and Fourth of July decorations.”
In her spare time, Mahren devours history books. “I spent four years reading about the Civil War,” she says. “Now, I’m reading about the Reconstruction.” Evenings and weekends, she juggles her business, her son’s baseball games and her daughters’ concerts.
While their friends tell her they don’t know what their parents do for a living, Mahren says her children know because they often work with her.
“They know how to fix an outlet and how to hang an electrical fixture,” says Mahren. “They know a riser from a tread and a trim nailer from a six-penny nailer. So they may not go into the business, but they’ll make great homeowners.”
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For more information, contact Wendy Mack Mahren, Belwether Builders, 630-513-1299, or e-mail: Flourzgirl@hotmail.com.
