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| Express Yourself |
| Home Economics ... For Real |
| Making It Work |
| Stay In Tonight ... Outside |
| Thinking Forward |
| Grow Older Together |
| Come Together |
| WANE-TV Villa No. 1 by Granite Ridge Builders |
| WANE-TV Villa No. 2 by Granite Ridge Builders |
| Big Brothers/Big Sisters Home No. 3 by Slattery Builders |
| Centier Bank Home No. 4 by Granite Ridge Builders |
| New 95.1 Best FM and Fun 101 Classic Hits Home No. 5 by Quality Crafted Homes |
| Carter Lumber Home No. 6 by Bob Buescher Homes |
| Frontier Communications Home No. 7 by Star Homes by Delagrange and Richhart |
| Lutheran Health Network Home No. 8 by Hickory Creek Homes |
| Fort Wayne Monthly Home No. 9 by Timberlin Homes |
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 Photo courtesy of Timberlin Homes Barclay Allen has been working in homebuilding since summers in college, graduating finally to founding his own company, Timberlin Homes, in 2006. Half joking, he tells the story of his start in the business in 1991 when his father-in-law, Herb Delagrange, then of Colonial Development, gave him a summer job on a framing crew to scare him away from his daughter, whom Allen was dating. "It backfired," he said. He fell in love with the business, too. "I want to give credit where credit is due. I would not be where I am at without Herb and Larry Delagrange, my father-in-law and my uncle. They have given me a sense of being honest and ethical and that integrity is everything. "The lesson is that nothing beats good, hard work and being ethical and treating people the way they should be treated." He still considers himself the kid in his own business and values the experienced staff he has built around him. "I like that," he said. "I like to surround myself with people that know what they're doing, more than I do." Allen's particular expertise is design, and he still has his real estate brokers license. "I love design. I love to create," he said. "I love being able to drive down a street and say 'I did that. I was involved in building that.' It's a matter of pride. Each home is its own masterpiece." Creating the designs is his favorite part of the business. "If I could do nothing else, I would love to just sit there and create," he said. He is, nevertheless, not creating for himself. "I don't design a house and match the people to that design. I try to match the design to the people. "This is a partnership. I like to see the builder and the client as partner in this process." 1. Why are you in this Parade of Homes and Lifestyle Show?I see this Parade as an opportunity for the general public to see what Timberlin Homes can do. We are a true custom builder. I want to showcase my quality of work and my design abilities for anybody that is potentially looking to build a home. 2. How do you want your homes to be thought of in the future, say 25 years from now?The biggest form of flattery for me is when my homes go on the market and the listing has comments, the broker put that it was built by Timberlin Homes. That has been one of my goals. Timberlin Homes is one of those builders that gets mentioned. That's what I want. 3. What is the biggest change you've seen in your career as a homebuilder?I would say that the general public, the buyers, have become a lot more savvy. With the increase in access to information through the Internet and through home shows, they are a lot more knowledgeable. They are more knowledgeable about the building process and about the products that are going into homes today. In the past, a lot more relied on the builders. Today you still need somebody to guide, to manage and direct, but people are a lot more aware of what goes into a house and what things cost. |
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