By Doris Wedge
The Norman Transcript
 
Ideal Homes, a Norman-based firm building in cities throughout the Oklahoma City area, has been named one of the best builders in the nation. Builder Magazine and the National Association of Home Builders cited Ideal Homes with America’s Best Builder 2007 honors.

This honor Ideal Homes has been working toward for several years, says Ideal Homes founding officer Gene McKown. It comes just one year after receiving the National Housing Quality 2006 Gold Award from the National Association of Home Builders Research Center. Oklahoma’s largest home builder, Ideal Homes also holds National Housing Quality Certification.

Ideal Homes is a partnership of Vernon McKown, president of sales, Todd Booze, president of construction, and Gene McKown, president of development, but they cite the work of their employees, trade contractors and vendors for achieving the quality of construction and service to customers that resulted in the awards.
“This award is validation of what we have been able to accomplish in the past 17 years,” Gene McKown said.

The three owners founded Ideal Homes in 1989 when Vernon McKown and Booze were OU seniors. Since that beginning with one house, “we have had a steady growth pattern with some really outrageous years,” Gene McKown said.

In 2006, Ideal Homes sold 522 new homes in 15 subdivisions in the Oklahoma City area, operating with offices in Norman, Moore and Mustang. Home sizes range from 900- to 3,000-square-feet.

The America’s Best Builder 2007 award was the result of a comprehensive evaluation by a judging panel of top homebuilding executives, consultants and past winners. The highly competitive honor goes to companies that demonstrate excellence in a broad range of company operations, including customer service and quality, design and construction, finance and operations and community and industry service.

Boyce Thompson, editorial director of “Builder Magazine,” said, “most builders excel in one discipline, be it customer service, great product design, construction know-how or financial planning. Ideal manages to do it all. That takes incredible energy and focus.”

Gene McKown gives credit to the energy of his two young partners, and the owners together cite the work of their 108 employees with responsibilities from the design of a subdivision through helping buyers with the selection of the finishes for the home to arranging financing for the customer.

“Our emphasis is on building the quality of life for our customers,” Booze said.
The process for an Ideal Homes subdivision starts with purchasing land on which they will design and build a residential community featuring one of five levels of homes that the firm builds.

Another McKown son, Richard, designs the subdivisions to be environmentally friendly and esthetically pleasing, saving the trees and creeks and adding winding streets, green areas and water features to enhance the environment. Home designers focus on the energy efficiency of the house, an area in which Ideal Homes has been extremely successful, and on building homes that perform “well above the highest codes and industry standards,” Vernon McKown said.
Their success has brought builders from other parts of the country to Norman to study their processes.

With each home sale comes a three-hour walk-through with the new owner that includes pointing out all features and the instructions on how to operate equipment. The Customer Care Department includes vans equipped with tools and supplies to fix any problem.

“We don’t say that we are flawless, but we want to fix any problem. We want our customers to love our company,” Gene McKown said.

“We are proactive, not reactive,” Booze said. With new purchasers being surveyed four times during the first year as to their satisfaction with the property.
Being singled out for the America’s Best Builder award “brings with it a huge responsibility,” Vernon McKown said. “At Ideal Homes our pledge is to learn from our mistakes and build on our successes.”

This year Ideal Homes has set the goal of building 466 houses, fewer than last year as they keep pace with the housing market. They will begin building in Newcastle and Piedmont, new market areas for Ideal Homes.

The Ideal Homes Web site is www.ideal-homes.com.