Mr. Friday –
Today was an exhilarating day for my family. After several months of watching wood and sawdust fly, we closed on our new Woodland Home on the day predicted and without a significant issue remaining. We are tremendously excited about our transition from Decatur over to Madison and anticipating this day has made waiting that much harder.
These days, people are quick to criticize when things don’t go their way. Yet, they fail to compliment when things go well. In our case, not passing on a few words of praise and gratitude would be a disservice to some great Woodland Homes representatives. Without exception, every single person (Lisa Miller, Tony Nicholson, Keith Vernon and Susan Klopfenstein) we encountered along our path was superior. Having heard horror stories of home building experiences from friends, I was unprepared for such a spectacular cast of folks. In every case, my questions and requests were addressed promptly, thoroughly and with consideration of the “home buyer’s perspective” on the situation. I never encountered a bad attitude, a side-ways glance, or an unfulfilled promise. Please take a moment if you will to extend my thanks to each of these folks. They made our encounter a pleasure and we now count them as our friends.
I do want to single out two people for an extra dose of praise. Matt Curtis is spectacular. At our first meeting, I outlined our situation and gave Matt a series of hurdles to jump in order to gain my confidence and trust. The most important one was patience. I won’t explain the details but I knew it would take several months for us to ultimately make a decision. Matt kept pace...never pushed or pressured...and let us convince ourselves that we were making the right decision. I look forward to having him now as one of my neighbors! He’s a good man and makes a great impression for Woodland.
Lastly, I want to single out Bryan Walker. Words really fail me here. Since we wrote our earnest check, I have been by our house almost every day as part of my morning commute. Coincidentally, I was usually passing through as Bryan was making his morning rounds. Every day, Bryan would stop and walk the house with me...answering my questions and telling me what would be happening next in the process. I warned him early on that I was a terminally curious person – and a terminal pain. I can’t tell you the number of odd requests I gave Bryan during these excursions. I can tell you that he responded to and acted on every one of them. He went way beyond the call of duty to make me understand and feel comfortable with the anxieties of home building. After 20 years of moving my family with the Army, I told Bryan that my goal was to build a home that my wife could truly call her own and that my kids would remember with great fondness when they were grown. Today, Bryan gave me that house.
The measure of success, as I told everyone involved – including subcontractors I met along the way – was to go through the final inspection and see my wife smile as we walked out the door. To me, her smile is one of the most beautiful things in this world. Today, she was radiant and my children were asking to camp in the house tomorrow night...no furniture required.
I am aware that you do routine staff calls to review the positives and negatives of the preceding weeks. I also know that people get called out at these meetings. I certainly want Lisa, Tony, Keith, Susan, Matt and Bryan to receive accolades in this forum. More importantly though, I’d like for you to personally take a moment in the next few days to tell each of these guys, “Job well done!” and tell Bryan that he’s amazing. I can give you endless anecdotes on each of these folks and would be happy to provide any additional information you might need.
I’ll look forward to shaking your hand on 24 April at the PMHOA picnic! Thank you again for a great day!!
Respectfully,
Tom H. |
