A Conversation With ... Sam Watts

I’ve been in business since 1993. We build people’s dream homes from $300,000 up to more than $1 million. I have two employees and also work with subcontractors. We will work within a 50-mile radius of Springfield. I usually build about four homes a year.

What are some key challenges to building homes in this market?

The availability of good lots at a reasonable price – and being able to come up with the exact (house design) that everybody wants.

What are some trends you’re seeing in homeowner demands?

We’re seeing people’s size requirements level off, but the amenities inside the houses are becoming more important to them. We’ll spend a week putting in central vacuum systems, dumbwaiters, security and sound wiring, and things of that nature.

Do you get a lot of requests for energy efficiency in the homes you build?

Yes. It’s something that everybody’s paying attention to right now. It hadn’t been a hot … priority for several years, but it is again because of the increase in utility bills. We’ve got a lot of products available to us that haven’t been in the past as far as home insulation … to tighten homes up. We’re actually paying an engineer to do an energy audit on two or three different insulation packages that we’ve done to see which one is most cost-effective.

Tell us about the first house you ever built.

The first house I ever built was in 1977, and that was a 1,300-square-foot house. But I went into another type of business – window cleaning – because the building market went to pot in the late ’70s and early ’80s.

How have you been involved with the Home Builders Association of Greater Springfield?

I originally joined the HBA so I could have a house in the Parade of Homes. Once I got in and I realized all the benefits they were doing and all they had as far as things that were going on behind the scenes – keeping (up) with legislation … I became more and more involved with it. I have been on the (local) board of directors for a year, and I’m also a national board member.

What advice would you offer to someone getting started as a home builder?

The best advice I could give them is to work for a builder for a while to get their feet wet and get some experience under their belt. I didn’t do that. I had a lot of experience in home repair and remodeling, but … when I started my business, I had only built three houses, and all of them were for myself. The first house I built in 1977, I actually built to sell, but I lived there for three years while I was waiting on it to sell.

Do you have time to do a lot of work to your own home?

I always have a lot of ideas about what I want to do to my home, but I always have to keep in mind where I’m at and the resale value is. … I could create quite the list and never be done.

Tell us about your family and what you enjoy outside of work.

My wife is Faith, and I have three children; two daughters and a son. Sarah is 24, Jennifer is 19, and Jacob is 15. We have two grandchildren – Taylor is 2, and Chloe is 1.

We spend a lot of time camping and a lot of time at Table Rock Lake, and we’re very involved with our church, First Baptist of Rogersville.[[In-content Ad]]