Builder John Rayle partners with mom in business

Builder John Rayle may be new to the Springfield market, but he's been around construction almost his entire life. His great-grandfather, Herman Dunaway, built 400 homes in Springfield from the 1940s through the 1970s. Dunaway was also the superintendent of the Fort Leonard Wood Army Base project.

Rayle moved to Springfield a year and a half ago from Kansas City, where he built and rehabilitated government housing.

Now he buys lots and has blueprints developed for building homes.

"I coordinate the day-to-day operations," he said. "I choose and oversee all the subcontractors."

Eighty-five percent of the work is done by subcontractors, Rayle said, with the remaining interior finish done by himself and his associates.

Rayle said he moved to Springfield for several reasons. "I wanted something more challenging where I could utilize my design skills, as well as my mother's," he said.

Rayle and his mother, Kim, are partners in the business. Kim Rayle lives in Kansas City, but she makes frequent visits to Springfield to give her input on the interior design of the homes.

"I was burnt out on Kansas City too," Rayle said. "I have family and friends here. The entry into the marketplace was easier here. There's a lot of exclusivity in the big cities. The competition is much greater there. I've never had a house on the market for more than two weeks once it's completed and available for sale. Ninety percent of my homes have sold before they're finished. I've even sold homes off of those being built."

Rayle's company, Rayle Estate Con-struction LLC, builds homes in the Oak Run Estates subdivision in Battlefield. He also is building homes in Brittany Ridge, a new subdivision in Battlefield where he has three houses in progress, two of them custom homes that have already sold. Oak Run and Brittany Ridge are located off Weaver Road.

The Oak Run homes are being sold both by Rayle Estate Construction and by the Janet Parsons team of Realtors at Re/Max House of Brokers.

Rayle said he chose Battlefield be-cause this was an area where he could build homes in the price range he wanted. The newly completed James River Expressway made access to Springfield easier and the area is a rapidly growing.

The average-size home Rayle builds is 1,800 to 2,000 square feet; The price between $130,000 and $150,000.

He describes his building style as progressive and trendy.

"I use white trim carpentry and pewter or silver accents on hardware," he said. "It's not the same-old-same-old. The homes are well-thought-out. They have the feel of a custom home. I'm not into building a home just to make the money. I'll spend the extra money myself to make everything right."

In the future, Rayle hopes to bring a particular style of home to Springfield. "I'm working with an architect now," he said. "The homes will be a combination of reproductions of older homes and modern amenities. It'll be something people haven't seen before." He added that he doesn't want to say too much about the project now, but that he expects to be building the homes in 2002.

"I'd also like to tap into the market of the baby boomers that are downsizing in regards to space, not quality," Rayle said. "They're living in a smaller home because their kids have moved out. But they still want the high quality of the materials they're used to."

Rayle has a bachelor's degree in business administration with a minor in economics from the University of Missouri in Kansas City.

"I learned about the building business pretty much from doing it," he said. "I've been around contractors all my life. A lot of my friends are contractors."