'Job-site rat? grows up to become 2nd generation Ozarks home builder

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Jeff Lurvey has been in business for himself as a builder for 10 years. But, he said, "I've been in the construction business all my life. Basically, I just grew up building houses."|ret||ret||tab|

Lurvey was born and raised in the Springfield area. After graduating from Ozark High School, he worked in the construction industry for about six years before going into business for himself, starting up Jeff Lurvey Construction in 1992.|ret||ret||tab|

"My father, Jud Lurvey, built houses in the 60s and 70s," Lurvey said, "so I'm kind of a job-site rat,' I guess." |ret||ret||tab|

Lurvey learned a lot from his father about the construction business and from a young age helped out on job sites. "I picked trash, did odd jobs, things like that," he said. "Those are the things I do now, too," he said with a laugh. "That's one thing about being a builder you have to be everything. You have to be an architect, a marketer, a salesman, a bookkeeper, and a laborer. You're sort of a jack-of-all-trades."|ret||ret||tab|

Lurvey subcontracts out most labor, such as framing and roofing. |ret||ret||tab|

"I've got some great subcontractors, too, and that helps make my job easier," he said. Aside from his other responsibilities, "I kind of do everything nobody else wants to do, like cleaning up the job site, forming concrete, and yard work."|ret||ret||tab|

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Subdivisions|ret||ret||tab|

Over the past five years, Lurvey has built about 80 homes in Eldorado Place, a subdivision in southwest Springfield. |ret||ret||tab|

He recently completed four homes in Bradford Park, a Nixa subdivision, and just began working on six homes in another Nixa subdivision, South Haven. He also builds houses in other parts of Springfield and in Nixa, specializing in speculative homes in the $90,000-to-$150,000 price range. |ret||ret||tab|

"As a builder you have to learn to market your houses," he said. "Then, especially in this lower price range, you make a budget and you stick with it." |ret||ret||tab|

Lurvey said he is marketing a price range that a lot of people are interested in at the moment. |ret||ret||tab|

"Home building has been good in the lower price ranges right now, thanks to lower interest rates," he said. "The big-gest challenge is that my costs keep going up." Because of rising land and development costs, it can be difficult to keep a house in the targeted price range, he said. "It's a challenge to build a $90,000 house and still make money on it."|ret||ret||tab|

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Controlling costs|ret||ret||tab|

One way Lurvey has managed to control his costs is by using a Computer-Aided Drafting system. "That has helped me to design homes with better use of materials, and with less waste," he said. "And I can do a better job of budgeting and scheduling subs." |ret||ret||tab|

Although it can be challenging sometimes, Lurvey enjoys his work. He likes being his own boss and said the rewards make it all worthwhile. |ret||ret||tab|

"The best part of my job is, after the months of hard work, seeing the completed project when you're all done," he said. |ret||ret||tab|

"And it's always fun to go back three or five years after you've built a house and look at it, and see that it's stood the test of time," he added.|ret||ret||tab|

Lurvey lives in Nixa with his wife Sherry and their two children, Jordan, age nine, and Allison, five. |ret||ret||tab|

"Nixa's a great little community," he said. "They've got good schools, and it's a great place to live."|ret||ret||tab|

His son has already begun helping him a little bit around the job sites, he said. "He worked with me this summer. Of course, he's just nine years old, so he's still got a lot to learn. But he got out there and picked trash, and pushed a broom." |ret||ret||tab|

Lurvey said he likes golf but spends most of his leisure time with his family. He loves to go fishing with his children. "That's the nice thing about being your own boss," he said. "Sometimes, if you have a nice day and everything's caught up, you can take the kids fishing."[[In-content Ad]]