Ozarks Profile: Ed Alden

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What is your job?|ret||ret||tab|

Alden has been with Stenger Homes for 12 years as a developer, 11 as vice president. In addition, he builds custom and spec homes with Lezah Stenger, and he is the 2001 president of the board of the Home Builder's Association of Greater Springfield. |ret||ret||tab|

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Tell us about these organizations.|ret||ret||tab|

Ron Stenger's first development was Cherokee Estates in 1978. Alden and his wife lived near that development when they were first married, never knowing that they would someday be closely associated with the Stengers. Stenger Homes built 10 residences last year ranging in value from $150,000 to $800,000. The company built in Stone Meadow, Spring Creek, Quail Creek, The Oaks and Ironbridge. Stenger Homes looks for lots with trees. "People want their children to grow up in areas that have trees." And that means bringing trees into areas that have been pasture land for years, like Ironbridge, he said. As HBA president, his job will be to bring more builders into the council. He wants the public to "look at builders as good guys and not as people that rape and pillage the land." After serving as secretary, treasurer and president-elect, Alden feels prepared for the job. It's a one-year appointment, but "they'll probably try to talk me into being president for two years," a tradition started by John Doran. "You sort of get your feet wet and know exactly what all your duties are by the time your first year is up." A second-year president gets "a lot more done working with city and county officials (because) they get to know your face."|ret||ret||tab|

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What is your educational background?|ret||ret||tab|

Alden graduated from Southwest Missouri State University in 1978 after studying wildlife conservation and forest management with a biology emphasis.|ret||ret||tab|

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What jobs let to your current one?|ret||ret||tab|

Alden decided he didn't want to be a forest ranger after all, so he joined the U.S. Army where he served six years, part of it in Germany. As a mechanical maintenance officer, "I ran a shop and worked with people. My main mission was to get broken vehicles in and good vehicles out." He had to order supplies and materials and learned "to put the right tools to the right people in the right place at the right time." He said it was good preparation for his current job. After the Army, he joined with retired military persons in Outservice, where he learn the building trade. "In Springfield you have builders from builder families," a luxury he didn't have. He continued his builder education at Baer Homes in Tulsa. When the oil business went bust, the company moved to New Mexico. Unfortunately, so did many other builders from Oklahoma, Texas and Colorado. That's when he decided to return to Springfield, then he met Ron Stenger.|ret||ret||tab|

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What is the best part of your job?|ret||ret||tab|

"There's nothing more enjoyable than building a house for an individual that they're proud of and you're proud of. It's the gratification of creating something. I know my house is going to be there for over a hundred years. I love doing custom homes. You know you have a house plan; you know you have it sold; you know you have a paycheck. There are stresses of trying to make sure your client is happy. With spec homes there's only one person you have to please and that's you." He builds about eight homes a year, half custom and half spec "to keep my sanity. There's just not enough of me to go around. I want to make sure everybody is getting a fair piece of Stenger Homes and that they're getting their money's worth." The best part of his job as HBA president, he said, is to promote builders as professionals.|ret||ret||tab|

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Give us some personal information.|ret||ret||tab|

Married for 24 years this May to Cyndi, the couple has two teenage daughters. Kelsy is a Cherokee eighth-grader and basketball player, and Erin, a Kickapoo junior, plays the cello and speaks Japanese.|ret||ret||tab|

by Cheryl Capages |ret||ret||tab|

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