Today we’d like to introduce you to Michele Alvarado.
Michele, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I’ve always liked the idea of building homes and dreamed that one day I would be able to do that. I am the kind of person who would go through open houses and see what I liked and didn’t like about a particular house and what I could do to improve its function and it’s designed (like finishes).
I always doodled house plans for fun and was fortunate enough to go through the building process personally on two homes and an extensive remodeling process for two more. I love the design and maybe in another life would be an architect. As it is, I do have a creative side, I was an art major before getting my MBA. After 30+ years in commercial banking, and not flexing my creative side, I was ready for a new challenge. Building homes seemed like the right thing to try. I knew a bit about the financial side of homebuilding from my time as a banker, so I needed to find a construction director.
Fortunately, I found one, Bill Edwards, who has been with me since the beginning and whose 20 years of custom building is exactly what Sanctuary Builders needed. I love helping our clients work on their plans and finishes and seeing the project start from nothing and end up with a beautiful home.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
It hasn’t been a smooth road. I started out with a business partner and we determined about a year into it that we had different visions so I had to buy him out. Then a year or two after starting the company the oil industry turned down and changed the real estate markets. We had a few spec homes in process and didn’t make the kind of returns we expected due to that.
There are a lot of risks in homebuilding, I feel like I’ve experienced all of them. There was the stucco sub who had worked for my construction director for years, who filed for bankruptcy in the middle of a job. We had to pay a new contractor to finish the job and fix some work they had done incorrectly. If it’s not one thing it’s another. That said there are many rewards, seeing our clients or buyers so happy with their new homes, watching a home being built, all the puzzle pieces coming together correctly. It’s a work of art.
Please tell us about Sanctuary Builders.
We are a small custom home building & remodeling company that builds in Houston, TX. We focus on customer service and high-quality work. We are proud of our finished product. What sets us apart is that the principals are involved in each job from start to finish.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
I’m not sure I would have done anything differently, all the mistakes I made and the successes I’ve had have each taught me something I needed to know.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.sanctuary-builders.com
- Phone: 2813526358
- Email: info@sanctuary-builders.com
- Instagram: IDK it’s under sanctuary builders.
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sanctuarybuilders/?ref=bookmarks
- Other: https://www.houzz.com/pro/sanctuarybuildershouston/sanctuary-builders
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