As the daughter of a General Contractor I know my way around a job site. I’d often hear my Pop talk about plans, permits, subs and watched over the years he perfected the process. He had his steady crew and reliable subs, which is saying something! I watched all the houses he’d build from the ground up and went to every job site he had from the time I was 4 to the age of 35 soaking up the process and longing to one day build a house of my own. Sadly he passed before I could get him to build my dream home, in fact I had to put on my GC hat and finish out the last house he was in the middle of building. That was no easy task. The nitty gritty day to day coordinating and organizing and making sure to keep the job moving, thinking 5 steps ahead in the process knowing what comes next is nothing to be taken lightly. Watching as his visions of homes would come to life, he just had an eye for it that I never did.
After losing my Pop I never thought I’d be able to fulfill my dream of building my own house. Where would I start? How could I trust anyone as much as him? How was I going to design it? However, we had to do something as we were quickly outgrowing our tiny town house with another baby on the way.
I’d been saving my whole life for this endeavor and was almost there, afraid to pull the trigger without my Pop for guidance, but with the little bit of money he left me I was finally able to make the dream a reality. I decided to start by searching for land. That seemed the best way to begin. Then like a shining beacon or blessing from above the perfect lot became available. I drove past it every day on my way home from work, tried to picture myself living there with my family and decided, this was it, this was the one. I met with the listing agent and walked the lot many times over then coordinated a Right of First Refusal to save my lot. Now I just had to figure out how to find a builder, or an architect or an engineer or all three?
I knew I didn’t want some “bubba-in-a-truck” that might pull a disappearing act after I gave a deposit, so instead I researched companies. Most I found were production based builders doing communities and didn’t offer customization. Then on the other end of that spectrum, there were fully custom builders, but there was a significant price differential in going fully custom. I needed to find something that was middle of the road. ENTER Caruso Homes. I had never heard of them before but after one call with Tim Carle, that was it, they were the ones! He was knowledgeable, listened to my situation, told me about who they were and helped me make a plan, all on call #1. I felt like I had known him for years. I wasn’t just a sale, Tim actually cared about my house! This was it. This was the answer! Caruso Homes offers this OYL or On Your Lot program that is absolutely AMAZING! It was quite literally the perfect answer to my situation. I found the land and I needed someone to take it from there. They are a semi custom builder that does production on one side, building communities and specs, but they also have On Your Lot! What a great program! So that meant they had the architects, engineers, GCs and connections to all sorts of subs that could bid your job and get you the best possible price. They had 50 models to choose from but you could make it your own with some customization. I wasn’t like when you buy into a community either, where you have 5 choices of cabinets. This was, go meet with the designer and pick anything you want! So this gave someone like me, who didn’t have any idea how I wanted my house to look, a place to start and the ability to make it EXACTLY the way I wanted it. It also, and most importantly, allowed for my house to be affordable. As a production builder that also has an OYL program, Caruso was able to bring my home to market for less than a single custom builder ever could have because they could obtain production pricing! A company buying 500 toilets for communities will get your toilet cheaper than a custom builder going to Home Depot grabbing 4 toilets for your house, and Caruso used all high quality products and finishes. Win win!
I chose my favorite layout and spent countless hours on the phone with Tim moving things around while he sat on Teams meeting and changed the design as we were talking so I could see it live. He was my weekly call and he made the experience so wonderful. I felt like I was his only client. He didn’t just sell me and disappear. He was with me the entire process through to closing. He knew my house better than me, Where I upgraded, What moved where, What my special requests were… he made them all happen. If he said he was going to look into something or do something, it got done. If I got his VM it would be followed by an instant text saying “I will call your right back” and he did. I never had to feel like I was chasing him down or trying to get answers or getting the “run-around”. I can’t speak more highly of Tim Carle and the fabulous experience he gave me in the overall house building process from call #1 to closing day. I valued and trusted his opinion and expertise when it came to decisions I had to make with regard to the house, details I didn’t even think about at first. It was the most fun I ever had designing and building my dream home. The only thing I regret is that I no longer get to call and talk with him about my house on a regular basis anymore.
This time last year, April 2025, I was headed to Caruso for my Pre Construction meeting, and now April 2026, I’m sitting in MY beautiful dream home writing my story.
It was in this meeting that I met Lynda Hudgins-Brown, project manager and Greg Pelletier, construction manager. Tim, Lynda and Greg all sat in on the Pre Construction meeting, where we pulled up the final plans and made sure the house was designed exactly the way I wanted it. Greg was very detail oriented, knew exactly what the plan was, paid attention to every side note, change and customization I had made. He and Lynda were going to work hand in hand to make sure what I had in my mind, went down on paper, to then came to life on my lot, and boy did they deliver!! Lynda worked tirelessly behind the scenes coordinating invoices, orders through purchasing and most importantly kept track of my lot finishing. She got me the best bids and put it all together for my file. She managed my change orders and doc signing and helped ensure everything I wanted for the house was communicated to the right party and on paper. She was an integral cog is this well oiled machine, better known as Caruso Homes OYL.
And Greg Pelletier! He managed the construction of my home like a boss! I never had to wonder how it was coming or call him for updates. Greg made sure I knew exactly where my house was in the process and how it was coming. There were never excuses or disappearances. I could always reach him. Every Friday I would get my weekly update with what got done and what was upcoming and everything he said would get done got done in the timeframe he told me it would. No BS. It was the smoothest building experience I’ve ever had. Granted, it was the only building experience I’ve ever had, but growing up watching my Pop build homes for people I’d often hear horror stories of subs that can’t be reached after giving them a deposit. Or this issue or that. Even when you watch HGTV there’s always that call that comes in where they’ve encountered a problem and need more money. Not with Greg in charge. Everything was on time and on budget and the communication was fantastic. From the day we broke ground July 11th 2025 to closing day Jan 22nd 2026 Greg was right there by my side making my dream a reality. He was easy to reach, talked me through any questions I had and most importantly, made sure every detail of construction was perfect to my exact design and specifications. Every weekend my husband, two babies and I would come to the house to see the progress. It was our favorite Saturday outing! Every week the house made AMAZING progress. There literally wasn’t a week that went by where the house sat idle with no progress and that’s saying something in a construction project. Usually you’re waiting on delivery or inspection or this or that but not with Greg. He had the plan all mapped out and subs lined up perfectly so there was never a lull or delay. He promised me my house in 8 months and delivered it in 7 (probably would have been 6 had the power company not dragged its feet). Speaking more to that, Greg made weekly calls to the power company to keep on them and push for my permanent power date. Greg even went as far as to sit at the county office and ensure inspection approval notices were communicated and entered into the system correctly so everything was in line for closing. The amount of effort love and attention he put into building my dream home you would have thought he was building his own house. His tenacity when it mattered most, his productivity levels, knowledge of how construction of a home works, ability to coordinate people and have great relationships with subs, get inspections, approvals and overall ability to get things done, and then on top of it all, communicate it to me, left nothing to be desired. I could not have asked for a better experience in building my home. At final walk through he showed me all my systems, water. HVAC, sprinkler etc and even labeled and made notes of how to maintain them. He spent countless hours ensuring I was left with the most beautiful home one could ask for. I’ve been in the house for about 9 weeks now, getting settled unpacking and organizing. My husband and I sit on the couch at night, in front of our fireplace in our cozy beautiful home and enjoy the quiet after getting our babies (4) and (18 months) to bed and ask ourselves “do we really live here?” We are just so thrilled and had the most wonderful experience with the Caruso Homes OYL dream team. Tim, Lynda and Greg. Thank you for making our dream into a reality. It really is the most beautiful house thanks to you. We are so grateful for all that you did and look forward to many years ahead in our dream house, watching our babies grow up and growing old together. Thank you for all the love that was put into our home.
