We Don’t Do Less
High-Touch, Low-Maintenance, High-Performance, Creating Quality Custom Homes “One-By-One” Will Always Be The Summerall Way
There’s a reason the company name keeps the word “custom” at its core. It’s not just the bespoke standard by which owner and proprietor David Summerall and team construct their business. It’s customizing the build from start to finish – from the homeowner’s dream to blueprint to well weathered “beautiful old home” – and doing so specifically with the Lowcountry in mind.
Succeeding at this is both an art and a science. On the side of art, Summerall and team get to revel in the beauty of the work and its environment, creating in a way that protects and celebrates the nature and culture of the coastal Carolinas – angling sightlines toward expansive views, incorporating natural design elements, and utilizing environmentally conscious materials. The back half is more technical and clinical but more essential, requiring the team to stay abreast on “current construction science” of spray foam insulation, zip seals, and variable HVAC systems for those high-temp-meets-high-tide summers.
The company’s goal is to work these two interests together seamlessly and to do so in a high-touch manner that creates a low-maintenance experience for the buyer/builder and results in Summerall’s consistently high-performance homes. This lofty goal can only be accomplished in one way – the Summerall way – putting all of their constructive eggs in one basket (at a time).
“ALL” FOR ONE
It seems the secret’s out about the Lowcountry. Love it (bolstering the local economy) or hate it (limited resources and change) growth has come to stay for a while in the once quiet surroundings of America’s most beautiful island. This means a construction climate where the only way to serve the backlog of a sprawling and rampant population boom, is to simplify and mass-produce. We see it in the 10 houses being raised on the same street, in the same week, and residents see it in the cut corners once they move in. David Summerall and team won’t hear of it.
“We don’t do less,” says Summerall who often emphasizes the company’s “less is more” philosophy. “There is no way to stretch your work across so many build sites at once and not see something suffer or fall through the cracks.” Cracks, by the way, which are more prolific when you’re racing through multiple foundations with a single team.
Traditionally, no one gets the full attention that they deserve. The way we do it, everyone does.
“Focusing all of our experts’ attention on fewer efforts allows us to deliver more on each project – even if that means we’re committing to build one by one.” For Summerall, pouring exclusive attention into one home is not a loss of time or profit, it’s a commitment to white-glove excellence which is a greater profit for the company, the homeowner, and in the long run, in the Lowcountry in which it stands.
How is this possible in an industry with such overwhelming demand? It’s a highly intentional business model that starts with accumulating your own personal dream team. Imagine being able to draft “one expert in every trade” (electrician, plumber, HVAC tech, etcetera) for the perfect starting lineup to build your home to a standard you can trust.
FINISHING WHAT WE STARTED
This also means one-on-one personal attention between the homeowner and home building team. “You have our full attention – on your home and on your hopes and concerns. This also means you often have my full attention, personally,” which is almost unheard of for the head of a company. “We’ve all been there where we’re trying to track someone down but they’re busy on another site or job. Not here. We finish what we started – literally. We finish one job before moving on to the next.” They never take their eyes off your home.
It seems unrealistic in contemporary construction – or unwise. To David Summerall he’s genuinely concerned to see it happen any other way. He admits it ultimately puts a cap on the volume of clients or projects they can take in, but still wouldn’t dream of changing up their promise of perfection. “I don’t ask the customer if they’re happy with their house until I’m happy with their house first – and I’m only happy when it’s stellar.” Unrealistic or not, it’s a system and a vision that works.
THE WORKS
What also has to “work” is the house itself. Summerall points out that a house isn’t just a shape or structure, it’s a system and it must work mechanically. Like a body has circulatory and respiratory systems working within skeletal and cell structures, so goes your home where all things must work together for good. It’s an ecology unto itself and you have to depend on the “expert panel” you’ve hired to make your home a reality and assure form, function, and long term endurance.
It’s a tall order but it’s where Summerall thrives. “I’m not the ideas and design guy,” David Summerall says. “I’m the implementation guy.” You can ask me about paint color if you want but I’m not going to know the difference. I am going to know what your roof is going to look like in 30 years. I am going to pair the life of the home with the life of the homeowner. And I am going to work to get you what you want.”
Summerall has pointed out on multiple occasions, “Every home we build is a representation of myself. It has to be a home I stand behind, one I could put my family in, and one I can put my name on – because I do.”
To David and team, the Summerall way is the only way. There’s a pun in there about whether your builders are giving you “some or all” (Summerall). But if we’re reviewing the punch list of promises the company puts forth in every task, decision, or endeavor, they prove not just in word but in deed (to your new home), “We don’t do less.”