Detailed Differences
Even the best of plans cannot account for surprises that pop up during construction. Thankfully for Bruce Lee, he has a knack for getting even the tiniest of details just right. It's this attention to detail that allows him to succeed as a builder of high-end, handcrafted homes.
An example of the handcrafted detail Lee focuses on is the exterior trim on the Victorian-style 2009 HGTV Dream Home. "You can't go down to a local lumberyard and buy this trim. We buy the material and we have it milled, and then we have it molded to fit the style of the home that we're doing," Lee says. "If you look at the exterior trim on these older homes, they're really detailed. And we try to build these newer homes in a historical fashion, which actually gives you a sense of pride."
Fabricating the trim to be historically accurate requires plenty of homework, Lee explains. "It;s not like they have the trim sitting around at the store, so we have to fabricate that stuff. You might be able to get a picture of it, but how do you take it from the picture to the house? And that's where (developer) Steve (Ledson) and I come in, and we start putting it together," he says.
First the trim is mocked up in the workshop to determine how it's going to work on the house. "So you just don't say, 'OK, here's the details, here's the wood, go for it.' You have to go to the job site. You have to see how it's going to work out, how the top of that water table's going to come around, and plan around the corner and land on the deck," Lee explains.
It's that commitment to handcrafted details that helps move the high-end homes he builds. When potential clients drive by one of his homes and think, "Those are really nice homes," they're not always sure what it is that makes the house look like that, he says. "It's the detail. Once you get closer and you start seeing the detail you'll recognize that extra time and effort somebody spent on that house. And that's what makes us different that most people," Lee adds.
