My reception was a little mixed back at the town house. I filled Marilyn in on my day. It was disconcerting to her that I didn't have a regular nine-to-five job with a fixed schedule, but she would get used to that very quickly. I had often had a very flexible schedule at Lefleur Homes, with going to different lots and seeing customers and traveling to job sites. No, Marilyn wasn't quite used to the idea of having money and being able to spend it.
Marilyn wanted me to get competitive bids on the house construction. Me, I could care less. This was just one of those differences in us. I was always going to be much more concerned with speed, quality, workmanship, reliability, and other such factors. Price, simple cash amounts, was way down on my list. Life was too short to worry about saving money on every possible thing. I can remember back on the first go-around, when we were going to have a party and she spent half a day going from store to store to find the absolute best deal on tiki torches. I remember asking her afterwards, "So you spent four hours and ten bucks in gas, driving all around Utica, to save five bucks on tiki torches? Do I have that right?" She tried to argue, but it totally failed.
On the plus side, this was one of my benefits as a salesman and sales manager. Research shows that you sell the same way you buy. The salesman who goes to five separate stores looking for the absolute best bargain on something for his own use will also be the salesman who thinks it is perfectly acceptable to send a customer on his way who wants to 'think about it' a little more. Fine, send them on their way, right until they land in front of me, and I ask them 'What are you waiting for?' and sell them something. I was never able to convince my wife of this, and we often had lively arguments about sales techniques. One thing she couldn't argue about was that I kept food on the table and kept my sales averages well above average.
Thursday afternoon, Marsbury showed up on time. Marilyn was closest to the door, and she let him in. I heard him introduce himself, and then he was inside. "Honey, Mister Marsbury is here!", she cried out.
Charlie fussed when he heard Marilyn's voice. He was cutting teeth and tended to be cranky, another reason not to travel with him. I brought him towards the door, trying to soothe him, but he demanded Mommy as soon as he saw her. I motioned the builder in and gave my offspring back to Marilyn. "Come on in. Sorry about that."
"That's all right. Call me Bill. How old?"
"Charlie's about six months or so. I'm Carl, of course, and this is my wife Marilyn."
Marilyn shook his hand while juggling our son. "Sorry about this, but Charlie's teething and gets cranky. I'm glad we can do this here."
"It's my pleasure. You're very close to my office. Where do you want to do this?"
"Let's sit around the dining room table.", I suggested, and led the way. We settled around the table, and I looked over at Marsbury, who dug a scratch pad out of his briefcase, along with a pen.
"Let me ask you a few questions, first. Would that be alright?", he asked.
Good technique, ask permission to quiz the buyer. I was liking this guy. "Please."
"Where specifically do you plan to build? Do you have the property now?"
I nodded. "We are in the process now. Our offer has been accepted and we will be closing in a week or two. In the meantime we can access the site; it's just bare land right now, no improvements."
"Where precisely is it?"
"Out on Mount Carmel Road, in Hereford, out near the county line. It's still in Baltimore County, though."
"Have you given any thought to what kind of house you are looking for? Are there any features you want, or don't want?", he asked.
Good, ask open-ended questions, get the customer talking. This guy was a pro. "Actually, yes. Marilyn and I have been looking through some books of plans, and have some ideas. Can you build like that? Or do we have to use your own plans?"
"Either way. We often have plans similar to what you are interested in, and can modify them accordingly."
I dug out one of the books of plans and opened it to a page Marilyn and I had liked. I had drawn on it with a pencil. "Something like this, the Somerset, but larger, maybe about 3,500 square feet. It definitely has to be a rancher, though. My leg probably is not going to get better, so I want everything on one level."
"I noticed the limp yesterday."
"I hit the trees jumping with the 82nd Airborne. It's a bit shot.", I told him.
Marsbury nodded. "Will handicap access be a requirement?"
That surprised me. I looked over at my wife and saw her staring at me in surprise. I simply shook my head. "I don't think I'm going to end up in a wheelchair anytime soon, but wide hallways and doors, and a large bathroom wouldn't be a bad idea. I don't need anything special, though."
"That's fine. Specialty items, though, can run extra. By the way, how much were you planning to invest?"
Good, use words like investment and budget, not price, very professional. "Let's table that for the moment. I'm more concerned with quality and workmanship than the price. This is going to be a cash deal. I know this home is larger than you normally build, but I want something nice. We've got 25 acres, so I don't think a sprawled ranch is going to look out of place.
He nodded. "Okay, let's take a look at this." I turned the plan book around and pushed it over to him.
Marilyn and I had gone through the books and found a very interesting plan. It was basically in the shape of an H, with two long vertical pieces connected with a horizontal crosspiece. On the right side, the long vertical piece was actually four bedrooms and two bathrooms with a short central hallway. On the left side was a large eat-in kitchen, the utility room, and a garage. In the center, the horizontal section, was actually a large great room and dining room combination. We had modified this all somewhat, making the house four bedrooms rather than the original three, replacing the garage with a library/study and an exercise/weight room for me, and just generally making it all larger. Now it had a half bath off the kitchen, for instance.
Marsbury murmured to himself for a few minutes, and made some chicken scratches on his note pad. After a couple of minutes, he pulled a book of plans from his briefcase and flipped it open, finally settling on a plan. He placed that before us and said, "It's not identical to what you have here, but it's close. The easy way to do this would be to take our plan and do a modification."
I looked it over, nodding to myself. It was close, and I had read enough prints and plans over the years to know exactly what would be involved. I pushed it over to Marilyn, so she could see. Fortunately, Marilyn can read plans, too. Over the years, working with Lefleur Homes, that had been useful to her. "It's close, isn't it.", she commented to me.
This model was called the Berkshire. "Similar. It needs to be bigger, and it's missing a bedroom and we need to change the garage totally, but it's a place to start. I like how the study opens up onto the great room as well as the kitchen. I would want to keep that. That's a nice little touch."
"Can I take your book here, with your drawing? I'll want to give that to my engineering people.", he asked.
"Sure."
"Okay, anything else? Basement or crawlspace? Any particular features inside or outside?"