Building Luxury Waterfront Homes in Northern Michigan

All right, so I'm with Brian Cotant with Homes by Falcon, and we're here to talk about luxury waterfront home building in Northern Michigan. So Brian, I want to learn a little bit about you, learn a little bit about Homes by Falcon, the work that you do. Which is really focused on luxury waterfront homes, new construction, right?

Yeah, the Falcon Experience. We also call it the Falcon Way because we have a process and systems that we've been implementing over 20 years that's proven to allow for a successful project and a path that a client can follow along with the rest of our team to eliminate any issues or frustrations. We're in an industry where there's a lot of challenges that we gotta face and provide solutions, but that's why we have that process in place. We're more of a one-of-a-kind builder because we don't take on a lot of projects. We're very selective on what we do and who we build for. To have a good process like the Falcon Way, you have to have capacity to implement it. And when you get too busy juggling too many projects with too many clients, the first thing that usually falls is your process, and then it becomes a a mess for everybody involved in that project. So we really focus on process. We don't fold on that, and that's where we limit the amount of work that we take on based on our capacity to manage it.

You're working with clients all over the country who are looking for— in this, in this case, we're talking about Northern Michigan, but the client could be in Denver, could be in California.

With our process The unique part is I act as the owner's rep on behalf of the client, and that's something we created with our— within our business model. So clients out of state, I get excited about it because that's really my target, because I'm here to help them, because I know the regions throughout the state of Michigan. I know waterfront property very well. I've been in the industry for 28 years, so I'm very well connected on where the talent is, who the best talent is to serve their project. So they can rely on me to do the due diligence if they're looking for a northern Michigan waterfront home or property. I can do the due diligence. I know the area and I basically get their expectations out of doing a lifestyle study. So once I get to understand why they're building the home, where they want to build the home, and if it's going to serve just their family or multi-generations, I start assembling a team in my mind that's going to be the best fit that's unique to their project specifically. Offering that owner's representation where I'm seeing that project through from doing the lifestyle study to finding the property to assembling the design-build team all the way through construction, making sure that schedule, budgets, all that are aligning and they're enjoying the process. That's where we really, I think, are going to shine in once people start getting to know us more.

So the lifestyle study really allows you— that's the kind of the beginning of your customization process.

Correct. Yes.

What is involved in the lifestyle study?

Well, and I'll give you an example. I just— I was introduced to a client. They're actually just out of Indiana, but they're looking for a northern Michigan home. Don't— they don't know anybody other than one of the architects. And I did a Zoom call last week. It was only for an hour, and I asked him probably 10 minutes worth of questions. And it's, why are you building the home? Why do you want to build on water? Why Northern Michigan? Um, is this for an investment that you want to turn around in a year or 2 years, 5 years? And they started out that where they were searching the last year for an existing property, and really existing property wasn't the right fit because it's not an investment property in their mind, but it is a generational home they want to keep long-term for 5 grandkids. So at that point, it's like, let's pick your spot and be patient. Let's pick the price point that you want to be in. Let's choose the design that's specific to your needs and your family's needs long term. Because it is long term, it's an investment property already because of the way property, you know, values increase just over time. So I try to align everything and check all the boxes because they're like, I'm so frustrated we can't check all the boxes with existing properties. We've been trying for a year. And it's like, you're not going to with an existing property. You won't be able to check every box with an existing one. And that's when you say existing property, meaning a home, a home that's already on.

Yeah.

Yeah. And if it's generational, and that's the client I look for, the one that they want to pick the location, they want to be in a certain price point and align the scale and the details of the home, you know, the design of the home, align that with the investment they want to make. We can do all that depending on what team we're aligning in and listening to their story and what their expectations are.

One of the outgrowths, if I understand the process of the lifestyle study, is really then matching that client or recommending a number of designers. You have a team of designers that you're kind of working with and the client's working with.

Absolutely. So as I'm getting to know the client, because ideal situation is they find me through one source or another and we get connected before they get too far down the road, because I want to eliminate any poor choices they might make just by not being educated about the whole— sure, where they need to go. But so I've already done the due diligence with my 28 years of experience. I've interviewed over 100 architects in the state of Michigan. I've interviewed over 60 interior designers in the state of Michigan. I've interviewed over 85 luxury real estate agents in the state of Michigan. My interview isn't just how many listings do you got, what price point. It's getting to know you as a person because the chemistry is important to me too, on good character, integrity, a people person, so they can relate to the clients I'm bringing and vice versa. Sure. And so I can build You know, equal trust. Yeah. So I have integrity and good character, and that I'm going to take care of your clients.

Absolutely.

So doing that due diligence, nobody takes the time out of their career to do that. And it's like, I'm really intentional about picking the right client, picking where we want to build our homes, and what style and scale, and, and being very intentional on our portfolio.

Yeah.

Which is a great, you know, product and service for our client too, because that's what we're trying to align with. So once I've done the lifestyle study and we start seeking waterfront property together, I really get to know the client because it's usually— it's a few months, it doesn't happen overnight. And that, in my head, I already know what architect I'm going to introduce them to. I already know what interior designer I'm going to introduce them to based on their personality. The scale of the project, the price point, because there's some architects that are really good at large-scale homes and there's some that don't have any experience. And you've got to have the experience because you get into a lot of structurals, you get a lot of steel, large panes of glass. Modern versus traditional home is a totally different ball game. So I'm already in my head aligning the top 4 architects that I prefer to do business with and interior designers and narrowing it down to probably 2. You know, to be the right team and the right fit for them. And when I look at an architect and an interior designer, part of my criteria is they appreciate team approach and that they don't want to keep the rest of the team out of the picture until the home's designed. Because sometimes, and a lot of times, the scale doesn't connect with the level of detail the client wants, and most importantly, their investment that they want to put into the property. Usually it's way overscale coming out of the firm, which handcuffs the client, the interior designer, the landscape architect, and even the builders. So for me, it's like, do you appreciate team approach, having everybody collaborate with the client and getting to know each other as a team and understanding the scope so all of us as professionals can have our input and be creative and use the right products for this home and ask the right questions? Because we all have different questions we're asking a client too that are more important to our company and how we're going to serve them.

You know, my father-in-law actually, when he was a teenager, built a Frank Lloyd Wright house that his dad— it was my wife's grandfather— told the representative from Frank Lloyd Wright, this breezeway that you have designed to go from the house to the garage will not survive a Michigan winter. And they told him, you build it the way that Frank Lloyd Wright has designed, and it lasted about 6 weeks and caved in, you know. So, so I think that's also a part of it, right? You want to make sure that something is designed that it can actually be built and that you've already kind of vetted and tested that out, because that's an unknown for customers. I mean, they, they think an architect, 100%, whatever they design actually can come to fruition, and that's not necessarily always the case, right? Correct.

Yeah, unfortunately. Yeah, yeah, right, right.

Well, one of the things you've mentioned a couple different times, and it's the thing that I really cued in on when we first began talking, was the due diligence that you do. Because one of the kind of conundrums that exist for buyers of vacant waterfront lots is understanding the, the prospect of designing and building and knowing that they'll be able to use the property in the way that they envision at some point in the future. You know, there's so much uncertainty, you know, is there critical dunes, is there, you know, any wetlands, and to what degree that will be regulated. And they may not want to build, they may want to buy it and hang on to it for 10 years. But anyway, if you could just talk a little bit about the due diligence process that you kind of do on behalf of your buyer clients who are kind of doing this package deal with you. I think that's really important.

Absolutely. So that's the benefit too of getting me per se as an owner's representative, and I want to take out any roadblocks for our process too and be able to get started and having disappointments or unforeseen costs. You know, those are never great conversations right out of the gate that, oh, we've got some site conditions we got to address, and by the way, it might be $100,000, $200,000 that we weren't planning on, and So either have the means to pay it or they're cutting something out and disrupting, you know, their overall vision. It's just a bad way to get out of the ground. So on the front end, just like this property that we're going to be looking at more together and doing the due diligence, I have to look if there is critical dunes and if there are critical dunes, I'm going to meet with the EGLE representative, you know, locally and walk the property on what can be done, what can't be done. And if I want to stretch the limitations a little bit, you know, have those discussions on the lot with them face to face. Wetlands is another one, and my understanding, that can evolve over time as far as it might not be a wetland today, but in 3 years it could be based on new vegetation. That's why the permitting application or the evaluations don't start until spring typically, because they want to see if new vegetation is coming in that would classify that that's a wetland now. Um, I actually talked to Robin at Eagle today about that for that property. Um, understanding the building envelope and, you know, what can be built on that property and what location. Because even if it's a decent-sized building envelope, if it's in not in a desirable location on the lot where you can experience views and the way the property is used, the building envelope can be as large as, you know, yeah, unlimited, but It might be still undesirable because it's not where you want, it's not in the right spot. Yeah, so it's that too. Um, just being a good advocate for the neighboring properties and the property. We like to complement beautiful nature with great architecture and design, so understanding shoreline conditions and shoreline improvements. We're doing one on Torch Lake right now where I did the study on that and I met with the local representative and the township planning and zoning on what's the requirements, because Torch Lake's got 6 or 7 different townships around that lake because it's so large. All different rules, they're not even consistent with them themselves on that lake. So fortunately we're in a more lenient one where we can do an 80% shoreline improvement, but they really want us to replace some of our vegetation in our landscape design with native plants, which is no problem, versus other ones that don't want you to touch the shoreline. Well, everybody wants a beach and easy access, so that makes it a little more challenging, but just understanding the different conditions within the same lake, yeah, you know, is important. So I'm out there at— I play offense, I don't like playing defense. So I'm meeting with the township planning and zoning committees and what I can do and what I can't do, getting the list of native plants that are approved by them because they have that list available to you, the percentage of shoreline improvements that could be done. We mapped it all out and highlighted each region around the whole lake so I knew what restrictions went to what area when I'm looking for property and sharing it with clients. Because if there's no shoreline improvement allowed, I'm not even going to probably show it to a client if they want a dock and a boat and easy access for kids or grandkids, you know, younger ones. So it's all the due diligence to be able to execute the design, the scale of the home, the accessibility to the lake and how they're going to use it prior to even showing them the property. Because I don't want to get them excited and it's like, oh, sorry, we can't do half of what you wanted to do. I shouldn't even show you the property. So all that's done up front before I even offer that to a client, especially if they're coming in from out of state and they've flown in and invested time, you know, to seek out property.

Yeah, yeah, it doesn't take long to understand the importance of that lifestyle— what was it called— lifestyle study, lifestyle study.

And the due diligence on the property.

And the due diligence on the property because, you know, a lot of times, you know, I, I'm selling a lot, you know, a fair amount of waterfront property. And, you know, I just sold beautiful beach, beautiful sandy beach out Cathead Bay north of Northport. And the buyer— I was representing the seller, but the buyer already owned a waterfront home in Northport.

Okay.

But it had a rocky beach, and he basically said to me, you know, we really didn't consider how much we wanted to be able to be on the beach, have our kids have their toes in the sand, and they couldn't really do that there. They were, right, they were, you know, had a nice dock, got on their pontoon, and they were out on the bay. But yeah, there's a difference, you know, There are some properties with just great expansive views, but you're not gonna jump out onto your dock and hop onto your boat and out of the water because the elevation is just so extreme. That's a part of what you kind of filter out in that lifestyle study process, right? You really then begin to narrow it down, and then you go into the site evaluation and matching that. Okay.

Yeah, because there's good pros and cons from both perspectives. You know, the site views up high and that panoramic view versus the usability of the, you know, having the beach and the low bluff. And yeah, you can name a lot of pros and cons, and it's just, it's getting that out of the clients. Like, oh, we don't touch the water, we want the view. It's like, well, yeah, let's look at some high bluffs then, and with sunsets, and it's the other thing. You know, we could put a check in the box of all the, you know, sandy beach, 200 foot of frontage, the price points there, you got 3 acres, we can do a nice building envelope, but it's facing towards the east instead of the west and sunsets are important to them. All that is hashed out in the lifestyle study.

Whereas if you were to do a lifestyle study on me, I'm usually in bed by sunset. The sunrise would be much more important to me.

Maybe it's not that life.

I'm a real early riser and I love the sun. Sunrise.

Yeah, there you go.

Yeah, I'm a little different that way. So client collaboration— how do you collaborate with clients during that design and construction process to ensure— it's— you've been working with them in the visioning process, but how do you collaborate with them to ensure that that vision's coming to fruition?

Put the checks in all their boxes and to make sure that we're aligning the style of the home and the scale of their home, you know, with the amount they want to invest Based on that lifestyle study, one of the first requirements I asked for in the second meeting is inspiration photos inside and out, and even home photos of their existing home if it's to the level of finish that they want to see executed on their new home. So if they have a beautiful new home with high details, and I want to see those photos so I can understand what their bar is as far as delivery. Yeah, so I'll have those just like this other client we're working with right now. Out of state. He sent me a lot of photos that they took on the different inland lakes around here of the style homes they like. And then they sent me their current home that they've already designed, that are built— they're building right now down in Indiana as well. So they've got a new home going up there. Um, so he shared that, so he's just to get me their style. So when they share their— the amount of the investment they're willing to put into this project and I understand the style based on their inspiration photos, and they already listed to me— because that's one of my questions— how many bedrooms, how many bathrooms, do you need a golf simulator, do you need a wine room, all these spaces that people have in luxury homes today. I ask the question because we've done it. So I get my list down, and then I know what my minimum standard is for each one of those rooms based on room size. And if it's going to be just for their family, which is 2 people, or all their families combined with the grandkids, and we need to align the scale of the home with the ebb and flow of how they use the home with kids visiting them and grandkids. So once I have all those—

you could put in a big golf simulator then based on—

based on how much they use it and how many people, and do they want seating, they want a bar there so they can have cocktails while they're hitting balls into the glass, or—

sure, sure, right.

So In our, um, systems, we have a document we've created that works very well, and it's been proven many, many times, where we can put all the room spaces on the document with the square footages, with the average cost per square foot based on that amenity level. So if it's a super high-end, like, kitchen living room area, we've got the square footage in our approximation sheet of what the minimum is that we require. Just based on experience. For an example, like a living room, 24 by 24 is my minimum. If you're going to actually have traffic flow and, and evaluate what that space— to have a comfortable space and the typical amount of furniture even for a 4-person family with traffic flow calculated, it's 24 by 24. So when you put all those spaces in that they require and that they're requesting, and then I put the minimum you know, criteria for square footages, allowing for economy of scale for furniture and the traffic flow for the ebb and flow of their use. I can plug all that in with the square foot costs based on history that we have in the last 5 years. So that's all elevated pricing and aligns with today's market. I can hit that easily within 10% of what their budget is going to be. Um, and then I'm very comfortable. I can even go into— I'm confident enough I can go into contract with them saying we can build you this, say, 5,000 square foot home for $4 million or $4.5 million. These are the spaces, these are the square footage. Once it's all dialed in, I know we can at that point assemble the design team and execute the design to scale. That's why I like having all the professionals with their experience in the same room. It's like, here's the square footage, here's the room spaces, here's the minimum, you know, sizes that can go into their bubble diagram and then start the floor plans, the elevations based on their inspirations. And execute the full design-build and hit their budget. And it's not hard to do. It's just a practice that gets— it's one of those steps that gets skipped because it takes a little bit of time, but it saves a ton of time in the field.

The time spent up front that saves you a lot of time after you start the construction process.

Yes.

Yeah.

So investing $1,000 on paper typically saves you about $10,000 in the field. So it's a great investment to get it on paper and get it accurate. Have everybody, you know, the whole team's feedback and saying, yep, we all agree.

Yeah, that's a good, good ROI.

Yes, exactly.

So, um, Homes by Falcon is really, um, I think characterized and appreciated for attention to detail, top-notch craftsmanship. This is the upper echelon, right? Your clients and the properties kind of require that, right? So can you just discuss your quality assurance processes that you have in place and how you maintain that high standard across all of your projects?

So the due diligence I do with architects and interior designers and real estate agents, I do the same thing with our subcontractor base statewide to make sure I have the best talent available, that I've vetted them properly. And we share our core values of who we are as a company. We're involved in EOS, which is Entrepreneur operating systems. So we meet quarterly to make sure that we're all aligned as a company, and we share that with our subcontractor base that we're interviewing or that are already involved with our team, just to make sure our core values align and that they're on board to follow our business model. So to keep the quality in check, we do have an extensive list of checklists that we actually use, and we walk the home every day in the same direction, every day counterclockwise— or actually clockwise. And we have a notepad and we make the notes on what is done, what needs to be done, what's messed up that got done, maybe got damaged by storm or a trade or whatever it is. And that happens every day. And we have one week to get that off our list unless we have to order a part or something that's in shipping that we can't control. But each one of our subcontractors, before they're qualified to be a Falcon Custom Homes subcontractor, has to agree with that checklist and our specifications, you know, as far as their scope of work. And we actually have them go through and check their work and sign off on it, and we check their work too and make a check in the box, you know, our leadership team, to make sure that nothing gets missed before drywall, especially in mechanicals and all that. So our extensive checklist and actually having the capacity to go through and basically verify it and sign off on it. We reserve our capacity by taking fewer projects so we can do that because that's what makes us different than a lot of our competition is we have checklists, we actually follow them, verify them, and so do our trades that are pre-qualified.

You know, my son is a finished carpenter on, you know, a lot of waterfront homes in the area and He's really educated me on that, the importance, because some of— sometimes some subcontractors, they don't look beyond their— right, what they're doing. And they can be cutting a hole and feeding— the plumber can be cutting a hole and putting something through that's, that's actually structural. And he shouldn't really be doing that. Right. You know, and it's really important to that, that supervisory role that a general contractor has, having responsibility for the whole project.

Well, another asset we bring to the table, and that example reminded me of it, we do a pre-construction meeting in mechanical engineering on our larger-scale homes especially. Being that a lot of larger-scale homes have larger windows, more glass, steel, things you can't penetrate through, less walls to get mechanicals through, and aesthetically we want it to look very, you know, its best towards the end of the project, but mechanically it has to function for a comfortable home. So we sit down with all of our contractors, we work through BIM modeling on the structure with our structural engineers, and as a team we lay out the plumbing and the HVAC and the gas lines, electrical, with the engineers and the mechanical subcontractors to make sure that it's all layered properly. They know their path, especially their critical paths from getting from point A to point B in the house. Where we've already predetermined that on paper. And again, it goes back to that $1,000 invested on paper, save $10,000 in the field. Yeah, we have a roadmap, we're more efficient. That's why we can get the homes done quicker. The quality is better because it's all pre-planned. Yeah, with the professionals that are doing the work.

In the realm of luxury construction, how does Homes by Falcon incorporate sustainable, eco-friendly practices, especially for the waterfront homes that you're building.

In today's time with the rules and regulations of being energy efficient, the industry's already held us to a very high standard, probably higher than it's healthy because now we've got to exchange inside air and outside air because the homes are so tight. So it's a lot of that stuff works against, you know, the regulations and the rules, but you've got to comply. So I get it. So it, um, So that's held at a standard anyway, because people ask, well, what's the better window? It's like, it's honestly, it— what's— it's the window of choice is what fits the architecture the best. They're all going to perform well, and you know, as far as the ones that are designed for our weather and climate up here, they're going to all perform very well because they're all held at a very high standard. Same with your insulation factors. One thing we do during construction is we bring our energy consultant up from Indiana— and we have one in Holland as well— to do a report on all of our homes. Like, this is what we're doing, this is what's specified on the construction documents. We're going to take it to another level. Do you agree with this? What else can we do as we're constructing this home? Especially one with a lot of steel, because that detail gets missed often on construction documents. So bringing the energy consultant in to get another set of eyes on— and they're the ones that see all these homes years down the road. With challenges and failures, and they can say, hey, you know, we need to do this because I've seen it, you know, where it's had to be repaired 10 years down the road or whatever. So getting their input, doing the report, and following through with that. Um, from a naturalist standpoint, we're not a company that likes to come in, especially on waterfront properties, buy a big parcel and chop it up into a bunch of small pieces. I've got one up in Harbor Springs I'm working on now and the neighbors are working with our company because it's 900 and some feet of frontage. The neighbor wants to keep a third of it and let us market the other two-thirds and align it with a client, the right client. And they want to work with us versus one of the builders right in their backyard. Beachfront, it's not created every day. Once it's gone, it's gone. And I like to preserve that. The larger parcel that I can get, I love that because I'm only looking for a certain clientele.

Right.

Who appreciates privacy and wants to build a, you know, larger-scale home or a family compound for generations and memories, building memories with their families. So rather than doing that, I worked with them on doing the due diligence, getting the access road in. So we do all that with the engineering and pricing too, so we can add that to the cost. But it's because we're keeping that property intact and wanting to do a beautiful structure that's great architecture that benefits the community as well, rather than chopping up and putting a bunch of small homes on it. We want to preserve the beauty of the property and create architecture that complements it and preserve that.

What kind of post-construction support, warranties, you know, anything do you provide your clients, you know, after the home is done, finished, they're using it.

Yeah, so most builders do a 1-year warranty, and that's kind of a bumper-to-bumper warranty. With us, you know, we pride ourselves on reputation, word of mouth, and, and no, we're not perfect, nobody is, but we have gone back several years if we know, even if it's not our fault, We still go back, we back, we back our work for multiple years. I've seen it many, many times, but I mean, on paper in their contract, it's a 1-year warranty. We do our 1-year, well, I would say our 3-month, our 6-month, our 9-month, and 1 year the first year, just to make sure that first year when things are being lived in and the house is going to move more because now you got running water and you're using the home, that's typically where you get the most movement is that first year when it's actually in use. So we cater that project for the first year doing our— and they're scheduled, you know, the 1, 3, 6, 9.

When you say the house moves more, you're talking about settling? What do you mean by that?

Well, because you're adding a lot more moisture to the inside of the home now because you're showering and you're doing dishes and you're perspiring and living in the home. So that home's not used to that, and it's not used to being closed in and finally lived in. It's used to during construction, it's a lot of traffic in and out, in and out, in and out. So it's really not seasoned until after that first 12 months of being moved in, and it's actually acclimating to how it's being used. And that's where you see the true movement and, you know, things happening.

So a crack in the drywall, right, likely to happen, right?

Nail popping, separation in the trim, separation in the hardwood floor or something, cracking the tile. So that first year, we want to make sure that client's pampered and taken care of, but Like I said, if they call us 3 years down the road, it's like, "Oh, we had a slow leak and we've got mold or, you know, some damage." I mean, we stand by that 100% because it's not their fault. And after 3 years, it really shouldn't be leaking unless a limb fell or something. I see a rapid growth in emerging trends with waterfront property in northern Michigan especially, and I'm protective of that too because we want to keep northern Michigan a feeling of seclusion and you're out, you know, you get away from the chaos coming up here.

Yeah.

So that's why we only do a few too, because I don't want to be the guy that's bringing 100 people in every year. I want to be the guy that's bringing 4 people in a year and do very good architecture on preserving the property.

Yeah, your process is fairly selective.

Yes.

And that's obvious.

Yeah. So the reason I know that it's becoming very high demand, especially waterfront, and we take it for Granted, because we're here locally. I'm starting to appreciate a lot more now because I see what other people go— like having fresh water versus salt water. The Caribbean beaches and the turquoise blue waters and the lay of our land. And our kids, when we're coming from Grand Rapids up to here even, they're like, we don't feel like we're in the same state. I was like, I know, it's great up here. So, but you have all the natural disasters in other states that we don't have. The freshwater is, you know, a great benefit versus saltwater, especially for boaters because of the maintenance on the boats is a lot easier, a lot less wear on their equipment. But the natural disasters like California and the fires, the cities being overpopulated, you know, I'm getting a lot of calls on that. It's like, we just want to be able to get away from the chaos and be somewhere secluded and still have our privacy. So those different natural disasters and the chaos in the cities and congestion Plus the property values, history has proven, keep going up. They've doubled up here in the last 5 years. So people are recognizing that too, is my— our investment is protected. Why not preserve it on a piece of real estate on water, get away from the chaos and any natural disaster?

The appreciation rate on waterfront properties far exceeds, right, non-waterfront property.

Absolutely. So you— yeah, it's a guaranteed investment and And if anything, you're— it doesn't depreciate as far as, you know, building memories and enjoying the property.

And that's a key right there.

It doesn't get stale.

I, I might start to tear up here, Brian, because I, I didn't realize how spoiled I was as a kid. I grew up waterfront home on Northport Bay.

Yeah.

And perfect sandy beach. It was just, just to the south of the public beach there. Yeah, my grandfather had a place in Stony Point. Yeah, those are both out of the family now. And the thing that— there's so many great memories, family memories there, because like it or not, the water is a draw. Yeah, for your friends and family. And it is a huge draw. And, um, you do, um, because of that, because of it being a huge draw, people tend to gather more and you create those great memories. Absolutely. And I know that I always feel sad when I sell a property for a family that, I mean, I kind of go through the grieving process with them a little bit, but at the same time it's also a joyful experience because, you know, the new family coming in is going to create those great memories too, you know. But, but as far as like features, emerging trends and features, like you mentioned a golf simulator. Oh yeah, you mentioned Another, another, what are, what are some of the trends like that that you're seeing that are features of homes that are kind of being put in by the people that are looking for a luxury waterfront property?

Right. Golf is a big sport in Michigan, obviously. It's a golf simulator. That's definitely, I would say, the majority of our homes ends up having a golf simulator. The wine rooms, you know, the real luxury wine rooms, cigar rooms, A lot of people still request that and those are starting to get more and more.

I sold a house with a cigar room that had a very intense air—

Oh yeah, air exchange.

What is that called?

Yeah, air exchange.

Air exchange, yeah. I mean, they turned that on and they could smoke their heart out. It wouldn't stink up the house at all, right?

Absolutely. Yeah. Those are important things to, if you want one, we need to plan for it.

Right, yeah.

Especially during the mechanical engineering and doing that. It's because it usually takes a good—

you want to put one even because, because the thing is, is that I just, I never smoked any kind of cigar or anything until we went to the Dominican Republic.

Okay.

And, uh, and those cigars were darn good. So I, I'm kind of a late adopter of cigars.

Yeah.

So you may want to even install one even if you're not currently smoking, right, for future sales, or you might, and you know, or you might be entertaining.

Yeah, you might be entertaining people that I'd say the largest one right now is too is the, you know, instead of storing our cars, displaying our cars, the car collecting people, they, I mean, now that we're implementing that into architecture, having a space in their home that's in the living space where they can display their favorite collectibles, whether it's a motorcycle, car, or whatever, I mean, that's becoming very popular.

Yeah, we have Hagerty Insurance, which insures those classic cars all over the world. Their main offices are right here in Traverse City. And some of the beautiful antique cars that you see at the car show.

Yes.

Over Memorial Day weekend up in Northport. And there are car shows everywhere, but we have a lot of local people that have summer homes up here, you know, bring their cars to that. To your point, they're collectors.

Yeah. And the elevators for the cars too, so you can efficiently store them and display them. And elevators for You know, people too, so they can age in place and not have to use stairs but have multi-levels to capture the views of the, you know, from their property.

And, you know, having elevators— the elevators are the people really think that they're super expensive, but actually it's not too bad.

They're not bad at all. Yeah, no, the average one with everything is— they start probably at $40,000, but on the average they're probably around $60,000. Probably they are around $60,000. Yeah. Which isn't bad for the long-term investment. And then aging in place isn't a factor at all at that point.

Yeah, compared to what it's going to cost to go to a home, right?

Oh geez, you'll spend that twice that in a year. You're right.

Yes, right, right.

We get quite a bit of feedback of how did you guys find such nice people, and you're all in the, in the building industry, and how are you all together, how'd you find each other? Because we have a team of 5, so we're not real big, we're boutique, and we like to have everybody involved I think it's that team approach and we're boutique is one of the biggest feedbacks we get and the attention to detail because we're not overloading our capacity.

Yeah.

And we're all very passionate about what we do and detail-oriented. So, you know, we're interviewing actually right now for a couple positions. And one of the things that we do for interviews, we'll drop a, cause we look for passion cause you can't teach it. We look for inexperience because we want to teach them the Falcon Way. Attention to detail and somebody that's almost OCD. So like, we'll look at a subcontractor's vehicle and see how organized, how they treat their vehicles, how they're going to treat our job site. Dropping, prior to the interview, dropping some wrappers on the floor to see if it drives them nuts to where they'll pick it up and throw it in the trash coming in for the interview. It's that OCD we're looking for. So I'd say that's the biggest feedback is Being able to have the horsepower we have, even though we're only a 5-person firm, and being able to do the larger scale homes efficiently and actually outperform a lot of other builders that are larger because we have the process and system in place and we're laser focused on fewer jobs.

Yep. So is there anything that you want to make sure that people, anyone out there thinking about, um, wanting a luxury waterfront home? In northern Michigan ought to know about Homes by Falcon.

I think we've summed up most of it for Homes by Falcon, and hopefully they're going to want to find somebody that, like myself, is going to represent them and educate them, ask them questions, not just answer questions, because if they don't ask it and they're not educated, that's usually a big roadblock down the road somewhere. So My advice, what would be— obviously find me, but if not, do your due diligence. Hire the whole team up front, the architect, the builder, the interior designer, and landscape architect. So you have the whole team collaborating and aligning your expectations with what you really want to invest. So there's no disconnect because the biggest challenge in our industry today is they find one of those parties and get too far down the road with the other three parties. And their expectations and what they want to invest are night and day. So it's assembling that team on the front end with a team that knows and works well together, get educated and move forward as a team from the beginning.

Yep. Sounds good. Well, Brian, I appreciate your time.

Thank you.

All right.