Testimonials

Testimonials Banner

“Our experience with North Custom Homes was truly second to none! From the inception of the project to the final walk through, each part of the process was performed efficiently and professionally, with every detail thoroughly vetted and meticulously executed. As a commercial real-estate broker and someone who’s built several custom homes in the past, I came into the project with high expectations, they far exceeded them. Their motto is “truth in Building”. This is not simply a marketing slogan, it is the foundational principal of their firm and one that is evident in every part of the process. If you are looking for someone who will build your home as if it were their own, your search is over. We couldn’t be happier with our new home and enthusiastically recommend North Custom Homes!”

Kim & Rick Hartman

“The decision to build a new home is a very overwhelming experience, especially for a young couple that has a lot to learn about the process. Michael and Charlene provided a level of comfort and trust that we would expect from a family, not a business. From the design process through all of the selections we thoroughly enjoyed working with them to shape our home. The flexibility of design, materials, craftsmanship, and organization of everything and everyone that was involved was top notch. Michael and Charlie will be coming back out soon to help us design an accessory garage and rear porch and we cant wait to work with them again. The North’s are great people and great friends and we would be happy to recommend them to anyone looking to build.”

Cole and Cynthia Holloway

“We have never built a home before, and we took our time to interview builders in the Indianapolis area. These are a few of the many reasons that we decided to build with North Builders:

1. Our first meeting was with Michael North. Michael went over the basic information that is involved in building a custom home. He discussed his experience and background, budget information, and generally laid out their customer focus. Michael listened carefully to our ideas and our budget. He talked about the team that we would be working with throughout the building process. Michael kept in touch with us frequently throughout the building of our home. If we had concerns, he would address them immediately. The team that we mentioned above consists of Michael and Charlene (Charlie) North, and Doyle Henry.

2. Charlene (Charlie) is the decorator/interior design person on the team. She met with us numerous times. She helped us choose and coordinate everything for our home. Charlie helped us choose large items such as cabinets, sinks, flooring, etc. She helped down to the smaller items like hinges and knobs. Without her direction, we would have been totally overwhelmed. She had things lined up from start to finish. We would meet with Charlie and many different vendors to select flooring, lights, etc. She was always aware of our budget and would help us purchase quality items for the best price. Charlie listened to our ideas, gave us advice when needed, and did her homework on the style of house we wanted to build.

3. Doyle Henry is the project manager on the team. He understood the style of house we wanted and worked closely with us at all times. He gave us some invaluable advice on keeping with the style of our house. He worked closely with the subcontractors and was on top of everything that was done by them. He is meticulous with details and is on site to make sure things are done well and according to plans. He was always available to talk to us, make suggestions, changes, and helped us stay within our budget.

We have been so happy throughout the building process of our home. Working with North Homes has made our first experience building a house very enjoyable and a real learning experience. All three of them were very willing to share their expertise. We have a well-constructed house from the foundation to the roof, outside and inside. Every little detail was given special attention. In our opinion, we would not understand why someone would not go with North Builders to build a sound and beautiful house. We have told Michael and Charlene to come and visit often and bring future customers to see our home. We would be very proud to show it off, and we know they would be equally proud to show off their workmanship!”

Fran and Jim Pedersen

“We contracted with North Homes in 2012 after an extensive search for prospective builders. North Homes was the only custom builder to LISTEN to our budget, look at my hand drawn prints and give us a rough estimate within our budget. Every other builder would tell us they could build within our budget and then provided an estimated 30-40 percent higher. Once the building process began we felt very involved in the building process. Any issues that arose we were immediately informed, consulted, and involved in deciding a mutually agreed upon way forward. My wife and I are both extremely pleased with our home. A friend of mine recently asked me since we’d been in the house a few years if there was anything we would have done differently. My answer was “nothing”. I attribute that to Michael and Charlene listening to our desires, his personal involvement in the process and quality builders who take pride in what they do. I highly recommend North Homes to anyone.”

Bernie Kruse COL Retired US Army

“It was nice to find a builder who had the flexibility to work with our plans and the patience to assist us in changing them to meet our ever changing needs. You worked with us through the entire design and building phase and continue to support us even today when questions arise or assistance is needed in understanding construction or maintenance issues foreign to us. If ever needed, please be assured that we will be more than happy to be a reference for potential new home clients and will highly recommend your company as their builder. Please feel free to use our home as a true indication of your company’s capabilities. Our home is always open for inspection.”

Dave and Amy Boggs

“Yes we did receive the fruit basket. Thanks! I’m glad you received our Christmas card! We had a Christmas party at our house for my work this year. We had 55 people attend. I was a little worried we would be short on space, but it wasn’t a problem at all. I bought a pool table and a ping-pong table, which are both in the basement. The tables drew half the crowd to the basement, which was good. I will say that I am very happy with the way it turned out, along with the quality. I have been in other houses built after ours, and the quality is no match to what you built for us. Everyone that walks into our house is very impressed. I would recommend North Homes to anyone looking to build a new home.”

Dan & Sara Beauchamp

“When we went looking for a contractor to do our addition, we certainly didn’t expect to run into Michael. I had jokingly asked him time after time if he was going to do our addition (it was on our “10 year plan”) but didn’t expect it to really happen. When we ran into Michael at the home show and found out that North Homes actually could do our addition, we stopped looking for anyone else. Michael was a true pleasure to work with when we built the house and obviously we knew we were in the right hands. There isn’t a more honest or trustworthy contractor out there! We’re so happy with the way the addition turned out. Zane loves his suite, and the garage and driveway turned our perfect for the mustang! We are also enjoying the bathroom for the pool area. Thank you to Michael and the North Homes family for everything! We’re still your biggest fans!”

Betty & Scott Bishop

“I want to thank you for the excellent service that I have received while planning and building my home. Considering that I was in Florida for the majority of the building, I most appreciated the constant communication that you provided. I always knew what was happening with my home. Your attention to detail really showed as you made the rough idea of my home into a reality. Everything from the drawing process, to helping me select every item for my home, was done with such ease. I also appreciate the service that I received from your suppliers as the helped me choose my cabinetry, carpet, appliances, and more. I couldn’t be happier with the quality of my home and all of the efforts that you have made to make this an enjoyable experience. Thank you for all that you’ve done!”

Elaine Ash

“Our experience building with North Homes was better than excellent! I had heard horror stories from friends about the building process. (They did not build with North Homes). Michael and Charlene are the best in the business. They will work with you on anything and are always available to answer any questions or concerns for you. We have been in our new home for 6 months and everyone that has come into our home says the same thing about the excellent quality and structure of our home. Sometimes they don’t believe us when we tell them our building experience that we had with North Homes was great, and that we are very lucky. I personally don’t believe in luck. This was the lord leading us to some wonderful people who are truly the best of people and best in the business! We could never repay them for what they have done for us! Thank you, North Homes, from the bottom of our hearts!!”

Pat & Cheryl Ebaugh

“This is to let you know how much we love our new home. Everything went so smoothly. So much so that we would turn around and build again. You were on time and on budget with no surprises! It took us a year to sell our former home and during that time we talked to several builders and nobody had to offer what you did. A friend of ours had recommended you to us because of the experience they had, telling us how easy and fun the entire process was. I did not believe them until we experienced it ourselves and they were absolutely right! A huge plus for North Homes is the builder’s wife, Charlie. As a design consultant her ability to guide you through the whole process of selections is excellent. She provides you with great advice and helps you visibly see what the end result is going to look like before you ever even begin. She is wonderful! Again, we would highly recommend going with North Homes. We had a dream of a new home for a price we could afford, and they made it come true! Thank you, North Homes!!”

John & Luanne Klepfer

“We couldn’t be happier with North Custom homes. From the moment we walked through the door we felt like we were part of their family. Their professionalism and explanation of the process was spot on which was valuable to us since this was our first custom built home. They were open to new and challenging ideas that they embraced as “fun projects”. They were positive throughout the project. More importantly was their high quality workmanship. Our house is solid and everyone that comes over comments on the quality of their work. Overall we felt they were building a home for a family member not just another customer. We can not thank the North family enough for our beautiful home and wonderful experience.”

Stephanie and Greg Watkins

“We have built 2 houses with North Homes (2009, 2016). Given our experience the first time, we did not hesitate to build another house when we relocated for work and could not find a property that met our needs. Upon deciding that we would build again, our first call was to North Homes to determine if they built in our new location. We selected North Homes for the following reasons:

1. Expertise: North Homes is very knowledgeable regarding all phases of the building process and, most importantly, they are honest in the expectations/timelines provided.

a. Prior to purchasing the site, Michael met with us at the site to evaluate it to ensure that we did not purchase a site that was unsuitable/unusable for the home we wanted.

b. North Homes provided honest feedback on why or why not ideas we had could be implemented into the house.

c. Working with suppliers: We and North Homes were not satisfied with one of our selections upon installation. To rectify the situation, Michael did not hesitate to have the owner of the supply company and the manufacturer representative meet with us to work through a solution until we as the homeowners were satisfied.

2. Ease of the process:

Flexibility:

North Homes worked with us to design the floor plan and house we wanted and not select something from a limited number of pre-set options. Our home is truly customized from the floor plan to the hardware.
We had some items that were “must haves” and North Homes worked with us to make it happen in budget (ask them about our reclaimed barnwood floors).
When the tile flooring I wanted could not be found in the selections options in their office, I was able to visit the flooring store to find exactly what I wanted in the price I needed. We were not forced into a selection just because it would have been easier for North Homes.
North Homes worked with us to make changes to the floor plan after walking through the home once the house was framed. What looked great to us on the blueprints was not what we liked in reality.


Selections:

The ability to make selections at the office is a valuable time saver and, most importantly, a stress reliever. The value of not spending every evening or weekend traveling from store to store to select items for the house cannot be captured, especially if you’re doing this process while working full time and raising small children. This also meant that we did not have to track our budget while making selections as it was all done by North Homes.

Budget:

There are opportunities for “surprises” in the budget but the detailed budget that North Homes develops at the beginning of the process and updates consistently throughout helps to minimize budget impacts. The overages in the budget were from areas beyond their control (i.e. lot development costs required for county approval that could not have been expected) but if this occurs, North Homes works with you to determine if there are other areas to lessen the budget, if needed. Other budget overage areas were purely our fault adding in features during the build process as we determined it was easier to implement some upgrades during building rather than trying to do after completion.

If a builder tells you that the building process is completely trouble free, they are just telling you that to get your business and let you be surprised later. There will be hiccups along the way. But the difference is in how the builder works with you to manage these hiccups. The team at North Homes are involved in every part of the process and will not rest until things are resolved and minimize the impact to the homeowner. We would not hesitate to recommend North Homes to build your future home.”

Johnna and Allen Bridges

“So much to say but let me start with THANKS!! The home you built me is everything that I was looking for and the quality, well it is top notch, none better. I refer to the entire building process when I use the term quality. The very first meeting that we had, I had confidence in you and your company. In those first meetings, I explained the “gorilla” that I was carrying from a past experience and you pointed and spoke at great length about the North Homes Mission Statement. It was fulfilled. No questions. Rarely have I seen a company so completely fulfill its mission statement. The entire experience, from pre-construction planning to groundbreaking to closing was superb. Not that we didn’t have disagreements, we did. What was different is that the disagreements were always accompanied by discussions. These were true discussions. I cannot tell you how impressed I was with that. At the end of each discussion, regardless of the outcome, the process was respectful, based on facts and in the end a win-win for both North Homes and myself. As a Quality/Reliability Engineer I was always amused that when I “found something” during the building process, Doyle had already discovered it. Many times he was already in the process of getting it resolved. In fact, each time I called, emailed or texted anyone at North Homes I always received a timely response. This too exemplifies the commitment North Homes has to their clients. You have an excellent company filled with great people. I am very happy to have had the experience of building a home with you. You are welcome in my home anytime!”

Jay Wodtke

“Rick and I could not be more pleased with North Homes. We had checked out several options for a home builder and we are very happy that we chose North Homes. Michael and Charlene were great! It can be scary building a new home but they all were great at communication and having the knowledge to get things done efficiently and keeping us in the loop with everything. We would highly recommend North Homes to anyone (and already have). They have made a 10-year dream come true for us and we love our new home!”

Rick and Shari Pryor

“I think we are in great shape. Thank you for your time. The grass is growing despite the lack of rain. I finally planted a couple of flowers to start the landscape but will wait until next year to get serious. We have ideas for a patio area and Tim’s garden is looking pretty good for a city boy. I still have empty kitchen cabinets! WOW! I’ve never had enough space, let alone too much before! I think we planned it right. Everyone is also envious of my master walk-in closet. I want to also thank you for all your understanding of our worries and concerns. North Homes was great to work with and I would certainly recommend you to others!”

Pat Alcorn & Tim Russell

“I just wanted to let you know that after 4 wonderful years, we are moving into a condo. Bill and I have enjoyed this home more than any other we have built. Unfortunately, health can make us do things we don’t want to do. We listed our home and it sold in 3 weeks. My reason for writing you is that we have had inspections and all of the contractors have commented on how well the crawlspace and foundation was built. They have all asked for the builder’s name, and I was honored to pass it along. If we ever decide to build again, North Homes will be the first we call upon!”

Pam & Bill McIntyre

“I would like to begin by saying what extraordinary people Michael and Charlene North are. We started building our home in May 2003 and moved in December 2003. We have a beautiful home that we were able to customize to exactly what we wanted. This has been a once in a lifetime opportunity for us and part of that experience was working side by side with Michael and Charlene helping us to make our house visions a reality. One of the unique experiences of building a home is to take your plans and make them your own. As a result, your home exhibits your personality making it warm and inviting to friends and family.”
Greg & Pam Summers

“North Custom Homes built a house for me in the summer of 2011 in Thorntown. The whole design and construction process could have been traumatic since I live in Virginia, but it turned out to be a pleasurable experience. I selected North Homes because of the sterling reputation Michael North had earned among previous customers as well as within the financial community in Lebanon. It was also quite obvious that the services offered were far superior to most of the builders my husband and I had encountered over the years. My experience during the entire process reinforced the decision I had made to select North Homes. The custom design features, the excellent materials selected, the quality of the work performed by the subcontractors and the detailed building schedule all were top notch. I found Michael North to be a very competent builder whose orientation is customer satisfaction. I would choose him again in a heartbeat!”
Bonnie VanDuyne