Even the best of plans cannot account for the tiniest of surprise details 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 Lee 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 an 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 Lee's 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.
Quality Control
On the list of attributes that make his firm stand out from the crowd is a talent Lee describes as the ability to instantly recognize the slightest inaccuracy or inconsistency in construction. It is this talent that elevates the homes he builds to the high-end category of the market. "I can walk by something and if it doesn't feel right, I know there's a reason why. And then I start looking, and I say, ‘Oh, there it is.' So, I have the ability to see things that other people can't see. And it could be just small little details. It could be an eighth-of-an-inch or a quarter-of-an-inch. To me that's huge, and other people, they say, ‘Ah, that's only an eighth-of-an-inch.' Well, it's still an eighth-of-an-inch, and it means something," he says.
One of Bruce Lee's laws of construction is to always fix what's not right. "For instance, this sill right here. We added a sill piece underneath, which you might not be able to see. The projection wasn't out far enough. When you're standing out there from the street and you're looking at it, it didn't fit right. The choice was either rip it off or add another piece to it. We chose to add another piece to it, which actually worked out really well because it created another detail. It cost more money because we had the labor and material costs. But, it's not the amount of money you spend, it's how well you do something that overrides the cost," Lee says.
Sacrificing the look of a house for cost is not an option, Lee insists. Cost isn't as important as achieving a good look. When somebody says, "Hey, that's OK," it's not necessarily good, especially when building a house of this style, he explains. "OK is not good enough. It has to be done right. So, yes, it cost more money to add this sill because of the material and the labor, but that [is secondary to] the quality of the house. The quality of the house is more important than the cost."
Lee sees his job as quality control manager, and to make sure the crew does its job the proper way. "They're good carpenters and good technicians and they do great work, but they might miss something. So if they miss something, it's up to me to look at it, see if it's not quite right, [and tell them] we're going to fix it. We're going to rip it off, and we're going to redo it, but we're going to fix it."
Planning makes perfect
A career as a high-end custom home builder is not suited for everyone. Clients are a little more demanding, attention to detail is expected, and finishing on time and within budget can be a challenge when clients change their minds as often as custom home clients do. So when Bruce Lee agreed to build the 2009 HGTV Dream Home - and accept the pressure of meeting a television show production schedule - he knew this project would require a little more preparation and planning to deliver the high-end home everyone expected.
Any anxiety Lee had primarily came from getting things done on time. The preparation had to be done quickly, Lee says, so plans were drawn and submitted to the city. The permitting process went quickly, so the next step was to make all decisions on types of finishes, windows, interior trim, cabinetry, lighting, plumbing and other product selections. Careful, thorough planning was essential to keeping the project moving forward.
The planning proved successful, as Lee and his team soon realized the home was coming together and falling into place.
"Actually, we're moving a lot quicker than I thought we were going to move," Lee says. "I even surprised myself how well I could bring things together because of the time constraints. We usually have a little bit more time, but we're doing fine and we're not rushing it. We're not making any sacrifices. We're doing things the way I like to see things done, and we're moving forward. It's really been exciting."
Solid planning is one of many reasons the project has been running smoothly. Lee added a few more carpenters and other crew members to the project. "But the preparation is really important because with that amount of workforce, you must have [all materials] there. As soon as [the crew is] done with one phase, they've got to go on to the next phase, and the material has to be there waiting for them. And so the planning has to be way ahead of the workers," Lee explains.
