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C OR P OR A T E pr o f ile Twice as Nice Custom Home Builder of the Year finds a winning balance with collaboration and relationship building By Laurie Grant, managing editor PHOTO: RICHARD DORBIN T he goal is a unique, one-of-a-kind house that reflects the client's personality per- fectly. It might take the form of suspending an airplane from the ceiling, a scholarly looking library or expansive outdoor space. Customization is the name of the game and Rockville, Md.-based Visnic Homes plays it well. So well, in fact, that the company was named NAHB's 2011 Custom Home Builder of the Year. Two-time winner Visnic Homes first received the honor of Custom Home Builder of the Year in 1995. The award is sponsored by the Washington, D.C.-based Propane Education and Research Council (Propanecouncil.org). Receiving it again in 2012 was exciting. Several months into the company's reign, Ted Visnic, chairman and chief executive officer of Visnic Homes, describes himself as elated. "It is quite an honor," he says. Visnic, however, is quick to pass the credit to his staff. "I have such an incredibly dedicated staff," he says. "They're the ones who really had so much to do with this. They should feel individual pride." Paul Lobien, vice president and chief operat- ing officer of Visnic Homes, has been involved with Visnic Homes since it was founded in 1990. "We were very pleasantly surprised," he says. "It was a big breakthrough for us in 1995 to win the award. To receive it again is great for our current team and a ter- rific affirmation of our dedication to building great houses." THE DESIGN/BUILD PROCESS Visnic adopts a design/build approach in which he works col- laboratively with the architect throughout the entire process. "I F o r R e s i d e n t i a l P r o s . c o m r esidential design + build know of situations where architects design and then hand off for bids," he says. "If a bid is that much more important than execution, it's prob- ably not a good situation for us because if you want to have good people and good subcontrac- tors you're going to want to pay a little bit more. I consider just about everything design-build. Working together is a wonderful thing so we can put together the best home we can for a family." Although Visnic Homes does not have in-house architects, Visnic says there are some architects he has worked with for 23 years while there are still times he meets new architects. "We have worked with probably 10 or 15 of the best architects in the Baltimore/Washington, D.C., region," he says. Lobien explains the careful communication dynamic between clients and builders to achieve the maximum result. "We listen carefully to what our clients' objectives are and how we might be able to serve them in the custom process," he says. "Some already have a design in mind. We help support that design and develop that into something special. If they're just getting started and have only some basic thoughts, we go in another direction and help them develop some initial schematic plans and bring their inclina- tions to life." Sometimes clients already have their lots picked out while other times Visnic Homes assists S E P T E M B E R / O C T O B E R 2012 17 PHOTO: RICHARD DORBIN