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Saturday, October 11, 1997 - If you want personal attention given to the home you're having built, you may want to ring up Randall Shirley. Shirley builds six or seven custom homes at a time, no more than about twenty in a year, and he spends all day, every day in the field, participating in the work, building decks or porch rails, laying flooring, or otherwise adding his personal signature to the home built by the company that bears his name.

"I'm not an office person," said Shirley. "I've always worked outside. I tell my customers if you call between 7:15 and 5:00 you're not going to get me unless you come out to your house, because that's probably where I'm going to be."

Shirley began his career in construction as an interior trim subcontractor in 1978, working for one builder for ten years. From that builder, he learned the ins and outs of running a building company, and he opened his own business in 1988. He now builds homes from $250,000 to $500,000, and has won nine Parade of Homes awards.

This year, Shirley's own personal home is in the Parade of Homes.

"You ask about my most challenging project - building for my wife was extremely challenging," Shirley laughed. Shirley and his wife, Yvonne, who manages the office for their company, have lived in a rental home for a year, while building their 5,100 square foot home, which is named "Surely Southern" for the Parade.

"We could probably have built it in six or seven months, but with my wife making the changes - she went through 23 quarts of paint trying to find one shade of red - it's taken almost a year to build."

But the home is finished and the Shirleys are well pleased. The Parade will scarcely be over before they move.

"We're moving in Monday morning at 8:30," said Shirley.

A home built by a builder for himself is sure to have plenty of special touches, but those touches are nothing unusual for Randall Shirley. He prides himself in building something unique in every home he builds.

"We only build custom homes, and we take them step- by-step with our customers. I just never build a predictable house, one that you can look at from the outside and know what it's going to be like on the inside. I build in a special feature, whether it be arch motifs, faux techniques, or unique moldings. I still do much of my own trim work and enjoy surprising our home buyers with special touches."

This kind of attention, plus the quality, service and scheduling that Randall Shirley Builders focuses on, makes homes that are truly special.

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