IN THE BUSINESS OF BUILDING

words ELEANOR MERRELL

Jones and Hedges Custom Builders specializes in residential custom new home builds, renovations, additions, outdoor living spaces, kitchens, and baths. Leveraging over 20 years of combined experience building in the Charlotte area, Josh Jones and Kyle Hedges aim to “stay on schedule, stay within budget, and build lasting relationships with customers,” says Josh.

The two founders discovered they had mutual missions professionally: “We enjoy building relationships with great clients, seeing a project from start to finish, and using our talents to accomplish that,” says Jones.

Before founding his custom home building company in 2008, Jones was working at a national homebuilder, learning everything from how to schedule and manage builds, to how to interact with clients, to how to efficiently communicate with his team. Meanwhile, Kyle Hedges attended design school at Ohio State and was using his degree to help clients visualize their future homes through 3D plans. Kyle Hedges leans on his love of design in collaborating with clients to bring their vision to life. "The process of being able to show someone how we can take their 2D idea and bring it into 3D is one of the greatest parts of my job," he shares.

With this motivating every business endeavor, the partners set to work constructing high-end homes, making an effort to match each client’s style and ideas to the client’s budget and the architect’s portfolio. The resulting homes vary widely in terms of style and size, yet Jones insists he could never choose a favorite past project: “It’s hard to have a favorite—that’s like asking which kid is your favorite. Each project is different in its own way and, as a result, we have many favorites. It may have to do with style, colors, layouts, and at times, it's more about the friendship you’ve created.”

Client relationships are at the center of everything that Jones and Hedges does. They see every opportunity to build a home equally as an opportunity to build a relationship, and they define success as “the experience that a client feels they had, which always has the basic ingredients of build time, budget, and communication,” says Jones. Of course, the builders have other secondary goals. For instance, they strive to balance design, function, and style for the client. At the same time, they seek harmony between the style of the home and the style of the surrounding community, sometimes working alongside residential plan design firms to achieve this. Throughout the build process, they work collaboratively, allowing clients and architects to lead the way but chiming in helpfully with tips and insight gleaned from years of experience.