Testimonials

"Friday, February 13, 2009 -I left my home in Gulfport, MS around 4pm on a three hour drive to Alabama. My best friend, Darryn, was with me and we had to attend a Board meeting at 8pm that night, and a Membership meeting the next morning. Mary Martha, my girlfriend who lives with me, was at her father's house in Ocean Springs, MS. Her father was 92 years old and on his death bed, she was staying with him till he passed. There are no phones where I was staying, in Alabama, and cell service is limited.

Around 11:30 pm a fellow member of our club, who lives in the area, came by and woke us up. He explained that I needed to get home because I had a fire at home and there was a hole in my roof. My buddy and I drove around and found cell service. I was able to get in touch with Mary Martha and she filled me in. Her father had passed away and my house was burned beyond repair. We made the trip back to Gulfport safely. The Red Cross set us up with a place to stay and provided us with money for meals for the weekend. They also gave us a debit card for clothes and necessities purchases.

My insurance company ended up declaring the house a total loss. Mary Martha's family offered us to stay in her father's house until we figured out all of our requirements in dealing with the insurance company. We ended up renting her father's house from the estate of the family, while our new house was under construction.

Our next step, after demolishing the old house, was to decide on a house plan and get quotes from builders. After weeks of internet and local building store searches, we finally decided on a house plan that best meet our needs and wants. We found the HPG-1654-1 house plan and you can imagine how surprised we were when the plans came in and we saw that they originated from Hattiesburg, MS.

Darryn called me and told me he had bumped into a friend of ours that we had gone to high school and played baseball with. That friend was Johnny Willis and he was a building contractor. I called Johnny and about four other contractors and got bids for building my new home. After alot of discussions and visits to view some of the work completed and in progress, I decided on Mr. Willis. Johnny also did his own framing, this made it easy to make adjustments without having to get the plans re-drawn. Johnny stated he would have it finished in 90-120 days.

He started in May of 2009, and even with the MAJOR changes, that effect building in the City of Gulfport by the Code Office and FEMA regulations, due to Hurricane Katrina. He was able to complete the project inside the alotted time frame. And in September of 2009, we moved in and became the happy owners of a beautiful House Plan Gallery home. Some pictures taken during the construction process may be viewed here: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/album.php?id=702243524&aid=89187"

House Plan Purchased:
The Cherrywood - HDC-1654-1

Randy B.
Ocean Springs, Mississippi

"We were newlyweds living in a mobile home in a small town rural area when we felt a desire for a larger, more permanent home. We were growing concerned that our mobile home would eventually require too much upkeep and through the wisdom of our parents, felt that a site-built home would be a wiser investment. However, at our fairly young age, we were not sure how much of a home we could afford.

At first we began browsing for house plans for the future. We found ourselves wanting to change every plan we came across to fit our lives. We looked through countless books and almost gave up. We happened upon House Plan Gallery online and found our plan immediately. We just looked at each other and knew that this was the plan. It had everything we wanted to add to the other plans.

With the help of online calculators, we found that by ordering our plan ourselves and subcontracting, we could afford a home much more easily than by hiring a general contractor. Not only that, but we could build a larger, more customized home this way.

Everything came into place. We suddenly received an offer on our mobile home and with today's housing market, felt it was time to act. We found the perfect home site, began the mortgage process and everything moved very quickly from that point on. We did have to meet with contractors several times a week, but felt that by being involved in the process, our house was going to be very special and exactly what we wanted.

We finished our home in record time and feel unbelievably blessed. Our home is much more than we ever expected we could have. All of our contractors, inspectors, and even the appraiser fell absolutely in love with the layout of our home and wanted to know where we found our plan. Our friends and family also greatly approved and thought our home was much more costly than it actually was.

We have now been in our new home for about six months, so we are still arranging some things to our taste, but every day we feel continually grateful for the home we have. We absolutely enjoy it. Our home has room for any changes that might take place in our family and our lives."

House Plan Purchased:
The Pecan Orchard - HDC-1800B-1

Aaron & Janell G.
LaVernia, Texas