The 2014 Southern Living Custom Builder Program Showcase Home, along with Wayne Harbin Builder, was featured in the October issue of Next Door Neighbors Magazine.
By Greg Lilly, Editor
“It’s going to be a knock-out first impression, “Wayne Harbin says of the Ford’s Colony house his company built as a 2014 Southern Living Custom Builder Showcase Home. “There are different elevation heights when you first come in, and it really sets the tone as you walk into the foyer. This house could easily be built on the Chesapeake Bay. It gives clarification all the way through the home to what’s behind the house – nothing but nature and everything that Ford’s Colony has to offer. It’s all green space behind this house, for the home’s visitors to see
and enjoy.”
Wayne and the team at Wayne Harbin Builder, Inc. have created a home to inspire ideas and stimulate the senses.
Gearing up to celebrate 30 years in custom home construction, Wayne started his own company in 1985. “I actually started out in the construction industry right out of high school in 1965,” Wayne explains. “I started as a laborer for a building company. Back then there were a lot of smaller builders. Back then, you’d start out with a small builder and do a little bit of everything. I worked in the northern part of Newport News, working with Mennonites at the time. They were the largest concentration of builders and very good tradesmen.” He dug footers, laid block, framed and roofed. “It wasn’t as it is today where a framer is a framer. Then you did everything that needed to be done. The whole crew could do any job needed. It wasn’t as segmented as it is today.”
Wayne worked his way up to a lead man on a framing crew for a large company and then to a superintendent. “As a superintendent, I had to figure the houses, the materials, run the jobs and meet with the subcontractors. So I worked about 20 years in the trades from a laborer right on up to a superintendent then went into business in 1985.”
When he began his own business, Wayne liked the mom-and-pop model. “We started out as a complete family business. We had an office over our garage, as a lot of people did. My wife, Bonnie, worked the books. I did the superintendent job – the ordering and all of that.” The business grew. When Wayne and Bonnie’s sons were teenagers, they spent their summers working in the family business. “Doug and Brad have always been involved in this business in one way or another,” Wayne says. “When Brad decided to go to college at East Carolina, he majored in Construction Management. Doug went to the University of Alabama where he received his degree in biology with an emphasis in marine science. Brad has been with us for 12 years and Doug for 14 years. I can honestly say that being a family business, we wouldn’t be where we are today without their influence, their education and their drive to do the job correctly.”
Each project is different and that’s what keeps Wayne excited about building. “It’s always a learning experience. Even today, there are so many things that change, different materials and different methods. Back when I started, that kept me excited and learning because in framing, I would create different styles of houses: hip roof houses and Cape Cods and mansard roofs. Everything was a little different, and it was a challenge.” He says even today, he takes pride in seeing construction in which he was involved. ”I think it was the challenge and doing a good job and seeing that product built and complete.”
For over 14 years, Wayne has been part of the Southern Living Custom Builder program. “The Southern Living name represents what we do, the style of houses that we typically do,” Wayne explains. “We go outside the box, but if you have seen the magazine, they go outside the box too. We’re not just a colonial Williamsburg type of builder. A lot of our clients are readers of the magazine. So it just kind of goes hand- in-hand. It’s a classic magazine. We do a lot of coastal, and Southern Living has coastal.”
This year’s Showcase Home is located at 109 Ford’s Colony Drive. It’s open to the public on three consecutive weekends in November: 7-9, 14-16, 21-23. “People can come in and see the newest trends and ideas,” Wayne says. “Visitors will be able to walk through the home and see the quality of work and design. We showcase all the sponsors’ products, like Bevolo gas and electric lights from New Orleans, Lennox, Marvin windows, Moen plumbing fixtures. We have a designer, Christine Estep, [Jackson Thomas Interiors] to design the home’s interior décor.”
He promises that visitors to the Showcase Home will find unique features and decorating ideas. “You’ll discover great ideas, from the newest light fixtures and plumbing fixtures to the latest design elements. For example, a unique feature: We have things for the dogs in the garage, like a built-in dog bath. The outdoor living area is unforgettable. Everything you think you might like in your new house, or existing house, you can see it and touch it and try it at the Showcase Home. This is a place where people can come and get ideas of things they can do.”
Some of his favorite features are innovations to make everyday living more efficient and enjoyable. “The master bath has his and hers sides with a shared mutual shower,” Wayne describes. “So each person has their own bathroom – two bathrooms where you can go from side to side through the shower. In the kitchen, the design is a very functional, updated 2015-type of kitchen. I think it has outstanding ideas.”
The home has an open floor plan, which Wayne says more people are asking for, yet the living areas are well-defined in the plan.
“Outside, you have to see that,” Wayne says. “We are lucky in our area that we have four seasons of outdoor living. This house has an outdoor cooking area where part is covered, part of it is decked. We have retractable screens. The covered area has a suspended poured concrete floor with storage underneath it. It gives you that extra storage for garden equipment or lawn equipment. It’s not in the garage; it’s outside, unseen, stored and dry.”
Wayne explains that he’s working with Doug and Brad to transition the projects and business to their generation. “I want to be active, and I am in a smaller way,” he says. “I have the best of two worlds: my sons are awesome at what they do, and I’m able to sit back and know when I’m gone, they can take it on and are doing it now. That’s just unbelievable. I have done everything I have wanted to do as far as in business.”
Pride swells in Wayne when he talks about his sons. “They should get the credit because they are out in the forefront everyday building and remodeling homes. As a dad would be, or an owner of a business would be, I’m happy that Doug and Brad are moving the business forward. We are lucky enough to have longevity, and our sons to take this thing on.”
Visit the website: www.WilliamsburgShowcaseHome.com
Ticket sales from the event benefit Operation Finally Home and Habitat for Humanity.