Business View Magazine | Volume 8, Issue 7

39 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 8, ISSUE 7 Additionally, the partners support various charitable causes for personal reasons. Two examples are The Paula Takacs Sarcoma Research Foundation and Camp Sunshine in Georgia. Paula was a neighbor, and a friend, and a customer, who sadly died from the rare form of cancer. Ashland has continued to support the foundation she started, to help them keep connected to her family and to the community. As for Riesmeyer, a childhood cancer survivor, he volunteers at Camp Sunshine in Georgia as a counselor every year, supporting the organization where he went as a sick child. The company continues to financially support to the camp as well. Building relationships with customers is an important part of the Ashland Custom Homes business model, along with creating a quality experience. Webb explains, “Beautiful houses… we feel like that’s a cost of entry for anybody that’s going to be in this business. You have to build a nice product, and we absolutely do that. For us, it’s more about the customer experience and the relationships that we build with our customers. We get to know them, and their kids, and their pets. We enjoy that and, being small, these customers get to interact directly with the owners of the company throughout their build, as opposed to a salesperson that hands them off to a superintendent who then hands them off to a warranty guy. I think there is a lot of value in that.” This intimate building experience leads to word of mouth and repeat business for the company, which is a major part of their marketing. With all of the work being subcontracted, Webb is also aware of the value and importance of these vendor relationships. As Webb describes, “We don’t exist without them, they’re all very important. We spend more money with some than we do others, but they are all very important to us.” With a possible luxury townhome project in the future, Ashland Custom Homes is looking forward to what’s next. “We are at a point now in our business where our phone rings,” says Webb. “We have a lot of happy customers out there that like to tell their friends about us. Customers come to us with an opportunity or a lot, and we evaluate those as they come in. There’s been enough of that to keep us busy through the years. Even if this townhome project doesn’t come together, we don’t really sweat it too much. We trust in ourselves and in the customer base that we have, and in the work that we do. And we trust that all of that will generate enough business for us as we go forward.” ASHLAND CUSTOM HOMES