The Parade of Homes starts Friday, September 11th!

The Lookout

You would think because the Lookout is mine that I am the only person to write the story of the Lookout…but that isn’t true. This project became the special, unique and memorable project for every single person who worked on it, and because of that I feel like I am the luckiest girl in the world.

The Lookout is not a normal project, and not a normal house. It wasn’t meant to be normal. It was meant to be different. It was meant to be exceptional, and one of a kind and something that didn’t fit into a traditional category. It was being built on family property, it was being built as a forever home, a structure that would be passed down to my nieces and nephews, and someday to their kids, and not something built with the parameters of being practical or needing to fit into some resale box. I wanted a visitor center where people wanted to come and hang out, drink coffee and play games, I wanted an apartment so nice it was booked and used every week of the year, and I wanted a little compound to make people feel like they were living a little piece of Glacier Park. I wanted a shed designed after a little vacation getaway in Jackson Hole and a wall tent fit for glamping. I wasn’t asking for much.

The Lookout came to be because MY builder of the year, Jon Krack, pushed me to think beyond what I could imagine. He took my great ideas and made them even better…which is all you can ask for from your partner and your best friend. And we had FUN. We challenged each other and we tried new things and we asked a lot of the people working with us…and because of it we created something fantastic.

The Lookout was never easy. It took a lot of planning, it took a lot of designing, and it took a lot of engineering. It took a year of surveying. It took the genius of Jon Krack to take my love of park architecture and design me a little fire lookout. It took minds like Jim Dunkl and Jim Henjun knocking their heads together to make things structurally work. It took a lot of tree falling and burn piles and hole digging. It took my cousins Luke and Bill a few months to get in a road and do the site work, to get the utilities started, and my Uncle Chuck who hauled in something like 120 loads of fill. It took Dallas about 8 days to jackhammer in an area for a foundation and about a month for utilities and an engineered septic and a tank buried in a rock pile. The building site looked like the moon. It took Renta and crew days to set up and drill in the rebar to pour the footings, and it took serious insulation and work for Hodges and crew to get in my foundations. I waited a couple months for the perfect framer, the only one I wanted to do the job…Cal Brenneman…and there wasn’t a better decision on the project. Cal had some serious challenges, including a house covered with metal brackets and fasteners, flying my roof in with the biggest crane we could get in the Flathead Valley and building a 40 foot tall Lookout in the middle of the winter in West Glacier with 42 windows (to name a few). Cal was there with us at the end setting the roof platform he designed, and hanging photos on my walls. It took Bode Miller who tackled “that roof” and ran his own standing seamed metal on site in order to get the perfect look I wanted. It took Scott and Lilienthal coming up with the best long-term (life long!) energy conscious insulation package which included coating all my walls with 6 inches of spray foam. It took the best windows in the Flathead Valley for energy efficiency brought to me by Steve and the team at Montana Sash and Door. It took Hallstrom Heating and Plumbing to take on 4 mini splits, propane, and HVAC, the most unique plumbing package Todd from Ferguson could put together. It took my electrician Dave several long weeks in the middle of the winter and sub zero temps to get a lot of cans and 4 basic fixtures into just the right lines (I don’t think a “basic” lighting plan has ever been more analyzed nor has a house ever looked more stunning lit up at night). It took RBM who gave my my entry door for being a company cheerleader, went above and beyond to collect a year’s worth of mismatched flooring just so I could test my wild idea about creating “fake reclaimed”, and Joshua in the door shop who agreed to my crazy big black doors. It took Martin Otto to take my pile of RBM flooring and listen to my idea and get the 7 stains right and create a reclaimed-new floor in every area of my house. It took Ben Burling and his carpentry team to tackle every little detail I asked for with a smile and a “yes Somer we can do that” (the list is too long to write down here) but I wanted trimless, I wanted big windows mulled together, I wanted a wood ceiling, I wanted timber stairs and metal cabinets to name just a few. I wanted an entire apartment built out of jobsite scraps. It took my dry-waller Ron to take on an entire house of trimless/baseless details with a smile on his face and the same man to tackle plaster for the first time just for me. It look Kevin at Cornerstone to give me a dream kitchen and to agree to my crazy ideas of flat white cabinets and a metal island and figure out exactly how to do them and make them perfect. It took Lane from Fred’s Appliance to help put together the dream kitchen package and convince me I needed a built in coffee maker (who doesn’t and yes he is a good salesman). It took TJ and Carol from Alpine Cabinets to get my pantry perfect and knock my master closet out of the park (for a girl who had a curtain and wire shelving!). It took Terry at CMT to agree to cover everything I had in metal: the island, the garage doors, the bed, the bench…everything I could think of. It took John Morse from Highridge Steel to take on a staircase like none other and make it work and make it a showpiece and make people cling to the wall for months as they tried to go up it. It took John to tackle a girl that liked everything clean and square and figure out how to make her happy with railings. It took Jacob and the crew from Rocky Mountain painting to do my house from top to bottom, from inside and out….and Jacob Cassidy proved he was an artist as well as a painter and came up with ideas that should be patented because he was just that creative (walls, floors, metal, doors, ceilings…you name it, he did it). It took Mike Anderson from Hot Springs to create just the right concrete countertops and all the details he took the time to get right. It took the collaboration between Malchi Tile and Jaron from Montana Plaster Company to create shower unlike anyone else’s (featuring rocks from Glacier and the Middle Fork River). It took Valley Glass and a team of awesome people to create the “glass house” from top to bottom. It took Steve who took a pile of jobsite scraps and miscellaneous pieces and created the most unbelievable guest apartment we will ever do (Thank you to all the clients who donated their remnants). It took my Uncle John who never said no to anything in this project, including getting me started and saying yes to a glass garage door and facing 3 doors in cold-rolled steel which as he put, was my “one crazy idea for this house”. It took my Dad and my Uncle Jim who painstakingly built my barn wood walls and turned old wood into pieces of art from the top floor to the bottom of the lookout, and who built my fantastic shed and chipped in to finish every detail I could have asked for. It took my little brother Ben who drove over from Havre to build me a bed because he loves me. It took my Mom who cleaned my house from top to bottom and worked on every thing from getting my trails in shape to sewing my shower curtain. It took my cousins who showed up in the last few weeks and rock-scaped my rock pile into something fantastic. It took my husband Brad who believed in me enough to let me be as creative as I wanted with no limits and only put in one wish “I want a fireplace” in the entire course of the project.…and the rest of my amazing family that helped burn piles and shovel snow in the winter and plow out my driveway, welded brackets and fixed gradalls, help set cranes, drilled holes, fixed maps, cut flowers and basically cheered and pulled for me to get it done (so they could come and visit!)

I had quite the crew, I had quite the team, and we built quite the place.

Jon and I walked through the house about 5 AM on the morning we finished, just in time for the parade, and I could hardly believe it was actually MY house. What a funny feeling…after a couple years of planning and building and looking around and having the feeling “this is really too good to be true”. I feel like it belongs to everyone who worked so hard on it, poured their hearts into it for me, who gave it their best, who made me happy, who gave me far more than I could have ever asked for or imagined.

I wanted something different, something unique, and something special…and without a doubt I got it (and so much more). Luckiest girl in the world. Home run.

High-Performance Building.  It’s the big buzz word in the building world right now, but what does it mean?  We hear these words all the time; green, sustainable, passive, eco-friendly…and they conjure up visions of solar roof panels, composting toilets, straw bails, geothermal systems, and other expensive technologies.  But high-performance building is really a different…and something Old Montana is doing very well but don’t often focus on promoting (which, as you might guess, is the basis of this blog!). 

High-performance buildings are energy efficient, and because of this they are easier and more affordable to operate and maintain.  A couple years ago we decided to commit to changing the way we looked at building homes.  This meant we started talking about energy use and cost before we even began drawing plans, and a big part of this was communicating with the draftsman and truss designers, with the subcontractors and vendors about our needs and goals up front.  Together we took a hard look at what it takes to not just build energy efficient but cost efficient houses.  It is something we have translated not only to the homes we build, but the way we run our company.  We like to make smart choices.  We like to cut waste.  We like to recycle.  We like to do it right the first time.  We like to make choices that make sense.  And we really like walking away from a project knowing we built something high-performing and we have really happy clients.  

There are a lot of pieces involved, including the actual house design and site selection, but the way we have broken it down is with several energy driven key components including windows, insulation, HVAC systems and HRVs.  This means a careful selection of products from the moment we start planning and then into construction, and a commitment to sealing up a home from start to finish.  Talk to any energy nerd and they will tell you the most important piece you put in your house to combat energy loss is your windows.  With new technology on the market, we have many awesome energy efficient windows and great sources for a variety of options; Valley Glass, Kalispell Sash and Door, and Energetech out of Missoula to name a few.  Partnering with Lilienthal Insulation is one of the reason in 2014 we spray foamed every single home we built along with a completely updated home insulation package (a processed called flash and bat), and in 2015 we will do the same thing.  With Hallstrom Heating and Plumbing we have put time and thought into our HVAC systems and how each building can work most efficiently; along with this we encouraged every homeowner with the option to put in a geothermal heating system (we have done nearly a dozen in the last 2 years). 

High-Performance means building a home that will not only exceed energy standards now, but decades into the future.  A good example of all these pieces coming together is our Lookout project.  We put a year of planning into building a high efficient/cost efficient structure…starting with some of the very best windows on the market (http://www.alpinewindowsystems.com), 4 inches of spray foam on all the exterior walls, 4 mini-split ductless heating/cooling units, an HRV system, and countless other smaller smart choices (like a super energy efficient wood burning fireplace, 98% LED can lights throughout the home, and energy superior appliances).  It means that long after the paint colors have been change and someone has come along remodeled, the structure will still be performing beyond efficiently…saving resources and money…and the people living there will be happy and comfortable.  Pretty simple.



We finally got some new photos posted to the Lookout construction website (yes, I have been a little behind on documenting this project!) and I have been getting lots of “where are the photos?” comments.  I will try to do better…

As you might guess, the Lookout is coming along great, we are in the sheetrock stage (texturing right now) and we should finally be getting a fantastic metal roof this next week.  It is always fun at this stage to see all the big changes and we are trying so many awesome things…no base, no trim, kerfed everything, a fantastic metal floating staircase, massive RBM black doors, barn wood walls, a plaster fireplace and the list goes on and on.

Check out the updated photos on our website!!

http://www.oldmontanahomes.com/TheLookout/ 



A couple months ago I nominated my favorite boss for the 2014 Builder of the Year award…and no surprise to ME he received the award from the Flathead Builder’s Association last night (so proud of him!).  Jon would be slightly embarrassed to read my tribute letter, but it is easy to write about someone you really believe in.  I’m pretty sure he doesn’t read the blog, so I feel safe posting it for everyone who does!  So here it goes…

I have worked with Jon Krack for the past several years at Old Montana Building Company, and because of the person he is, and my experience working for and with him, I am nominating him for the Flathead Building Association’s Builder of the Year Award for 2014.  Jon always says we are lucky to work in a valley full of talented, honest, hard working builders; he makes it a point to tell clients our peer builders are the best in the business…but I am going to take this opportunity to tell you why I believe MY builder is the best.

As the owner of Old Montana Building Company, Jon Krack, has over the past four year built several dozen homes around the Flathead Valley.  This year alone we have homes in construction from West Glacier and Hungry Horse to the Swan, from Blanchard Lake to Lion Mountain and a number of spots in-between.  We are building everything from a tiny one-room glass cabin on the Flathead River to a 3 story Fire Lookout on a cliff over Glacier Park to a 5000 square foot modern farmhouse in Bigfork.  We have such a wide variety of fun and exciting projects, a good example of Jon’s ability to branch out and build anything. 

Jon has been a member of the FBA since 2011.  The past 2 years Jon has served as a member on the board for the Flathead Building Association and participated in a number of member events.  He chaired the web design committee and participated in a number of FBA activities and meetings, he takes his roll as part of the board seriously and we often talk about topics brought up and issues addressed.  Old Montana Building Company has participated in the Parade of Homes for 3 years, and in 2014 we entered 2 homes and won 9 awards, including the coveted Judge’s Choice and the People’s Choice Awards.

Jon runs Old Montana Building Company like a team, and because of this he has the respect of fellow builders, contractors, and our vendors and subs.  Everyone likes Jon and everyone likes to work with him and for him.  You can ask around, and I would say there isn’t anyone who would have a negative thing to say about Jon, which is pretty amazing and a good example of the type of person he is.  Jon has a way of bringing out the best in people, and encouraging new ideas and trying new things.  Over the past couple of years he has truly pushed the idea of building greener, more cost effective/environmentally friendly homes and our subs and suppliers have jumped on board and helped us achieve these goals.  Jon has really pushed the idea of working and being part of a team, and the people working for us respect his energy, his ideas and his attitude.

We like to say our company cares about what we build and who we build for, and how our clients feel at the end of the day.  And at the end of every project our clients treat Jon like a member of their family.  He has great long-standing relationships with every single person we have built a house for, and with every person who has helped make it happen.  It’s not an easy thing to accomplish in the construction business, but it is possible…and I love the fact our clients start and end the project respecting Jon like they do.  It’s a great feeling, and like them, I am very proud of my boss for making it happen like he does.

I can attest, probably better than anyone, what it takes to run a company like Old Montana and how hard Jon works.  Yet, he finds time to balance out being completely committed to his job and our houses and clients and being an awesome Dad to 4 super active kids and husband of the year.  He is involved with his local community, active in his local church, and loves living in the Flathead…and traveling in his “free” time.

As his side kick, I feel lucky to have a front row seat in watching Jon work…it’s a great feeling to watch your boss, your partner, your best friend and find such admiration and outstanding qualities in the way they run a business and the person they are.  This year I have had a different perspective in my Old Montana work experience…I have been the client.  Jon started building my own house this past summer (after a year of planning, designing and engineering) and for the first time not only do I get to work with Jon on a project, but I get to be on the receiving end of his talents.  Some would say this would be challenging for even the strongest of working relationships, but it has exceeded my expectations (and they were miles high to start!).   I expected nothing less than the best from Jon, but I have come to appreciate him and how he runs our business even more.

I didn’t want to build an ordinary house, and Jon has pushed me every step of the way to do something fantastic…and for me he planned and designed the “Lookout” which is unlike anything I could have imagined on my own.  I have always loved working with Jon, but after the past year of being the “client” I have a whole new respect for him as a builder (and this is coming from someone who spends every single day working in the business!)  Jon has gone above and beyond for me, he has asked our subs and vendors to go above and beyond for us, and saying I am going to end up with my dream house is an understatement.  The entire experience from start to where we are now has been priceless, and reconfirmed what I already knew…I work with and for the BEST builder in the Flathead Valley.  I might be slightly biased in my opinion, but I’m 100 percent certain of it.  I can’t think of a better person for the 2014 Builder of the Year.  In my mind…Jon Krack will always be MY builder of the year.

Recognize this cover shot? This is our kitchen from the Middle Fork Lodge…winner of the 2014 Parade of Home’s Judge’s Choice, People’s Choice and best overall kitchen award (pretty nice photo if I do say so myself!)

Come see Old Montana Building Company this weekend at the Flathead Building Association’s Home and Garden Showcase. We will be at the Flathead County Fairgrounds Trade Center Building from 10 AM – 6 PM on Saturday and from 10 AM – 4 PM on Sunday.  Jon and I will be hanging out at our booth (B2…right up near the front) all weekend and would love to talk.

We will have lots of information on the homes we have built, homes we currently have under construction, and we would love to discuss any new projects and future builds. Let us build YOU a house! We also have our spec home for sale in The Lakes in Whitefish and we would love to sell it this weekend (come talk to us if you want to buy an brand new Old Montana home!!)

The Home and Garden Showcase is a great opportunity to meet us (of course!!), but also to meet many of our vendors and suppliers. This year there are well over 100 exhibitors, including some of our favorites: Anderson’s Masonry, Ferguson’s, Fred’s Appliance, Gran Central Vacuum, Gurgis Gutters, Hallstrom Plumbing and Heating, Montana Rockworks, Northwest Drywall, Sliter’s Lumber, Sherwin Williams, RBM Lumber, Valley Glass and Western Building, just to name a few.

Check it out at http://www.buildingflathead.com/home-and-garden/

For those of you who know the Old Montana Building Company and who have worked with us and for us, you know the importance of what we consider to be the core of what we do…people who care, working as a team, to build homes for people we love. It’s a pretty simple concept. We are passionate about what we do, we surround ourselves with talented hardworking people, and at the end of the day we feel like together we make it all happen.

For the past couple of years it seems we have been waiting for the right piece to add to our company, and I am happy to say we found it. We are officially welcoming Cal Brenneman to the team as Old Montana’s Project Manager.

We could have told you a year ago Cal was the right person for us…and in fact it has been discussed many times. It’s funny how those things just seem to fall into place when the right person is involved. Cal has worked in the Flathead Valley all his life, and has been building for 30 plus years, and he knows houses. Cal has framed 5 homes for Old Montana; including the Woodlot which was one of our award-winning parade homes this past year and most recently the Lookout. Cal is excellent at what he does, and we could not be happier with the work he has done and the ideas he has brought to the table, but the real reason Cal is perfect for us is because of who he IS. You can fill a position with a job tile, or you can find the right person for the job, period. Cal just happens to be the RIGHT person.

A month ago, when the roof was craned to the top of the Lookout in rather dramatic fashion, Jon and I stood next to Cal and watched it all come together and it felt right…the perfect team. Some things are worth waiting for.

Welcome to Old Montana Cal…let the fun begin!

Cal, the day the roof went on the Lookout!!

I always tell people I love my job because in building no 2 days are the same, there is always something new going on, something changing and something different to do and see.  Most days are fantastic and fun and rewarding, and every once in awhile you run into a problem…and you solve it and you move on.  That’s just building.

I have learned so much in the past couple years, about how things don’t always go how you plan, or you miss something, or you change your mind…and you problem solve.  Building is like problem solving.  In some form, we problem solve every day.

Last week we caught a big problem on one of our houses.  Walls which were supposed to be framed at 10 feet had been framed at 9 feet, floor trusses were on, walls were being built on the second floor.  Not a fun problem, not a small problem. But this is construction, and when you have the right pieces in place…the right team of people…problems can be addressed, solved, planned out and moved past.  Last week was a good example of how WE have the right pieces.  The framers admitted their mistake, jumped in 110% to get it right, the truss company showed up within an hour, the engineer showed up, everyone put their heads together and the planning started.  

Have to admit I was a little excited to see the use of a crane again on our jobsite today when they lifted those floor trusses (although not for this reason!).  I was happy to be at the house today and see the problem going away, hear our framer explain to the client how it was all working out, and how no matter what, they would never make this same mistake again (said with a smile!!).   I walked away not thinking about this “mistake” but thinking about the way we handled it and made it right.  And I felt proud of the Old Montana team…proud of how WE do it right.

Happy 2015 from Old Montana!  We have had such an amazing year, with so many highlights…we feel very lucky to get to do what we do every single day.  We built some fantastic homes this past year, worked with dozens of awesome people, bought an office downtown Whitefish, won 9 awards during the Parade of Homes, including Judge’s Choice and People’s Choice, committed to green building, and most importantly we can look back and say “we have made a bunch of people really happy”.  2015 is going to be a great year, and I almost can’t wait for it to start.  We have so many fun projects we are working on now, and so many we can’t wait to begin.  

I look at the board in the office and think about what is ahead, and it is exciting and rewarding to think we will soon have homes stretching from Whitefish to Kalispell to Rexford to West Glacier to Hungry Horse to Columbia Falls to Bigfork and a dozen places in-between.  Among everything we have ahead, we are building a little glass cabin in the woods (see the photo above, it is going to be super cute!), a Lookout, a spec house in The Lakes (for sale!!), a modern farmhouse, a place on Blanchard Lakes and a project in Iron Horse…the list goes on and on.  Quite the little collection…and we would be happy to add to it!!!  

2015 is going to be a great year.

Happy Everything.  Pretty much sums it up.  Here at Old Montana Building Company we have had a fantastic year, full of so many great memory points and highlights.  We want to wish each of you a safe and happy holiday…and a great start to 2015.