The Builder's Journal - Greater Houston Edition Estate Craft Homes Innovative and Committed Professionals With Uncompromising Standards
Cover - The Builder's Journal Greater Houston Edition	Imagine strolling into the offices of Estate Craft Homes with visions of building a great home and experiencing the anticipation that accompanies hope. Within a week's time, Casey Butaud, Owner of this full-service building company and his professional staff will transform the desire to build into the tangible reality of new house plans, financing and a commitment to providing excellent service and the finest home imaginable. Estate Craft Homes, with Casey in the driver's seat, follows through on their maxim of "Estate Craft Homes will always exceed your greatest expectations". This custom home construction business services Montgomery County and the outlying surrounding counties with a deep commitment to innovation, uncompromising quality and outstanding customer service from beginning to end. As a real estate broker, he is able to locate properties, assist in selling the client's home, offer design plans, and refer them to an in-house loan officer. "We do this literally within a week. We are a full-service building company and have the right staff to work with any client", states Casey.
Through college, he held a real estate license and received a degree in business with an emphasis in Real Estate, after which he sold residential and commercial property. "We grew that into residential and commercial brokerage, then evolved into doing distressed properties." They handled condemned, water damaged and burned out homes and from there established a full-scale remodeling company to restore the damaged properties. 2002 marks the onset of building spec houses and in 2003, while living in Conroe, Casey acquired a small rural development comprised of approximately 20 lots. "We built about 6 homes between that development and other custom projects. I have always had the passion to build and the desire to learn from skilled, experienced people. Apart from that, I was self-taught." Casey remembers the excitement he derived from building forts as a child and to this day, he remains intrigued by every project. "I am fascinated by building. I live it, breathe it, and eat it." He enjoys the whole process of putting all the materials and subcontractors together to attain a finished product resulting in satisfied customers. His progressive journey to becoming a noteworthy builder has given Casey a building portfolio of about 20 custom homes a year with a few specs. Their design styles are across the board, from Country to Contemporary, are of all sizes and are in the mid to upper end markets. "Most clients have seen pictures and know what they want, but don't know how to put it on paper. As a builder, you have to be able to look at an empty lot and see the completed home, no matter what the size. I think most of us have this ability." Beautiful Lake Conroe is the setting for one particular home in Estate Craft Homes' portfolio. "This is a really nice home that has every feature you could imagine." Giant Oak trees surround the Mediterranean style house and the exterior walls are a combination of cultured stone and stucco with a huge rotunda roof accent on the front. A swimming pool overlooks the serene, sage green lake, home to ducks, bass and catfish. An outdoor double-sided fireplace and kitchen are perfect for entertaining. In keeping with advanced technology, a dedicated theater room, comfortably seating six movie buffs, includes a handy wet bar and a plasma screen TV. Crown molding adds a luxurious touch throughout the house. "It looks like it could be on an island or in other states like Florida and California." Out of all the incredible amenities in the house, Casey is particularly proud of the foyer. "I love the grandeur and open feeling of the 26' ceiling." Double wrought iron entry doors open to reveal a spiral wrought iron staircase climbing to a second level. "Everything in this house is spectacular." along with the elaborate projects, all of their homes receive 100% from the individuals who make up Estate Craft Homes. Constant client involvement is a given for the company. Between Casey and Scott, Construction Superintendant, clients are kept abreast of the project status through each step from pouring concrete, to mounting sheet rock, to installing doorknobs. "Some clients will turn the whole thing over to me, completely trusting in my judgement and expertise, but others like to be more of a part of everything and follow the progress of the project. Either way is fine." In addition to Scott, Casey is surrounded by other great staff members who have been instrumental in helping the company to flourish in the last several years and who share his standards. "I have a good relationship with all my employees. Scott brings 12 years of experience with him. He is very thorough and knowledgeable-very professional. I can always count on him." He gets to know each client and in return, they "love" him. "For all of us at Estate Craft Homes, our focus is total client satisfaction." This translates to a 48 hour turnaround on adjustments, returning all phone calls on a daily basis and access to Casey via his cellphone. "My clients always know how to contact me for any reason." His dedication and professionalism are greatly appreciated by all of his clients and they make building a home a smooth and positive experience. Cover Story by Marilyn Cauthen The Builder's Journal - Greater Houston Edition

07/16/2006 No cookie cutter: Butaud customizes homes By: Tiffany Williams, Courier staff
Casey Butaud, a 1990 Conroe High School graduate, has been building custom homes in Montgomery County the past three years through his compaby Estate Craft Homes, which constructs 15-20 homes annually. Staff photo by Jerry Baker	Pat likens building a custom-made home to shopping for clothes. "You can go into a store and buy a pair of jeans without trying them on," Pat imparts. "They might fit you great; they might not. But they will never fit like jeans you have specially made for you." She said she shares that wisdom with clients at Estate Craft Homes, a three-year-old custom-home company owned by Casey Butaud. Pat, who serves a sort of jack-of-all-trades role in the company but calls herself an office manager, is one of a handful of employees who swear by their young boss' on-the-mark professionalism. "I've been in the real estate industry since 1986," Pat, a self-admitted "real estate junkie," said. "Casey has a lot of integrity. He knows how to build a terrific product." Butaud, a 1990 Conroe High School graduate, said he discovered a love for real estate after he spent four years in the U.S. Marine Corps, graduated from Tarleton State University and moved back to Montgomery County in spring 2003.
"I was a real estate broker originally," Butaud said. "Then I got into doing a bunch of distressed property work and renovations. From that, I basically grew a custom-home business." At 34, Butaud said his business is exactly where he wants it to be. With three full-time employees, one part-time architect and a slate of subcontractors, Butaud has homes "pretty much everywhere in the county," including subdivisions such as Crown Oaks, Grand Harbor, Champion Forest, Texaba and China Grove. But Butaud said the most popular places his clients want homes built are in rural areas. Architect Philip Roach, who has worked for Butaud for 15 months, said the company specializes in ranch or country, casual-living homes. Roach, who is officially retired, has toiled in the industry for more than 36 years and worked throughout the world, a fact evidenced by the elegant décor throughout the homes he designs. "Some people want granite countertops, marble floors and grand entrances," Roach said. Butaud said his projects are just as varied as their locations. Clients are involved in the homebuilding process 100 percent, he said. "Usually when we start a project with a homeowner, they already have some ideas for their house," he said. "I recommend they bring in pictures or ideas from other homes, and we begin to tweak together the main things they are focusing on." Pat said anything goes, in most cases. "The first thing we do is sit down with people and ask specific lifestyle questions," she said. "How many kids do you have? What do you do? Do you like to spend more time inside or outside? "There was one family we built a hidden room behind a bookcase for," Pat said. "It's a la carte, pick what you want. This is the biggest investment most people make, and I love knowing we provide them with the house they were hoping for." Ruth Douglass, who moved into her home two weeks ago, said, "They will do just about anything you went them to do." She said she wanted her home to have touches of slate, a rustic light-colored rock, and her new home's bathroom counters, shower walls, floors and backsplashes are made of it. "It's beautiful," she said. "We were very pleased." Despite the variety of homes built and the necessary attention to detail, Butaud said he and his crew are able to complete about 15-20 homes a year. "We can get someone in a 2,000-square-foot home in less than 90 days," said Butaud, adding he has a hand in every aspect of the business. "I like to be able to do all the jobs and meet all the clients. I don't want to grow too big or build more than 15 to 20 houses a year." Butaud's workdays usually begin around 5:30 a.m. and end at nightfall. Still, Butaud's schedule is about to become a lot busier. Together with his family, Butaud is embarking on a new project - building an entire subdivision, a "full-scale development" including roads and infrastructure, which will be located near FM 149 in Montgomery. He named the subdivision Stone Creek and said he expects the 47 lots to be completed in about 30 months. Homes from Estate Craft Homes cost anywhere from $175,000 to $1 million. To learn more, visit www.estatecrafthomes.com or call (936) 760-2600. Name: Casey Butaud Age: 34 Residence: Conroe Occupation: Custom-home builder Family: Wife, Amber; 4-year-old son, Stratton; 4-month-old daughter, Aspen Tiffany Williams can be reached at twilliams@hcnonline.com.