Röhe & Wright Builders made a gutsy decision in 2004. For years, MasterBuilt, the Houston company’s custom home division, had depended on outside architects for design. But partners Andrew Wright Suman, Chad H. Muir, and Peter Röhe Barthelme thought it made more sense to bring design in-house, so they started Röhe & Wright Residential Design. The new company now designs about three-quarters of the MasterBuilt homes, while the remaining 25 percent goes to outside firms. “Bringing design in-house makes our end product better,” says Suman. “It reduces the time and cost it takes to produce a set of drawings and start building—we can react faster.”
Röhe & Wright Residential Design is an independent entity from Röhe & Wright Builders, and it occupies separate office space in the same building. The five-person design team handles product and material selections as well as architecture. The homes it creates range in style from contemporary to Mediterranean to French country, to name a few, and it works with Röhe and Wright Builders from the very beginning of the project to ensure everyone involved understands the client’s goals. “We spend a lot of time up-front going through pictures [with the client],” says Suman. “We take pride in making the exterior style consistent throughout the interior.” Customers pay a separate fee for design services. If they opt to use Röhe & Wright’s design, that sum gets credited toward the construction fee. The in-house design angle simplifies the process for both parties—and it gives Röhe & Wright a marketing tool that sets it apart from other builders.
Röhe & Wright Builders, Houston
www.rohewright.com
Type of business: custom builder/developer
Years in business: 6
Employees: 32
2004 volume: $14.3 million
2004 starts: 47
