George & Gretchen Zuiderveen
Belmont, Michigan

"We first met Rich at a homebuilders show at the Delta Plex. We went with friends who were thinking about building, but we were not seriously considering building a home at the time. Rich was giving a presentation on things you should consider before building a home. We were drawn to the principles he espoused of universal design and energy efficiency, and that building a new home could actually be fun.  We also liked his “can do” attitude when asked if he thought we could build a house of 1500 square feet for x amount of dollars. His immediate answer of “yes” gave us inspiration to consider building a house. We were also happy to know that he would help us custom build a house, rather than buy one of several pre-designed houses.

“After we had finalized our house plan, Rich gave us a detailed schedule of what would happen, and when. This schedule was updated whenever necessary. We were very impressed with the well-orchestrated process that Rich managed. There were very few “down” days when workmen were not present working. Rich had the various subcontractors well tuned to the schedule so little time was wasted waiting for anybody or anything. Through everything, Rich stayed in communication with us at all times, either via e-mail or phone. He always responded to our messages in a timely manner.

“One challenge for us was making the decisions we needed regarding finishes, cupboards, windows and other selections by the scheduled dates Rich had set out for us. This was also what kept the process moving, however. We really enjoyed working with his staff and subcontractors; we found them all to be positive, professional and efficient.
“We look back, and fondly remember meeting Rich at our building site, sitting in folding chairs, and imagining various ways in which our house could sit on the lot. We also spent several sessions sitting with Rich while he drew and redrew our interior wall configurations on his laptop, as our ideas changed and developed. It was fun!

“We had the distinct sense that Rich was safeguarding our financial plan for the house; he was on top of all the monetary details, and always informed us, immediately, if a change we talked about would impact our bottom line.  He also explained his reason for doing things certain ways, and would occasionally give us his opinion. He also respected our choices related to design and style.  Rich helped us to have fun during this whole experience, although we don’t exactly know how he managed to do that!

“We’ve been living in our new home now for 11 months and not a day goes by that we don’t say or think “what a wonderful place this is; aren’t we lucky?” We like the open and spacious feel, the way our house integrates with our property, the excellent workmanship and the unique design features. We are completely satisfied with Heartland Builders and have, on numerous occasions, recommended Rich to others who are considering building.