EP # 255: Building Dreams: Victor Myers and the Evolution of Custom Home Building

What makes Victor Myers with Victor Myers Custom Homes a good neighbor?

Building dream homes is about more than lumber and nails—it's about crafting experiences that clients cherish for a lifetime. Victor Myers exemplifies this philosophy as he shares his remarkable 30-year journey from construction framer to respected custom home builder serving southern Denton County, Frisco, and the Flower Mound area.

What separates Victor from others in his field is his authentic passion for home building combined with strategic business acumen that helped his company survive and thrive during economic downturns. After escaping the corporate world (where "coat, tie, and cubicle were not my thing"), Victor returned to construction with a vision to create beautiful custom homes that perfectly match clients' needs.

When the 2009 recession threatened everything, Victor executed a brilliant pivot by approaching previous customers who had purchased larger homes. He offered them modern, energy-efficient one-story homes that maintained square footage value while better suiting their empty-nester lifestyle. This strategy not only saved his business but transformed it—establishing empty nesters as his primary market for the next 15 years.

Throughout our conversation, Victor addresses common misconceptions about builders head-on, acknowledging industry stereotypes while emphasizing the many ethical professionals who care deeply about their craft. His company philosophy centers on making the building process itself enjoyable rather than merely focusing on the end product. As Victor puts it, "We don't just build homes, we work hard to build a great experience."

Ready to explore custom home building with a company that values your experience as much as your satisfaction with the final result? Visit victormyers.com to view their portfolio, read customer testimonials, and schedule a consultation to discuss how they might bring your dream home to life.

To learn more about Victor Myers Custom Homes  go to:

https://victormyers.com/

Victor Myers Custom Homes

214-636-6829

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Sophia Yvette.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast.
Are you in need of a customhome rebuilding company?
Well, one may be closer thanyou think.
Today I have the pleasure ofintroducing your good neighbor,
victor Myers, with Victor MyersCustom Homes.
Victor, how are you doing today?

Speaker 3 (00:29):
Great Sophia, Thanks for having me on.

Speaker 2 (00:32):
It's a pleasure to have you on.
We're so excited to learn allabout you and your business.
Can you tell us a bit moreabout your company?

Speaker 3 (00:40):
Yes, absolutely.
We're a small custom homebuilder that specializes in
inside design as well as build,and we build on your lots, and
we range from southern DentonCounty, frisco, to Flower Mound
area is our territory.

Speaker 2 (00:56):
Wow, and how did you originally get into this
business?

Speaker 3 (01:02):
Well, you know that's a great story.
I actually when I was incollege, high school and college
I was a framer in constructionto help pay my way through
school and got out with a degreein business economics and spent
one year in corporate Americaand coat, tie and cubicle were
not my thing.
So I really sat down and kindof thought about what I wanted

(01:24):
to do for the first time in mylife.
Really sat down and kind ofthought about what I wanted to
do for the first time in my life.
I probably spent really thoughtabout what do you want to do as
an adult?
And I enjoyed the job sites ofconstruction, knew I enjoyed
being a framer but just knew itwasn't a long-term path for me
and I.
We grew up in a farming, littlefarming town.
But I always was amazed when Igot to come to McKinney area At

(01:47):
the time Frisco wasn't muchthere to it, mckinney was nice
and we'd come over and look atnice homes in McKinney and
things and I was fascinated bybig, nice homes and so at that
point I made a decision I wasgoing to be a custom home
builder and rerouted my degreeor not degree, just my plan in
life and went for it, and thatwas in the early nineties.

(02:07):
And so here we are, 30 plusyears away, and still going at
it.

Speaker 2 (02:12):
Well, my goodness, what a journey.
So, victor, let's go ahead andget into it a bit more.
What is the most common myth ormisconception you come across
in your industry?

Speaker 3 (02:26):
You know the two.
I think sometimes our industryhas a negative reputation to it
that builders are crooks oreverybody knows the story,
probably, of somebody taking adeposit and disappearing or
whatever, and that does happen.
But there's a lot of reallygood people in our industry.

(02:47):
Our company is one of them, butthere's many more and I think
that's a negative connotationthat we fight, maybe similar to
used car sales or something likethat, but it's a complete wrong
myth.

Speaker 2 (03:04):
So, victor, who are your target customers usually,
or who are your target clientsusually and, in terms of
marketing, how do you like toattract them?

Speaker 3 (03:17):
Well, the first biggest thing is it's our target
market is someone who's lookedat the existing home market and
they can't find what they want.
And they've looked at maybe thebig box builders, some of the
bigger production builders, andthey just can't find the product

(03:37):
they're looking for and a lotof times it's maybe one story
homes or maybe they have anaging parent that's going to
move in or a child that's goingto stay, something of that
nature.
So it's driving some forcethat's driving the client to not
buy a used house or not buy aproduction home and then, within

(04:00):
that is somebody that reallyspecializes.
They want to enjoy theexperience of being involved in
a build and we are number oneclient has become over the last
10 years or empty nesters andthey're retired or near
retirement.
They want a one story home.
They still want space for thegrandkids.

(04:21):
They're not ready to move outto a senior living apartment or
a senior living community.
They still want to be in themainstream communities and
that's one of our targets.
And our secondary target isyoung families that are getting
ready to grow.
They have kids.
You know couples that are intheir mid-30s with kids that are
, you know, starting school.

(04:41):
They haven't got ingrained intoa school district yet, and so
they're ready to move and set upa family home to live in for
the next.
You know, 15, 20 years.
And the second part of that ishow do we reach those clientele?
The first group, the babyboomers downsizing.
The good news there is we builta lot of their homes when they

(05:04):
were the first target group,when they were in their 30s,
starting their families.
We built their 5,500 squarefoot home and here they are, you
know, late 50s, mid 60s, andthey're ready for that one story
.
And so we're building a secondhome for them.
And they're ready for that onestory, and so we're building a
second home for them.

(05:25):
And then the younger couples.
They all find us mainly throughword of mouth, networking
groups of the within theirfriends and play groups and
things like that.
And of course everybody shopsthe Internet.

Speaker 2 (05:36):
So Very, very true.
So, Victor, let's go ahead andswitch gears for a second.
Ok, can you describe a hardshipor life challenge you overcame
and how it made you a better andstronger person today?
What comes to mind for you?

Speaker 3 (05:57):
Well, actually, that leads into that question for you
.
Well, actually, that leads intothat question.
During the Great Recession youknow it started, I think, about
2009, and it hit the peak thestock market, I think, dropped
about 50% in spring of 2009.
So our clientele had basicallylost half their net worth and we

(06:21):
had just poured a foundation ina new neighborhood that we were
putting a model home up, and itwas 5,500 square feet.
We finished it in the end of2009 to open it in the spring of
2010.
And this is the bottom of therecession.
Builders were going out, bankswere going out of business and

(06:42):
we really started looking atwhat could we do to stay in
business.
And that led us to the EmptyNesters and we started going
back to some of our customersthat were in the 5,500 square
foot homes, talking to themabout moving into a 3,200, 3,500
square foot one story in thisnew neighborhood and they were

(07:04):
having to sell their big homesand buy their new home basically
for the same price.
They were selling 5,500 andmoving into 3,500, but they got
a much more modern floor plan,they got a one story, much more
energy efficient, and thatreally resonated with our buyers
and it so it took us at a timewhen the economy was awful and

(07:29):
it kept us in business.
We built out the subdivisionand since then that has been our
primary target audience now forthe last 15 years.

Speaker 2 (07:38):
Wow.
Now, victor, please tell ourlisteners one thing, as I'm sure
there is many that you wouldlike them to remember, about
Victor Myers Custom Homes.

Speaker 3 (07:53):
The one thing is is we work to build a great
experience.
There's lots of people and lotsof companies that build nice
homes.
You can get what you want, butour main goal is to work so that
the process is extremelyenjoyable for our customers and
and it's like we've had somethat have enjoyed it so much we

(08:14):
do it again very quickly.
So the that that's the onething I want to have stick is
that we don't just build homes,we work hard to build a great
experience.

Speaker 2 (08:26):
And where can our listeners go to learn more about
Victor Myers Custom Homes?

Speaker 3 (08:33):
The great place is a website.
Our website is victormyerscom,or just Google, victor Myers.
We have a blog going in there,got some actual photos of
customer testimonials in there,and then there's a link there
that if anybody wants to digdeeper they can just click the
calendar link and book a meeting.
Great with me.

Speaker 2 (08:54):
Well, Victor, I really appreciate you being on
the show.
We wish you and your businessthe best moving forward.

Speaker 3 (09:01):
All right, thank you, sophia.

Speaker 1 (09:02):
Appreciate you having us Thank you for listening to
the Good Neighbor Podcast.
To nominate your favorite localbusinesses to be featured on
the show, go to GNPFriscocom.
That's GNPFriscocom, or call469-221-9345.