About Us
Bries Custom Homes LLC Changes Hands
Brandon Bries bought his father, Don's, business, Bries Custom Homes LLC on January 1st 2018. The entrepreneur has worked for his dad, Don Bries, for 16 years. Bries Custom Homes builds new homes, stick built and Stratford Homes Custom Modular Designs.
Don Bries started building stick built homes 45 years ago and has owned his business for 31 years. He also sold and built modular homes for All-American Homes of Dyersville out of his office for nine years. August 2017, Bries Custom Homes LLC was certified as an authorized/independent builder of Stratford Homes Custom Modular Designs of Stratford, WI.
Brandon bought the equipment, the tools and then the business. Don kept a few tools and will be a subcontractor on small projects on his own and helping Brandon.
Brandon explained. "Once the house is delivered, our crew takes about six weeks to do all the finish work. Of course that all depends on if the subcontractors are busy. Subcontractors do the plumbing, heating and electric, etc."
The public is welcome to tour the four homes on display in Stratford, WI. Don said, "It's a three and a half hour drive, but well worth the trip."
Stratford displays collect feedback and make changes to stay current to the newest trends. Brandon stays current to what is trending. He said, "I went to a vendor show in Stratford, WI, in February. The new product line they have is very modern, very state-of-the-art. If customers don't like something they change it. I had just been to a show in the fall and they actually changed their display room to show the new vertical LP Smart siding. So, they are ahead of the times. They do a lot of research."
Don said, "They truck these homes to Missouri, Canada, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin Nebraska, and Iowa."
Bries Custom Homes does stick built homes and modular. Usually we book a year in advance.
Don said, "The base price for a Stratford Home only includes the house they build in Wisconsin. We have to put in a foundation, a garage, we price out the electrical and the heating, etc. The plumbing and heating is all priced out in the house from the factory, but we have to make all the connections in the basement. We have to set your furnace, put in your water heater. We have all that pricing here, so we can offer the added prices on the base price."
Brandon said, "There are many options to upgrade cabinets, doors, windows, trim, and siding. Whether it may be a custom stick built or a custom modular, in our area homes range from $200,000 to $600,000."
Don said, "Out of 65 homes I think we only ever sold one right out of the book. Usually he customizes them. Brandon is a whiz at the computer. We can bring the plan up on the computer and then customize it for you. Then we send it off to Stratford and they confirm that it will work."
Brandon does the drafting using an architect computer program. He uses three connected monitors, one shows the floor plan, one shows the walk through view inside of the rooms and one shows the outside of the house. When he makes a change on the floor plan all three monitors show the changes automatically. This allows him to customize and show clients what the changes will look like.
Brandon said, "We have it set up so that all of the vendors, like Certainteed siding or shingles have all the actual product information and color options in the computer and you can visualize it. We can do a 3D rendering and pull this in too."
Custom Site Built Homes
We have been building custom site built homes for over 44 years. We are experienced with everything from standard construction to log home construction.
Custom Modular Homes
We also have over 14 years of experience working with custom modular style homes. We are a current Independent Builder of Stratford Homes.
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