Job Spotlight with Chris Jones, President of CPJ Custom Homes
The career of Chris Jones, like so often happens in life, has been a step-by-step process of building upon one experience after another.
The Columbus native started working as a "runner" with Flournoy Development Company in his teens. That was during the three-decade period his father, Randy Jones, served as vice chairman, president and chief operating officer of the Columbus-based firm, a major apartment builder.
After college, Jones became an assistant project manager with Flournoy Development. That eventually led him to enter the world of home construction after his father and a partner, Kenny Minear, launched Jones & Minear Homebuilders in 2002.
Jones worked for a time in the company's Atlanta division, then opened a Columbus division in 2003. The business was humming along just fine until the Great Recession hit homebuilders with a financial sledgehammer in 2008 and 2009.
Ultimately, his father, pondering retirement, suggested that Chris start his own company. He did in 2011, launching CPJ Custom Homes, a high-end outfit that can handle residential and commercial projects. He has overseen single-family homes valued between $200,000 and $2 million.
And no, his father, rather than calling it quits, now serves as his son's chief financial officer. His mother, Pat, is chief administrative officer, or as Chris calls her, the best office manager he could have.
As fate would have it, Jones, 40, also finds himself leading a company connected to the Old Town development off Veterans Parkway in north Columbus. The mixed-use project includes a "Southern Living Inspired Communities" neighborhood, of which CPJ Homes is one of three Southern Living-certified builders. The other two are Leary & Brown Builders and Woodruff Contracting Co.
A weekend tour of homes at Old Town started Oct. 16 and runs through Nov. 8, benefiting charity organizations.
The Ledger-Enquirer visited with Jones recently at Old Town, talking inside a 2,755-square-foot furnished speculative home his crew constructed with four bedrooms and a fireplace wood mantelpiece that came from one of the old dams torn apart on the Chattahoochee River to make way for the downtown whitewater course.
This interview is edited for length and clarity.
You worked with your father's homebuilding company during the heyday before the recession. What was that like?
I learned in-the-field details of building homes in Atlanta, and then I came here in 2003 and started our Columbus division of Jones and Minear. We bought some lots in River Crest (subdivision) from the Jordan Company and ended up buying lots here and there. In 2006, that was our best year in Columbus and I think we closed about 65 houses, with an average price point of $450,000. That was a lot of product.
But the market definitely changed. In 2008 and 2009, it slowed down in most places, but it stopped in Atlanta. So dad shut down the Atlanta division of Jones and Minear and that left our Columbus division. At this point in his career and with his age, he felt the best thing for me to do was start my own company while he was still around to help me get it going. And that's what happened in 2011; we started CPJ Custom Homes.
How busy are you today?
We're building about 15 houses a year. But everything we're doing is fully custom, whether it be a $300,000 house or a $3 million house. We work closely with the customer to design the floor plan to be exactly what they're looking for and work with them as far as decorating. With our company, it's not: Here's three or four different tiles you can pick out. Everything is wide open.
What are you seeing in the housing market now? Is it bouncing back?
We're seeing a lot of stability in the market. Obviously, it's been a roller coaster ride for all builders and a lot of guys got out. But we kind of found our niche in that custom side of the market, where I believe there's a void.
At one point (during the downturn), you saw a huge shift in the cost per square foot to the inexpensive cheap square footage. We saw a lot of guys come from Atlanta and really change the market from that standpoint. And you saw some local builders focus on that.
You didn't change?
Probably, if we changed, we changed in the other direction. The nicer quality custom home is what we wanted to do. We focused on building a higher quality of product, even above what we were already doing. We were just looking at how could we be the best in the market.
How did you become one of three Southern Living builders?
Just by having conversations with Woodruff Development, Woodruff Marketing, and talking with Bruce and Lucy Jones. We sat down with them and they kind of interviewed us. They shared their vision of Old Town. We had the same vision. We bought into the concept of it. It's one of the things we've thought of over the years, because you see these types of developments in different places across the Southeast.
So you got Southern Living certified?
That's correct. We're not required to be a Southern living custom builder, but we felt like as builder and development team, it was a good idea for all of us to be part of the Southern Living brand.
They interviewed us and checked out our background to make sure that, one, we build a quality product that they're willing to put their stamp of approval on. We sent information about our company, information about our product, information about the people in our company. They talked to past clients. They talked to our vendors to make sure we're paying our bills, that we stand behind our product. And that it's not only a quality product, but quality customer service.
The name Southern Living comes with a bit of cache?
We felt like the branding that Southern Living carries in our community, that it was something we wanted to be a part of. It's a flag that we carry with pride because Southern Living gives us a stamp of approval, in my mind, and carries a lot of weight. It reaffirms what we're building. It reaffirms who we are as a company. It's a great marriage in that we didn't have to change to be a part of it.
Where else do you build homes?
We're currently building in Creek Rise and in Forest Lake out in Midland. We do a lot of building on individuals' land. We build on the Alabama side of Lake Harding. We just finished a product in Hurtsboro (Ala.). We do stuff in Harris County, Columbus and Phenix City. We've also done stuff up in Pine Mountain.
What do you do on the job in a typical day?
My specific job is I work with our customers up front. When somebody calls in or somebody reaches out to the company and says, hey, we're interested in working with you as our builder, the first person they get is me. I'll sit down and meet with a client to see what they're looking for. We'll begin talking product, location, if they've got a site already. A lot of folks already own land.
If they're in need of a location to build on, we'll start looking at potential lots as well. Then we begin the process of taking what they're looking for in a home, what their budget is, and try to work that program together. I work with them on the front end, with architects, whatever it takes to build that home.
How many homes or customers are you juggling at a time?
Sometimes we'll work with them up to a year before we start their home. When you're looking at a custom program on a house, some people know what they want, but other people don't. So we've got to work with the architects to create the plans. Then we've got to work out specifications.
Sometimes we'll create a program that's exactly what they want, but it doesn't match the budget that they're looking for. So then we've got to do some value engineering to work things back into the budget, because they don't want to give up building their dream home. So we have to get creative sometimes.
A lot of times, between the customers we're working with already and have them under construction, and the potential clients that are out there talking with us, we're probably working with 20 to 25 customers at a time. Normally we have eight to 15 projects going on at a time.
Does technology play a part in homebuilding management these days, with smartphone cameras and tablets?
Absolutely, it does. Just like the multi-use building (being built) up here at Old Town, we've got architects and a structural engineer out of Atlanta. With that job we have to make seven different concrete pours before we have the foundation to do the framing off of. They want to inspect everything as we go, but they only have so many site visits they can make. So we'll take 15 or 20 pictures of how things are done, so they can look at it and say: That's exactly what I want or maybe can you tweak this. We do the same thing in the field if there's a reason I can't get to a job because I'm meeting with clients in the office or doing budgets.
Do you send customers pictures of updated work on their custom homes?
We do. But most of our clients will be on the job site once or twice a week. We have very close interaction with our clients. We want them out there because we want to make sure if there's something that they have questions about, or something they may not like, we can catch that as early as possible if we need to make modifications to the house.
What's the most challenging aspect of your job?
Probably the toughest thing about our job is the fact that we are dealing with somebody's home that they're going to be in for years. I hear a lot of times: I don't ever plan on selling this house. However, one of the things I talk about with my clients whenever we're working through the program with their home, is resale, that we're not building something they can't sale.
Some people don't care about resale. I hear a lot of times: They're going to take me out of this house in a box. Somebody's home is the largest investment they're going to make. So it's a very emotional process. But we try to focus on ensuring it's a fun process.
Still, there's a lot to do. There's a lot to pick out. There's a lot that they're involved in with building a home. It can be overwhelming.
You've got to keep them calm and focused it sounds like?
Yes. We care about what we're doing. We want to make sure our customers are 100 percent satisfied. Unfortunately, we are human and our vendors and subs are human as well, so mistakes do happen.
That's probably the biggest challenge, when something doesn't go exactly how our customers want it to. We will always rectify a situation. We're always willing to do what's right at the end of the day. I want to go to bed and sleep at night knowing I've done the right thing. The only thing you have that somebody can't take away is your name, so at the end of the day we care about our name, we care about who we are, we care about our customers.
Our customers aren't just clients, they're our friends, too. We build friendships. From that aspect of it, it is emotional. You're not just buying a bowl or a suit. We're looking to create something with a client.
What's the most rewarding thing about your job?
Seeing a client move in and seeing their excitement. When I sit across from somebody at the (home loan) closing table and they're like, 'thank you so much,' that's probably the best thing.
The folks that actually live next door to me -- I live in a neighborhood that I build in, and I'm not afraid to live in a neighborhood that I live in -- but we just closed with them a few months ago and it's just seeing (those neighbors) everyday. They are proud of their home and we are, too.
We talk about it with our team. We're not just building somebody else's house. Every house we build, we treat it like it's our own. Because at the end of the day, people come to us for a reason, and we don't want that reason to ever get overlooked.
Bio
Name: Chris Jones
Age: 40
Hometown: Columbus
Current residence: Columbus
Education: 1993 graduate of Hardaway High School; attended Auburn University but graduated from Columbus State University with a business degree in 1999
Previous jobs: Assistant project manager with Flournoy Development Co.; builder with the Atlanta and Columbus divisions of Jones & Minear Homebuilders
Family: Laura, his wife of 16 years, son, Conner, 13, daughter, Ashley, 11, and beloved pooch named Nugget
Leisure time: Enjoys playing tennis and participating in church-league volleyball. The family is very involved in church, with Chris a deacon at Wynnbrook Baptist Church, helping out with the men’s ministry there
This story was originally published October 18, 2015 at 12:17 AM with the headline "Job Spotlight with Chris Jones, President of CPJ Custom Homes ."