Affordable Elegance
by Leigh Somerville McMillan / Photos by Matt Menzi
Redwood cedar handrails wrapping the front porch and winding up the interior stairs are just one of the many unique custom design features that distinguished Matt Menzi, of River Ridge Builders, as the Gold Winner in the 2009 Parade of Homes. River Ridge Builders is a custom homebuilder, servicing the Winston Salem area and the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. Menzi works hard to achieve high levels of customer satisfaction in every home he builds. “We want to be as proud of our customer’s new home as they are,” he says.
Whether the house has 1,200 sq. ft. and sells in the $250,000 range or 5,000 sq. ft. with a $500,000 price tag, three things set it apart as a River Ridge Builders home. It is architecturally engaging, energy efficient and designed for life. Cathey Purvey, a Realtor with Remax Realty Group in Boone, has known Menzi since he launched his career as a general contractor fulltime five years ago. She has sold several of his homes. Even better, he built her own home in 2008.
“It’s a pleasure to build with him,” Purvey says. “As a realtor, I’m so very, very busy. I trusted his judgment to pick out the fixtures, the bathtubs, everything. His taste is impeccable. When you walk into one of his homes, it’s not run-of-the mill.”
Purvey worked with clients recently who live in Arizona and wanted to build a second home in Ashe County. They had looked at more than 20 properties before she showed them one of Menzi’s lots with its breathtaking view of Grandfather Mountain. When she took them to see his work, they didn’t look any further.
“They chose Matt and left everything up to him,” Purvey says.
I got my hands dirty early
Menzi, 44, grew up in northern Michigan and spent a lot of his youth helping his father remodel their 125-year-old family farmhouse. “I got my hands dirty early,” he says. “It tapped into my creative side.” He also worked with his father, a real estate broker, as he bought, remodeled and resold houses. When Menzi moved to Winston-Salem in 1989 to take a job as the tennis director at Old Town Club, he brought all that experience and creative passion with him.
Ten years ago, he began his career as a building contractor during the tennis off-season. Five years later, he launched River Ridge Builders full-time. He says the contacts he made and the lessons he learned at the club have been invaluable. “The customer service I had to bring to my work as a tennis pro carried over,” he says. “I take pride in the same kind of customer service, which involves my ability to listen, work with the needs and wants of the customer and deliver the product.”
The first home Menzi built was in Bermuda Run, followed by ones at Mallard Landing and others on the large, wooded lots he favors. His designs use the concept of bringing the outside in with lots of stone, wood and natural light-filled rooms with high ceilings.
“It’s very satisfying to own your own business and have control over the quality,” he says. “I like going from nothing to something of quality. Building taps into the creative side of my mind.”
It’s personal
In the mountains, folks recognize the River Ridge Builders signature because of the attention to detail and quality of craftsmanship, even in smaller houses with their affordable elegance. Menzi says the good reputation he enjoys is a result of his personal relationships with his customers. “You have to get to know them to gauge their style and tastes and help them make decisions,” he says.
And like any good personal relationship, you’ve got to be prepared to go the distance. As they age, houses develop issues, no matter how well they are built. “Good customer service involves fixing problems, even after the one-year implied warranty expires,” Menzi says.
His customers appreciate that and, as a result, quite often he is invited to enjoy the houses he has built. Recently he and his seven-year old daughter spent a father/daughter weekend at a log home he built a couple of years ago near West Jefferson. While he was there enjoying the woods and the creek, he changed the water filters, tightened up some cabinet doors and leveled the refrigerator. Now, that’s customer service.
