Dear Gage:

As we near the one year anniversary of our move-in date on Dartmouth Ave., it is an appropriate time to reflect on the experience we have shared with you and your staff.

Our decision to invest in the Highland Park area was not one we undertook lightly; we knew the local market was sound, but we also were just as convinced we needed the added insurance that a top tier builder could bring to the equation.

As it turned out, we made a great decision: the house we ultimately chose is wonderful, the location is perfect, and our family is enjoying a great first year in our new home. Barely a week goes by that some complete stranger does not comment to us "what a great looking house you have!" I almost feel I should take them on a tour of the house, because the inside of this house is even more impressive.

Gage, your staff has been a joy to work with. From the Builder Representative's welcome smile, to the VP of Construction's critical attention to detail, through Interior Decorator's expert guidance in decorating, and even the Warranty Department's invaluable follow-up skills, the Gage Homes organization shines. Thanks also to all those unseen faces that have helped us, and a particularly warm thanks to you and your Dad. We look forward to many years as neighbors and customers in the Park Cities.

-Gordon and Renee H. & family

Gage Jr.,

Harry and I want to let you know how happy we are with our new home. This is our first experience with Dallas and with new construction and we couldn't be more pleased. Our new home is beautiful and the service your employees gave us has been excellent. The few repairs needed have been addressed promptly and pleasantly. The home is well built and we are confident it will give us many years of pleasure.

-Eileen M.

Dear Gage Prichard,

This note is to let you know how much we are enjoying our home. It is quality construction, a great floor plan and it has been a pleasure to work with everyone in your company.

-Sandra and Leonard U.

Dear Mr. Prichard,

The VP of Construction called me Friday within hours of your receiving my fax and made an appointment to visit my home Monday.

Thursday was scheduled to take care of the items on the home inspectors report. I do not know of another builder that would do that two and a half years after my purchase. Thank you ever so much.

I recently read Carl Sewell's book, as well as other writers writings about the Sewell legendary customer service. The stories are most impressive.

Through my dealings with you, I can say Carl Sewell has nothing on Gage Prichard.

A book about Gage Prichard would be inspiring. I hope one day one will be written.

-Harry G.

To Whom It May Concern:

Gage Homes, Inc. built a custom home for my family in 2003.  Based on our experience, we have highly recommended Gage Homes to our friends and acquaintances who were considering building a new home.

My wife and I lived for eight years in an old, moldy and structurally unsound house in Highland Park.  We loved the location, the neighbors and that our kids could walk to the elementary school at the end of the block, but we wanted a newer house.  In the fall of 2002, we began to explore the possibility of tearing down the old house and building a new house on our existing lot.

I am a lawyer, and in the course of my practice have handled a number of lawsuits involving shoddy construction, dishonesty of general contractors, mechanics' liens, lengthy delays in construction, and many other construction horror stories.  Therefore, my wife and I did our homework before deciding to hire Gage Homes to build our new home.  We walked through many new homes, interviewed a number of builders, and talked to several friends and a number of others who had homes built by Gage Homes.  We also talked to dozens of our neighbors and friends in the Park Cities who have known Gage Prichard (both Gage Sr. and Gage Jr.) for decades.  All the information we accumulated led us to believe that Gage Homes was the right builder for our new home and that Gage would be considerate of our neighbors during the construction process.

The construction of our new home began in mid-February 2003.  We hoped to finish within a year.  Gage Homes planned to get it done much sooner than that.  Only nine months later, in mid-November 2003, we moved back home into our fabulous new house ahead of schedule.  How did Gage Homes do it so fast?  Many of the subcontractors work only for Gage Homes, going from one Gage site to the next, which allowed them to schedule the construction tasks one after the other with very little time in between.  It was a rare day during our construction process when no work was performed on our home.  And Gage Homes' construction superintendent was at the house just about every day.

What about quality?  Gage Homes started with an engineer to make sure the house was structurally sound, and then used subcontractors who were very good.  The style of our house is "English Arts and Crafts", which allowed the subcontractors Gage Homes used to show their artistic abilities and craftsmanship in many large and small details.  We cannot say enough good things about the brick and stone mason, the finish carpenter, and many of the other subs.

Before building this home, we had heard too many stories of the hassles of building a new home - hassles with the builder, payment struggles, problems with choosing all the items for the finish out of the house, etc.  With Gage Homes, these problems were kept to a minimum.  I believe that the honesty and integrity of their employees comes from the top.  Gage Prichard, Jr., did everything we could ever want our builder to do.  We never had any issues with the accounting for the construction, we always had plenty of warning of when finish-out decisions needed to be made, and the decorating consultant coordinated the orders so that very few (if any) delays resulted from waiting too long to order something.

We have now been in our new home for four months, and we have had a few small warranty issues.  As we expected, Gage Homes very quickly has taken care of everything. 

Suffice it to say that we had an excellent home-building experience with Gage Homes.

Very Truly Yours,

Karl D.