Have you ever wished that you could test drive a home? Or that you could hire someone to move in and get the first-time kinks out? Meet Mike and Isobel Sadler of Charlottesville Area Builders.
Charlottesville Area Builders is a third-generation design/build business now in its fourth decade. Mike found his Marine Corps background in logistics transferred well into the construction business; he became CEO in 2017. His wife Isobel’s background is in education, but her penchant for detail led her to work with Mike on several client jobs. Soon, he asked her to join the company full-time, and they are now co-owners.
CAB has done urban, suburban, and rural homes “all within 45 minutes of Charlottesville,” says Mike. “I know the regulations for six counties.” For most of their homes, CAB uses its own stable of local architects and contractors, but they also do work with the client’s architect. Through Mike’s network of local landowners and realtors, he can also help clients find land to build on. Their jobs are usually houses in the 2,500- to 4,500-square-foot range.
Keeping CAB a mid-level company (they build eight to 10 houses a year) enables the Sadlers to guarantee quality and client service, says Isobel, while having enough work to keep their contractors busy. Two jobs a year will be spec houses—and every couple of years, Mike and Isobel will move into one with their family of four small dogs, all rescues.
“We’ve been married 12 years,” says Isobel, “and we’ve lived in six new builds.”
The practice of test-driving a house began with Mike’s father as a way of trying out new products and design elements to be better able to advise clients on their home-building projects. “We try to put ourselves in the shoes of our clients,” Isobel explains. “We want to feel what they feel. You hear so much about how stressful [the process of building a home] can be—we want to streamline that process.”
“We also get to try out new trends, things we want feedback on,” Mikes adds. “We can educate ourselves about a product, but living with it is different.”
The couple has checked out the products from filler faucets on soaking tubs (the latest bathroom trend) to wave flush toilets (“not for families with kids,” says Isobel). She notes, “We’ve tested a lot of prefinished floors—we’re very particular about wood flooring.”
Even the little things matter, like the newly popular push-to-close cabinetry. “It looks fantastic,” says Mike, “but be aware—if you happen to bump into it, the door’s going to open.” (Again, maybe not the best for families with rambunctious kids.)
In one case Mike recounts, they installed a new type of energy-efficient water heater in their test home. It turned out that every time the power went out (even for a minute), the heater had to be manually reset—or no hot water. “We changed that out,” he notes.
In building spec homes, Mike and Isobel are designing with resale in mind. They incorporate what they know the market is looking for, and are constantly tracking trends in appliances, doors, colors—even incorporating charging stations for electric cars.
Just as CAB’s spec homes are geared to fit the site (contemporary? family suburban? modern farmhouse?), Isobel designs the interiors to suit the house. “We like timeless, classic looks,” she says, “and the furnishings are different for each home—we do sell the spec houses furnished.”
How does it work, to decorate and move into a home that you know you will be leaving in a year or two? “We’re pretty minimalist people,” Isobel explains. “The mindset is, we’re not attached to things.”
Mike sees it this way: “Each house is a new chapter in our life.”
“And I’m a pretty efficient packer,” says Isobel. Which is most likely a huge understatement.
