By Kathy Bowen Stolz
Citing a philosophy of “big risk, big reward,” Lauren Overton Stimpson decided to leave the stability of teaching to become a builder after the experience of serving as the general contractor for her own home in 2014.
She said she got so many positive comments about her home’s exterior and interior design that she started to consider a career change. Her dad, who owns a commercial building company, encouraged her by saying, “You did such a great job on your own house, you should do it for others.”
Lauren decided to fulfill her dream of owning her own business and began a new career as a builder, leaving her first grade classroom after six years. In her first year as a builder, her goal was to make up her teacher’s salary, but she exceeded her goal by constructing three custom homes. She then focused on building just a couple of speculative homes each year until opportunity knocked again. Being something of a risk-taker, she answered the door.
Stimpson is one of five select builders who are developing Green Farms, a 72-lot community within Lafayette which uses the modern farmhouse look for overall visual cohesiveness. Green Farms features lots of green space, common areas, a playground, a pavilion, lighted walking paths and stocked fishing ponds. The homes will feature front porches and exterior antique beams with white and gray paint dominating the façades, according to the guidelines Lauren and her architectural committee are creating.
Additionally, the community is gated with card and remote control access and call boxes. Overton Homes is building on 15 of those lots.
“I love building neighborhoods with great houses and great amenities.” She also loves seeing how something comes from nothing or how a field can become a beautiful development.
As a result, she is working with two other builders to develop Audubon Farms, another neighborhood in Lafayette with similar amenities. The developers are buying the land now to create a 70-lot subdivision, of which 20 lots will be Overton Homes’. Audubon Farms will connect with Audubon Plantation.
One of the challenges of building, according to Stimpson, is assembling a team of architects and subcontractors who share her focus on creating classic design features while paying close attention to detail. “We are dedicated to providing quality homes and excellent client satisfaction on all custom and speculative homes,” she noted.
“We create individual partnerships with each of our customers to make the entire building process a positive experience for all that are involved. We select top-of-the-line, timeless finishes that we know our clients will enjoy for years to come.”
One of her trusted team members is local architect Jarod Hebert. They work together to design homes that are practical and functional, always keeping a family’s needs in mind. “Our plans are very well thought out and make sense because they have a woman’s touch. I always think, what if I lived in this house?”
She continued, “Our homes are distinctive, unique. We don’t do the same things over and over again.” Their homes can be found in the Grand Pointe, Tuscany and Sabal Palms’ neighborhoods in the Acadiana area.
Overton Homes’ products appeal to a variety of buyers, including those who are middle-aged and retired. The houses typically cost $400,000 or more and provide 2,400 sq. ft. and more of living space while taking six or seven months to build, depending on the size and degree of customization.
Although she is the sole employee, Lauren said Overton Homes is a family business. Lauren likes to visit the job sites daily, often taking her newborn daughter, Madelyn, or her five-year-old Caroline with her. Her husband Craig Stimpson, whom she married in 2009, also visits sites on occasion. Craig helps her in other ways, despite having a full-time job of his own.
Lauren loves the process of seeing a house “all come together” and choosing finishes and decorating. She keeps up with trends by reading magazines, checking out Pinterest website and watching TV shows. She is a disciple of the modern farmhouse style that Joanna Gaines popularized on HGTV’s “Fixer Upper,” although she noted that Gaines “makes it look easy.” Lauren shares Gaines’ ability to multi-task and enjoys being a role model for her own children.
Caroline, the Stimpsons’ five-year-old daughter, watches “Fixer Upper” with Lauren and pretends to be on the show. She loves to help her mom stage homes for listing.
Born and raised in Lafayette to Chris and Staci Overton, Lauren graduated from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in 2007 with a bachelor’s degree in elementary education.
She finds that many of the skills she developed as a teacher transfer to building, especially creating/managing a schedule, completing paperwork, meeting deadlines, following standards and codes and working with people. Oh, and don’t forget coping with the unexpected! However, she did have to learn construction techniques and building codes to earn her general contractor’s license.
Despite her childhood exposure to commercial building through her parents’ OCS Construction business, Lauren said she chose to focus on residential building because she enjoyed building her own house so much. She enjoys seeing families move into and appreciate the homes that she helped to create.
Now a pro at building, she’s building the third home for her own family in the Green Farms neighborhood. Constructing her first home led her to change careers and become a builder. Although she confesses to having her hands full with a young family and young business, who knows what ventures this third home will lead to?
You may contact Lauren Overton Stimpson of Overton Homes by calling 337-280-3343, by emailing [email protected]or by visiting www.overtonbuilt.com. Overton Homes’ office is located at 3108 W. Pinhook Road, Lafayette, LA 70508.