Building for the future

Most Lovellites would agree that our community is a great place to live, raise a family and call their home. But one issue that has limited the town’s growth for many years has been housing.

For many individuals or families looking to move into or back to the area, finding a place to live has been a struggle. Local contractors have taken notice and are taking the risk to seek development opportunities. One in particular that has found success in doing so is Jake Walker of Landmark Construction.

Construction is in the Walker blood. His father, Ron Walker, made a career and business out of it, learning from John Schneider before breaking off to do his own work.

Ron then joined forces with his brother, Craig Walker, and the two worked together for many years. They then decided to split up so they could each hand down their businesses to their sons.

Walker bought the business outright from his father between 2020 and 2021, and Craig’s son Richard Walker  did the same from his dad around the same time. The duo continues down their paths of remodeling and construction in the Lovell area, and his oldest son, Owen, has begun working with him during the summers.

“I did it all growing up,” Jake Walker said. “I started as early as eight years old and hated every minute of it. When I left for college, I swore I would never, ever do it again.”

He went to college and chose to pursue a degree in finance. Once he completed his education, he worked at a bank and quickly realized that was not something he would enjoy doing for a living and chose to come back, but with a slightly different plan.

“I didn’t want to be a contractor out in the field all the time,” he said. “I wanted to be more on the real estate, development and investment side of things.”

He talked with his dad about the direction he was wanting to take with the company and began taking steps to get there. The vision started out by building custom homes and doing some commercial work to build up enough capital and save money to get to the point where they could invest in some land and develop it.

“I did a lot of research on properties and the feasibility of making it happen,” he said. “Then I got to the point where it was time to jump over the ledge and hope it works. We could research it to death, but then had to pull the trigger and do it.”

When people drive down Tenth Street today, it looks dramatically different than it did five years ago when it was an empty dirt lot. Now, there stands a beautiful triplex of townhomes and three other senior-friendly custom houses, with another one set to begin this year.

He bought most of the land from the Town of Lovell and one section from a private owner that another set of town homes will go on.

“The amount of dollars that were invested into that land including what has been spent in the community is probably two to three million,” Walker said. “It’ll probably be close to six or seven million by the time it is done. So, that makes me feel good knowing that when I hire all these local guys to do stuff, we get to keep the money here in town. It’s been a good project so far.”

All the homes that Walker has built have sold, which continues to fund his future projects. Next on the list will be putting up several homes on Robin Road, which he purchased last year and will keep as rental properties.

“It’s definitely not stress free,” he said. “The first few homes sold fast, but the last two took several months, and one of them was close to a year. So, you can be sitting on them for quite a while, which is a little nerve wracking, but so far it has all worked out.”

The vision doesn’t stop there. In the upcoming years, he has his eyes on some other opportunities, but nothing is set in stone yet.

He is not the only developer in the area, and Walker sees that as a good thing.

“There are others doing spec homes, and I think that is beneficial to all of us,” he said. “The more new homes there are, it will bring in more buyers. It’s kind of like the fast-food theory. If you have two right next to each other, they’re both going to be more successful.”

Interest rates and building costs are not ideal right now for this line of work, and Walker believes that is the biggest hurdle. With the cost of materials alone, it has become harder for individuals to afford to build in ways they would like.

“We just have to try and be smart and look ahead,” he said. “There is a need, and with the current market, it almost seems impossible for a young family to buy a house. It’s just so expensive.”

To compensate for that, the sizes of the homes that he is building are quite a bit smaller.

“I know people want bigger homes but can’t necessarily afford them,” he said. “I want to make something that people can afford. Which is another reason I am building some to keep as rentals, so if they can’t afford to purchase the home, they could possibly rent a nice, new home here.”

Currently, there are limited options to rent a newer home in Lovell. There are some older apartments or houses to rent, which Walker says is great because the community needs those, too, and he knows that the more options there are, the better.

Knowing that rentals are long-term investments, he sees them as his retirement plan.

“That was my idea from college. I wanted to build it up to the point that I could have a bunch of rentals that would be my retirement. That was the goal. Hopefully, we get them paid off before then,” he joked.

When he looks to the future, he wants there to be options for people to live and not have to commute from other communities. 

“I want the community to grow,” he said. “I would like opportunities for my kids to live close to here, if they can when it is time. I think we are in a better place now than we were five years ago, and I hope five years from now we are better than we are today. I’m just trying to do my small part and hopefully things will work out.”