The Business Journal - Top 25 Single-Home Builders List


2/25/2011



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The Business Journal - Top 25 Single-Home Builders List


2/24/2010



This veteran builds future one home at a time


2/24/2010

By Jill Tatge-Rozell
jrozelI@kenoshanews.com
Photo By: Kevin Poirer

Dustin Harpe and his wife Cory show off their model home at 6535 87th Ave. A veteran of the U.S. Marine, Harpe’s home-building business has been successful in spite of the down economy.

At a time when new housing starts are low, Dustin Harpe is building a business of building homes.

It wasn’t what the Marine veteran thought he would be doing, but it’s working well, making his story doubly good. It is not only a story of a successful new business, it is a positive story about a veteran who served in Iraq.

“You hear all the stories of veterans with post-traumatic stress syndrome," Harpe. 27, said. “But that is actually a small minority of veterans."

Harpe admitted there was a period of transition when he returned, but said it was no different than a recent college graduate might experience.

“I think a lot of veterans get discouraged when the first thing doesn’t work out," he said. “I thought for sure I was a shoo-in to be a police officer.”

Harpe entered the military immediately out of high school and married at age 18 while training in California. He was stationed in Australia on Sept. 11, 2001, and was quickly sent to Iraq.

He spent Christmas 2001 in Iraq and Christmas 2003 in Afghanistan. The Marine rifleman returned home in March 2004.

For about a year Harpe worked toward becoming a police officer. He passed the exams, but found people with formal education were being hired before him.

“I gave up on that and started in the trades," he said, adding he was hired to do project management for Jensen Construction before going into the general contracting business with his wife Cory.

“That first year in business we sold nine custom homes when the market was basically crashing,” he said.

At first there was a huge inventory of lots available for building, and Harpe helped match his customers with a location. Now, he has his own inventory of lots.

Last year the couple opened an office in Paddock Lake. This year they hired an in-house draftsman and built 25 new homes in Kenosha, Pleasant Prairie, Burlington and Sturtevant.

The company, Harpe Development, was recently named a “Rising Star" by the Kenosha/Racine Builders Association.

But what he is most proud of is the ability to offer low cost, quality homes to people.

“We are able to put people in a new home with a significant amount of equity,” he said. “They are not upside down.”




2009 Rising Star Award


2/24/2010
Dustin and Cory Harpe are presented with Rising Star Award: Harpe Development joined the Association in early 2008. Right after joining the association the participated in out First Playhouse build. Since that time they have continued to support the association in many ways. In October of 2009 they opened their first model home with plans already being made to open another in 2010. They continue to workwith the association to better the industry.