Lilla Marigza & Brian Cummings
Historic Belmont Neighborhood
On selecting the right builder

We had our house plans and it was time for us to choose a builder. We interviewed a lot of different builders and I’ll say this… a lot of different builders we talked to tried to impress us with "here is our staff of a lot of people that are going to make your dreams happen."  We knew that when we hired Hugh as the builder he was going to be the builder and be on-site everyday. And we spread those plans out on the back of his truck a lot of days and he went behind every subcontractor and checked their work. He was here every step of the construction.

Working with Hugh was very easy from the onset, from the initial meeting, that feeling of comfort. And not just telling us what he could do but listening to our ideas, which was important because we had specific plans. And then turning what was on paper or in our heads into something tangible, which was this final project, was wonderful to watch.

I would come with pictures and I would say, “Can you do this”? And we would take those pictures to the cabinet maker, and if we could dream it, he could find someone to do it.  And we were very pleased with the outcome.

My mother’s hobby is stained glass. She custom-made stained glass for this house, and one of the things she made was a new house number.  She spent hours and hours making the glass for this house, and it will be something that we will pass on to our children so they will know grandma made the windows.

Remarkably, for someone who had so much experience building great homes, he was willing to accommodate those personal touches that might not come from a traditional source, or maybe a traditional style but would make sure we could make it fit in the overall home.

You knew exactly what you wanted and I told Hugh earlier he has one of the best jobs in the world, making people’s dreams come true. It truly sounds like this is what happened here. Well, I say this to people watching this, we’re not paid actors.  We’re satisfied customers and we love the home that Hugh built for us.