Monogram Custom Home News

BuilderTREND March 2008 Spotlight Builder

Monogram Custom Homes has been building luxury custom homes in the Coopersburg, PA area for over 15 years. Monogram Custom Homes has received numerous awards and accolades including the prestigious 2007 Lehigh Valley Builders Association “Best One of Kind Home over 1 Million”. BuilderTREND is very pleased and proud to have Tony Caciolo of Monogram Custom Homes as a customer.

BuilderTREND: Here is a big question, how has BuilderTREND changed your business?

Tony Caciolo: It has really improved our communication with customers. They love being able to get a snapshot of their job progress. It also allows our office staff to constantly monitor the job progress and have a better understanding of the current state of construction. Our subs and vendors appreciate the updates and it helps them better manage their schedules.

The biggest thing is K.I.S.S, which is an acronym that I have made for myself, (Keep it Simple, Stupid.). The package is easy enough for everyone to use, and no one is afraid of it. The layout is intuitive and logical.

BuilderTREND: How do your customers react to BuilderTREND?

Tony Caciolo: I use BuilderTREND not only as a means of communication with our customers, but also as a selling tool. When I show the online photo viewing, scheduling ability, and change order management to prospective customers, they are literally in awe of the process. It has helped me get more business and allows me to differentiate myself from the tough competition in the market today.

BuilderTREND has really helped me gain customers!

BuilderTREND: What tips or suggestions would you give current BuilderTREND users?

Tony Caciolo: It can be used as such a powerful sales tool. I would guess many builders only use it BuilderTREND once they get a customer. I use it as selling tool, and it has helped me sell more homes! The price of BuilderTREND can be justified just on how good of a sales tool it is.

Recreated In An Upper Saucon Home Is The Look Of New Orleans

Tony Caciolo and his wife, Penny, love New Orleans’ French Quarter so much that they have recreated a piece of it in their Upper Saucon Township home.

They have built a room that looks as though it is the quarter’s famous Bourbon Street. “It’s an indoor room but it looks like you’re outdoors,” Tony says. …

Caciolo, president of Monogram Custom Homes, learned of the show last year through the Lehigh Valley Builders Association, of which he is a member. He went back and forth with the producers, sending them photographs and providing access to a Web cam he has set up on the room.

The segment was filmed in one long day in the beginning of June. …

One of the best parts, Caciolo says, is host Patrick Clark’s reaction. He didn’t see the room until they started filming, and he was amazed, Caciolo says. “They caught his initial reaction on camera.”

Caciolo, an upscale custom home builder, began the project in October 2003 and finished it a year later.

He built the room onto his home because “Penny and I go to New Orleans every year and meet up with all my old friends from Lehigh ,University,,” he says. …

“It’s authentically Bourbon Street,” Caciolo says. “It has old rusty roof panels and louvered doors just like you would see there.”

The room also has a balcony, a stage, a jester and a gift shop.

Caciolo also recreated Pat O’Brien’s, complete with a 20-foot long granite bar, and the Lipstick Lounge. …

When the TV crew finished filming, Caciolo brought in a band and held a party for everyone.

The Bourbon Street room fits with the basement of the Caciolo’s 10,000-plus square-foot home, where earlier in another part of the basement Caciolo had built a street from a village in Italy, complete with an Espresso bar and pizzeria.

Safe Rooms Are A Rare Security Feature For Cautious Homeowners

BETH W. ORENSTEIN, The Morning Call

Two builders of upscale homes in the Lehigh Valley, Tony Caciolo of Monogram Custom Homes Ltd. in Coopersburg and Myron R. Haydt of Haydt Development Inc. in Salisbury Township, say they, too, have built safe rooms for clients. …

About three years ago, Caciolo says, he built a safe room for a local executive who wanted it “just in case of burglary.” The room is accessed through a bulletproof door in his closet and is wired for its own phone.

“Ironically,” Caciolo says, “the only place I could find bulletproof material to put on the walls was in Waco, Texas.”

Caciolo also built a secret room in a $2 million house for a client who had valuable collectibles. “This was more to protect his stuff than to protect him,” Caciolo says.

What’s In, What’s Out: Realtors name trends in housing for 2007

• BETH W. ORENSTEIN, The Morning Call

  For 2007, Lehigh Valley real estate agents and homebuilders predict what will be hot — and what not — with homeowners.

  What’s in:

  Sustainable design. Sustainable design focuses on energy conservation, indoor air quality and resource conservation. A good example is the Eastonian condominiums in downtown Easton, says Clay Mitman, broker/owner of Prudential Paul Ford Realtors in Easton.

  Area luxury home builders said they have heard of the trend toward two master suites but aren’t seeing much of a demand for that in the Lehigh Valley.

  “The building is certified as a “green building,”‘ he says. “The air in each condo is completely exchanged every few hours. All the finishes and paints for the floors and walls are non-toxic. The building’s heating and cooling system is more energy efficient than normal residential units.” Buyers are becoming more environmentally sensitive and are demanding their homebuilders be, too, he says.

  Mother command centers. A lot of new homes have a small desk with a computer and Internet connection in the kitchen that Mom uses as her workspace. From there she can overlook the kids’ homework, organize her recipes, pay bills, etc. says Creighton Faust Jr. of ReMax Marketplace in Coopersburg.

  Stainless steel appliances. While stainless steel has made some “out” lists, Faust says, “I’m still seeing a lot of them.” In fact, he says, “I hear Oprah did a show recently about staging your home, and it involved replacing the kitchen appliances with stainless steel. If Oprah is promoting it, it’s got to be still in, right?”

  Quiet and high-end appliances also are “in,” says Tony Caciolo of Monogram Custom Homes in Coopersburg, especially dishwashers and stoves.

  Upscale garages. The garage is no longer an after-thought or dumping ground, says Mark Nash, a residential real estate author, broker, columnist and writer based in Chicago. “Today’s garage owners want them decked out with cabinet and storage systems, mini- refrigerators, insulation, heating and air conditioning and durable but residential-looking flooring.”

  Three-plus bays. Not only are garages more like finished rooms but they’re also larger, Mitman says. Seems the more bays the better.

  Unusual decor found online. “The Internet has continued to give people access to unlimited choices and prices, so more and more customers are finding off-the-wall, out- of-the-ordinary items for their homes using the Web,” Caciolo says. He’s talking about antique light fixtures, unique vanities and unusual bowls for sinks, etc. He even has one customer who is using a church altar for a kitchen island.

  Blair says he also has had requests to build separate in-law apartments and carriage houses on the same property as the main house.

  Outdoor living spaces. Elaborate outdoor kitchens with refrigerators, multiple gas grills, smokers, fireplaces, etc., are “in,” Caciolo says.

  Second floor laundry rooms. “My buyers want their washer and dryers where their bedrooms are,” says Jill Fuhrer of Prudential Patt, White Real Estate in Palmer.

  Larger lots. Anywhere from 1/4 to 1/2 acre lots or more are preferred, says Deena Olivieri-Fisher of RE/MAX Unlimited Real Estate in Whitehall.

  Pedestal sinks in powder rooms. Elaborate bowls are a strong trend, the agents agree.

  Rejuvenation rooms. Rejuvenation rooms are a one-stop space for exercising, mediation, yoga, sauna and fancy steam showers, Nash says. “Showers are going upscale, too. Waterfall fixtures, programmable temperature and water flow are the next trend for showers,” he says.

  Scott Shultz of ReMax Marketplace in Center Valley, agrees: “People like the feel of being at a posh and expensive resort when they’re just standing in their own bathroom.”

  Mitman adds: The luxurious shower is in; however, the giant Jacuzzi is out.

  Heated patios, walkways and driveways. “Northern baby boomers are tired of shoveling and are looking for ways to decrease winter maintenance, plus many have discovered how also heating the patio can add an extra couple of weeks of enjoyment in spring and fall,” Nash says.

  Stucco and stone facades. Particularly popular are European contemporary designs, says Frank Alexander of Anthony Construction & Anthony Builders in Hellertown.

  What’s out:

  
  

  Anything brass, Caciolo says.

  Full-price offers. “I would say that over full price offers are definitely out,” says Dan Falco, manager of the Prudential Patt, White Real Estate office in Hellertown.

  “The reality is that in most cases, buyers are now able to spend more time comparison shopping due to the increase in available housing. There is a little less anxiety in finding the right home in today’s market versus a couple of years ago.”

  Fixer-uppers. “Unless you are an investor,” Olivieri-Fisher says. “There are so many properties available for sale, the market has a lot of available homes already fixed up,” Mitman agrees. “So it makes more sense to finance a completed house in the mortgage where the fixer-upper requires cash out-of-pocket every project.”

  Laminate countertops. Even Corian is on the decline, Mitman says.

  Open houses. Let’s hope so, Faust says. “There has been a recent increase of reports about security issues during open houses. With the Internet and the ability to show multiple photos of the houses, open houses aren’t as popular now as they were maybe 10 years ago.”

  Full-price offers. “I would say that over full price offers are definitely out,” says Dan Falco, manager of the Prudential Patt, White Real Estate office in Hellertown.

  And on the way out: Sellers who smoke. “We are seeing less people who smoke in their house,” Faust says. “Some homeowners who smoke either go in the garage or outside. This makes it better when it is time to sell. So many people are turned off by a smoky house, but yet it’s really hard to get a seller, who does smoke and is putting their house on the market, to stop smoking in their own house.”

  Traditional advertising. Traditional advertising such as magazine and newspaper ads are becoming less popular, Faust says. “Most buyers are Internet savvy and more and more continue to do their house searching online.” Also, he says, most buyers are hooked up with real estate agents who scan the multiple list service for them. “So the need to pay for print ads is dwindling.”

  Copyright The Morning Call. Reproduced with permission.

Not one master bedroom suite but two in every home?

BETH W. ORENSTEIN, The Morning Call

More than half of the designers surveyed by the National Association of Home Builders earlier this year said they expect the demand for two master bedroom suites in high-end homes to increase significantly by 2015.

According to the NAHB, the demand for two master suites is being fueled by baby boomers caring for their aging parents and by immigrant families where two and three generations want to live in the same household.

A few buyers apparently are requesting second master suites for spouses who snore.

Area luxury home builders said they have heard of the trend toward two master suites but aren’t seeing much of a demand for that in the Lehigh Valley.

“You’re hearing about more couples sleeping separately, but I’ve not had anyone ask me to build them a home with dual master bedrooms for that reason,” says John Blair of Blair Custom Homes in Lower Saucon.

Tony Caciolo of Monogram Custom Homes in Upper Saucon says he has had requests for homes with the master bedroom suite on the second floor and a first-floor bedroom and bath that could become the master if the owners decide they want to live on one floor.

In that case, he says, “we do a really, really nice sized study with a good bathroom off the study that could be used as the master bath someday.”

Caciolo says many buyers don’t opt for the first-floor master suite because it’s more expensive to build.

“Your footprint gets that much bigger,” Caciolo explains. It’s more economical to build two stories of 2,000 square feet than a home with 3,000 square feet on the first floor.

He often tells people if they are worried about their ability to climb stairs as they age they could always add an elevator.

“It’s less expensive to put in a full hydraulic elevator and keep the master bedroom upstairs,” he says.

Blair says he also has had requests to build separate in-law apartments and carriage houses on the same property as the main house.

In most cases, he says, people want the apartments or suites with kitchens and baths for an aging parent.

However, Caciolo says some municipalities are making it hard for homeowners to accommodate two or more generations. They don’t want homeowners having a separate apartment even though it’s for a parent because at some point it could be used as a multi-family dwelling, which is against the zoning.

Frank Alexander of Anthony Construction in Freemansburg says that if a family requests two master suites, one for the couple and one for their parents, the parents usually pay for the second.

That’s good for the children, Alexander says. “If it’s going to cost $20,000 more, the parents will say, “Here’s the 20 grand.’ The kid is certainly not going to say no because it will make his home that more appealing to the next person who buys it.”

Copyright The Morning Call. Reproduced with permission.

WHERE THE UNUSUAL BECOMES STANDARD TWO LEHIGH U. GRADS’ AWARD- WINNING HOUSE IS QUALITY OUTFITTED

JOHN LEMING, The Morning Call

Sometimes, what you see really is what you get, which is the philosophy of Anthony “Tony” Caciolo and Lewis “Chip” Shupe IV.

Caciolo, the 31-year-old co-owner and president of Monogram Custom Homes, Upper Saucon Township, espouses a philosophy of sticking with good materials as standard equipment in the houses he builds.

Monogram has an impressive model residence in Pointe West in Upper Macungie Township. It won the 1997 Single-Family Model Home of the Year award from the Lehigh Valley Builders Association.

As Caciolo shows a visitor through the house, which has all the bells and whistles you’d expect in a $349,000, 3,600-square-foot dwelling on a one-half acre lot, he points out some of its more- unusual aspects, which he includes as standard equipment.

The kitchen counters, Caciolo said, are made of a deep-green granite imported from Finland. The downstairs rooms are set off by oversize crown molding and chair rails. The hardwood floors are glued, screwed and nailed to prevent squeaks.

The heating system also is a bit unusual for this region — it’s a hot-water baseboard system that can be “zoned” to provide different levels of heat to different areas of the home. “We add a heck of a lot of value to our houses without adding a lot of cost,” Caciolo said.

One of the ways he does this is by buying “very high up the distribution chain,” using the Internet to search for high-quality materials at the lowest cost.

Caciolo and Lewis did not grow up in the construction industry, but instead went to Lehigh University, where they met, and ended up initially pursuing careers in business. After Caciolo graduated in 1989 with a degree in business and economics, he want to work for a couple of big corporations, including GM and Xerox. He said the job at GM was incredibly boring and cut him off from almost all contact with the outside world.

His job as a sales rep for Xerox was better, he said, but he still was dissatisfied, so when he was offered a chance to go back to Lehigh to get an M.B.A., an offer that included a teaching assistantship, he jumped on it.

At the same time, “I also decided we wanted to live in a contemporary house,” and built a house in Valley Green Estates in Schnecksville. Because he was in school, he had some free time, and did the trim, electrical, insulation, painting and kitchen work himself.

Even though he confesses that he had been bitten by the building bug, he took another “suit” job after earning an M.B.A. He joined Bell & Howell in Allentown as its worldwide program marketing manager, helping the company sell mail-inserting equipment in Europe.

But all the time, he said, “I was still building houses on the side.” This little piece of diversification paid off when Bell & Howell announced that his division was leaving the Lehigh Valley in early 1994.

He and his wife, Penny, a certified public accountant, were faced with a choice. “I could either move to North Carolina with Bell & Howell or build custom homes.” He went with the latter, and by the end of 1994 he and Shupe had built 15 houses. He hasn’t looked back since.

Nor has Shupe, who’s also 31. The partnership between the two men is built on friendship and mutual trust. Shupe’s path somewhat paralleled Caciolo’s. After Shupe graduated with a degree in English, he took a job with Lubrication Research Inc., Exton, Chester County, which made aftermarket automotive lubrication systems.

After a year, Shupe said, the company went belly up. Unemployed, he was offered the opportunity to bid on a Boston Chicken construction project in his hometown of Wilmington, Del. Because a friend owned the restaurant franchise, he said, “I had the inside track on the deal.”

“I won the bid and then I panicked,” he said, but because he had some construction background and because Boston Chicken had provided him with about 100 pages of plans, he was able to pull it off.

But the Boston Chicken project turned out to be a one-shot deal, and by 1992 he was out of a job again. At this point, he said, “Tony was building his (personal) second house so I came up to help him with that.”

What started out to be a weekend gig quickly turned into a regular job, and soon the two built a spec house on Kurt Drive in Upper Macungie Township “It just sort of evolved from there. We sold it before we finished it,” Shupe said.

From $1.5 million in 1993, Monogram’s revenues rose to $4 million in 1997, Caciolo said. He projects revenues on the 25 to 30 houses he expects to sell this year will come in at somewhere in the neighborhood of $4.5 million to $5 million. The company has two full- time employees and one part-timer. In addition to Pointe West, Monogram also is building homesin Mill Estates in Upper Saucon Township, where it has 20 lots available and one spec home.

“Tony is pretty much responsible for selling the contract, putting the blueprint together,” said Shupe, the corporation’s secretary, while he operates as the construction manager, scheduling the subcontractors, inspecting the work and generally “making sure the house gets built.”

Before Caciolo geared up as a builder, he put his marketing expertise to work to uncover the “hot buttons” people looked for when they were considering a home. For instance, he said, there are brand names like Jenn-Air, Rheem, York and Jacuzzi that people readily recognize and associate with quality construction. Accordingly, those are the products Monogram uses.

Gino Nicolai, president of Hannabery HVAC of Allentown, does Monogram’s heating and cooling system work. Nicolai describes Caciolo as “absolutely a great guy. He’ll say to me: ‘How can I do it better, not how can I do it cheaper.’ That’s unusual for a builder.”

Nicolai, whose company has about 130 employees working out of Allentown and at satellite offices in Quakertown and Clarks Summit, Lackawanna County, said he works with about 300 builders, some of whom have a “slap-’em-up and get-out-of-there” attitude.

He said this kind of attitude puts his company on the spot, because when a builder’s done, he’s usually gone, while the HVAC firm’s relationship with the homeowner can continue for decades. “Lots of times, I kind of get blamed” for builders cutting corners, he said.

And unlike some other builders, Nicolai said, “Tony allows me to talk to the homeowners prior to the sale. He doesn’t bang the people . . . on the markup on the options.”

Rick Bender and his wife, Sharon, had Monogram build them a 3,000- square-foot house in Lower Macungie Township, near Alburtis, in 1996.

R”I haven’t had any problems except for a few nail pops, and they came back and took care of them. That’s normal,” said Bender, an electrical contractor who has two children.

He said he and Sharon picked Monogram because “My Realtor mentioned him to us, and we went out to a job site and met Chip and Tony. I’m an electrician., so I know the ins and outs of builders and how they did things. They don’t nickel and dime you,” he said of the partners.

Dr. Neal Stansbury, an orthopedist who practices in Salisbury Township, said he and his wife, Debbie, and their three children moved into a 4,000-square-foot house built by Monogram in Apple Valley Estates in North Whitehall in February 1997.

“We did quite a bit of research” on different builders, interviewed a number of them and eventually settled on Monogram. “They were very competitively priced and at the same time they seemed very workable. I’m very happy with my house,” Stansbury said.

Copyright The Morning Call. Reproduced with permission.

UNPLANNED JOB CHANGES FORGED TEAM

BETH W. ORENSTEIN, The Morning Cal

Tony Caciolo, a Lehigh Valley native, and Lewis “Chip” Shupe of Wilmington, Del., met when they attended Lehigh University. Today, they build upscale custom houses together as Monogram Custom Homes in Upper Saucon Township.

Monogram Custom Homes is a consistent winner in the Lehigh Valley Builders Association’s annual Awards for Professional Excellence program.

Shupe, also Class of ’89, has a bachelor’s degree in English literature. He worked as a congressional assistant, in operations and customer service for Lubrication Research Inc. in Exton, Chester County, and in construction.

When Lubrication Research closed, Shupe became unemployed. He found work after a friend offered him the chance to bid on a retail construction project. He was awarded the contract and successfully completed the project, a restaurant.

Caciolo became interested in construction when he built his own home. Because he was a student at the time, he was free to do some of the trim, electrical, insulation, painting and kitchen work himself. He loved the experience but continued with his corporate career.

In 1994, when his employer, Bell & Howell, announced it was moving a subsidiary headquarters from the Lehigh Valley, Caciolo had a choice: move to North Carolina with the operation and continue wearing a suit or devote his full-time efforts to house construction.

It was an easy choice, he says.

Shupe also was at a turning point in his career in 1994. The restaurant complete, he didn’t have more work. He had been helping Caciolo build his second home, so that’s when they teamed up to form Monogram Custom Homes. Their first year in business they built 15 houses.

Today, the company builds about 30 to 35 custom residences a year, mostly in Pointe West, Mill Estates and Ashton Woods, all in Upper Macungie. Prices start at $300,000. The company has five full-time employees and reports annual revenues of about $10 million.

Copyright The Morning Call. Reproduced with permission.

STAYING IN HOT WATER UPPER SAUCON’S MONOGRAM CUSTOM HOMES BUILDS AWARD-WINNING ENERGY- EFFICIENT DWELLINGS. THE KEY IS HOT-WATER BASEBOARD HEAT

BETH W. ORENSTEIN, The Morning Call

Scott and Ruth Rice’s stone and stucco home in Upper Macungie Township has cathedral ceilings, palladium windows and nearly 4,300 square feet of living space, including the finished basement.

Yet the first year they lived in the dwelling, they spent only about $700 for heat and hot water.

Why were their bills so low?

Several reasons, says Tony Caciolo, president of Monogram Custom Homes in Upper Saucon Township, who built the house, the first in the upscale Pointe West development.

One reason is that he uses energy-efficient building methods, including 2-by-6 vs. 2-by-4 wood to frame the house, housewrap and extra insulation around doors and windows.

The second reason, and the real key, is the heating system, Caciolo says.

The Rices’ house has a zoned hot-water baseboard system — a small pump circulates heated water through baseboard heaters in each room.

The house has four heating zones so that the Rices can save even more energy by keeping unused rooms at cooler temperatures.

All the custom houses built by Caciolo and his partner, Lewis “Chip” Shupe, have zoned hot-water heating systems, also known as hydronic heating.

The hydronic heating system and other energy-efficient building methods Monogram uses earned the company the Lehigh Valley Builders Association’s award for “excellence in energy efficiency” for the third year in a row. The award was presented at the builders association’s 10th annual awards dinner in early December.

In 1998, Monogram captured the energy award in the builders’ category for a 3,600-square-foot house in Pointe West in Upper Macungie that has a three-zoned, gas-fired hydronic baseboard heating system and annual heating and hot water bills of under $600 a year.

Last year, Monogram took the award for a 16,000-square-foot, $1.5 million house it built in Upper Saucon Township with a 10-zone oil- fired hydronic baseboard heating system. That dwelling’s annual heating and hot water costs: under $2,000 a year.

This year, the Rices’ home, which was completed in June 1998, earned the award.

Caciolo said he became interested in hydronic heating more for its comfort than its energy efficiency.

The first home he built for himself was always cold and never comfortable. “So when I built my second home I asked myself, “If cost were no object, what system would provide the best comfort?”‘ he says. “My research pointed to hydronics, so that’s the system I chose. Once I saw how efficient it was and how much comfort it provided, I was sold.”

The Rices also chose hydronic heating more for comfort than energy efficiency. As a teen, Scott Rice, a native of Macungie, lived in a home that had hot-water baseboard heat. “He remembered it being warm,” and always wanted it for his home, his wife says.

A few years ago, when the Rices returned to the Lehigh Valley from Tennessee, they decided to build a home. They were scouting new developments when they happened upon Caciolo at his model home in Pointe West. When they asked Caciolo what kind of heat he uses and he answered hot-water baseboard, the Rices agreed on the spot to have him build their home.

Scott Rice, a pediatrician, and his children also have allergies and asthma. Hydronic heating is ideal for allergy sufferers because, unlike hot air duct heat, it doesn’t circulate pollens and allergens through air registers. Hydronic heat is radiant heat — the baseboard provides heat through gentle radiation and natural convection.

Scott Rice remembered the baseboard heating in his parents’ home being noisy. But theirs is not, Ruth says.

Caciolo explains that today’s hot-water systems are quieter and easier to maintain than the steam systems that were common in houses built in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s.

Hydronics is not new technology, nor is it “rocket science,” Caciolo says. Gino Nicolai is president of Hannabery HVAC in Upper Macungie Township, which designs the heating and cooling systems for Monogram homes. While designing the Rices’ home, Nicolai compared the estimated costs of using a conventional vs. hydronic heating system. He figured that with a conventional system, the heat and hot water costs for their dwelling would be about $2,000 a year. With hydronic heat, he projected the costs to be about $1,000 a year. “They spent less than what I estimated the first year because they were conservative,” he explains.

Henry Scherer, vice president of Edwin Stipe, an HVAC contractor in Forks Township, agrees that while there are other high-end, energy efficient options on the market today, hot-water baseboard is one of the most comfortable and most efficient ways of heating homes today: “If you ask me, “What is the most comfortable, most-efficient system you could put in my home?’ I would say, “A zoned hydronic system.”‘

A hydronic system is about $3,000 to $5,000 more than a conventional system, Nicolai says. Also, builders still need to install ductwork for central air conditioning.

Caciolo says hydronic heat doesn’t add to the price of his houses because he partners with manufacturers of the systems, which he uses in all his homes. Monogram Custom Homes builds 30 to 35 houses a year, with prices starting at about $300,000.

“We’re buying product at a very good price, and it allows us to put in a three-zone hot water baseboard system and central air conditioning for about the same price as dual-zone hot-air system,” Caciolo says.

Buyers also like that hydronic systems can easily be zoned.

“Most of the customers we found like their master bedrooms a different temperature than the rest of the bedrooms upstairs, whether it’s because there is no one in those bedrooms or because they have children and they want the master bedroom a little cooler. With this system, they now have the ability to change the temperature between those two zones,” Caciolo says.

The Rices have a separate zone for their son’s bedroom that is over the garage and thus tends to be cooler.

Hannabery installs all the duct-based central air systems in Monogram homes while Caciolo’s plumber installs the copper pipe and the baseboard needed for the hydronic system. Caciolo gets his boiler- based heating systems from Slant/Fin of Greenvale, N.Y.

Hot-water baseboard systems can be fired by gas, oil or propane, Nicolai says. Oil and natural gas cost about the same, while propane is a little more to operate, he says.

While some builders might see having to install separate heating and cooling systems as a problem, to Caciolo, it’s ideal.

“What this gives us is the best of both worlds,” he says. “You always want your air conditioning to come from above and drop down, because cool air drops. You always want your heat to be low because hot air rises. So we got the heat down the bottom where it’s supposed to be, and we’ve got the cool up on the top where it’s supposed to be.”

Some buyers may hesitate to use hydronic heat because they fear they will have to look at ugly baseboards. Caciolo’s answer is to take them on a tour of his model home in Pointe West. “Once they look through this house, they notice you don’t really see the baseboard,” he says. “In a 12-by-14 bedroom, there will be one 8-foot piece of baseboard. It’s not like all the walls need to be covered with it.”

In powder rooms, kitchens and other areas where wall space is limited, builders use toe-space heaters to provide heat. “Toe-space heaters are kind of a trick when you have hot-water baseboard and you don’t have wall space,” Caciolo says.

Marble flooring is standard in all of Monogram’s bathrooms, yet marble has a tendency to feel cool. “With this hydronic heating system, we run a loop of hot water to a toe-space heater and it circulates warm air across the marble floor, making it feel warm,” Caciolo says.

To complement the energy-efficient heating system he uses, Caciolo also uses several energy-efficient building methods:

A computerized study of the blueprints shows where heat may be gained or lost on each house. “They look at how many windows it has, what R-value we have, and other factors,” Caciolo explains. [R-value is a measure of resistance to heat flow.] “That tells our heating installer how many Btus [British thermal units] of heat each room requires. For example, a master bedroom can have a high ceiling and big windows that face north, so that room will have a slightly higher requirement than a sunroom on the back of the house that faces south.”

The houses are framed with 2-by-6 inch wood. The majority of dwellings are built with 2-by-4 inch wood. Wider framing allows more insulation to fit between the studs. Because 2-by-6 structures have more insulation, they have an R-value of 19 vs. an R-value of 15 found in most houses.

The houses have double-pane Pella windows with Low-E coatings and argon gas. Low-E coatings help keep the residence warmer in winter by reducing heat loss and cooler in summer by blocking heat from the sun. When argon gas fills the gap between the window panes, it helps to reduce the heat transfer between the inside and outside of the dwelling.

The houses have a super-seal insulation package. The package means that once the structure is framed, before the drywall goes up, two or three contractors spend a day or two “going through the entire house from top to bottom caulking and foaming every corner, every electrical outlet, every gap around windows,” Caciolo says.

The houses are wrapped with a man-made fiber, either Typar by Reemay or Tyvek by Dupont, that serves as a wind and water barrier. The housewrap, which also allows moisture to escape, seals the dwelling and makes it tighter. Ruth Rice says the first year they were in their home they didn’t know what to expect so they were careful to conserve energy. Their energy-consciousness helps explain their bills being so very low that first year.

Their utility bills have gone up since they’ve lived in the house, but not a lot, she says. Part of it, she explains, is that they’ve relaxed some seeing how efficient the heating system is and part of it is “all the laundry I do now that the children aren’t babies anymore.”

Copyright The Morning Call. Reproduced with permission.

ROOM TO PLAY FINISHED BASEMENTS GIVE HOMEOWNERS WELCOME SPACE FOR KIDS’S PLAYROOMS, HOME THEATERS, AND OFFICES

BETH W. ORENSTEIN, The Morning Call

Special to The Morning Call

Lori and Denis Esslinger waited until they had lived in their Salisbury Township ranch a few years and until the kids — and their toy collection — had grown some before they finished their home’s basement.

“We were crowding out with the toys up here,” Lori Esslinger recalled.

Now they have 1,400 square feet of finished space and 360 feet of storage space down under. “We even have a pretend grocery store down there for Kelly,” who is 5-1/2, said her mother.

The Esslingers’ story is typical of new-house builders. They spend all their money constructing the house, so they hold off finishing the basement until it becomes a necessity.

But while they may not do it immediately, many owners today are having their homes’ basements finished as living space.

Tony Caciolo of Monogram Custom Homes in Emmaus offers his upscale buyers the option of a finished basement, and he’s finding those who can afford it are going for it. “We’ve been doing a tremendous amount of finished basements in the homes we’re building in Pointe West in Upper Macungie Township,” he said.

He expects that at least 40 percent of his buyers will opt for a finished basement. The development has 50 homes, ranging in price from $330,000 to $600,000.

Builders believe that more owners are opting to finish their basements today because the houses are constructed better and basements aren’t the musty, dank spaces they once were. When finished and decorated with white or light colors, the basement can be very attractive and comfortable living space. The darker wood paneling that everyone put in basements in the ’60s and ’70s is out of style, the contractors noted.

(Interestingly, basements in houses are a phenomenon of the Northeast and Midwest, said Brett Martin, a spokesman for the National Association of the Remodeling Industry, a trade-group based in Alexandria, Va. Dwellings in the South and West tend to be built on slabs, he said. That’s why only about 37 percent of new homes across the country have basements.)

Another reason owners finish their basements is economics. Finishing a basement costs about a quarter of what an addition would. Figure about $100 a square foot for the house and the lot, Caciolo said. Finishing the basement to the same quality of the rest of the house would only be about $25 a square foot. Do the math: To expand the house by 1,000 square feet would cost $100,000, but to finish that much space in the basement would only be $25,000. “So it’s a way to add a lot of square footage without adding a lot of cost,” Caciolo said.

While finishing a basement is an economical way to add space, homeowners aren’t skimping when it comes to the remodeling project.

Many people are adding multiple rooms and full bathrooms when remodeling their basements. “People are putting in extensive lighting, stereo systems, and more and more they want bathrooms in the basements,” DiRomualdo said.

Denis Esslinger used a computer to design his basement, which includes a family room and a game room. There’s also a large unfinished area that serves as a gym with tumbling mats and a treadmill. The basement also has a bath with a whirlpool tub, sink and toilet.

“Upstairs we have two showers, so we thought a tub would be fun,” Lori Esslinger said.

When Joseph and Lisa Fiore finished the basement of their two- story colonial in Orefield about 16 months ago, they didn’t include a bathroom, but they did include the plumbing for a wet bar. However, Lisa Fiore conceded, it doesn’t have a bar in it yet.

Some owners also are converting their basements into home theaters. Michele Jones did that when she built a four-bedroom Colonial in Pointe West earlier this summer. She was inspired by Caciolo’s model home, which features an incredible home theater.

Copyright The Morning Call. Reproduced with permission.

RETURN OF THE OUT-OF-TOWNERS BUILDERS FROM OUTSIDE THE LEHIGH VALLEY AREA HAVE RECENTLY TAKEN A RENEWED INTEREST IN THE REGION

BETH W. ORENSTEIN, The Morning Call

Tony Caciolo of Monogram Custom Homes in Coopersburg is building three upscale houses in Hickory Hill in Upper Macungie Township, a stone’s throw from where Beazer Homes USA, a national builder, is building Morningside, an enclave of 31 luxury dwellings.

Traditionally, builders in the Lehigh Valley have been locals such as Caciolo, who has an master’s degree from Lehigh University and who builds between 25 and 30 houses a year.

Chuck Hamilton, executive director of the Lehigh Valley Builders Association, says that about 275 of his group’s 900 members are builders. “And of the builders, I don’t think there are more than 20 that aren’t from the immediate area,” he says.

Yet in the last few years, a number of national builders, often publicly held companies that build thousands of homes a year, have bought land and started large developments in the Lehigh Valley.

In the last two years, “the national builders have started coming back into the market,” says Anthony Bisconti, president/broker of The Paragon Real Estate Group in Upper Macungie Township.

David Jaindl, president of the Jaindl Land Co., says “out-of-town tract builders have been actively looking in the area and talking to us” and they’re doing more so recently. Jaindl won’t name the national builders with which he’s negotiating. But, “we’re talking to several,” he says.

What’s brought the national and New Jersey builders back to town?

Realtors and landowners see a number of forces at work — most of them economic.

The most obvious spark is the booming economy, which has spurred a building frenzy everywhere, including the Lehigh Valley. Nearly 2,500 new houses were built in Lehigh andNorthampton counties last year, according to the Pennsylvania Builders Association. That’s up more than 13 percent from the 2,165 that were built in the two counties in ’98.

The national builders are “seeing a very bright market here, and coming in with formulas that worked for them elsewhere,” Hamilton says. Their formulas include offering a limited number of models that can be upgraded with options, and building tract developments with somewhere around 30 single-family dwellings to as many as 400 houses and townhouses.

Indications are that mortgage rates, which have been rising since last summer, may be putting the brakes on home building. The latest report on new house sales from the U.S. Department of Commerce showed a decline of nearly 6 percent in April. However, Hamilton says, while nationally the economy and home building may be slowing, “we’re not seeing that in the Lehigh Valley — not yet.”

News that Lucent Technologies’ Microelectronics division was building a new corporate campus in Hanover Township, Lehigh County, also may have helped bring the national builders back.

Local builders say they welcome the competition although they don’t see it as such. The locally based builders claim to know the market better than the out-of-towners and say they can better deliver what local buyers want. “Local builders have the definite advantage of knowing their audience,” Hamilton says.

Caciolo says his upscale houses are custom built vs. the standard models with upgrades and options that national builders typically offer. “When you deal with national builders, they say, `Here are the six plans we offer, and this is it.’ You’re not able to add or twist things around like you can with a custom builder. People don’t like that here,” he says.

As in the battle between the Wal-Marts and the mom-and-pop retailers, the local builders also say they surpass the national firms on service. “Beazer Homes is a big, national company. A buyer is not going to be able to pick up the phone and call Mr. Beazer like they can pick up the phone and call Tony Caciolo,” Caciolo says.

The national and regional New Jersey builders who have come to the area recently counter that they not only build a quality house but also offer quality service and name recognition that is important, especially to relocating buyers who may be unfamiliar with the area.

“The labor portion of the house is fairly stable whether you’re a national builder building 25,000 houses a year, or a local builder building 25 houses a year,” he says. “There may be some economies-of- scale with them, but it’s not enough that I’ve seen it be able to make a difference.”

Jaindl says when it comes to selling property, his company doesn’t forget the local building firms with which it has dealt through good and bad times. “We’re dedicated to the individuals that we’ve dealt with in the past,” he says.

The average price of a four-bedroom, 2 1/2-bath newly constructed house in the Lehigh Valley was $243,000 during the first quarter of this year, an increase of 6.6 percent over last year, according to the Lehigh Valley Association of Realtors..

Opinions vary on whether the national builders will stick around this time, unlike the late ’80s. The national firms don’t even see it as a question while the local builders and some Realtors are skeptical.

However, some local builders expect the national builders will leave when the market softens, and they say that day may not be too far off with the economy beginning to show signs of weakening. The problem, the locals say, is that the national builderscan’t make the numbers that they’re used to and that they need to maintain their large operations.

According to Builder magazine, Beazer built 7,804 single-family houses in 1999. That’s more than three times the total number of dwellings built by all builders in the Lehigh Valley, Hamilton says.

“Do I believe that all the national builders here now will still be here in five years? No,” Jaindl says. “But,” he says, “the ones who evaluate the market and respond to market needs, they’ll survive.”

Copyright The Morning Call. Reproduced with permission.

Residential builders get awards for work

BETH W. ORENSTEIN, The Morning Call

Monogram Custom Homes Ltd. of Coopersburg won community of the year for its development, Ashton Woods, in Upper Macungie Township. When complete, the community will feature 54 homes starting at $365,000. Monogram also won the building award for excellence in energy efficiency for an 11,000-square-foot home it built in Upper Saucon Township. The home features 19 heating and cooling zones with voice-activated controls.

Copyright The Morning Call. Reproduced with permission.

LEHIGH VALLEY BUILDERS WIN AWARDS

BETH W. ORENSTEIN, The Morning Call

Twenty-five awards also were presented in categories including remodeling and specialty projects at the association’s 10th annual awards dinner Monday at the Holiday Inn in Fogelsville.

Other winners in building categories were: Monogram Custom Homes Ltd., Coopersburg, excellence in energy efficiency.

Winners in specialty categories were: Monogram Custom Homes, projects $15,000 up to $50,000.

Judges were drawn from other builder groups throughout the state and all entries were judged anonymously.

Copyright The Morning Call. Reproduced with permission.

LEHIGH VALLEY BUILDERS CONFERS 27 TRIBUTES FOR QUALITY CONSTRUCTION JOHN LEMING

JOHN LEMING, The Morning Call

The Lehigh Valley Builders Association has recognized a number of Lehigh and Northampton county companies for quality construction through its Awards for Professional Excellence program.

Awards were presented in 27 builder/remodeler categories at the organization’s recent seventh annual dinner at the Holiday Inn in Fogelsville.

Additionally, three individuals were recognized for outstanding efforts on behalf of the building industry in the categories of Builder of the Year, Remodeler of the Year and Associate of the Year.

To qualify, winners had to be “members of the organization in good standing,” which means their dues must be current and they not have any unresolved complaints against them from customers, said Rebecca Keifer, who is in charge of the Allentown-based association’s membership services and event coordination.

Further, Keifer said, the winners must adhere to the Pennsylvania Builders Association’s Contractor Quality Commitment and Code of Ethics, which requires members to exercise “honesty and fairness and make sure they carry the insurance they need,” such as liability and workers’ comp coverage. Each project was judged on specific criteria, such as workmanship, overall appearance, attention to detail, creativity and approaches to solving problems.

Keifer said judges were drawn from other builder groups throughout the state and the entries were “all anonymous.”

Monogram Custom Homes, Emmaus, was honored for single-family model home of the year.

Copyright The Morning Call. Reproduced with permission.

HYDRONIC’ SYSTEM A FEATURED ASPECT MONOGRAM TOUTS

JOHN LEMING, The Morning Call

Special to The Morning Call See related story “Where the unusual becomes standard,” by JOHN LEMING (A free-lance story for The Morning Call) which appeared on page G01, THIRD EDITION.

One of the features in a house built by Monogram Custom Homes is its heating system.

It’s a baseboard hot-water heating system, known in the business as a “hydronic” system, and it’s a departure from the forced-air systems that are almost standard in the region.

Before World War II, two of the most common home heating systems were steam and hot water. They’re difficult to tell distinguish, as both used cast-iron radiators.

The difference was noise and upkeep. Hot-water systems tended to be quieter and easier to maintain than steam systems, says John Marran, president of Energy Kinetics Inc. of Lebanon, N.J., which makes high-tech, hot-water heating systems.

After the war, says Marran, heating system designers came up with baseboard heat, which is simpler to install and much less obtrusive than the old radiator systems.

According to Monogram Custom Homes President Tony Caciolo, hydronic heating systems are used in about 90 percent of the houses in Europe, where heating fuels like natural gas and oil are much more expensive than they are in the United States.

One of the things that makes it possible for Monogram to offer such systems in Pointe West in Upper Macungie Township is that the subdivision is served by a gas company, UGI.

Caciolo said hydronic systems yield much more “even” heat, without the up-and-down cycles familiar to those who live in dwellings heated by forced air. In addition, hydronic systems don’t dry out the house during the winter.

Further, the systems can be “zoned,” meaning you can set temperatures in separate areas of the residence to different levels by a series of electronically controlled valves to control the amount of hot water going to a particular area.

But this kind of comfort doesn’t come cheaply. Gino Nicolai, president of Hannabery HVAC, Allentown, has installed Energy Kinetics’ systems in many Monogram-built houses. He said such systems cost “about $3,000 to $4,000 more than a hot-air system,” which probably explains why forced-air systems still account for more than 95 percent of the heating systems he installs.

Furthermore, the homeowner will need duct work installed in the walls anyway to handle central air conditioning.

Energy Kinetics’ showcase product is the System 2000, which uses an small boiler — about 3 feet across, 3 feet deep and 3 feet high – – to handle an entire 3,600-square-foot house. Nicolai likes Energy Kinetics’ equipment. “They build them contractor-friendly,” he said.

Marran explained that a 3,600-square-foot dwelling in this region that’s heated with forced air will cost about $850 a year. However, he said, “The typical warm-air house has an electric water heater,” which costs about $600 a year to run, producing a combined annual heating and hot-water bill of somewhere in the neighborhood of $1,450.

He says it’s much cheaper to use an oil-fired or a gas-fired hot- water heater — which still costs about $230 a year to operate — and results in a combined heating and hot-water bill of about $1,080.

But with one of his company’s systems, Marran says “my guess is that the total heat and hot-water costs in that house is about $900 a year,” all coming from the same unit all year. Further, he say, a homeowner even can use the same unit to heat the swimming pool.

Copyright The Morning Call. Reproduced with permission.

Federal efficiency standards for air conditioners, heat pumps set at 20 percent.

BETH W. ORENSTEIN, The Morning Call

Want to build an energy-efficient home? There are a number of options locally.

The Department of Environmental Protection has an Energy Star program for homes just as it does refrigerators, washers and other appliances.

Owners of homes that have the Energy Star label are guaranteed to save at least 30 percent on their energy costs over what they would if they owned a similarly sized traditionally built home.

Energy Star homes have such features as specially coated windows, extra tight air ducts, energy-efficient heating and cooling systems, and extra insulation around the exterior walls.

A third party inspects the home while it is under construction to guarantee it is going to be extra energy efficient.

Tony Caciolo, president of Monogram Custom Homes in Upper Saucon Township, also builds energy efficient homes. For the last five years, he has won the energy efficiency category in the Lehigh Valley Builders Association’s annual awards program.

He believes, however, his customers aren’t interested as much in saving energy as they are in the comfort his energy-efficient building techniques offer.

Caciolo uses a zoned hot-water baseboard system — the same type of heating that is in 95 percent of the homes in Europe. Caciolo’s homes start at about $400,000.

“Because of my market,” he says, “my people are more concerned about comfort and convenience than energy efficiency. But the energy efficiency is a nice side benefit.”

The program, which costs about $700 for a 2,000-square-foot home, is available through builders or from the company.

Copyright The Morning Call. Reproduced with permission.

COMPANY BUILDS CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

MARIELLA SAVIDGE, The Morning Call

Though his latest award is for customer service, Tony Caciolo also could be recognized for diplomacy.

When your company’s mission statement says, “The customer’s perception is our reality,” you have to have some serious people skills.

Caciolo is president of Monogram Custom Homes, headquartered in Coopersburg. Recently, the Better Business Bureau of Eastern Pennsylvania bestowed an Excellence in Customer Service Award on him and his 5-year-old company.

This guy isn’t just peddling widgets. He’s selling homes, the biggest, most expensive, most emotional thing a couple ever will buy.

Prices on these upscale homes start just under $300,000 and can go as high as $1 million.

Caciolo, 32, and his partner, Chip Shupe, are trying to add value to that price tag by making lots of traditional extras standard. Amenities that come with the price of the house include the granite kitchen counters, the brand-name Jacuzzi and the crown molding, to name a few. Other builders usually charge for each.

Still, there are lots of expensive, permanent choices for couples to make, and emotions can run high at times.

With an investment of that magnitude, if a customer says a piece of molding is crooked –even though the carpenter knows it’s right, and every law of physics says it’s right — it’s much easier to change the molding, Caciolo said.

“The customer’s perception is our reality,” he said.

On top of that, the last line in the Monogram’s contract says, “This contract is signed in the spirit of friendliness and neighborliness.”

“It may sound corny, but it eliminates an adversarial relationship. There’s no constant bickering. We have a good time, and the customers turn into our friends,” he said.

That means a lot to Caciolo, to Shupe and to Monogram’s other five employees, one of whom, Robert Eugster, is the vice president of quality assurance and customer service. His sole function is to do whatever it takes to make sure customers are satisfied.

And, obviously, it means a lot to the up to 30 customers they build homes for every year. Sales are expected to be about $10 million this year, Caciolo said.

Caciolo always liked working for himself. Still an avid bicyclist, he repaired bikes for his teachers when he was growing up in Emmaus. He graduated from Emmaus High School in 1985.

The rules said a student had to earn a 3.0 GPA without Cs. Caciolo drew up a formal analysis which said it would make more sense to raise the required GPA to 3.25, but to allow Cs.

“Why should you be kept off the honor roll if you get a C in, say, elective weight training,” he said.

Though he still never made the honor roll, he did earn the principal’s award for the outstanding student in his senior class.

To this day, Emmaus High’s honor roll policy stands the way Caciolo proposed it.

And though he never made the dean’s list, he did earn an MBA from Lehigh University, which is where he and Shupe met and became friends.

Caciolo always did things differently, he said, not always the traditional way.

And therein lies the reason for his success.

Builders today do things the same way they did 20 years ago, he said, and it’s turning out to be fairly inefficient.

When Caciolo wanted the granite for the kitchens, he bought it from the importer, eliminating several levels of middlemen, each of whom added 15 percent to the cost, he said.

The same went with the Jenn-Air appliances; he went right to the company. The same went for the carpeting, the hardwood floors, the whole-house stereo systems and the windows.

He includes the best because buys direct, and he uses the same products in every home he builds.

“It gives us a competitive edge,” he said.

It started out being controversial, and has turned the industry upside down, he said.

“But it got us a tremendously loyal customer base,” he said.

Monogram’s self-nomination for the Excellence in Customer Service Award was one of 19, said Judith A. Wallace, the Better Business Bureau’s assistant director of public relations.

The purpose of the award is to recognize companies that go above and beyond the call of duty for their customers, she said.

Judges included a consumer advocate, a member of the academic community who had a special interest in business ethics and a general member of the BBB.

“The judges were blown away by the length to which Monogram goes to forge relationships with their suppliers to pass the savings on to their customers,” Wallace said.

“One of the judges was having a home built and wanted to send Monogram’s application anonymously to her builder.

“Monogram understands what they’re in business for,” she said, “To make a profit, you have to provide exceptional service.”

Copyright The Morning Call. Reproduced with permission.

COMPANY BUILDS CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

MARIELLA SAVIDGE, The Morning Call

Though his latest award is for customer service, Tony Caciolo also could be recognized for diplomacy.

When your company’s mission statement says, “The customer’s perception is our reality,” you have to have some serious people skills.

Caciolo is president of Monogram Custom Homes, headquartered in Coopersburg. Recently, the Better Business Bureau of Eastern Pennsylvania bestowed an Excellence in Customer Service Award on him and his 5-year-old company.

This guy isn’t just peddling widgets. He’s selling homes, the biggest, most expensive, most emotional thing a couple ever will buy.

Prices on these upscale homes start just under $300,000 and can go as high as $1 million.

Caciolo, 32, and his partner, Chip Shupe, are trying to add value to that price tag by making lots of traditional extras standard. Amenities that come with the price of the house include the granite kitchen counters, the brand-name Jacuzzi and the crown molding, to name a few. Other builders usually charge for each.

Still, there are lots of expensive, permanent choices for couples to make, and emotions can run high at times.

With an investment of that magnitude, if a customer says a piece of molding is crooked –even though the carpenter knows it’s right, and every law of physics says it’s right — it’s much easier to change the molding, Caciolo said.

“The customer’s perception is our reality,” he said.

On top of that, the last line in the Monogram’s contract says, “This contract is signed in the spirit of friendliness and neighborliness.”

“It may sound corny, but it eliminates an adversarial relationship. There’s no constant bickering. We have a good time, and the customers turn into our friends,” he said.

That means a lot to Caciolo, to Shupe and to Monogram’s other five employees, one of whom, Robert Eugster, is the vice president of quality assurance and customer service. His sole function is to do whatever it takes to make sure customers are satisfied.

And, obviously, it means a lot to the up to 30 customers they build homes for every year. Sales are expected to be about $10 million this year, Caciolo said.

Caciolo always liked working for himself. Still an avid bicyclist, he repaired bikes for his teachers when he was growing up in Emmaus. He graduated from Emmaus High School in 1985.

The rules said a student had to earn a 3.0 GPA without Cs. Caciolo drew up a formal analysis which said it would make more sense to raise the required GPA to 3.25, but to allow Cs.

“Why should you be kept off the honor roll if you get a C in, say, elective weight training,” he said.

Though he still never made the honor roll, he did earn the principal’s award for the outstanding student in his senior class.

To this day, Emmaus High’s honor roll policy stands the way Caciolo proposed it.

And though he never made the dean’s list, he did earn an MBA from Lehigh University, which is where he and Shupe met and became friends.

Caciolo always did things differently, he said, not always the traditional way.

And therein lies the reason for his success.

Builders today do things the same way they did 20 years ago, he said, and it’s turning out to be fairly inefficient.

When Caciolo wanted the granite for the kitchens, he bought it from the importer, eliminating several levels of middlemen, each of whom added 15 percent to the cost, he said.

The same went with the Jenn-Air appliances; he went right to the company. The same went for the carpeting, the hardwood floors, the whole-house stereo systems and the windows.

He includes the best because buys direct, and he uses the same products in every home he builds.

“It gives us a competitive edge,” he said.

It started out being controversial, and has turned the industry upside down, he said.

“But it got us a tremendously loyal customer base,” he said.

Monogram’s self-nomination for the Excellence in Customer Service Award was one of 19, said Judith A. Wallace, the Better Business Bureau’s assistant director of public relations.

The purpose of the award is to recognize companies that go above and beyond the call of duty for their customers, she said.

Judges included a consumer advocate, a member of the academic community who had a special interest in business ethics and a general member of the BBB.

“The judges were blown away by the length to which Monogram goes to forge relationships with their suppliers to pass the savings on to their customers,” Wallace said.

“One of the judges was having a home built and wanted to send Monogram’s application anonymously to her builder.

“Monogram understands what they’re in business for,” she said, “To make a profit, you have to provide exceptional service.”

Copyright The Morning Call. Reproduced with permission.