by Paige Bowers

There's just no comparison between traditional four-bedroom ranch homes and the sprawling, one-story custom home JHD Construction, Inc. built in Alpharetta. The 22,000-square-foot European stone residence had to be built like a commercial property because of its size and heft.

Built from concrete and structural steel, the $8.4 million home with high ceilings, specially designed molding, marble floors, and mahogany cabinetry took JHD Construction slightly less than two years to build. The home's intricate detail work was the source of some construction delays because many of the details were worked out as construction was in progress.

"There were no detailed drawings like you'd normally see on a construction project," said JHD Construction's Gary Murphree, the project's superintendent. "So there had to be close relationships between the architects, designers, and us in order to work out the details you'd normally have when you get started on a job."

The project is recipient of a 2004 Build Georgia Award in the Construction Management/New category for general contractors with annual volume between $5 million and $20 million. The Build Georgia Awards are presented annually by the Georgia branch of The Associated General Contractors of America.

Murphree said getting down to the details often was a headache. The building materials still were being selected as the home was being built, causing several delays. And just before the structural steel was put up, the homeowners fired one architect and hired a new one that instituted major changes. Some of the changes involved multiple ceiling heights, curving areas, vaulted ceilings, and a glass wall that looks out on 10 acres behind the house.

"[The homeowner] had a lot of exciting ideas," said JHD Construction's Glenn Almand, the project's manager. "But in the beginning it was just an exciting idea. Taking it from the idea and creating the designs and construction was the hardest part."

The home features seven different types--or $250,000 worth--of marble, in places such as the countertops, the deck around the spa tub, and the floors, Almand said. The marble had to be painstakingly laid so the patterns matched wherever they met on the floor, for example.

The home is an interesting reflection of the homeowner's tastes and hobbies. The home has four bedrooms and one kitchen, Almand said, but it has several "specialty areas" that account for much of the residence's living space. There is a 4,000-square-foot heated and cooled garage with a workshop. There also is a 4,000-square-foot wing of the house that looks like an Old West movie set.

A smaller entertainment area is designed to look like a South Pacific lounge, with a thatched-roof bar and entertainment area, specialty black lighting, and a stone platform where there will be a campfire of gas logs, Almand said.

The home's entrance is comparable to that of a grand five-star hotel, Almand said.

"You go up limestone steps, through a pair of 12-foot-tall mahogany doors and walk into a 1,800-square foot entry hall," he said. "There are marble floors, 22-foot-high ceilings, and the back of the room is a glass wall that looks out over the back yard."

Article reprinted from Atlanta Business Chronicle, May 14-20, 2004.