Brian Riker has been around the building industry his entire life. The son of a carpenter, Brian’s father moved the family south, from New Jersey to Georgia, for the moderate climate and longer building season. Brian spent more than a few summers during his high school and college years helping his father, and learning the building trade from the ground up. After graduating from the University of Georgia with a business degree, Brian went to work in sales and marketing for Kawneer, one of the world’s leading building products companies. Nine years later he accepted a position with Guardian, another industry leader in windows and window systems. For fifteen years he worked closely with architects and specifiers on projects of every conceivable scale — from a few hundred thousand to multi-million office complexes. The exposure paid valuable dividends, yet deep down, at the end of the day, Brian needed something more. “I needed to feel like I was creating something that I was proud of, something that lasts and has meaning for people.”



That first house sold quickly, and by 2000, Brian had resigned from his job and devoted himself full-time to building homes. He hasn’t looked back. “We’ve been blessed. The business has done very well.” With almost 20 homes to his credit, in some of the area’s most prestigious developments, Brian has stuck to his vow not to deviate from quality in favor of quantity. He is averaging about five homes a year, “and will never do more than I can do well and still balance my family, business and church life,” he says.