From being the friendly face in the model home on a daily basis, to counseling new clients through the home buying experience, both his knowledge and personable approach will be one more component to a satisfying home buying experience with the company.

Come by and meet Brodie at the model, 12-6 daily, and check out his profile here at the site.

Jeff Click Homes’ stylish and fully-furnished entry is at 17412 White Hawk Drive in Silverhawk.  We have a full photo tour, as well as a virtual tour available here at JeffClickHomes.com. 

The Great Room of the 2008 Parade Home for Jeff Click Homes

If you have an iPhone, just hit our site on your phone and our special iPhone version of the site will provide you with a link to our integrated Google-mapping to help you navigate to come check out the home in person.

You can access all Parade listings at the official Parade site at ParadeOfHomesOK.com.

Segment 1 (Feature): Coming Home To Technology
Segment 2 (Supplemental): Builder sells with iPhone
Segment 3 (Supplemental): ‘Smart homes’ top trend

The home is at 17412 White Hawk Drive in Silverhawk, and will be open daily through September 21st.

“Oh, sure, they’re good for graphics,” they’d say, looking down their noses, often through black, thick-rimmed glasses as they snorted and nearly hyperventilated with that trademark laugh of the early geek-era.

I’m a wounded, but recovered survivor of that geek-bullying, and I’m proud to say I’ve been an Apple fan boy before it was cool to be one, and I have proof.  I started my software company from my dorm room my freshman year at OBU, and I committed to develop exclusively for what was known back then as “Macintosh” computers.  My minor was in Computer Scicence, and I was the only Mac-using student in the department.  While I don’t think I got any wedgies because if it, I took my share of abuse.  But no one had as much RAM as I did in that Power Mac 6100.  Nope, I had upped that bad-boy from its standard 8MB to 80MB, and no one could touch it because that was back in the day when you actually had to worry about how much RAM a computer came with, and it cost a small fortune.  I had a secret source where I landed those sacred chips for a heck of a deal.  All for the graphics.

It wasn’t until years later when the iPod hit that people started recognizing that maybe there was something of substance behind the passion so many die-hard Mac fans possessed for their computers.  Often compared to the love Harley riders have for their bikes, Mac users would dang near die before being forced to use Windows.  Tens of millions of iPods were sold, most of which were to non-Mac users.  Once everyone with access to clean drinking water had their first iPod, Apple did it again, and introduced the iPhone.

Now look at all the Apple fan boys and girls. 

I don’t want to waste time waxing about all the I-told-you-sos to my old friends and past classmates, as my faith requires of me my best effort at grace and forgiveness.  So rather than rubbing it in, I’d just like to say to everyone who recently acquired their first Apple product, the iPhone:

“Welcome to coolness.”

I’d also like to announce a special treat just for you iPhone users.  Consider it my welcoming gift to you for having joined the coolness club...the new iPhone version of JeffClickHomes.com, among the first of any builder web sites developed specifically for the iPhone.

From the site, you can access a list of Jeff Click Homes’ available homes on your iPhone, as well as all “coming soon” homes just getting started, and complete information on each of our floorplans and communities.  Additionally, you can tap the map-button from any page to launch a Google-map to that community right there on the iPhone.  Need to call or email a question?  Buttons for that, too.

So grab your iPhone and check it out.  No need to key-in any special address from your iPhone...just go to www.JeffClickHomes.com and we’ll handle the rest.  Our site knows coolness when it sees it.

I recently succumbed to the temptation of waiting with anticipation for Mr. UPS Guy.  While I didn’t scream like a school girl, I did probably rival the giddiness of a certain beloved man I won’t mention when my latest gadget arrived: the OmniPro II integrated home control system that Home Automation Inc. has donated for Jeff Click Homes’ 2008 Parade Of Homes entry.

We’re just weeks away from completion, and while the infrastructure for all of the technological amenities was built and pre-wired in it months ago, the fun is about to begin, as we install everything from this system, to the several zones of audio, five plasma TVs, and numerous other geek surprises.

For you fellow geeks out there, we took a few snapshots of the un-boxing of God’s gift to home technology.  I give you the OmniPro II…

The OmniPro II by Home Automation Inc., an advanced integrated home control system, arrives for the
Jeff Click Homes entry in the 2008 Parade Of Homes.

The main components of the system, including the primary board, a zone expander, thermostat,
outdoor temperature and humidity sensor, and other components.

The current OmniPro II System, installed at the Jeff Click Homes Furnished Model Home in Silverhawk.

The “brain” of the home, an HAI OmniPro II System, complete with HAI’s HiFi Zoned Audio System,
irrigation control, video surveilance, and more.

The front elevation of the Parade Home, with masonry in progress.  A new brick from Boral is the primary facade with black mortar.

We’re a little over 60 days out from completion of this year’s Parade Home.  If you do the math, that’s the latter half of August, which is almost a month before the COHBA Parade of Homes.  I know.  We have some other special things happening with this house that will take place before the Parade.  So stay tuned.

Two rooms that create outsets to the facade are accented by taupe concrete brick with white mortar.  The entry will be a multi-colored stacked stone that will tie the two brick colors together.

The facade is nearing completion.  Once the finishing touches are added to the brick, we’ll move on to the stone and special tile accent we’re doing over the entry.  Hopefully that’ll all take place by late week in time for a site clean-up in preparation for concrete next week.

“Keepin’ it grill” under the back covered patio, where a grilling space is defined by brick pony walls.  This outdoor space will be quite cool when it’s done...

I am perhaps most excited about this patio and back yard.  It will be a true “outdoor space.” Creating a great area under the covere of a patio can be some of the most unique and inexpensive living space you can get, and many people take it for granted, expecting that it’s too expensive or requires too much maintenance.  Here’s a little tip: you don’t have to dust or vacuum outdoor living spaces.  How’s that for maintenance?

The remaining pieces for the fire pit and water feature were ordered today.  More on that to come in a future update.  Until then, Parade On.

In order to spend the afternoon celebrating my Dad, and perhaps to be celebrated a bit myself, the JCH Furnished Model Home in Silverhawk will be closed on Sunday, June 15th.  We’ll be back open bright and early again on Monday.

Happy Father’s Day to all you fellow Dads out there.

Nope.  And in keeping with my recent theme of rock-star references, my favorite gem of sales genious comes from the silver-tongued former, former again, and now current lead singer of one of my top-5 fav bands, Van Halen.

“If ya love what I do, tell a friend. If you don’t, tell an enemy...” --David Lee Roth*

‘Just about covers all the bases, doesn’t it? 

Now we’ve made it easier than ever to tell a friend (or enemy) about the home you just discovered by Jeff Click Homes.  However, you won’t have to wear spandex and do the splits mid-air to do it.

If you’re like me or my wife, Deziray, and spend significant time on the computer, it’s not uncommon to come across a great article or product on that you want to share.  On an almost daily-basis, I’ll see something that Deziray might like, and instantly look for a “Share This...” link on the page I’m on.  Many of the best sites have it, but for those that don’t, it’s kind of a hassle to copy the link into a new email, then key in an explanation of why I’m sending it.

So now at JeffClickHomes.com, if you’re browsing our list of available homes and find one you want to share with someone, simply look for this button:

When you click it, you’ll see this:

The new “Show A Friend” form, which lets you easily share a link to the page of the home you’re considering buying.  Simply fill your info, your chosen recipient’s info, and a custom message, and you’re good to go!

Your recipient will momentarily receive this:

This is the email your friend receives, which links directly to the page for the home you were looking at.

So, while you’re here, you “might as well Jump!” on over to the homes section, browse around, and invite a friend to join you.

I was spending my Saturday doing one of the things I love doing when the phone rang.  I couldn’t answer because I was in the middle of a showing with some guests at the furnished model in Silverhawk.  After a good conversation and some time answering questions, they left to go look at a few of the other available homes.  I checked caller ID, as a Saturday call at the office usually is someone calling to see if we’re open.

Hmm, no voicemail.  The name on the Caller ID log was peculiar, but in came another visitor.

I hadn’t thought back to that moment until about an hour later when I was sketching and the phone rang again.  The name on Caller ID that was once peculiar was now twice familiar.

“H-I-L-T-O-N.”

“Must be an out-of-towner spending the weekend in an Oklahoma City hotel while shopping for a new home,” I thought as I clicked the “Talk” button, quickly speaking into the phone in my best radio voice, “Jeff Click Homes, this is Jeff.” The response was a “click” of another kind. 

I’d been hung up on.

“Probably just confirming we’re open,” I thought to myself, and went back to pencilling on another sketch for the new Parade Home for this year.

Moments later, it rang again.  Click.  Later, again.  Click.  I received numerous repeat phone calls that day from the same “Hilton”, all of which would end abruptly in the same fashion. 

I couldn’t help but laugh as I queried in my mind, “What kind of loser prank calls a model home, let alone mid-day on a Saturday?  Maybe someone really wants to see if I’m here.  Who’s stalking Jeff Click Homes? Who’s stalking me?” I hadn’t been the recipient of this kind of prank-calling action since Jr. High! 

Little did I know the depths to which this potentially ruinous encounter would take me.  As though it was burned into my head from repeated exposure, the mental image of that one word on Caller ID plagued my mind’s eye; the orange back-lit screen and charcoal gray liquid crystal display text spelling out the word “Hilton.”

Then it hit me.  It has to be Paris Hilton calling.

My imagination immediately began to explore the possibilities.  “Why is Paris Hilton calling me? Is she looking for design tips for a remodel of one of her Caribbean hide-aways?  Perhaps a new hip contractor for a secret new hotel she’s opening somewhere here in the city?”

I continued, as though the pubescent catalysts of both paranoia and fantasy from boyhood began a long-overdue awakening of sorts, “Is she looking for a pimp new crib in the Oklahoma City Metro to add to her repertoire of vacation spots?  Is she headed this way to check out my work?  I have a no-dogs-allowed policy in my homes...is she bringing that multi-millionaire 2lb. dog she always seems to be carrying around?  Would I have the lower fortitude to tell her that the mutt isn’t allowed it in the house?”

Carried away, I then dared to think, “Is she looking to make a new tape?!  What?  Did I just think that?  Think of your wife, think of your daughter...think of your wife, think of your daughter...” (Fortunately, that quickly did the trick, but I had resolved to follow up with “Think of anti-bacterial soap...think of anti-biotics!” just in case.)

That thought sequence abruptly ended the freakish fantasizing, and as the day wound down, so did the frequency of calls.  Other visitors and closing time came and went, and much to my disapp...er, relief...no Paris.  I had avoided a potential scandalous brush with builder stardom, and all the paparazzi, and drama, and rumors that go with a life style of rock-stardom. 

So I thought. 

Fast-forward to Monday, as I sat in the office doing what I do.  Ring-ring!  Ring-Ring!  Then I heard the hand-held base for the phone from across the office, in its female, digitized voice, speak words that led to flashbacks of exciting fear, “Call from...Hilton.”

I trembled in anticipation as I picked up the handheld on my desk and glanced at the Caller ID screen.  Confirmed...orange, charcoal gray LCD...and just like I so well remembered from days ago, the 6 letters that haunted my previous weekend. 

She was relentless.

I gulped, inhaled, and pressed the talk button.  “Jeff. Click. Homes.  This. Is. Jeff.” I uttered.

Click.

What ever thoughts of fame, fortune, rumor, and scandal had existed before now boiled into sheer fear and rage.  I instantly flashed to the MacBook Pro, where I feverishly keyed-in the number displayed on the Caller ID under her name: 407-722-3532.  It was time for a Google reverse-lookup.

As the results page loaded, what I saw was as shocking as it was a relief.  Apparently “Paris” has a thing for calling people repeatedly from this number, and, like me, many aren’t happy about it.

As I scanned the pages of search results, reading the accounts of countless others with the same general experience from the same number, my mind began to return to normal function.  Perhaps it was because my head was shrinking back down into humility, and thoughts of 24-7 flash-bulbs and infra-red video had subsided.  I resigned to the fact that Paris Hilton did not, in fact, love Jeff Click Homes.

In my moment of relieved clarity, it all became obvious to me.  I have more than enough reason to limit my Saturdays to just one model.

Everything that each one of my clients goes through in one form or another, and it’s been good to experience it first-hand again myself as I finalize all of the numerous details for this year’s Jeff Click Homes entry into the 2008 Central Oklahoma Home Builders Association Parade Of Homes, which kicks off September 13th and runs through the 21st.  This year’s parade entry will unveil the first rendition of what is quickly becoming my favorite plan: The Numbers Plan.

It’s not that this is a draining struggle, but rather a good exercise and challenge to push the envelope of what I do otherwise every day.  I try to make each Jeff Click Home something daringly different from the last, but the Parade Home is always something extra special, as thousands of people attend each year to see it, and I don’t want to let “the fans” down!

Over the coming weeks, I’ll share just a few of the details of what we have in store for you this year.  In the meantime, here are a few previews…

A shot of the front elevation of the now fully-framed Parade Home, based on The Numbers Plan.  The green wood is a new kind of weather-resistant sheathing we’re trying out.

A conceptual sketch of the main wall of the great room, with stone columns and back-lit glass panels above, centered fireplace with plasma television, and side niches with lower euro-style cabinets.

A modern, yet cozy breakfast nook with built-in bench seat in between stone columns.

]]> Project News 2008-05-25T22:39:00-06:00