Alan and Jo were happily living in what they thought would be their forever home in South Carolina. That is, until their daughter suggested they move to the Triangle. 

“Our daughter, who lives in Chapel Hill, asked us to consider moving closer to her. At first, we weren’t interested in moving, as we had built that home only 8 years earlier, we liked both the community and our club very much and, once again, it was where we intended to stay for as long as possible. But, the more we thought about the pros and cons of moving closer to our daughter, the more it seemed like an excellent idea. Eventually, we came up with the idea to build a custom home with two owner’s suites. We’d build one upstairs for her and one downstairs for us,” Jo explains. 

As they started exploring the area, they felt the Destin community best suited their needs, particularly with the “concierge” type services being provided by the HOA, yet in a single home, custom home community. As fate would have it, Rufty Homes was one of the four approved builders in Destin, which put Alan back in touch with his former colleague, Jon Rufty. 

“Back in the early 90s, I transitioned to a new career in real estate development, which is when I first met Jon. When we found out his team was one of the approved builders for the community, we felt really fortunate, because we already knew him and his reputation for being such a wonderful, high quality builder. Because we were considering a few different homesites in the neighborhood, we met with one of the other approved builders before making our final decision. However, the Rufty Homes team held the homesite we preferred, and already knowing Jon and his outstanding reputation, it was an easy decision to choose them for our project,” Alan says. 

When the Gambills first started talking to Rufty Homes, they were still living in South Carolina. However, they were able to quickly sell their home and move in with their daughter in Chapel Hill during the build. 

Alan explains, “Jo and I were excited to be involved in the construction process, having built before. We were on-site nearly every day, and it was immediately clear that Rufty Homes has an amazing relationship with their subcontractors, and other supporting firms, which made the process go smoothly. We trusted them to give us phenomenal vendor recommendations, which is how we ended up working with our interior designer, Megan Fry, and our architectural designer, Tony Frazier. Finally, the Rufty Homes Project Manager assigned to our project, Garth Stevens, was also the best! I believe we all enjoyed working together, which made for a wonderful build process.”

Jo and Alan had a clear idea of what they wanted for their home and the Rufty team went right to work bringing it to reality. Specifically, they wanted a traditional yet contemporary French Country cottage exterior, with a bright and open floor plan inside that included intricate details. 

“Our Rufty Homes master carpenter, Rene, put so much time and effort into all of our trim detail, including substantial wainscoting and ceiling trim. It continues to be something we enjoy most, and one of the first things people comment on when they visit. We also asked them to incorporate an elevator, which was important to have as we age, hopefully gracefully. Finally, we wanted a large, three-car garage with plenty of storage space. The Rufty team had no problem bringing all of our ideas to life as we envisioned them and incorporating our feedback along the way,” says Alan.

Other favorite features are the places in their home where they spend the most time together daily. 

Jo explains, “Since we know how bad the pollen can be here, we opted for a garden room full of windows instead of a screened porch, where we can enjoy the sun without the allergies. When the weather is nice, we head to our small, Trex deck for cocktail hour, which is covered by a beautiful French country roof and exposed beams. We truly look forward to living here for the rest of our lives, and the fact that we get to share it with our daughter makes it all the more special. It’s also large enough, but not too large, to accommodate visits from our other two, adult children and grandchildren, as well as friends from out of state.”

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