Founded in 1995, Pillar Homes designs and crafts award-winning custom homes throughout the Twin Cities metro area. This year, the company is celebrating 25 years of custom home building, and the future has never looked brighter. We chatted with founder K.C. Chermak about how he got started in custom home building, some of his favorite achievements throughout the years and inside Pillar’s 2020 Artisan Home.
Photography provided by Pillar Homes
How did you get started in custom home building?
Pillar Homes was founded on a passion for architecture, building and creativity that first stemmed from years of experience in the real-estate field. I was fortunate to have a mentor in the industry who helped me learn the ins and outs, and discover the secrets to well-designed home building. My goal has always been to channel my passion and dedication into discovering a client’s dreams and bringing them to light.
How would you describe Pillar’s building process?
The Pillar Homes building process is centered around quality, ingenuity and consistency. Through our selection process that prioritizes state-of-the-art design, we evaluate every location and the desires of our clients to maximize the success of each project. This process incorporates the newest building technologies while ensuring our homes are smart, solid and built for generations to come.
What is the style of Pillar’s 2020 Artisan Home? What was the process like working with the homeowners?
Our 2020 Artisan Home is located in Wayzata and is best described as a Scandinavian contemporary family home. The style aligns with the homeowners’ European heritage and worldwide travels and is a perfect combination of textures and colors. The “less is more” floor plan with dramatic stylistic choices creates a sense of calm while also enhancing the senses. Our team helps to foster each homeowner’s vision to flow into our construction and craftsmanship with the most unique products each client could choose.
To celebrate Pillar’s 25 years of custom building, can you share some of your favorite projects throughout the years?
Reaching this milestone is a proud moment for all of us at Pillar Homes. From creating single-family homes and small developments to working on historic renovations, we are constantly exploring new design elements and efficient construction techniques. One particular project that comes to mind involved moving a nearly century-old home to a new location to make way for three new homes. It was a challenging project but resulted in a win-win for all — an old home was saved and repurposed for its new owner, and new family homes were created. I’m probably the proudest of our team members and everyone involved in our projects who has maximized their efforts and input to satisfy our homeowners through what has been a challenging and unprecedented year.
What exciting upcoming Pillar developments can you share with us?
We continue to offer exciting building opportunities across the west metro area. In Wayzata, we are offering two new lots overlooking the Wayzata Yacht Club, and prime multi-family brownstones downtown located only two blocks from Lake Street, all with views of Lake Minnetonka. In addition, we continue to present opportunities to build on prime lots in the surrounding areas, such as Plymouth, Edina and Uptown Minneapolis. We are looking forward to fulfilling the needs of the home-buying community this year through new projects to come.
