Bailey & Weiler named Builder of the Year – Times-Mail

Photos courtesy of Bailey & Weiler Design/Build

When Don and Lisa Weiler decided to build a new home in 2002, they chose a local Bloomington designer named Craig Bailey. Not only did the Weilers get their dream home, Don also got a new business partner.

Craig nailed the style we sought and his ability to visualize our home before we even started building was amazing, Don says. Craig is incredibly creative and talented with design.

On the other hand, Don says, his background is in engineering and project management. We operate out of different sides of our brain, so together it made for a great partnership.

Discovering that the two men worked together well convinced them to start Bailey & Weiler Design/Build in 2005. Headquartered in downtown Bloomington, the company recently was named Builder of the Year by the Building Association of South Central Indiana.

We try very hard to deliver projects that create homeowners dreams with detail to budget, Craig says. We listen to our customers and create what they want on time and budget.

In fact, this is the fourth time Bailey & Weiler has been honored with the award by their construction peers. Each year, local members of the construction industry select a company for the honor. Bailey & Weiler was selected for 2020 based on the quality of their design and construction projects, business reputation and contributions to the industry and community.

Humbled and thankful would be the best way to describe our reaction, Don says. It is an award from our peer builders, subcontractors and suppliers in South Central Indiana, which means a lot.

The company has 14 employees plus the co-owners. They are a great crew of talented and dedicated carpenters, designers and project managers, Don says. Many of them either ran their own company or worked with some of the best local builders that have since closed up shop.

Not surprisingly, both founders of the Bailey & Weiler company grew up to be exactly what they wanted to be when they were kids. Well, at least part of the childhood ambition for Craig who wanted to be a race car driver and a designer.

I learned construction and home design in high school, Craig says. My first job after high school was in construction.

For Don, I never really gave much thought to being anything but an engineer. When I was in grade school, I filled out a homework assignment with a very specific answer to that question: I wanted to be an engineer from the University of Wisconsin.

The college goal came from seeing his older brother attend the University of Wisconsin to become an engineer. My only brother is 15 years older, and my first memories of him are visiting his dorm room at Wisconsin, Don says. He was an engineering student and he had the cool railroad engineers lantern.

Dons father was a millwright at the local paper mill in central Wisconsin. His mother was a homemaker. If something broke, we fixed it, Don says. I learned a lot from them because they were always problem solving and had a great can-do attitude.

That attitude is a good one to have as a builder, Don says, because no project ever goes exactly as planned. There are always things to figure out. Every challenge has a solution. The key is to remain positive and honest in your effort.

Bailey & Weiler Design/Build specializes in the design, construction and renovation of custom homes and commercial properties. We have recently seen an uptick in remodeling, says Craig. There are very few lots and subdivisions to build homes on and the land costs are very high.

With the current trend of living closer to town, Don says the best way to get there is to buy and remodel an existing home. Remodeling in Bloomington has been on a steep incline the past few years. Homeowners who would sell and build new smaller or larger homes cannot find a lot on which to build or realize that the cost to build new just does not make sense relative to their current home.

As a design/build company, Craig says Bailey & Weiler can save homeowners money and avoid communication issues. Doing both design and construction we know how much things cost and can design to an individuals budget.

Don adds, Bloomington has many local designers and architects that we partner with on a regular basis. We love collaborating as part of a larger local team.

Bailey & Weiler also does commercial renovation and light commercial construction. Each of those markets has its unique needs and pace, so we have different people and processes dedicated to each segment, Don says.

Construction can start any time in the year. The design, selection and budgeting phase normally takes a minimum of eight weeks, Don says. We take the lead from our clients on the pace of design. The construction of a custom home normally takes seven to nine months with weather, home size and finish and timeliness of decisions being the most significant variables.

Bloomington continues to be a desirable place to live, which both Don and Craig say they understand. Its a small town blessed with the best the world has to offer, Don says. Our town is nestled in a beautiful natural environmentBut in the end, its the people that make Bloomington special.

Those people also are one of the greatest joys in his business, Craig adds. What I like most about our business is the people we meet and being able to help them create their dreams.

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Bailey & Weiler named Builder of the Year - Times-Mail