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frankfortstation.com local living
the frankfort station | September 21, 2017 | 35
Customer Satisfaction through the Roof at Prairie Trails in Manhattan
Excellent Communications translates into positive home buying and building experience
Distinctive Home Builders continues
to add high quality homes
to Manhattan at Prairie Trails;
its latest new home community,
located within the highly-regarded
Lincoln-Way School District.
Many families are thrilled to call
Prairie Trails home and couldn’t
be happier.
“Homes are one of the last truly
hand made major purchase there
is,” said Bryan Nooner, president
of Distinctive Home Builders.
“Many of our skilled craftsmen
have been working with our company
for over 20 years. We also
take pride on having excellent
communicators throughout our
organization. This translates into
a positive buying and building
experience for our homeowners
giving us one of the highest referral
rates in the industry.”
“But don’t take our word for it ask
our homeowners,” urges Nooner.
Nancy Schueler and her husband
Jim purchased an Ashley ranch at
Prairie Trails last year. “We raised
four sons in a large five-bedroom
home in Mokena. We knew and
liked the area but could not find
what we were looking for in New
Lenox or Mokena. We went a little
further to Manhattan and saw
this home on an oversize lot with
pond views, met with Bryan and
Lynne and liked what we heard.
Bryan sat down with us and allowed
us to make changes we
thought we might like such as
enlarging the width of the home
to accommodate a larger kitchen
and we bumped out a three car
garage because my husband likes
to woodwork and needed the extra
space,” said Nancy Schueler.
“The building process was
great,” continued Schueler. “We
had a picture of a home we wanted
to buy in Colorado and Bryan
customized the facade of our new
home to replicate it. We also liked
the fact that Bryan lived locally
and that we worked with a family
company. He had a good handle
on what we were looking for even
making suggestions about things
that we didn’t even think of. It was
overwhelming but we would do it
all over again. Everything Distinctive
said they would do they did.
If anything wasn’t kosher with us,
they changed it. Distinctive was
so willing to make us happy, was
always present to walk us through
our home under construction and
answer any questions.”
Karie and Jason Emerson recently
built a Prairie model at
Prairie Trails. “Our experience
with Distinctive Home Builders
could not have gone more
smoothly,” said Karie Emerson.
“Everyone says building a home is
one of the most stressful experiences
but ours could not have been
better. Our initial home search
was for a resale home with not
much luck, then we saw an article
in the newspaper for new homes
in Manhattan. We went there and
met Lynne and we were SOLD.
“We found a great lot, a perfect
model for us and worked closely
with Lynne and Bryan on the
design and without their help we
would not have been able to build
such a beautiful home,” continued
Emerson. “We made a lot of modifications
to the standard Prairie
model which was never a problem.
We loved that we were able to see
the progress on their client portal
and Distinctive delivered our
home in the time frame promised.
All of the subcontractors treated
the building of our home as if it
was their own. Thank you Bryan,
Josh, Lynne, Jeff and everyone
that we came into contact with
at Distinctive Home Builders you
gave us our Dream Home.”
Tony and Nikki Uranin lived on
the other side of Manhattan and
wanted a new home they could
grow into with their two young
children ages 2 and 4 – with more
space and new trees. Nikki was
born and raised in Manhattan
and was previously a teacher in
the Manhattan school system.
They also have a lot of family
living nearby.
“We checked out many builders
in the area and Distinctive
had the floor plan and upgrades
we were looking for within our
price range,” said Nikki Uranin.
“From the moment we met with
Lynne we were connected - our
kids loved her and she was not
pushy. The key decision were the
layouts compared to what else was
out there. We even had a home to
sell and they held our lot for us.”
“There was also great communication
throughout the process,”
she added. We met with Bryan,
the owner, and reviewed designs
and wanted to extend our loft
upstairs. Bryan worked on the
floor plan with us and we were
able to do it!
“There is even an App on your
phone where they posted building
progress. Everything went
smoothly. It was a breeze making
selections with the vendors - they
told us that Distinctive was great
to build with. Distinctive was very
responsive after we moved in
when we had a leak from a storm.
They came out the next day and
took care of the issue right away.”
Harold and Molly Hewitt lived in
New Lenox the last 20 years and
initially had no interest in building.
“We then put a deposit down
with another builder and soon
after had to cancel,” explained
Harold Hewitt. “When we came
back to them we lost all of our
incentives. We found out that
Distinctive Home Builders offered
incentives and after meeting with
Lynne; who took us through many
different homes, we put down a
deposit.”
The Hewitts built a Foxgrove
model and took advantage of the
customization from Distinctive
Home Builders. “We did three
custom changes: We moved the
master suite from the front of
the house to the back so we could
enjoy the lake views, made the
loft bigger and added a bathroom
downstairs. Our old house lacked
natural light so we added additional
larger windows throughout
our new home,” said Hewitt.
“The building process went
fast for us because the weather
was on our side and we moved
in last May,” Harold continued.
“Lynne explained all of our options
and she and Bryan went
over everything at a later date
pretty much seamlessly. We knew
what we wanted and appreciated
Lynne’s suggestions and accessed
the online portal for construction
updates and pictures. We have one
child, age 16 still living at home
currently attending Lincoln Way
West, a fine school.”
Frazer and Linda Gulli closed
eight months ago on an Arbor
ranch. Two of their grown children
live across the street in another
subdivision and a third not
too far from there. “When Distinctive
opened up we were curious,”
said Linda Gulli. “We wanted to
be close enough to help with the
kids but not too close. We built
a ranch, made custom changes
and have plenty of room for us.
We modified the master bath and
replaced the second closet with
a walk-in shower. We also added
a lot of canned lighting; so far
we have been told that we have
the most canned lighting in the
subdivision!
“We previously built a townhome
so we were familiar with building,”
Gulli continued. The process
was fine with Distinctive, they
were accommodating and willing
to meet us after work. Distinctive
also has a web site where we
logged in to check progress and
pictures as our home was being
built. Even though we drove by
often it was a nice convenience
and understand how some people
who live further away can appreciate
it. Lynne and Josh are so nice
and helpful! We appreciate all the
help throughout the whole process
from both of them! Everyone at
Distinctive is nice and even now
that we are moved in they still
wave to us when they drive by! We
can see the lake from our home,
the neighbors are very friendly
and we absolutely love the fact
that the Wauponsee Glacial Trail
is so close for us to just hop on
with our bikes.”
There are 13 ranch, split-level
and six two-story single-family
home styles to choose from each
offering three to eight different
exterior elevations. The three- to
four-bedroom homes feature two
to two-and-one-half baths, twoto
three-car garages and a family
room, all in approximately 1,600
to over 3,000 square feet of living
space. Basements are included in
most models as well. Distinctive
also encourages customization
to make your new home truly
personalized to suit your lifestyle.
Oversize home sites; brick exteriors
on all four sides of the first
floor; custom maple cabinets;
ceramic tile or hardwood floors
in the kitchen, baths and foyer;
genuine wood trim and doors
and concrete driveways can all
be yours at Prairie Trails. All
home sites at Prairie Trails can
accommodate a three-car garage;
a very important amenity to the
Manhattan homebuyer, according
to Nooner.
Prairie Trails is also a beautiful
place to live and raise a family
featuring a 20-acre lake on site, as
well as direct access to the 22-mile
Wauponsee Glacial Prairie Path
that borders the community and
meanders through many neighboring
communities and links to
many other popular trails. The
Manhattan Metra station is less
than a mile away.
Besides Prairie Trails, Distinctive
Home Builders has built
homes throughout Manhattan
in the Butternut Ridge and Leighlinbridge
developments, as well as
in the Will and south Cook county
areas over the past 30 years.
Visit the on-site sales information
center for unadvertised
specials and view the numerous
styles of homes being offered
and the available lots. Call
Lynne Rinck at (708) 737-9142 for
more information or visit www.
distinctivehomebuilders.com.
The Prairie Trails new home information
center is located three
miles south of Laraway Rd. on
Rt. 52. The address is 24458 S.
Rt. 52, Manhattan, IL. 60422.
Open Daily 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Closed Wednesday and Thursday
and always available by appointment.
Specials, prices, specifications,
standard features, model
offerings, build times and lot
availability are subject to change
without notice. Please contact a
Distinctive representative for current
pricing and complete details.