Our philosophy is defined by these core values:
We serve our clients through a consultive approach
Focusing first on their overall goals, needs, and situation before dealing with transactional concerns. We view our role as more akin to that of a doctor, attorney, or accountant seeking to advise our client towards a holistic course of action, rather than a salesman who is focused on completing the current deal. Our focus is always on what is best for our client – not how we can make a sale right now.
We view our profession through the eyes of a craftsman
With an insatiable desire to continue learning and further refine our relevant knowledge and skills. We look to continuously improve the quality of our work, not the quantity. In fact, there will be a point when it becomes necessary to limit the number of clients we work with in order to focus on providing the best quality for those we do serve.
“The Church’s approach to an intelligent carpenter is usually confined to exhorting him not to be drunk and disorderly in his leisure hours, and to come to church on Sundays. What the Church should be telling him is this: that the very first demand that his religion makes upon him is that he should make good tables… what use is all that if in the very center of his life and occupation he is insulting God with bad carpentry? No crooked table legs or ill-fitting drawers ever, I dare swear, came out of the carpenter’s shop at Nazareth. Nor, if they did, could anyone believe that they were made by the same hand that made Heaven and earth. No piety in the worker will compensate for work that is not true to itself.” – Dorothy Sayers, 1942, Why Work
We advocate intentionality in housing choices
Understanding the power of our homes to shape and direct our lives, we believe home choices should be made primarily with consideration for factors other than “resale” or maximizing your square feet. While we encourage sound financial decisions, it’s important to stay focused on the fact that a home is so much more than an investment vehicle.
“We shape our buildings, and afterwards, our buildings shape us.” – Winston Churchill, 1943, when discussing the rebuilding of the Commons Chamber
A house is most often the geographic and symbolic center of our lives – it becomes the backdrop for family, marriage, rest, relaxation, food, hospitality, finances, recreation, education, and perhaps even the first or last moments of life itself. While the house is not, itself, what matters, it is impossible to think about these things, which do matter, apart from the mental canvas of the home. – Jeremy
We believe a home should be well built, functional, and beautiful
Over 2,000 years ago in De architectura, the oldest known architectural treatise, Vitruvius identified the three elements necessary for a well-designed building. They were firmness, commodity, and delight. We believe these three elements are still at the core of all successful buildings, and they apply as much to homes as to any other structure.
“Well building hath three conditions: firmness, commodity, and delight.” – Henry Wotton’s 1624 translation of Vitruvius, De architectura
We live a balanced life
We have a duty to provide an uncompromising level of accessibility to our clients while simultaneously maintaining reasonable boundaries for ourselves and our families. This is not an either-or proposition.
We act in good faith toward the other party in all transactions
Just because the contract makes allowance for certain strategies, that doesn’t mean we use them. We won’t employ strategies on behalf of our clients where it would be deemed distasteful if the tables were turned.
“Good Faith – n. honest intent to act without taking an unfair advantage over another person, or to fulfill a promise to act, even when some legal technicality is not fulfilled. The term is applied to all kinds of transactions.” – Good Faith, Law.com
Contact Us
Area of Business
Serving Hot Springs, South Dakota