Testimonials

From the start, I’d like to say I would build with Mike Rice and Paramount homes again and again and again. It was a fun, creative experience designing and building our home with Mike and his team. His motto, “you dream it, and I will build it, “is spot on. My wife Anita and I had general ideas about what we wanted in our “dream” home, and with the help of Mike, Dan, the architect, and Jodi, the interior designer, we turned our dream into reality. Mike has many attributes, but my three top favorites are responsiveness, flexibility, and an incredible grasp of the overall building process.

We first meet Mike when we were looking at building lots. We had found a flag lot on 1.25 acres and wanted an opinion on the challenges of building on a sloping lot within the “hillside zone” above Bear Creek Park. We contacted Mike late one afternoon and the next morning met with Mike at 8:00 to look at the lot. We all loved the lot with the awesome views and privacy it would offer but, this vacant lot still existed because of some challenges. Mike listed the challenges this lot would have- access, possible damage to the existing shared driveway from heavy construction trucks, and likely need for increased excavation and dirt hauling cost. This was hard to hear but gave us the information needed to make an informed decision about purchasing the lot. We purchased the lot, and Mike was able to minimize most of the increased cost of building on this lot.

Mike and the architect, Dan, nailed the placement of the house on the lot giving us relatively easy access, a full walkout lower level with no window wells, incredible views, and an amazing sense of privacy. We were living in Washington state while building our Colorado Springs home, and Mike and his team worked with us to minimize the number of onsite trips to the Springs.

Jodi, Mike’s interior designer, is the wonder woman of all things “house beautiful.” She would set up 2-3 days selection blitzes while we were in town to pick cabinets, countertops, flooring, molding, trim, doors, paint, etc. Sounds overwhelming, but Jodi’s guidance and enthusiasm made this a great experience. Jodi has forever changed the way we look at colors and a color palette. (That’s a good thing, by the way.) I’ll end with some of the features that make our house so great:

1. The house is just drop-dead gorgeous, thanks to Mike, Jodi, Dan, and all the great subs.
2. Energy efficient: 2″ x6″ wall construction, plus R-50 ceiling insulation, energy-efficient windows, and a 96% efficient furnace.
3. Hot water recirculation, which gives you hot water to any faucet in the house in a matter of seconds.
4. Tall ceilings on both floors and vaulted ceilings in the great room with 11 feet of stone on the fireplace wall (beautiful stonework courtesy of Andrea, the stonemason).
5. Covered 16’x20′ cement deck off the main floor. The deck had originally been planned for Trex, but Mike came up with a much better plan of cement. It’s incredibly elegant and functional.
6. Hickory hardwood floors, which make me feel like I’m in a grand ballroom.
7. Zero clearance “steam” shower and wide doorways and halls for aging in place.
8. Essentially maintenance free stucco exterior.

We are hoping this will be our last home, but if we build again in Colorado Springs, Paramount Homes will be our builder of choice.

Our house was a very challenging build due to the lot. Mike and all his staff were like family. Mike is very energetic with a very strong “can do” attitude. Our impression of Mike is that he builds homes as if he is going to be living in them himself.

Mike and his crew made our 24-year-old dream come true. The final product went above and beyond our expectations. Jodi’s positive attitude was absolutely contagious. Her keen eye for color and expertise in design made the whole process go very smoothly. What we appreciated most was her subtle ability to guide us through difficult decisions.

There were some bumps in the road (and we expected there would be), but those bumps were handled very well because there was always a backup plan. In all instances, the backup plans exceeded our expectations, and many of them we liked more. For example, the original plans for our great room fireplace had it much narrower. Mike looked at it while it was being built and decided it would be better if it were wider.

We love our heated tile floors in the master bath (Mike insisted!), plus the stunning retaining walls for our driveway! The final product is absolutely amazing!

I was first introduced to the Paramount Homes team at a housewarming reception for a friend who just completed their new Paramount home. I was impressed with the construction quality and incredible attention to detail. I was even more impressed with the small team approach for delivering a small, manageable number of homes per year while delivering a very personalized build experience.

When I finally found my land, Paramount was my go-to builder. The Paramount team delivered precisely what I wanted and met our very high expectations. They architected a design to our specific needs while maintaining the highest quality of construction and amazing design elements while keeping the highest commitment to both schedule and cost.

I was most impressed with how Mike sat down with us to really understand what we wanted and how we planned to use the home, including both the indoor and outdoor living spaces. He also spent time with us walking the land, selecting the build site, ensuring we had a design that complements the ranch land, maximizing the views and materials that would tie the home to the land, and minimizing future maintenance.

It took five months to complete the architectural drawings (while I prepared and sold an existing home). It took only seven months from groundbreaking to closing (during a global pandemic!).

Mike and his team delivered on schedule and below the cost of the original construction estimate while being flexible to my requests to add additional design elements like a historic mantle, extra stone, and a deck structure that could support an elephant.

Mike’s construction team were true craftsmen, ensuring every detail came together while Jodi guided us through the myriad design and material decisions, ensuring a very functional interior with an amazing aesthetic.

When our first winter storm rolled in and the thermometer hit -16 degrees, it was apparent this Paramount custom home was truly something special. It is as comfortable, solid, and functional as it is a joy to live in.

Thanks, Mike, Jodi, and the Paramount homes team.

Prior to our introduction to the Paramount Homes custom home construction team, we lived in more than twenty homes across the United States. When we decided to pursue a custom build, we knew exactly what we wanted and needed for it to be our forever home. Paramount Homes demonstrated the experience, quality, trust and flexibility that we were looking for in a construction team. From the onset, Mike and his staff enthusiastically embraced our concept and the unique circumstances that often kept us thousands of miles away from the project. Throughout the entire process, we had on-demand access to their mobile application and website, allowing us to interact with and communicate decisions to the staff quickly and efficiently.

There aren’t enough words to express our satisfaction with Paramount Homes. Following our on-time move in, the staff worked tirelessly to ensure we were comfortable with everything in our home. A key player in ensuring the success of our project was Kim Trobee. Building a home can be stressful, but Kim’s courteous, calm and efficient manner eased us through any unforeseen challenges. If you are looking for your home to be delivered on time and within budget from a company that is attentive to detail, quality, and client, you should look no further than Paramount Homes.

“We met Mike Rice and Paramount Homes through an internet search for Colorado Springs builders. Since our lot was on a hillside, there more hoops to jump through to get the project approved — we needed to get it through the regional building department and, more specifically, city engineering. Two other builders had started the process and not gotten anywhere. We were at a crossroads when Mike came along and was able to negotiate with both sides and get it done for much less money than if we had done it on our own. Mike was very responsive to our needs and always ready to answer questions. By working with the company that did the geohazard survey, and the city engineers, he was able to get the approval for the building permit within a few weeks of being on the project.

Once we were underway, the weather was not our friend. Despite some late snowstorms that delayed a few pieces of the project, Mike was vigilant about scheduling and worked closely with the subcontractors as he kept everything on track. Even with those delays, we broke ground in January and moved in just five and a half months later. Through it all, Mike updated us on a nearly daily basis. His knowledge of the construction process was evident, and he would offer suggestions as to the best choices to make for the different components of our home. Originally, we were not planning to have a landing for our deck stairs, but due to miscommunication as to the placement of our back fence, Mike’s original design was not possible. He generously redesigned the stairs. The new deck is exactly what we needed, and we’re so happy it all worked out the way it did.

Jodi makes the design process a breeze. She’s wonderful — very caring and responsive. She kept us on track throughout the project. Paramount’s trade contacts for all the allowance items were very good. There was a large selection, and they did a good job of keeping us at a cost we could handle even though we didn’t always choose to stay within our original budget. Jodi was also great at making suggestions when we needed them. As a designer, she took our vision and translated it into reality. If we had questions, she never hesitated to get us the information we needed or to involve others if they could be helpful.

The best part of our new home is seeing the vision we had in our minds two years ago come to life. From design through to the build process, we didn’t know for sure if what we envisioned would come out as a functional home. With Mike and Jodi’s help, we got what we dreamed about, and it works so well for our situation and our family. Thanks, Paramount!”

“Our experience with Paramount Homes as the builder of our custom home was outstanding. Before we started the build, we had the opportunity to tour several homes Paramount was building. The attention to detail was evident. Mike takes pride in his work, as does his team. We also toured several homes that were completed and spoke with the owners. Each one had very positive things to say about their experience. Over and over, we heard great things about Mike: how easy he is to work with and how focused he is on making your future home a special place for you.

When we started our own build with Paramount, Mike proved all those things to be true. He was attentive and listened to our concerns, and he worked hard to find a solution to concerns or requests we had. Many builders would probably start out with ‘we can’t do that,’ but Mike looks at things differently. His approach is: ‘let me see if I can figure out how to make that happen.’ All of his subcontractors are top-notch, everyone hustled, and they did great work. It was fun to meet them all. We were on site every day watching the progress, and everyone we met was professional and courteous. They all took pride in their work and wanted us to be happy with whatever part of the job they were doing. Construction proceeded much faster than we thought it would. Any questions were quickly answered, and Jodi, Paramount’s designer, was fantastic at helping us pull together our finishes, lighting, flooring, appliances, cabinets, plumbing, etc. She made sure it all came together so that we wound up with the home of our dreams.

We had some significant life challenges unrelated to the build that we had to deal with, and both Mike and Jodi were very supportive and helpful in any way they could, so we made it through in record time. We’re all settled into our home now, and we’re really enjoying it!”

“We bought a lot back in August, and our bank recommended Mike Rice. When I met him, I had lunch with him, and he was obviously very experienced; he sounded positive and had a good personality. He gave us some reasonable pricing, and we built a good relationship. We decided to pick Paramount Homes for our builder because Mike was the only builder who could commit to being done in April. I told him back in October that we wanted to move in on April 1st, and the house was finished right on schedule. We had our own drawings that had to be modified slightly since we had picked a home design online. My wife made a few tweaks to it, and Mike was very helpful in helping us understand what would work and wouldn’t work as far as the modification of the design. The completed home is her dream home—she loves it, and it’s exactly what she wanted. I’d give Paramount Homes a thumbs up, and I wouldn’t hesitate in having Mike build me another home. We couldn’t be more pleased with the outcome.”

• Working with the owner and designer to ensure a project that aligns with budgetary expectations
• Clear & realistic communication of the build process and project schedule
• An open attitude to details and desire to meet the client’s vision for the home
• Strong mutually respective relationship with the subcontractors, which will play a role in your construction process
• Thoroughness and integrity

Paramount Homes met and exceeded each of these critical aspects and exercised a formal process that made building our custom-build enjoyable.”