She’S Built A Past And A Future In Valley

Bobbie Swanson has spent the past 25 years riding the waves of the new-house market in Spokane.

She has seen more dips than crests.

“We haven’t had a lot of (building) booms here,” Swanson said. “In my lifetime we’ve had one. But it was fun. I had to enjoy it to the fullest because I won’t see another one.”

Swanson started Homestead Construction in 1974. The 63-year-old Spokane Valley native plans to keep building for a few more years before retiring.

During the first few years, Swanson was building approximately 10 houses each year, most of them in the Valley.

In the decades since, Swanson has emerged as one of the area’s largest home builders. This year, her company will build 35 to 40 houses, most in the $120,000 range.

Swanson has succeeded by combining a soft-spoken, charming demeanor with good business sense and high standards, say those who know her.

Jerry and Tracie Zink moved into a home built by Homestead on Dec. 3.

The move-in date was the first clue that Swanson wasn’t a normal builder. Jerry Zink had been warned by friends that builders sometimes drag out the process for months.

The Zinks moved into the four-level home in the 10900 block of East 11th Lane three weeks early. Swanson helped the Zinks decide on the roof, tile and style of cupboards. She wanted to make them happy, Zink said.

“She was in here vacuuming and scrubbing windows,” he said.

Swanson got her start in the building business when her husband, Don Swanson - her high school sweetheart at Central Valley High School - started laying basements in the early 1960s.

She kept the books for her husband. After she started Homestead, he was always the subcontractor she hired to build her foundations.

“I would always tell him I was going to get another bid,” said Swanson with a smile. “He would always tell me he was the cheapest and the best.”

The couple’s two sons, Chris and Craig Swanson, both now in the 40s, have also worked with their parents over the years.

When business boomed in the early 1990s, Swanson said she didn’t let herself overextend.

She continues to keep staff small, currently employing 6 people full-time and contracting out 10 other people for each job.

Currently, Homestead has committed to building 16 lots in the Meadowland area at 12th and Glenn. Most of the homes are three-bedroom, two-bathroom, split-entry homes.

While Swanson refers to her company as “small,” most of the 300 builders who belong to the Spokane Home Builders Association build less than five homes a year, said executive officer Suzanne Knapp.

“She’s one of the very few who builds over 30 (homes) a year,” Knapp said.

Besides Swanson, Knapp knows of two other women who own their own home construction companies.

When she started her company, Swanson said she didn’t know of any other women in the field.

Lori Gray, a former president of Spokane Home Builders Association, and a Spokane-area builder who owns Mirage Homes said Swanson is very professional in a market dominated by men.

“She’s a good businesswoman,” Gray said.