Cheers to a New Year!

It’s mildly embarrassing that our last blog post was over one year ago. Forgive us, won’t you?

2012 welcomed many awesome adventures for our company. New floor plan designs, new development in both markets, lots of great new customers and the growth of our real estate company beyond trade program work.

We recognize that building or purchasing a home is one of the biggest investments most families make, so there truly is nothing more rewarding than watching a happy family (or couple or individual) close on a home and sincerely mean it when they say, ‘thank you’, sometimes with a smile and sometimes as tears of excitement and accomplishment fill their eyes.

Through the ups and down of an ever changing industry, it’s moments like those that really make us all love what we do. We are thankful beyond measure for each family that trusted in our family to help build their dream home or find them a house to make their home in the existing market.

We are also thankful for the professionals throughout the Fargo/ Moorhead and Minot areas that make our work possible including, but certainly not limited to: sub-contractors, lenders, appraisers, inspectors, title companies, insurance providers, developers, realtors, and committee members in the FMAAR and FMHBA, and, full disclosure, the staff at Caribou Coffee in Osgood Hornbachers for keeping us happily caffeinated.

In the spirit of New Years Eve, a quote from Ms. Oprah Winfrey to close out 2012, “Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right.” Thanks to everyone who made 2012 great, we are looking forward to everything 2013 has to offer!

'Tis the Season!

To be thankful.
To give back.
To celebrate.
… and… to build!

Holiday season is in full swing and even the big guy is in good spirits. This last week he sent me a text (from Minot) at 6:30 am that read, “2day is the first day of the rest of your life. Embrace it, enjoy it & live to the fullest. Luv gk”.

For those of you who know my dad, this verbatim text may make you smile. It does for me. I just ‘luv’ that guy.

Thanksgiving is behind us and Christmas is just around,the corner and we are thankful for a number of things this year.

Our great customers. From Minot to Fargo to Dilworth to Hillsboro, we have developed friendships and helped to realize dreams for the folks who custom built with us. Here are some photos from two recent Fargo area projects. We love the framed mirrors, tiled bathrooms, plank
wood flooring, two tone wood work & iron spindles in this Woodhaven home. This couple did their own tile work & hardwood flooring. What they upgraded on flooring costs they saved on install. Win, win.

The custom alder kitchen has granite countertops, plate rack built in, under mount cabinet lighting, step in pantry, under mount sink, oversized stainless range & hood and a convenient microwave built in to boot!


This North Moorhead two story was a very unique build for us and we love the final product!We’ve been working with this particular couple for about 2 years. They had so many awesome ideas and we were thrilled when they decided to move forward with the project to be able to finally put it all together for them!

Who doesn’t love building a new home on a lot with mature trees? We also like the front porch, 4 stall oversized garage (2 deep x 2 wide w/ oversized garage doors), four season sun room off to the left and lots of natural light!

The first level floors are died concrete, a first for us, and they turned out beautifully. Kuddos to the home buyers for all their hard work on these! We like the cast rod iron fireplace, cut out and iron plates (for future decorating use) and the totally custom kitchen (the buyers made the countertops and cabinets themselves)!

We also are digging the big laundry area off the master bedroom (shelving to be installed) and the master bathroom fit for a king and queen with two sinks/ vanities, two showers and one hot tub… I could get used to that!

Our great communities. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again, we love it here. In rocky economic times and through brutal winters that carry into record breaking floods, our communities pull together time and time again. We are blessed beyond measure to live in a part of the country where community and character are in the forefront of people’s everyday lives.

Each year we give to, support and are thankful for a number of philanthropic organizations, each doing so much good. As the holiday season nears the store fronts in the FM & Minot areas fill with bell ringers for the Salvation Army and we, like most of you, empty the change from our pockets as we pass them by.

Last year, Jimmy and I volunteered (read: I made Jimmy volunteer with me) for the Realtor Ring Day on what literally was the coldest day of the year. It was my first experience ringing the bell and as we froze our faces off outside of Wal-Mart I noticed just how many people give to these little red pots. Almost every person that walked past us first gave us a sympathetic look, then smiled, dropped a few coins or dollar bills into the bucket and said something along the lines of “Happy Holidays” or “Thanks for doing what you’re doing”. It warmed us right up.

Fast forward six months, we were volunteering with the North Dakota Association of Realtors for the Minot Clean Up Day. Let’s be honest, flood cleanup is not nearly as much fun as ringing a bell in a red apron, but a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do… and so does her husband subsequently. There we were, in all of our hot, sweaty, work boot and facemask glory when a Salvation Army truck rolled by with lunch, smiles and a ‘thank you’ for us. It had come full circle.

This year we jumped at the opportunity to ring again. This time, through The Home Builders Association of Fargo Moorhead. With Jimmy in Minot- Kristi, Kelli and I ventured to Southgate Hornbachers in our bell ringing best. We were again amazed by the friendly, giving members of this community. One individual dropped a generous $50 bill into the pot. We left smiling and feeling great, knowing that in just an hours time we helped to support a great organization that supports our communities.

Our Great Family. In 2011 we officially welcomed Jimmy into our family and as an unplanned twist of fate, we also welcomed him full time as a Krueger Construction, Inc. team member. As our family and business grow we can’t help but feel so lucky for our health and for one another. Granted, there are times that we might not see eye to eye, but at the end of the day we all really do ‘luv’ one another and what we’re doing.


So whether it’s building our family, community or actual houses- it has been a great 2011 and we are looking forward to what 2012 has to offer!

Happy Holidays!

Calling All Women!

It’s clear to me that this community is full of incredibly talented, hardworking, driven women. One year ago it was less clear how to pull these individuals together. Sure, there are your cooking clubs and book clubs and work mentors. There are church groups or, for my mom, the red hat lady society. I do still not quite understand that one, but maybe I will one day. Don’t get
me wrong, I love a good cooking club or book club (and I participate in both…
currently planning a Cooking Light Thanksgiving for our cooking club!). At any rate, I was looking for something a little different.

Enter Bonnie Krueger.

I was sitting in my office, probably brainstorming blog ideas, I don’t remember, when she came
in with an article cut out from the Fargo Forum. She does that from time to time, brings me articles that she thinks I might be interested in. Instead of bringing the entire newspaper or telling me to look it up online, she takes the time to snip it out and drive across town to deliver it to me so we can talk about it. What a sweetheart.

Anyway the article was about the United Way of Cass Clay 35 Under 35 Women’s Leadership Program. Long story short, I applied and, to my surprise, was selected to be a member of the 2011 class. My life and perspective on work balance hasn’t been the same since.

I can’t explain what a great experience the program has been, introducing me to 34 other women in various fields who are, frankly, incredible. Throughout the course of 6 months we heard wildly accomplished women leaders in our community speak on a variety of topics ranging from communication, leadership, etiquette, spirituality, diversity, mentorship, age/ gender issues, influencing the future and so much more. I learned more about myself and women leaders in this community than I thought possible in such a short time.

None of us wanted the program to end, but on June 9th we graduated as the 2011 class of 35 Under 35 and today the applications are due for the 2012 class.



So.
This is me.
Telling you.
To apply.
You won’t regret it!

We're Baa-aaaccckkk...

…from a slight non blogging hiatus. In reality, we never actually went anywhere; things have just been so busy around these parts that it’s been difficult to sit long enough to jot down a few thoughts. I blame this, almost entirely, on planning my wedding. However, we’ve also re-opened our Minot office and built a handful of truly beautiful and unique custom homes here in Fargo. We welcomed a new full time employee into the ranks and volunteered a bit with flood clean up in Minot. Most recently, we have braved another Fall Parade of Homes and we are currently in the process of designing a couple of new plans {which we find to be wildly exciting… it’s the little things that keep you going in family owned construction business!}.

Wait.

Speaking of exciting.

We did go somewhere too.

Yes, it’s true; we finally talked The North Dakota Poster Child into a weekend trip to Las Vegas where we helped to celebrate the marriage of one of my best friends. Here we are poolside at The Mirage for the reception. Congrats Alex and Amy! Viva Las Vegas!




With the inability to not think about work for more than an hour at a time, the big guy did rent a car to go scope the Las Vegas market and tour a few homes. He can’t help himself. We did tear him away long enough to catch an afternoon viewing of The Lion King before we headed back to Fargo. Hakuna matata!




At any rate, we are back. And ready to blog, so stay tuned! Lots of updates coming your way...

Something to Celebrate: June Bonus!

June is here and, although the first official day of summer isn’t until June 21st, we’ve decided to celebrate early!

On Monday evening a chaotic storm ripped through our community wreaking havoc all over Fargo, Moorhead and surrounding areas. Thankfully, there was no major damage to any of our customer’s properties or our spec homes. The Krueger Construction, Inc. Model Home/ Office did lose a sign [still nowhere to be found!] and the city fence was uprooted shattering into pieces when slammed against the side of the garage by 78mph winds. We feel quite grateful to have weathered the storm with such minor repairs. Our hearts go out to our neighbors in Woodhaven missing parts of their rooftops or sheets of siding and all other homeowners whose properties were damaged.

As the FM community is once again in clean up mode from the Memorial Day storm, our neighbors to the West in the communities of Bismarck and Minot are fighting floods. We wanted to have something to celebrate, after all June IS National Homeownership Month, so we’ve decided to offer a bonus for the month of June to ring in the summer of 2011!

For one month we are offering a $3000 Buyer Bonus on the following properties:

4262 28th Ave. S. - Autumn Fields

2871 Umber Court - Autumn Fields

3861 3rd St. E. - Osgood Reserve

More info on these homes HERE.

We are hoping that soon Mother Nature will let up a little, but until then: cheers to all of the hard working, well-grounded people in our communities who take on these natural disasters with such a positive energy and sense of community. The Poster Child is proud, and so are we!

Journey

Last Saturday I ran in my first ever marathon relay for the Fargo Marathon. What an experience! First let me start by saying I am not a marathon runner… I’m barely a 10K runner. I’m not in it to win it, I’m in it to finish without embarrassing myself by tripping over another runner [which I did, but I didn’t fall] or having to walk [which I also did, but only on the uphill part of the run].

As I trained for my 6.2 mile leg I ran a couple of 5K ‘races’, built a playlist on my iPod that rivals the Billboard Music Awards and spent many hours running around Woodhaven and on a treadmill at the YMCA. Two Saturdays ago I ran 44 laps at the Fargo South track- not the highlight of my training experience, but when it’s pouring rain there are few options for getting 5.5 miles in.

By the time marathon day rolled around I was excited and a little nervous, but mostly I just wanted to get the run over with. I arrived at the Fargo Dome around 6:40 am, did some stretching… feeling totally out of place as people twice my age and half my body fat did high knees in the lobby and strapped on their water fanny packs. I took my place at the start point, well behind the 10 minute mile pacer, and off we went. Winding through the streets of Fargo and Moorhead lined with cheering spectators and enthusiastic bands, I had never felt more proud to be a part of such a great community.

Photo: Relay Team Smokin’ Asics (L-R) Nicole Young, Kim Krueger, Mindy Graham, Meghan Ibach

Growing up, I had heard the phrases: “Everybody got to where they are by starting where they were” and “It’s a marathon, not a sprint” on several occasions. These terms carried me through high school sports, college classes, Delta Gamma recruitment, Miss USA, the FM Parade of Homes, to name a few. Although I grew up watching my parents, then brother, build our families business I am still relatively new to this. I admit that most days I wish I knew as much as my dad does about, well, anything, but especially the housing market.

Last week this school of thought resurfaced on both personal and professional levels. My dad reminded me that good business is about the longevity. It isn’t about coming in first place every time, but rather slowly and steadily building your business model and team, doing a good job and keeping a steady pace. Our family has been doing this for 27 years and step by step we continue to build our community and help people live the American dream of owning a home. There are definitely days that I wish I had all the answers, but I know that learning to take the first few steps to find them is an important tool. So weather it’s running your first relay marathon or taking a moment at work to get things back into perspective, the journey really is just as important as the destination.

Why Not Minot?!

Last Friday the whole Krueger crew packed up and made our way to Bismarck through the winter storm to celebrate the birthdays of my mom [Bonnie] and brother [Corey] at a Willie Nelson concert. He is one of few living music artists that we can all agree on, so it really worked out perfectly that there was a show on their birthdays. Corey, our music lover, would probably have a lot more to add about the technicalities of the performance and how great the show was. I’m not quite as involved in the music scene, but I will say this: The show WAS great. I think all of us can appreciate the fact that Willie still travels and preforms with his original band and his little sister. Some families are just meant to work together. We know the feeling.

Here is a photo Corey shot from the 4th row of the man himself, Willie Nelson:

On Saturday we ventured to Minot to finish off the first spec home we’ve built there since I was just a little girl. No better way to celebrate a birthday weekend than by staging a house, right? My mom and Corey were troopers and with the whole family working together, including help from a couple of extended Krueger relatives, we were able to clean and stage the house in just one day!

This is a shot of the newly staged living room at our Minot spec home:

We are excited to be back in the Minot market again where our roots run deep! Our company was founded in the Magic City in 1984 and I know my parents have thoroughly enjoyed working with some of the same contractors as they did back in the day. As Willie Nelson once wrote, “… when you put your life in a good place, good things follow.”

We truly believe that the communities we build in are great places, so cheers to all of the good things that lie ahead!