Editorial
Front Page - Friday, December 25, 2009
Across Hamilton County, Bell builds neighborhoods, reputation
David Laprad
Jay Bell of Bell Development in Chattanooga says building a subdivision or house is easy. It’s harder, he says, to build a reputation.
Bell should know: He and his father, Julian, have spent the better part of the last 30 years doing both.
When it comes to building, the Bells have used their time in the residential development business well, constructing 16 neighborhoods in the Hamilton County area comprised of over 2,100 home sites. They built houses on over 850 of those sites themselves.
From Stonewall Farms in Hixson, to McKenzie Farm in Ooltewah, to Belleau Village Town in East Brainerd, Bell Development has a neighborhood and a home to fit the needs of almost any buyer.
Longevity and pricing were key to Bell Development’s survival when the economy slipped. “We struggled with the slowdown like everyone else,” Bell says, while sitting in his North Shore office. “Fortunately, we have several subdivisions with great track records and an excellent product positioned in the right price range.”
Bell says the company has something else, too: a good name. “We focus on quality and customer service. My dad taught me to stand behind whatever I build,” Bell says. “If someone has a problem, he can call us and rest assured we’re going to fix it as quickly as we can. When we take care of a problem, we take care of our name, too.”
To ensure a quality product, Bell Development does a lot of its own work and joins forces only with subcontractors that share the Bell work ethic.
“I believe in surrounding myself with good people. And throughout the last 30 years, we’ve weeded through any potential bad apples,” Bell says. “We get phenomenal work out of our subcontractors. And they take care of their product like we do ours, which means if I have a problem, I can give my subcontractor a call and he’s going to address it.”
Bell and his father are so confident in the quality and craftsmanship of their new homes, they back up each one with a written two-year warranty. When asked if it would be less expensive to build substandard houses and let the owners deal with any problems, Bell says not in the long term.
“If you plan on staying in the same county, the most cost effective and profitable way of doing business is to not cut corners. If I’m going to build on Hamilton, on Hunter the rest of my life, I’ve got to do a quality job.”
Bell says there are no other tricks to doing well in the residential development business. “It’s simple: do a quality job and stand behind it. There’s no magic dust to sprinkle on the ground. Just come to work every day, do the best you can, and when you make a mistake, be honest about it and address it as quickly as possible.”
This approach has allowed Bell Development to cultivate good relationships with Realtors. “Realtors sell about 60 percent of our product. They have to trust us. They have to know when they bring us a client, we’re going to take care of them,” Bell says. “They’re not going to get a phone call three months down the road from an irate homeowner.”
Bell has never known anything other than the development business. His father started the company in 1976 with an eye on making it a premiere engineering firm. The elder Bell soon found out he enjoyed land development more and changed the direction of the business. Before long, his son was cutting lines on a survey crew.
“Then I worked as a carpenter for four or fives years while going through college,” Bell says. “Through the years, I’ve physically done everything we do.”
Bell graduated from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga with a degree in political science and his sights set on law school. The University of Tennessee at Knoxville accepted his application and then gave him a one-year deferment. Over the course of those 12 months, though, Bell decided to stay with the family business.
“I had friends who’d graduated from law school and weren’t the happiest people on Earth,” Bell says. “And I had six or seven houses going at that time. I couldn’t go to law school without finishing those projects. And once you start the ball rolling, it’s hard to stop.”
Bell leaves his office to get a cup of Peruvian coffee, which his wife, Terre, purchased during a recent visit to Peru. He and his wife have been married 19 years and have two children: Carlos, 15, who attends Baylor School; and Veronica, 10, who attends St. Jude. Bell was in 10th grade when he met Terre during a family vacation to Cancun, Mexico.
“Our first day there, I met a young lady my age on the beach in front of our hotel. I fell in love with her, and before we left, I told my parents I was going to marry her,” Bell says. “At that time, there was no Internet and phone service to Mexico was spotty, but we were able to stay in touch.”
Bell’s office walls bear witness to his love of work and family. Large maps of his company’s residential developments cover one wall while pictures of his family occupy the other three. An avid fisherman and hunter, Bell has also made space for photos and paintings featuring his favorite pastimes.
“Being in Hamilton County puts me in the center of the best fishing in the United States, and I’m blessed to have a lot of Mexican friends who take me to some of the best places in the world to go duck hunting,” he says.
Bell says he tries to strike a good balance between work, family and play, and that doing so allows him to be more effective on the job and enjoy life.
“Ten years ago, I used to work until dark every night. Then I found out I could work a lot smarter by delegating authority and concentrating on selling the homes we were building,” Bell says. “So I’m lucky in 2009 to be able to say I’m having fun in the homebuilding business.”
As the one at the company responsible for selling houses, Bell has his fingers on the pulse of the economy. And he likes what he’s feeling as Bell Development enters a new year.
“For about six months, my phone didn’t ring. And when my phone doesn’t ring, things are bad,” he says. “Then about six months ago, things started changing. I could tell by the way people were talking the economy had turned. And now I believe next year could be one of the biggest we’ve had.”
No matter how busy he gets, though, Bell says producing a quality product and offering first-rate customer service will remain a priority at Bell Development. After all, in addition to building new neighborhoods, they have a reputation to uphold.
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