Succasunna builder talks about the state of the biz

by Lisa Fleisher/The Star-Ledger

Friday June 19, 2009, 12:15 PM

Just had a quick chat with Don Dyrness, president and owner of the Succasunna-based company Spectrum Construction & Development Co. Inc.

Spectrum Construction & Development recently added a pool, wine cellar, playroom, full bathroom and dance studio to this Gladstone house.

The company, which promotes itself as being there for homeowners from conception to completion, has seen more work creating additions and replacement homes - tearing down existing homes and building on site - than before. Dyrness said the company handles about 10 projects a year.

Tell me a little about your company.
This is our 20th anniversary this month of Spectrum construction. What we do is design and build new homes, additions, renovations and light commercial projects. what makes us really unique is we offer one-stop shopping. A family can come to us and we talk about their lifestyle expectations, budget, wish list and how they want to live in the house.

How has your sector changed from five years ago, and how have you changed?
There was much more demand for houses. We had a backlog, where today we're much more efficient. We're doing computerized design, whereas back then we were doing things by hand. The challenge at that time was really the availability of land. A customer would want to build a house, but ... there's not the supply out there to pick from. Because of the multi-level approval process in the state of New Jersey, there's not enough new home sites being created to meet the demand. There's no new home sites being created.

Where is construction heading in your area?
Most of the towns are either built out or nearly built out. Going forward, the next 20 years what you're going to see are knock-downs and rebuilds or major renovations. I think what you're going to see going forward is a lot of green building with a focus on energy efficiency. What we're also going to see going forward is a focus on the cost to run a house per month. Does it make sense to upgrade a certain system?

What's the most effective "green" technique you use?
The insulation - sealing up the house to prevent air infiltration is a big one. A lot of these things we've been doing for the last 20 years in our regular methods of construction. It just has the green spin on it. But the HVAC equipment has gotten much more efficient.