Families build homes

MT. PLEASANT — Coming from families rich in homebuilding skills and experiences, it was more a matter of when, not if, Jordie and Tyler Dingman would build a home in the sweet town of Mt. Pleasant where they both grew up.

The Dingman’s “when” occurred just at the right time, too, as they just barely missed the soaring prices of lumber, labor, materials, and COVID-19-related delays.

“We locked in prices only about two weeks before COVID hit,” Jordie said.

The couple bought their lot of land Nov. 2019, broke ground the beginning of March 2020, and moved in November 2020.

“Had prices been what they are now, we probably would have bought a house,” Jordie said of the large increases in material costs.

Building their home went relatively smoothly thanks to the help of many hands and heads, and Jordie said the hardest part was really just coordinating when each work-phase could begin.

Because they were able to utilize family skills for their build, it was difficult to name an official general contractor, so a lot of that type of organization fell to Tyler.

Uncle Jeff Ruschill, however, did fulfill many of the other general contractor duties.

Another Uncle, John Lambert, took charge of dry wall for the home, while Tyler’s dad, Dan Dingman, headed up most of the building plans with the help of Mehring Construction.

“We painted,” Jordie said of her and Tyler’s physical contribution to the build. “I would never do that again, but that’s about all we had to do.”

Tyler, however, might consider himself to be more of a Do-It-Yourself expert than Jordie would give him credit.

“Deck in Day, too,” Tyler chimed in as they thought of all of their family members that assisted in the project.

“Oh, deck in a day,” Jordie repeated with a chuckle. “It started with him and the brother-in-law putting a deck on our old house in a day. Then they started calling themselves Deck In A Day, and they’ve done some other projects at each other’s houses, and helped with the painting and stuff here.”

According to Tyler, he and brother-in-law Marcus Mullen not only painted the house, but they also installed the backyard fence, and quickly, too.

While the homebuilding experience itself didn’t take very long, deciding what kind of home their family of four would live in did take a decent amount of time.

“We went to a ton of open houses in Des Moines, Iowa City, and Tiffin,” Jordie said. “This layout was actually pretty popular in those areas, but more unique around here.”

Jordie also attributes some of their design choices to home show expos and pinterest.

According to Jordie, they looked at different home types for nearly a year before they even picked a lot of land to begin building.

Now, Jordie and Tyler enjoy their three bedroom three bathroom 1,900 square foot home with their children Lucy and Logan and cats Jack and Cheddar and a silly dog who loves the trampoline.

They enjoy being close to family, and have found they already knew a number of their neighbors.

The family is working on putting more of an individualized stamp on the home, now.

“We kept it kind of basic so we could add details as we went,” Jordie said.

“I want to do a funky kitchen back splash,” Jordie said. “Not just like white subway tile.”

In keeping with the theme of family being the biggest help, Jordie’s sister, Jerilyn Horn, owner of Jerilyn Horn Kitchen & Bath Design, intends to help Jordie make her funky backsplash dreams come true.

“We did just recently put up that wall paper,” Jordie said pointing to a white wallpaper with deep green designs that look like evergreen trees peeking out from the laundry area.

The couple have a few different projects that still need done to complete their vision like the downstairs bathroom, doing a front porch, and landscaping, but they are happy in their home.

Jordie’s favorite room is the backyard covered patio with fireplace. It actually has the same fireplace as the living room just on the other side of the picture windows, which makes it really feel like a whole outdoor living room.

She is also very pleased with the open kitchen layout and large Island in their kitchen.

“I like that I can be cooking dinner and just be watching TV or keeping an eye on the kids,” she said.

According to Jordie, Tyler’s favorites are the garage and the basement.

Tyler agreed that they actually are his favorite, and he would like to finish the garage someday.

The basement is a sweet family space with a wet bar and vintage inspired popcorn cart that the whole family enjoys for the ever so common family movie night.

So, between checking things off the ‘Honey Do’ list, Jordie teaching P.E. in Mt. Pleasant, and Tyler Directing Digital at Cambridge, the Dingman family are more than likely found outside enjoying beautiful weather, or downstairs popping popcorn, and popping in a family movie.

Comments: AnnaMarie.Ward@southeastiowaunion.com