By Patrick Straub
For over forty-five years, surpassing quality and pairing that desire with a passion for pursuing excellence, Magleby Construction continues to elevate the building experience in mountain resort communities. With a time-tested and solid reputation in the small communities of Park City and Sun Valley, Magleby’s strength of building relationships with trade partners, owners and local community groups makes them a perfect match for the close-knit community of Big Sky.
Rooted on the slopes and in the valleys of Park City and then further refined by decades of experience in Utah’s booming building industry, Paul Magleby set out to make a difference in the construction industry. His persistent dedication to a higher standard of building has led the way in redefining the home building process. Today, Magleby also enjoys the reputation as one of Sun Valley and Park City’s most respected and desired builders.
With a newly opened office and base of operations in Big Sky, the local Big Sky community of homebuyers and skilled craftsman can expect the same level of commitment to quality construction and personal relationships that residents of Park City and Sun Valley have experienced for years. Offering a full suite of home construction and property services, Magleby Construction reputation precedes.
“We have enjoyed being new members of this dynamic community,” says Pierrette Tierney, Magleby’s vice president of business development. “We started as a family-run company and continue today as a second generation family-run company. With over 45 years of history building homes in mountain resort towns, we couldn’t be more excited for the opportunities in Big Sky.”
“We bring to Big Sky history and innovation in the homebuilding process,” adds Tierney, “through our pursuit of excellence, we research and implement the latest building science and systems, we focus on creating lasting partnerships with our trade partners that results in better quality product, and we do this all while keeping the homebuyer experience in the forefront of our daily operations.”
Tierney is no stranger to the luxury home building industry. She has served as president of the Park City Homebuilders Association in 2019 and 2020, and has overseen development and implementation of luxury home communities throughout the West. She is a regular guest speaker at industry events and on podcasts.
“Big Sky’s building industry has some similarities to Park City and Sun Valley,” she says. “The community as a whole is wonderful and we look forward to being a part of it. We desire to be a partner with the many other industry-based businesses because we’ve experienced how successful that can be—for the homebuyer and the local businesses—in the other close-knit communities we’re already in.”
Like the original desire of founder Paul Magleby, the personal side of the construction process is never lost when building or working with Magleby. Homebuyers looking to build a luxury estate home or invest in a planned, higher-end condominium unit will find a partner in Magleby. The relationship between homebuyer and contractor is intimate at Magleby.
For any homebuyer looking at an estate home, whether this is their first time building a luxury home or they’ve been down this path before, Magleby’s experienced staff adhere to a proven process that they call their ClearBuildTM Home Delivery Process.
“With honest, proactive communication and transparent budgeting throughout all facets of the home building process,” Tierney says, “we are able to get involved early in the design and decision- making process with our clients and the entire team of architects, designers and trade partners to produce more predictable outcomes.” Magleby’s ClearBuildTM Home Delivery integrates technology, standardized systems and team members to ensure the best possible home design and building experience. This process provides greater synergy between all the members of the home building team: Magleby’s staff, architects, interior designers, engineers and trade contractors.
ClearBuildTM is a collaborative method that harnesses the talents and insights of all participants to reduce waste and optimize efficiency through all phases of design, fabrication and construction leading to a higher quality, more cost effective and smoother building experience.
The process of building a luxury home in a mountain community can face many hurdles, phases and components; success and final follow-through requires a proven process and professional building leadership.
What may begin as a dream concept created while riding the chairlift to ski the next line of fresh powder, can certainly become a reality. Unraveling the riddle that is created when moving from concept to design to construction is at the core of any successful builder. The ideas dreamed up by one homeowner may differ from another, but by choosing a homebuilder like Magleby— one with a breadth of experience in all facets of the process—rarely is a dream concept unattainable.
“Our services, the ClearBuildTM Home Delivery and our partnerships with our trade partners truly set us apart from other builders,” says Layne Thompson, president of Magleby’s Big Sky and Sun Valley operations.
“With our experience in Park City and Sun Valley,” adds Thompson, “we know first-hand the challenges created by mountain environments are opportunities for us to shine.”
Thompson, who began working with Magleby as a project manager for a multi-unit luxury townhome project in Sun Valley, is excited to bring Magleby’s brand of excellence and industry collaboration to Big Sky. He says the ClearBuildTM experience personifies Magleby’s commitment to the personal side of an industry that is so often caught up in mass production and margins.
“We are passionate builders who partner with quality craftsman to create even higher quality homes,” says Thompson.
A homebuyer with Magleby can expect to be involved in the process as much, or as little, as they want. From dream to reality, each Magleby home is assigned an experienced construction site manager. From weekly on-site meetings to conference calls, the team behind Magleby is committed to keeping the project on task and on budget. These weekly updates cover many facets of the process in which a homebuyer might have interest. Details like scheduling management, design decisions and how things are falling inline with the budget are all communicated to the homebuyer. Open communication and personal involvement are embraced.
trusted advisor throughout the entire process. The Magleby staff worked tirelessly to reduce any surprises, always meeting and often surpassing expectations. In the end, the homebuyer gets a finished product that is more valuable than the money they spent—a luxury estate home that can be enjoyed for generations to come in a landscape as grand as the home.
With the area’s towering peaks and clear rivers, homes in Big Sky possess the need to be as unique as the owners occupying them. Big Sky is a mountain resort community similar to Park City and Sun Valley; homebuyers in these towns often desire luxury estate homes with very unique qualities. Whether it is creating a multi-functional mudroom that can serve as a ski-locker room in the winter and a mountain biking foundry in summer or creating a wall of windows so a homeowner can take in all the views Big Sky has to offer, the team at Magleby is able to deliver on various aesthetic designs with extreme attention to detail.
By partnering with local skilled trade partners, as well as supplementing with outside market talent, Magleby feels confident they can mesh their existing reputation for excellent quality estate homes with the growing demand in the Big Sky area.
According to recent reports, Big Sky’s population has grown over 20 percent since 2015. Despite this, still nearly three-quarters of the homes in Big Sky are second homes, with many of the homes being built as luxury and estate homes. As the area grows, the building of new homes—whether estate homes or single-family homes—will continue to grow as well.
“We’re excited to partner with the many great trade craftsman already in Big Sky,” says Thompson. “In Park City and Sun Valley we have created lasting partnerships with the best and most skilled trade partners.”
“Many of our future trade partners here in Big Sky are already operating at a high level of quality. We are eager to reach out to those individuals and build those relationships so we can partner with the architects, the craftsman, the vendors and the designers, and help them grow along with us and the Big Sky community,” adds Thompson.
In these partnerships, Thompson and Tierney both agree, is where Magleby rises to the top. Building an estate home worthy of the distinction so many Magleby homeowners have come to expect, is a multi-faceted process. Like over simplifying skiing down Lone Mountain’s Liberty Bowl—just point your skis downhill and turn when you need to, right? —building a luxury estate home could tumble out of control as well. Choose the lot with the best view and best ski-in and ski-out access and the rest just all falls into place, right? Well, it is not entirely that simple, but with Magleby’s processional services that process will certainly have less rocky terrain.
The beginning of the homebuilding process can be broken down into three distinct phases: the pre-construction phase, the design-development phase and the construction document phase. The pre-construction phase is mostly conceptual as it is a homebuyer’s wish list or laundry list of all the components of the home laid out and ready to be discussed. The design-development phase is when things get a little more serious as engineers and trade partners are brought into the conversation. Lastly, after trade partners and Magleby’s onsite managers collaborate with the homebuyer, the project moves to document creation, which means breaking ground is soon to follow.
“The beginning of the construction process is so crucial,” says Thompson. “We pride ourselves in partnering with the right experts for each part of the home, bringing them into the home design process as early as possible. By doing this at the start we can confront any curveballs early. This also saves the homebuyer money and enhances the quality of the home.”
Trade partners, as Magleby describes them, are often referred to as “subcontractors” by other builders. Magleby’s staff balks at the term. With nearly a half-century of experience in the luxury home building industry, the management team at Magleby freely admits the intense value of partnering with quality skilled craftsman. Every desirable finished luxury home showcases the talents of the team-concept that is core to Magleby’s success. Whether it is a multi-story, several-sided stone fireplace that is the centerpiece of a great room or a geo-tech engineered and radiant heated spa and sauna room, the mutually beneficial relationships created between Magleby and trade craftsman are cherished.
New to Big Sky’s booming building industry will be Magleby’s streamlined process of bringing in trade partners in the early stages. This concept of collaboration and streamlining the process for homebuyers will be favorable to local Big Sky area trade partners. Founding this philosophy in Park City proved cost-effective for homebuyers and trade partners, and when Magleby brought their ideals to Sun Valley, it was a very welcome respite to trade partners in there. The result was many local tradesmen quickly found the ease and profitably of partnering with Magleby was a business boon.
“We found their approach to collaborating and establishing budgets and being accountable to those budgets made us feel that we were much more engaged with the project,” says Bryan Evans of Evans Plumbing, Inc. in Sun Valley. “This approach is different than we’ve seen, but I think it results in the best quality for the best price and everybody is winning. Our overall experience of working with Magleby has been fantastic.”
Magleby is excited to partner with the growing community of trade partners in the region. Continuing their focus on strong personal partnerships, Magleby’s reputation for providing trade partners with a proven framework benefits all—the homeowner by reducing costs, the trade partner by eliminating burdensome waste and inefficiencies, and the local community by creating jobs.
“We hold our trade partners to a higher standard,” says Paul Magleby. “They know what that standard is and they perform to that level. They produce a better product. The quality of their workmanship is better.”
Passion for quality and meaningful partnerships are the drivers that saw Magleby’s reputation in Park City and Sun Valley boom along with the economic growth in the two communities. Their commitment to innovation and service continues to propel the company. Whether it comes in Magleby’s own high-tech materials mills, constantly using science to create better and more innovative homes, or choosing and retaining quality people as part of their team, the legacy of Magleby Construction is enjoyed each day by every homeowner of a Magleby home.
The Big Sky community, and its unique residential communities like the Yellowstone Club, Spanish Peaks and Moonlight Basin, may differ in location and scope than areas in Park City and Sun Valley, but Magleby Construction’s blue print for success is primed to ensure homeowners, trade partners and the Big Sky community experience the same passion to surpass quality.
“Ultimately what we all deliver to the client is a better product,” says Magleby. “And, frankly, it doesn’t cost the client any more money. It’s just done with what you might say is a little more tender loving care by those individuals that created it.”
