Denali Custom Homes was founded on our passion for creativity, design, and delivering a superb client experience from lot selection to project completion. We take the time to understand our clients’ needs throughout the design and build process to deliver a truly one-of-kind custom home.
Photo by Meghan Doll Photography
How did you get started in homebuilding?
David’s interest in homebuilding began when he was very young, sketching pictures of his dream home at the kitchen table while doing his homework. His early passion for architecture and design soon morphed into a love of homebuilding. His mother, who was an interior designer, started building custom homes in the late ’70s. His father, who had an engineering degree from the University of Minnesota, later joined her and they built custom homes in Indiana for 20 years. David spent his high school and college years working in the family business, learning the many aspects of the construction process, and watching his mother design homes. That’s when he fell in love with custom homebuilding.
David followed his passion and founded Denali Custom Homes, in 1998. He has always placed a high value on design and craftsmanship—custom homebuilding is an art. Denali develops a one-of-a-kind product and offers a one-of-a-kind experience.
What inspires and influences your work?
We are very inspired by nature and bringing the way people live in their home together with light, ambiance, functionality, and, of course, style. The process of getting to know our clients from the initial meeting, through the entire architectural and design phase helps to craft the ultimate plan to fit our client’s personal lifestyle.
Being tasked to help create someone’s dream home is something we see as a welcomed and exciting challenge with each new custom home. Our goal is to help guide our client’s vision with expertise and finesse to ensure each phase is stress-free and enjoyable. We believe building a custom home should be fun!
How would you describe your team’s approach to a new project?
We take pride in the fact that we are a smaller design and build firm. Each new project is approached as a team effort, giving our clients a sense of comfort and control. We believe our clients should have a direct line of communication with us throughout the entire process, and because of that, we will never take on more projects than we feel we can give our utmost attention.
Our team is very tuned in to what our clients’ needs are, and it is such a great compliment when a client says, “You really listened to us!” Those words are what we always strive for.
What are the most important elements of a successful build team?
We have been evolving over many years to build a cohesive team of the top talent in the field. We feel that having a mutual sense of passion and purpose along with the integrity required to be one of the best in the industry is the only way to have a successful build team. We consider one another friends and family, and with that comes the desire to give unparalleled customer service and take pride in every detail.
What sets your company apart?
Denali is quite different than other builders in many respects, but most notable is the fact that we have foregone the typical hierarchy chain of command and instead set up our owner, David Bieker, and our director of sales, Jodie Unger, as your first line of communication throughout your project. Clients often tell us that our hands-on approach to designing a home alongside them is what makes the process so enjoyable and stress-free. Likewise, our experienced project managers are specifically overseeing only one or two projects at a time. Having a shortlist of go-tos ensures that we can give up-to-the-minute details on the progression of every project and always be available for questions that we can honestly answer.
What are some of your favorite trends and styles in new construction?
We like to try to stay ahead of the trends that seem to trickle slowly into the Midwest design forum. However, we like to describe our design aesthetic in seven basic terms that can transcend any genre.
- Unique Exterior
- Uncluttered Layout
- Windows and Light
- Texture Over Color
- Local Sourcing
- Indoor/Outdoor Living
- Low-Maintenance Design
What makes you proud to be a builder?
What makes us at Denali most proud to be a top builder in the Twin Cities is the long trail of happy clients that continue to call on us over the years for other projects and enthusiastically recommend us to all their friends and family!
