Ricky Edgerton wanted to build his own home when he was 22. He got together with a friend who was in a family-owned small building business with his father.  With the help and guidance from them he built his first house for himself.  That was in 1980.  He worked at Newport News Shipbuilding by day, and around 1987 started buying foreclosed properties that he could fix up and sell in his spare time.  As foreclosures became fewer with a better economy, Edgerton decided to get his Class A Contractor’s License and build new houses.  He still worked at the shipyard and built on the side until 1994 when he started building fulltime.    Edgerton's experience of tearing older houses apart and seeing how they were built intrigued him.  “I learned about the construction process and all the phases of it by tearing houses apart and putting them back together,” he says.  “It gave me a great appreciation for the work.”    Edgerton builds primarily in York County and Williamsburg, but has been building more in the Williamsburg area recently because of the availability of lots.  However, he has covered a distance from as far as Reedville in the Northern Neck to Isle of Wight County south of the James River.  Typically he builds in the $350,000 to one-million plus range-homes of 3,400 to 7500 square feet.  “I have been fortunate to have enough recommendations from my current homeowners to keep me busy with pre-sold built-to-order homes,” he says.  “I build about 10 homes a year, and that is a comfortable pace for me.  I can run the business alone with part-time office help and still be on site giving personal attention to every home.  The homeowners meet with me personally to make all the arrangements, and I handle the details for them.”    Edgerton says that this philosophy of building is, “Give the customers a good quality product and plenty of attention.  I love working hand-in-hand with the customers.  I feel like they deserve that when building a custom home.  By hearing firsthand what their needs are and how they want things done, I can help them develop their plans and personally see that they are carried through to their satisfaction.”  “Typically it takes about two months to develop the plans for a custom home,” says Edgerton.  “We usually have a preliminary meeting from a reference by one of my existing homeowners or possibly from one of my site signs in a neighborhood where we are building.  We sit down and do some rough idea sketches, then send the sketches to an architect for drawings.  After further meeting and finalizing the plans, we ask for six months to build the home.  We can usually bring them in early around five months, but I like to allow for unforeseen problems like bad weather.     “John Wainwright is the designer I use locally,” he says.  “Once we take their ideas and concepts and put them together, we take them to John to draw up the plans.  He meets with the homeowners and does a preliminary plan for them.  We sit down again and go over the plans, discuss changes and work until we are ready for John to draw up the final working drawings.  I have also bought plans from Carmichael & Bain, Design Basic and Frank Betts.”   Edgerton says that the greatest departure from his trademark traditional homes was a Floridian style home he built in Reedville.  He was a bit reluctant to build so far from his home base, but the owner was a good friend of one of his homeowners, and they insisted that he build the home.  As a testament to Ricky’s popularity among his subcontractors, all but one of them traveled the distance to build the home for him.   Ricky Edgerton grew up in Hampton.  He went to Bethel High School where he was active in baseball, football, and basketball.  About 15 years ago he moved to York County.  “We sold the house we were living in and had to move rather quickly, so I purchased a house from another builder.  The builder and I are still friends,” he adds.  Ricky has three daughters, Renea (26), Jenny (25), Gabrielle(17), and one son Joshua (15) .When he participated in the 1996 Peninsula Housing & Builders Association (PHBA) Parade of Homes, he named his entry the Jennifer Renea in honor of his two daughters.  “I love to go to Redskins football games,” he says.  “I am a season ticket-holder.  Snow skiing is really my passion, and I try to go every chance I get.  Even though I dont get a chance to play Softball anymore, I coach Joshua's baseball teams, Including AAU, Little Leage and his Middle school team.    “ When I talk to potential homeowners,” he says, “I hope that they will perceive my honesty and the quality of the product that I can give them.  I feel that I do things in the process of construction that some other builders don’t do.  I try to establish a level of trust by being a good listener and taking care of the concerns that they have.  Typically the homes we build are last homes.  The homeowners are retiring or are in their later career stages.  They are building the home they’ve always wanted.  I do everything I can to accommodate their needs.”    One of the ways to judge a builder is by his relationships with his suppliers and subcontractors.  Edgerton has found those who fit his building style and quality needs.  He has stayed with them since the beginning.  “I work well with them, and I feel that it’s a good reflection on me that they are still with me.  I pay them well, they know what I expect and they do the same quality work for me consistently.  I never have to be concerned about how I am going to sell a customer on my homes, because I know the quality is going to be maintained year in and year out.   “You can pretty much buy supplies anywhere, but I look for suppliers who have a good staff behind them and good service,” he says.  “It means a lot to have good team backing you up if a customer wants some additional things after moving in or wants to make minor adjustments.   “The 1996 Parade of Homes in The Lakes of Dare in York County was the thing that really got me up and going as a full-time builder.  I think that the people coming to the Parade who knew me before realized that I could do what I wanted to do.  The people who didn’t know me before the Parade of Homes saw what I could do and gave me a chance to bid on their jobs and discuss their future plans.  The Parade was a good boost.  It let me achieve my dream of becoming a premier builder.    “I think that I would like to be remembered as a good person who built quality homes,” he reflects.  With the reputation he has built among his colleagues and homeowners, Ricky Edgerton will be remembered very well indeed. Ricky and his wife Alice live in the Dare section of York County.