Home builder is driven by details

Wanda King knew exactly where she wanted Lancaster Corp. to install the antique chandelier.

She asked to have it placed over the freestanding four-footed tub in the bathroom of the stone house she was having built. But the workmen were leery of the request because of the building code.

"I picked up the phone and called Leitch [Lancaster], and within an hour the chandelier was up, and it passed code," King said. "Leitch took care of it. That convinced me that he could do anything."

The Kings chose Lancaster because of his reputation in the building industry.

"We wanted someone with a fabulous record," King said. "Stone is not used here much, and we also wanted a tile roof, which was a unique component. We felt comfortable because we knew that Leitch was very good at what he did."

Custom home builder T. Leitch Lancaster III started Goochland County-based Lancaster Corp. in 1995.

He became interested in building when he bought a renovated home in Richmond's Fan District after his 1968 graduation from Virginia Tech.

"I started buying properties in the Fan, fixing them up and selling them," he said.

In 1976, Lancaster and a friend, J. Russell Parker III, formed the building company Parker Lancaster Corp. The company grew in the late 1970s when it started building in Brandermill, the planned community in Chesterfield County.

Parker Lancaster had grown to be one of the largest home builders in the Richmond area.

"We took that company from three spec houses to 300 homes a year," Lancaster said.

The company had offices in Richmond and Smithfield as well as three locations in North Carolina when Lancaster sold his part of the business to Parker in 1989 in order to focus on custom home building rather than production building.

"I wanted to form a different kind of company," Lancaster said. "Something on a smaller scale. I wanted to have fun building a house and not dread the process."

He moved to Wilmington, N.C., and began building under the name of Lancaster Homes in a new high-end waterfront community on the Intracoastal Waterway. He and his family stayed in Wilmington for six years before moving back to the Richmond area.

Once back, Lancaster formed Lancaster Corp. and started building in Randolph Square in Goochland. In 2001, son Thomas Lancaster IV joined the company.

"I had always been around construction with my dad," Thomas said. "I wanted to get involved."

Lancaster's wife, Clare, also works for the company on the financial end of the business.

Over the years, Lancaster has built a reputation for his astute attention to detail.

"If he thought anything was a half-inch off, he would definitely ask us to fix it," said Marvin Daniel, president of Henrico County-based KDW Home, a custom kitchen and bath design-and-build firm.

KDW Home designs and installs the kitchens for each of Lancaster's customers.

"They all walk away in love with their builder," Daniel said. "They all say it was a great experience. Leitch delivers more than the client is expecting. He goes above and beyond on every detail."

The homes Lancaster builds range from about 2,800 square feet to 10,000-plus. The company also does renovations and additions.

"We build homes as if they were our own home," Lancaster said. "Our subcontractors are very aware of how we feel and follow through accordingly."

Lancaster has seen a decline in the demand for new custom homes during the past six months, but he hopes that trend will reverse itself soon.

"This economy is different than anything I have seen since I started building," he said. "However, we are seeing more activity now than we did in the last 60 days."

According to the National Association of Home Builders, single-family housing starts gained 7.5 percent in May, breaking the 400,000 mark for the first time since November.

Lancaster believes in controlled growth. When he began his company, he built one home a year. Now he builds about six custom homes a year.

"If you get too big, you lose control," he said.

He is involved in the building process from beginning to end.

"Quality control and homeowner satisfaction is always No. 1," he said. "A home is most often the largest single investment someone makes. This is why we want both us and our homeowner to have a good eye on cost so we not only build a great home but also an excellent investment."