Dear Mr. Rust:
Late in 1997, Greta and I saw Life Magazine’s Dream Home for that year and began dreaming of a place to put the Taliesin plan. By early 1998, we had purchased hillside property in a small West Virginia community where we could overlook a rolling valley and enjoy our retirement years. We looked forward to clearing our land and building our home by the end of that, year.
We were fortunate to travel in the area of Scottsdale, Arizona, and visited Taliesin. We spent more than and hour with Joe Lundeen discussing the plans and looking for any problems that might surprise us. He assured us that there was no particular trick to building the house as long as we had a good carpenter.
By August, we had engaged a builder who had completed several large houses and buildings in our area. With the land cleared earlier in the spring, we were able to break ground for the house on August 7, 1998. We carefully covered instructions for beginning the house, including making choices for siding, roofing, appliances, tiles, wall colors, flooring, bathroom fixtures and much more. We felt we were ahead of the game.
A previous commitment had been made by us to be out of town for eight weeks and we considered canceling it. But with assurance that we could readily be reached by telephone and could return at any time if needed, we left our contractor in charge. He understood that he had a standing invitation to call Joe Lundeen for assistance.
After a few weeks into construction, it became clear that our builder was not progressing. The Taliesin plans were beyond his grasp. It was at that time that we sought engineering assistance through Joe Lundeen and were introduced to you. How fortunate we are to have been led to you.
We want to thank you for picking up the ball when it seemed our builder needed engineering help. You provided the help he seemed to need and stood by us when detail after detail needed to be explained to him. You have been more than responsive to our long distance problems and have been instrumental in our reaching solutions to his seemingly impossible problems.
You have been an important consultant in our eventual decision to dismantle the first structure after we attempted to correct mistakes by the original builder. You have been a sounding board as we have struggled with a nasty lawsuit while at the same time starting our house again from step one. You continue to show interest in our progress as we see our home once more rise from the brow of the hill, where we are tucked away in our motor home.
Our new contractors, Ridenour Construction, take great delight in building our exciting house. They agree that they must study the drawings and learn as they go, but they are building according to the plan and find the original plan complete. Glynn Ridenour is a good carpenter. He is also a very savvy man who works with precision and creativity.
We have found no insurmountable problems so far and we are under black paper this week. Because we are so pleased with their work, we are giving the Ridenours a week in a condominium in Sedona, Arizona, in late August. They plan to visit Taliesin while they are there. I am so pleased and grateful to you that you have offered to escort them for a tour when they visit. I wish we could be there to meet you in person, also.
Mike, it is hard to put into words how pleased we have been with our working relationship with you. Thank you for being a continuing part of this project. it is far from over, but we want to express our appreciation now. Many thanks.
Sincerely,
Jim & Greta Tyler