Made in the USA Homes: Constructing American Made

Homeowner Patrick Schutte (on left) stands with Alex de Parry of Ann Arbor Builders at the site of Schutte's new made in USA home. (Photo courtesy of AnnArbor.com)

At the end of last year, the Boston Consulting Group reported that 220,000 more new American jobs would be created if every builder in the country increased American-made products by 5 percent, and Janet Miller for AnnArbor.com wrote that such efforts are being made in the Ann Arbor, Michigan area.  This is a wonderful development as it takes a lot of different materials and products to build and furnish a home.  When these all products (or a high percentage of them) are made in the USA, that means more jobs for American workers and a robust economy.

Miller writes in her recent article, Made in the USA: Ann Arbor firm constructing homes with products made in America, that Ann Arbor Builders, a 40-year old construction company run by husband and wife Alex and Betsy de Parry are focusing on building homes primatily using  products and materials made in America.

Recently they collaborated with Patrick Schutte to build his dream home.  He wanted it to be all American-made. Shutte’s soon-to-be four-bedroom house “will be the first new project built under Ann Arbor Builders’ focus on using American-made goods. Except for the granite countertop, the microwave oven and the recessed lighting, everything will be made in America, down to the nails. Construction started in January, and the family expects to move in this summer… ‘If everyone did it, it would add up to be a pretty big thing,’ Betsy de Parry” told Miller for AnnArbor.com.

Schutte was persistent on making his house as “American” as possible, reaching approximately 95% made in America — no small task considering “[that] ‘a few items were impossible to find. All microwaves,’ Betsy de Parry said, are made in South Korea. There are no American-made recessed lights. And most granite comes from abroad, mostly from Brazil and Italy… ‘If a house doesn’t have a microwave, granite countertops or recessed lights, it can be 100 percent American-made,’ she said” (AnnArbor.com).  Hopefully, such products will be domestically produced in the future, but for the time building a house that is 95% American made is quite an accomplishment.

The project undertaken by Parry’s and Schutte also show us that with a small extra cost (only 3 to 5% more) you can construct not only a home made with products from your own community, but take a stand for social justice and civil empowerment. We hope that when Schutte and his family decide to purchase products for their new home they consider Manchester Wood for the best in American made furniture. From our unique coffee tables, end tables, cherry wood desks, and solid wood cabinets, these are just a few of our handmade manufactured goods that are 100% made in the USA.

To view the American Made furniture of Manchester Wood, click here.

To read this amazing article on the efforts of Made in USA homes, click here.

References

Miller, Janet. (2012, March 22). Made in the USA: Ann Arbor firm constructing homes with products made in America. AnnArbor.com. Retrieved from http://www.annarbor.com/business-review/ann-arbor-homebuilders-look-to-build-houses-with-products-made-in-america/