If you have been around the West Little Rock building for any length of time, you should be familiar with the family name Ferguson. Randy Ferguson created Randy Ferguson Custom Homes. His son, former University of Arkansas baseball player Rick Ferguson, would follow in similar footsteps. After a career-ending injury, Rick moved back to Little Rock, creating Rick Ferguson Custom Homes. Rick developed Waterview Estates and Lakeview West. Both neighborhoods have million-dollar views of Lake Maumelle and Pinnacle Mountain. Rick’s son Jack is carrying on the family legacy. Jack Ferguson is a third-generation home builder and owner/founder of Jack Ferguson Custom Homes.
Building in Arkansas met Jack at his unassuming office in Roland. In front of a massive stone fireplace, the humble young man talked about starting his company during the pandemic and how the power of social media is key to future growth.
I’m a third-generation builder. When I was little I would follow my paw-paw around on job sites. I dressed like him with a pencil in the side of my ear. I did the same with my dad. As long as I can remember I’ve been on job sites following the two men I look up to in life. My goal was always to work alongside my father. Starting my own company came as a surprise.
After leaving the UofA, I worked for a local builder. Then Covid hit. I was asked what my long-term plans were. I decided to leave and start my own company. Ever since I’ve been on my own. I started when I was 20 years old, which was earlier than I thought. When you have good people around to help and guide you, you can keep your head down and get it done. Looking back I couldn’t tell you how it happened. It was hard work every day and ultimately it worked out.
I am so thankful to have the natural direction. I didn’t have to figure out where I was going or what I was going to do.
Treat others how I want to be treated. That’s a family motto and something my father taught me. If you treat others the way you want to be treated in business you will always be okay. That’s the number one vision.
Then growth. I want to have as much growth as possible while maintaining quality control. Ultimately I want to be a developer and develop big tracks of land and build homes at the same time.
Remarkable change. When I started right after COVID-19, obviously that was the work history we were living in. I knew it was world history as it was happening. What I didn’t know was all the things that would follow up as a result of that.
My pawpaw who is 86 years old, for the last 3 years (the time period I started this company) said he’s never seen anything like it in his entire career. Just the 3 years with this brand new company we’ve seen prices increase 200%, bizarre restrictions, couldn’t get material, appliances you had to order 6 months out. Crazy things were happening in the industry day in and day out. Change was happening by the week. If you quoted something Monday you would have to re-quote it the following Monday. Watching the industry go through all that craziness and low interest rates and how it’s flipped. We have high interest rates but material pricing started to look better. It’s been a crazy ride, everyone’s experienced it, but especially being brand new on my own in the game it was a bizarre time to start the company. Thankfully, we’ve made it.
If you think about how much of a blessing it is to build a brand new home in our great country, I hope it is something people can really take in and enjoy. I have a client where I’ve encouraged them to wait because they weren’t at a point where they really couldn’t enjoy it. It was going to be too stressful for them. So if you can enjoy the process, take it in and not be overly stressed, go for it!
Two answers. A recent project I just finished was a 1.7 million dollar house overlooking Lake Maumelle in Waterview Estates. It’s over 5500 sqft. High-end finishes, very beautiful. On the back of the house, we did commercial-style windows where you have a 180-degree view of the western mountain range and Pinnacle Mountain, and Lake Maumelle you can even see Alotian Golf Club. It is fabulous. That is certainly my most proud job. One I will always look back on because my brother was involved, my father, my sister-in-law, my mother. It was a family-oriented project. And that will always be my most proud project.
Another job I won’t forget on the other end of the spectrum. One I did in Hot Springs Village. It was a long commute and a renovation/new build at the same time. Just the commute and the stress of that particular job I remember thinking, I sure do like building closer to home. I sure do like new construction.
The biggest lesson I’ve learned is tenacity. Just keep your head down and stay after it. That’s something I still do. Anytime you learn a new area, to grow and evolve, you have to force yourself to learn and keep your head down, and keep pushing it every single day to move forward. That to me is how true growth is done along with hard work.
The relationships I have with the people I build homes for are really fabulous. I have a lot of friends from it. It comes from communication, working hard every day to please and meet the goals of their home, and doing right by people. Even starting out owning my own company, these three things alone have proven to be catalysts to being successful.
I am a big dreamer. If I do right, work hard, and trust in God I think anything is possible for this business. I see in the next five years for me, that the more homes I’ve been producing and pushing through social media. I will see more growth, and more people talking to me. More custom pre-solds coming through the door, and my spec homes getting better.
Growth if we stay on the path we’re on right now we can have significant growth in the next five years or so. I ultimately want to get to developing, that might be a 10-year goal.
It’s incredibly important to be a small business owner. You can amass the following as best you can of people, who are typically local. The ability post your product for free and put that in front of people and push your brand and what you are doing is incredibly important. If you’re proud of what you’re doing you want to put that out there.
Social media, I think is the greatest advertising you can do these days. You’re, also, planting a seed. Me being one of the younger builders, all the people seeing my product of what I’m doing now, is planting a seed. These people may not build a home for 10-15 years, but if they keep up with me over the years. When they think of building, I’ll be up there, naturally of who they think to call.
It's reflected by what I tell potential clients. I'll give you a list of clientele you can call and ask what it's like working with Jack Ferguson Custom Homes. To me, creating a happy customer and people who know they were treated fairly and that I built with the best intent possible, to me that is incredibly important. That statement shows that I truly believe in what I'm saying. You can call anyone I've built for. Building is a referral business. So If I continue with that, we are bound to see growth.
Jack FergusonExercise. I love spending quality time with my family and hanging out with my dad grilling. And dirt bikes, I love riding dirt bikes. I do that every chance I get.
If I am unplugging, I am a big fan of Lake Hamilton in Hot Springs. If I can’t get there then anytime in nature.
I’ll go out to the woods. I used to be a hunter but not as much anymore. Anytime in nature, hiking, something I can disconnect but still be close by.
I want to give thanks and honor to my paw-paw and dad. I am grateful for what I've learned from them and grateful for the opportunity to build in our country.
Jack Ferguson