country home country - Bethel Country Builders LLC

Sullivan
County
Democrat
july
2010
h o me
count ry
in the
spotlight on contractors
For
Otto,
building
homes is
a calling
Story and photos by
Frank Rizzo
S
usan and Ray Otto
occasionally do some
weekend
driving
around the county.
Susan will point out some
lovely old house and comment on how nice it would be
to live in it. Ray’s likely reaction is to say it would be a
good candidate – for a thorough bulldozing.
Ray Otto has a rare moment of relaxation in the dining room of his “Majestic Oaks”home, the first one he built as a
contractor in Sullivan County.
“People tell me, ‘They don’t
build houses like they used
to,’ and I say, ‘Thank God!’ ”
Ray chuckles before listing
the advantages of modern
materials and construction
methods.
Once, Ray was strictly a
plumber (with a “master” rating to boot) but as he put it,
“Plumbing is [mostly] hidden. No matter how nice a
job you do.”
Otto looks at the Manobloc at the house he is bulding on Bernhardt Rd. It’s
an elegant and efficient way of organizing the water flow in a residence.
But constructing custom
houses – now that is leaving
one’s stamp on the landscape
that is gratifying in a way
plumbing and heating work
can never match.
“It’s nice to look back and
say, ‘Geez, I built this,’ ” Otto
remarked as he checked out
the third residence he has
been involved in erecting
under the banner of his contracting business, Bethel
Country Builders.
It is located at Kenoza Lake
Estates, and his client asked
him to look at several lots in
the development – all wooded. He did the walkthrough
with the client and, with her
requirements in mind, chose
the lot best suited for the
“house of her dreams.”
“You need a bit of foresight
to look at the property and
figure out what the final job
will look like,” he said.
As the subcontractors
worked on the framing and
masonry, Otto pointed out a
retaining wall made up of
large stones found on the
property. It could have been
built out of cinder blocks or
poured concrete, but the
This is the residence Otto is building
at the Kenoza Lake Estates. He
used stones found on the property
to create the retaining wall in foreground.
HOME IN THE COUNTRY
SULLIVAN COUNTY DEMOCRAT
JULY, 2010
Otto is slowly working on finishing this house, Villa
Paradiso on Bernhardt Rd. Once the Ottos sell their
residence on Pucky Huddle Rd. they hope to move
here, near Susan’s parents and his mother.
stacked, rectangular-shaped
stones created a more pleasing affect and were in harmony with the surroundings.
“The last time the owner
was here, [the property]
looked like that,” Otto said,
pointing to a wooded portion
of the lot.
“It’s a nice feeling that
someone has that kind of
trust in you to say ‘Go ahead
and build it’ [without looking
over your shoulder].”
Though his family has
owned property in the county since 1965, Otto’s working
life, until several years ago,
was based in Hunterdon
County, NJ.
Otto, who graduated from
the Ralph R. McKee Career &
Technical High School in
Staten Island, had long been
associated and intrigued with
Otto with the fireplace in “Villa
Paradiso.” The stones holding the
fireplace mantel came from the property as well.
the process of building a
house. Through a contractor
friend, he got his hands-on
experience helping to build a
“million-dollar” residence in
Hunterdon County shortly
before making the move to
Sullivan County.
“I had always wanted to get
involved in a complete
[house] job,” Otto reflected.
“When I moved up here, I
decided to concentrate on
custom homes.”
His moving to Sullivan
County was due to having
met and courted Kenoza
Lake’s Susan Brown, whom
he eventually married in
2007.
The Ottos live in the first
house Ray built, on Pucky
Huddle Rd. in Bethel on
property his parents bought
in the 1960s. “Majestic Oaks”
was a finalist in the 2007
Sullivan County Board of
Realtors’ Sullivan Showcase
Awards for “Best Residence
Under 2,500 Square Feet.”
Though they love the house
and its location, the Ottos
eventually hope to move several miles to another one on
the site of the old Bernhardt
Homestead in Kenoza Lake,
near Susan’s family farm and
her parents, Ray and
Marguerite (and Ray’s mother, Florence).
Ray is working on this
house – whose outside is
mainly finished – in his spare
Susan and Ray Otto on the porch of what they soon hope to be their future
home, “Villa Paradiso” in Kenoza Lake.
time, but once the Ottos sell
their residence (a tough task
in this current market) he and
his subcontractors can finish
the Bernhardt Rd. structure
in several months.
Attention to detail and
“exquisite craftsmanship” are
the hallmarks of Otto’s work.
“Everything with me has to
look right and look neat,” Ray
said.
Otto has found a subcontracting team he feels comfortable with. It includes Tom
Buck of Pine Bush (framer),
Mike Paciga of Jeffersonville
(mason), Kevin Peters of
Jeffersonville
(excavator),
Billy and Eugene Fulton of
Kenoza Lake (well drillers)
and
JS
Electric
of
Narrowsburg.
The Ottos recently entered
into a relationship with Log
Chips, LLC, an authorized
representative of Kuhns
Brothers Custom Log Homes.
“I’m hoping to expand my
business into log homes. It’s a
personal preference,” Otto
said.
“I care about how the job
gets done,” Otto summed up
his work philosophy. “Every
home I built I approach like
I’m building it for myself.”
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or visit our new website at
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