Goshy Homes | Houston, Texas

Carl Goshy Orchestrates Dream Homes

Greater Houston Edition

themetropolitanbuilder.com

Carl Goshy Orchestrates Dream Homes

By Kathy Bowen Stolz | Photography by Kathleen O. Ryan

Carl Goshy believes in divine intervention. How else to explain his successful career in building after decades of training to become a professional musician?

Expecting to be a professional musician from boyhood, Carl spent years preparing for a musical career, playing in the U.S. Army Band before earning a bachelor’s degree in trumpet performance at Penn State University. Following that plan, he moved to Texas in 1981 to pursue a master’s degree in music at the University of Texas.

But an unexpected detour in his career path led him to professional fulfillment in an entirely new field. During a nine-month break while he was waiting to start graduate school, Carl took a job as a management trainee for

U.S. Homes (“a pretty cool place”) and found that he really enjoyed the building process.

After U.S. Homes cut back its staff, Carl worked as a project manager for 10 years for other builders, including Village Builders, a division of Exxon. On the very day that Carl had decided to leave Village Builders to start his own company, divine intervention again interceded, when Exxon offered an early retirement package as a way to reduce staffing. Knowing he had a retirement package made the leap to self-employment easier for Carl.

But divine intervention wasn’t finished shaping Carl’s career. On his first day of self-employment with Goshy Homes, a former co-worker told him of a homeowner who needed to replace a fire-damaged house. A week later he learned of a commercial project from another former co-worker, and Carl has never looked back!

Now president and owner of both Goshy Homes and C. Goshy Enterprises, Inc., his commercial building division, Carl has kept his hand in music by

“We will not sacrifice quality....”

performing regularly at his church and for weddings and small functions, teaching trumpet and playing with the Woodlands Symphony during its 13-year run. “I’ve learned that you don’t have to be on a world stage to be successful as a musician.”

But how does music complement the building process? During the design/build process, Carl has found “most people don’t know what they want – it’s a process. Every conductor in the world can play the same Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, but it will sound different every time” because of the nuances the conductor wants to emphasize. The same is true of a customer working with a builder.

“My musical background helps me visualize a completed project. Just as I am able to read music

homes will really suit their needs. Carl works closely with his trades, many of whom have been working with him for years, listening to their ideas and suggesting his own. The subcontractors always follow through with fine craftsmanship, leading to a finished product as close to perfection as possible. He said the projects evolve as a thematic piece, just as music does.

Goshy Homes has built custom homes in the $400,000 to $3 million range. His current projects are in Cypress’ Towne Lake community, which features patio homes for the 55 and “better” active adult population. He also has projects in the Woodlands and Kingwood. He said he builds where the market takes him because different markets appeal to different people.

C. Goshy Enterprises, Inc., the commercial division,

and hear it in my mind, I am able to look at a set of [building] plans and do the same thing. I can build the house in my mind, and with my years of experience, I’m able to improve upon the plans, to ‘play’ the plans, so to speak.”

Goshy talks over the project with his clients, encouraging them to bring pictures of homes or features they want to include in their own project. He will walk with them through other houses or buildings to further define their needs and wants before they meet with a designer. “I listen to my clients to create what they want. Honesty and communication are important so there are no surprises. Nobody has ever said that we overcharged them.”

He continues to lead customers through the process from beginning to end to give them options so the

builds community recreation centers, including pools and playgrounds, golf course clubhouses, subdivision entry monuments, lake amenities, extensive landscaping and stone walls. It also constructs medical offices buildings and warehouses and is building a machine shop right now. He said a dentist’s office that the company just completed has the features associated with a custom home. The satisfied dentist quickly referred several other clients to Goshy.

Thanks to referrals, Goshy does very little advertising or marketing of his businesses. “Every client has referred us to one other job, sometimes two or three.” Even his trades people and vendors recommend his companies, he noted. His spec homes, including a Showcase home, typically sell before they are finished.

The companies have several projects underway at any time; however, “we will not sacrifice quality and the

expectations of our customers by taking on more work than we can manage,” Goshy stated.

Tom Landry, building superintendent, and Carl have worked together for 25 years, first at Village Builders where Tom was Carl’s boss. They work as a team, with Carl taking the lead when an artistic view is required. Judy Goshy, Carl’s wife, handles many of the administrative functions for the companies.

Unless divine intervention changes his plans, during the next five years Carl wants to triple the number of building projects that the companies handle. He plans to go into a few new areas and expand on new ideas in the building industry, including innovations that will fit Houston’s hot, humid climate and its specific issues. “I’m interested in what’s cost efficient for energy savings and convenience of use. I look at both form and function.”

While Goshy pays strict attention to style, detail, craftsmanship and construction in all of his companies’ projects, he finds the greatest satisfaction “when I complete a project and it exceeds my customers’ and my expectations.”

Although his life did not take the path he expected, Carl Goshy is happily orchestrating the designs to make others’ dreams come true.

You may contact Goshy Homes and C. Goshy Enterprises, Inc. by mail at P.O. Box 132526, Spring, Texas 77393 or by e-mail at CarlGoshy@aol.com or

by phone at 713-539-7581 or by visiting www.GoshyHomes.com.