The story of Drake House Construction & Design: how a husband-and-wife team became Duluth’s most-loved builders

Where passion, joy, and strong family values come together, Drake House Construction & Design (Drake House) is the epitome of thoughtful, client-centric homebuilding. Founded in 2008 in the heart of Duluth, Georgia, the company combines the talents of husband-and-wife team, Kyle and Nancy Drake – an experienced and skillful duo who are enthusiastic to turn their clients’ dreams into reality.

At its heart, Drake House champions four core values: innovation, quality, personalized service, and, most importantly, integrity. The full-service business specializes in the design and build of high-end custom homes and remodels across a vast variety of styles, from Southern-Living-style farmhouses to contemporary modern dwellings. Across every project, Kyle and Nancy place integrity and transparency at the fore-front, ensuring that the process fully encapsulates and honors the needs and wishes of their clients. As a result, Drake House’s impressive portfolio showcases the highest standards of exceptional craftsmanship, with each home perfectly capturing the unique personalities of each client and upholding the business’ stellar reputation.

Now, as Drake House embarks on another busy year, Modern Home Builders sits down with Kyle and Nan-cy to uncover the secrets behind the company’s growth and success.

“When we start our process, we tell all of our clients that we care about their home and want this to be the best experience possible,” Kyle begins. “It’s stressful to do any kind of construction project, especially on someone’s home where there’s a lot of emotion involved, and we honor that. It’s very important that we put ourselves in our clients’ shoes and treat them how we would want to be treated. Integrity is the most important thing.”

“Everyone has a budget, so we aim to bring our clients the highest quality finishes and fixtures that fall within that,” Nancy continues. “Some things can be expensive when you’re dealing with high-end homes, but we’re always very transparent about our costs and try to find the most value for people. We’re very open about our pricing and process, and we do a good job on the front end of having multiple client meetings to ensure that they feel comfortable as we’re moving along in the process.”

Consistent communication

With Kyle’s knowledge in construction and Nancy’s eye for design, this individual expertise creates a successful combination. Together, the pair pride themselves on providing a deeply personal experience built on trust, emotional awareness, and thoughtful collaboration. From these strong foundations, Drake House’s structured, hands-on process brings each project to life from initial plans and design selections through to construction and completion.

“We begin our process with the building plans. Nancy and I are both very involved with every aspect of the floor plan and work really hard to develop and create the plan that the client wants. Once we agree on the plan, we then move on to the permitting process and into construction; I manage all of that. Then, when it’s time to start making the exterior and interior design selections, Nancy and her team take over,” Kyle details. “We have regular meetings with clients to talk about their ideas and must-haves for their home, but most of our clients are really interested in our input and design experience. We have an in-house de-sign shop where clients can come in and select cabinets, tiles, and fixtures, and, alongside that we use the Buildertrend project management app so that clients and team members can easily access those choices.”

Thoughtful design

By following this process, every one of Drake House’s projects is beautifully exquisite in its own way. One of the company’s most recent ongoing projects, Drake Manor, a small luxury development in Downtown Duluth, truly exemplifies these values.

“Nancy and I designed every aspect of the model home, from the floor plan, elevations, and gables to the interior and exterior finishes, including paint, fixtures, and floorings,” Kyle elaborates. “Everything about this model home is really special. It has a large scullery with high-end appliances, such as under-counter beverage centers, ice makers, and a dishwasher – it’s almost like a second kitchen. There’s also a mudroom that includes a gorgeous marble dog wash and the primary bathroom has an integrated ceiling rain shower. Even the secondary bathrooms are of high-end design. A lot of times, secondary bathrooms can be an afterthought, but Nancy did a great job of really integrating the design throughout the entire house.”

“The house turned out well in that it’s full of special modern touches, but still feels like a traditional-style home,” Nancy explains. “We built this home, along with several others, on the main historic street in Du-luth, and we wanted it to be in keeping with its historical surroundings. We were very intentional about making sure that this home was new but with that classic downtown feel.”

Careful craftmanship

As Drake House continues to grow and flourish, Kyle and Nancy remain committed to blending craftsman-ship with care, ensuring every home reflects both exceptional quality and the people who live in it. As the business rapidly approaches twenty years in operation, Kyle and Nancy continue to prove the value of in-tegrity, collaboration, and kindness in modern homebuilding – cementing Drake House’s position as a trusted name in thoughtful, high-end homebuilding for many more years to come.

“From a design perspective, we want to continue to learn and grow, integrating more AI into the process to make things more efficient. We’ll aim to stay on the cutting edge of new products coming out, such as new fixtures. We want to be the first to know what’s new and the ones to present these things to our clients,” Nancy affirms, optimistic for the future ahead.

“Our priority for the future is to continue to give people the best, most excellent experience with new home construction and remodeling,” Kyle adds, concluding our conversation. “We want to prioritize each individual project to make sure that they’re designed and executed well, honoring our clients’ budgets, de-sires, and wishes, in as much of a timely manner as possible.”

www.drakehouseconstruction.com