Don Horn of Richland has been custom building period houses for two decades as an independent branch of his brothers' business, Jerry Horn Construction. Many are authentic reproductions of Colonials like those found in Williamsburg, Va. Reporter Gretchen McKay talked with him about current trends in new construction for niche builders.

You're going on 20 years as a custom builder. How did you get into the business?

There are nine Horn brothers and we decided construction was something we could all do. As kids, we'd built things and helped remodel and rework our family house and eventually started branching out for neighbors and friends. We formally went into business in 1971. I struck out on my own in 1989 because I had an interest in historical design and wanted to do what I wanted to do.

I just liked old houses and used to do historic restorations on the North Side. I thought, what if we built brand-new houses the way they used to do in the past? I did my own house in 1986 with my brother that way just for fun. It was a Williamsburg Colonial and even though it was 1,000 feet from the road, I ended up getting a lot of interest from people. So I did it again, and then again, on a very small scale.

How many homes do you build a year?

Sometimes as many as four, but two is more typical. And they're not all "branded" houses. Some are very contemporary.

Are they done on spec or do people come to you with plans?

In my whole experience, I've done maybe four spec houses. My first house was a figment of my imagination, but I don't generally create something from nothing. Basically, I'm just reproducing styles, like an antique. Of course they are modern houses inside, but stylistically, it's an old house.

I started out with Williamsburg-style architecture but now it's basically anything period from 1750 to 1929. That is really the whole period of residential architecture. After that, it was mass architecture in which it's hard to find styles. And that is what I try to do: follow a style rather than do it free hand.

How is business in this economy?

It's had an effect on us for sure because people need money to build a house, and a lot of it. But our activity is the same. Financing has shifted somewhat and some customers are postponing projects to save money they lost in the stock market. Subcontractors and supplies are also more readily available, so scheduling isn't as much of a problem.

Inquiries, discussions and planning are the same. If I didn't read about the downturn in the paper, I wouldn't know it's any different. The volume of actual construction is a little less but not the drive of people to build a specialty house. I'm almost too busy. If we add just one house to our schedule, that's a 50 percent increase.

No one is building or not building a Don Horn home because of interest rates. That's an afterthought, not a driver. And while President Obama's tax credit is nice to have and we'll take it, it's not changing anything. We also never offer any kind of incentive, such as closing costs. We're not looking to appeal to the mass market. We want to stay small and keep the attention on just a few customers.

Are people downsizing their projects?

I am always impressed with the size of my houses. I built a few around 2,400 square feet early on, but none since. They're huge. I just finished one that was over 6,700 square feet. We also build a lot of houses that are expandable in the future.

When Sarah Susanka published her book ("The Not So Big House"), I thought, 'Finally we'll start building some really nice small houses.' But there is not drive for that. Our customers won't even consider a small house. They're waiting to build the house they've always wanted to build.

It's too bad because small would be more fun and practical, and I could do more of the actual work myself. For example, I can brick a small house but not a large one. At least we're getting away from whirlpool tubs, which is a good sign.

Who's your typical customer?

They know what I'm doing and they know what they want because they've always wanted it and are going to build it before they die. That's the nature of a niche market. I've never seen a change in that concept for any reason, even though you can always buy something cheaper than you can build it. Most of my buyers are going to die in the house I build them.

What are some typical features?

What you include in your first houses tend to show up in those that follow. We always have wood floors throughout and a separate formal dining room. The houses also have three to five masonry fireplaces with fancy mantels and interior wood trim with elaborate, authentically accurate moldings. Also standard are high-quality windows with permanently attached grills for divided light. It's funny, but there isn't always a custom kitchen or baths. Sometimes they're as standard and low-cost as can be.

However, we don't think of amenities the same way as Realtors, with a list of features. We don't actually care if the garage is in the basement or detached. It's the underlying style and unity of design that dictates everything. It's the way you want the house to look.

How many houses have you built?

Around three dozen, in every county. And lately it's been bigger and better and more and more as opposed to cheaper and smaller. What really drives cost is the features people put in. Natural stone, for example, is expensive because it's time-consuming. So when people ask what the cost is, I say. "You tell me."

While the best tradesmen tend to cost more, prices in Pittsburgh are downright cheap in terms of the rest of the country. What drives up the cost is the labor-intensive stuff you put in a house or when you vary from the standard. As soon as you go out of the box and say let's do something that's not been done before, you have to engineer it and plan it and recover from the mistakes as you figure it out.