BALD EAGLE, UTAH
	14,000 square foot home constructed out of southern yellow pines. This design features Dreaming Creek's exclusive "Utah Hammer Beam" style trusses.
SUNDANCE, UTAH
This 19,000 square foot home is one of the largest timber frame homes in the continental U.S., and was built out of white ash timbers knocked over in Hurriance Hugo. The founder of software giant WordPerfect and 13 children live in the home.
STAUNTON, VIRGINIA
5,000-square-foot "Blackfriar's Shakespearean Playhouse." This is a recreation of a 16th century playhouse constructed with aged mixed oak timbers.
MADISON, WISCONSIN
	5, 000-square foot residence constructed from mixed oak timbers.

Bob Shortridge and his staff at Dreaming Creek have built hundreds of one-of-a-kind masterpieces. And his formula for success is quite simple: a supportive family, talented staff and a Wood-Mizer sawmill.

Shortridge used to run a tree service in the '70s but craved something more. He always dreamed of a way to utilize the timber he so often was asked to haul away from property.

In 1981, he founded his timber frame home business. He was a one-man band for a while, but then formed a small staff to back him up. The company has since swollen to 45 people, including sales representatives, an engineer and a traveling construction crew. There is also a fourperson design staff, led by Steve Arthur, whom Shortridge describes as a great visionary.

"Steve's a phenomenal artist at heart," said Shortridge. "Steve's the big picture guy and one of the most talented artists you'll ever meet."

Dreaming Creek's home base is 70 acres in Powhatan, Virginia. Crew members there operate a Wood-Mizer LT40 dieselpowered sawmill to cut long timbers into cants suitable for timber frame construction. Shortridge said that usually involves 6x10 to 12x22 cants. With two 12-foot bed extensions and some crafty modifications to his Wood-Mizer, Shortridge is able to cut between 18- and 45-foot-long logs.

In Virginia, the design team comes up with a completely unique blueprint, then assembles certain frame components of the house, disassembles them, then numbers each piece. They are then transported to building sites all over the country.

Shortridge said they are working at a pace of one to two homes per week, all costing between $125-$600 per square foot, depending on what aesthetic features the client wants.

One remarkable fact about Shortridge's business is that he no longer advertises.

"There's a little bit of a trade secret here. For years and years, we took out ads in magazines and waited for the phone to ring," Shortridge said. "I could entertain three to four thousand magazine inquiries per year. But I could go out and meet a developer or architect and get 20 or more projects out of that one meeting." Pounding the pavement was precisely how Shortridge landed what he calls his "first big break."

Striking it Big
Shortridge was attending a national homebuilding show in Atlanta in 1990. He encountered an entourage of home designers and contractors who were scouring the world to find luxurious products that would fill the home of a particularly high-profile client. They were snatching up extravagant furniture, rugs and textiles, but Shortridge learned they had not yet resolved the issue of the structure itself. One of the members of this group questioned Shortridge.

"The lady asked me how many 10,000- square-foot homes we had built," Shortridge recalled. "I joked that we just happened to be running a special on 10,000 square foot homes."

The Rest is History
The house was to be located in Sundance, Utah, and Shortridge said the project opened a passageway to the west for his business. It also became one of the most spectacularly large timber frame homes in the continental U.S.

The home is 19,000 square feet, constructed with 102,000 board feet of white ash timbers salvaged from Hurricane Hugo. Shortridge's crew cut it all on his Wood- Mizer. An additional 28,000 board feet of cherry was cut for the ceiling and roof decking. On top of that was an additional 75,000 board feet for paneling.

Working on a home this size was uncharted water for Dreaming Creek. That pressure was magnified by the status of the client, the founder of a major computer software company. The client had 13 children and was very particular about what he wanted in the house he was building for his family. Five months after construction began, Shortridge was ready to unveil the final product to his client.

"As you can imagine, he was a very highpowered business guy, he was quite an iron horse," Shortridge said. "He was in the house and I remember I was sitting on the roof. He came out and signaled for me to come down. The guy came over and gave me this huge hug and cried. He asked, 'Is this real? Pinch me!'"

Dreaming Creek flourished after that, earning praise and projects as far as they could see.

Now Shortridge is on his third Wood-Mizer and cuts 400,000 board feet a year, or about 5,000 board feet a day.

The Wrath of Isabel
Shortridge has more than 40 projects going at any given time, keeping his staff and Wood-Mizer working hard. But in September 2003, Hurricane Isabel threatened many of those projects and played with Shortridge's nerves when she swept over the southeastern coastal cities.

Shortridge and his 13-year-old son had an extremely close call as Isabel was leaving. They went outside on the golf cart to get some fresh air. But the weather suddenly turned ugly again.

He hurriedly turned around and drove back to the house. Without warning, a large tree crashed down over the golf cart path. Shortridge and his son narrowly escaped being crushed, but felt safe once inside their sturdy 2,700 square foot house.

"It was a great time to live in a timber frame home."

Shortridge lives on 70 acres with 60- 90-year-old hardwoods. The hurricane knocked over at least 100 mature trees. Shortridge is going to cut the felled trees into usable lumber for his newly-married son's home.

Nearby Richmond had 100 homes that were condemned because of hurricane damage. Fortunately, not one of Shortridge's pending projects was affected.

A relieved Shortridge said, "The hurricane went right over top of them."

An Eye to the Future
With the hurricane behind him, Shortridge sees great things coming in the months ahead. He is in the preliminary stages of establishing a second location in Portland, Oregon, that will create 15-20 jobs while continuing his goal of salvaging "throw-away" timber. Though most of his logs come from private landowners who harvest trees for crop, Shortridge still believes salvage wood is "the soul of the business."

But the heart of the business, he said, is his staff and his family. His oldest son manages the sawmill, and his teenage son is already showing a budding interest in Dad's business.

"There's a ton of people who back me up. I have a passion and like what I am doing, but it falls way short without someone to support me professionally and personally."

Shortridge said his wife of 14 years should be given much of the credit for keeping the business in good working order.

"Sandy is the glue that holds this all together. She is always in the background supporting us, whether it's lunch in the woods or hot chocolate when the guys are freezing. She keeps it all afloat."

Another important piece of the entire puzzle is that orange machine that intrigued Shortridge so many years ago.

"The Wood-Mizer was a dead ringer for us. It was small enough to afford and productive enough to meet our needs. It's definitely served its time here well."

To contact Bob Shortridge at Dreaming Creek Timber Frame Homes, call 804.598.4328, or E-mail bshortridge@dreamingcreek.com