Once there was a couple living in London. Their son, a graduate student at a nearby university in Monterey, California, called them to say they needed to visit one of the prettiest places on earth – Carmel. The couple flew to Carmel, fell in love with the area, bought a piece of property, and returned to London. Being so excited about the concept of building a home from scratch, the new Carmel landowners celebrated by going antique shopping in London. Their first purchased item was an antique English rod-iron gate! This gate had been neglected — and was lying in a dusty back room waiting for someone to love and restore it. We had no idea how much work and ingenuity it would take to restore the gate to its former glory…plus what would be required to blend it into a Spanish-style house surrounded by a fence matching the gate — one small example of what was required of a high-quality contractor. That gate now greets people at they enter our courtyard.

The gate was not the only challenge for Bob Lis and RJL Construction Company. Between the old Indian doors (that didn’t fit), a Tibetan Chest that became a bathroom sink, mismatched antique Italian roof tiles, tons of odd-sized Palestine stone pavers, random length and width Hickory floors, a leaky old French fountain, heavy ceiling beams, and an architect who found many ways to create ‘interest,’ we needed an extraordinary builder…someone who was capable of solving all sorts of challenges (including being patient with all the Monterey County rules), who listened, who was creative, who could anticipate, who was timely, who was respectful, who was cost- sensitive, and who would help us build the house of our dreams.

We cannot say enough about RJL – Bob, Daniel, and Tim and all the rest of Bob’s crew and sub-contractors who built our house. This beautiful house turned out exactly as we hoped it would. Their commitment to making it all happen goes beyond our wildest expectations. And now, four years later, we are still grateful for the quality of their original construction as well as their follow-up commitment. (How often do you hear the lament of a homebuilder saying…”We haven’t seen or heard from our contractor since the day the last nail was hammered in.”) Not so with RJL Construction Company. Their pride in their work is unmatched.

As a final note – we celebrated by having a party in which all the workers and their families were invited to share in the completion of our home. What a fiesta it was. On a classically gorgeous Carmel Sunday 125 guests and we partied together. And the guests came through a beautifully restored antique English rod-iron gate onto a sunlit patio into a stunning Spanish-style house.

-Judy Caouette

Read the article written about this house in Homestyle Magazine:

Symmetry with Style