Spokane-based Condron Homes LLC founder Craig Condron says the seventh and final phase of construction soon will begin at the Wandermere Heights neighborhood, almost 20 years after development first started there.

“All that’s left to do is record the plat paperwork before we start building,” he says.

Wandermere Heights Phase 7 is a 21-lot subdivision in a gated community located less than a half mile north of the Wandermere Business Park at Farwell Road and U.S. Highway 395.

Lot sizes in the subdivision will range between 8,600 square feet to 14,700 square feet, and homes will start at about $750,000.

The final plat at Wandermere Heights will mark the end of an era for the longtime Spokane homebuilder and developer. Once the documents for Condron’s final subdivision development are recorded, he says he plans to close his land development company Wandermere Heights LLC, which operates as a separate entity from Condron Homes.

Condron says he’s been working in the construction industry since he was 14 years old, when he worked as a laborer on the weekends and summers at his father’s construction company, Family Homes.

He was 30 years old when he established Condron Construction Inc., now Condron Homes, in 1976, after earning a construction management degree from Washington State University in 1968, followed by a stint working as superintendent for his father.

“I tried to implement some sophisticated scheduling programs, and my father and his subcontractors just didn’t fit in to what I was trying to do ... So, after a while, I wanted to start my own company.”

Now 76, Condron recalls that business in the construction industry has evolved significantly from relying on landlines and paper orders to communicate.

Advanced technology also helped Condron make time for his favorite part of the day—connecting with onsite workers, he says.

“I was a hands-on person at jobsites,” he says. “From the beginning, I always put importance on the workers. They’re the ones that are doing the work.”

He also says he’s proud of the relationships with clients and subcontractors that have been maintained over time.

Condron has been developing neighborhoods and building homes in the Spokane area for over 45 years now, and while he says he’s mostly stepped back from the daily decision making at Condron Homes, where his son Corey Condron took over as CEO 14 years ago, he’s remained active developing land under Wandermere Heights LLC.

At first, Condron says the company built six to 10 homes per year at infill lots around the city. One of the first big developments Condron worked on was the Bluegrass subdivision, a 100-acre piece of land in North Spokane owned by the Calkins family that once farmed the land.

By the time Condron’s son Craig took over in 2008, the company was producing 200 homes each year.

Today, the company has scaled back to building about 50 homes a year, but he says these modern homes are bigger and more complex than earlier structures.

“The majority of homes built now are custom homes, mostly in subdivisions, and on individual lots,” explains Condron.

Condron Homes is located in a 2,100-square-foot office at 802 W. Rosewood, on Spokane’s North Side.

Condron says the company’s family-oriented culture and commitment to do right by its clients has paid off for the business. 

“I did a lot of business with a handshake. Agreements with my subcontractors, suppliers, and landowners, a lot of those were done by shaking hands,” he says. 

Condron has two children, five grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren.

Condron says in addition to Wandermere Heights, other notable developments he’s personally been involved with include the Schneidmiller plat, in Liberty Lake, and Sekani at Crosspointe, on the West Plains.

An open house and retirement party are scheduled at the Wandermere Heights gated community 3-5 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 15, at 132 E. Center Lane, in Spokane.