Scott Lehner’s path into home building didn’t begin with a business plan. It began on a farm.
“I grew up on a farm,” Scott recalls. “We worked out in the fields for hours and hours a day and it was boring to me.”
Looking for something different, he joined the other side of his family’s masonry contracting business as a teenager. He laid brick and block during the day, then went back to the farm until midnight. That early exposure to construction planted a seed.
Still, Scott took what seemed like a more traditional path. He went to college, became an accountant and built a financial career, until he got bored again.
“I had a little of that construction experience in my blood,” he says. “Over the years, I migrated back to home building from a financial career.”
That migration led him into the insulated concrete form (ICF) industry. The business was steady, but the work was slow and labor intensive.
“I wanted to create a more scalable home building company,” he explains.
Four years into that venture, Scott met Jason Ronk. Together, they formed Perfection Builders, combining their entrepreneurial drive and complementary strengths to build what would become the foundation for everything that followed.
Seeing the Opportunity Before the Surge
Scott and Jason were studying demographic trends, especially the coming wave of Baby Boomer demand.
“Jason and I had been working on our own concept for that generation,” Scott says. “Anyone in business could see that wave coming.”
In October 2007, Scott read an article in Builder Magazine about Epcon Communities. Within weeks, he shared it with Jason. The two drove to Northwest Arkansas to tour the nearest Epcon community. Shortly after, they traveled to Columbus, Ohio.
By the end of 2007, Scott and Jason had become Epcon Franchise Builders.
Launching in the Shadow of a Downturn
Of course, late 2007 was not exactly smooth sailing for the home building industry.
“By the end of 2007, you could see some of the cracks in the armor,” Scott says.
Like many builders, Scott and Jason had to adjust. They waited out the downturn, continued learning the Epcon system and prepared for the right moment to launch. Their first Epcon project officially broke ground in late 2011.
“I recall when we finally launched our first project, that was in late 2011, we kicked ourselves a little bit,” Scott says. “We thought we could have done this a little bit sooner.”
At the time, their biggest competition wasn’t another builder, it was the resale market. Buyers couldn’t sell their existing homes.
Today, that dynamic has shifted. But one thing has remained constant: the value of following a proven system.
“We’ve learned vertical integration from Epcon. We get to control our process. Using the Epcon way, it becomes a pretty efficient process.”
Expanding into New Markets with Confidence
Since launching their first community, Scott and Jason have steadily expanded Perfection Builders’ footprint.
Working closely together on market strategy, operations and long-term growth planning, they’ve completed multiple communities and continue launching new projects in Wichita, Kansas, while also growing their presence in Louisville, Kentucky.
The move into Louisville wasn’t accidental, it was strategic.
“We had ambitions toward growth and knew how to follow a proven process with Epcon,” Scott explains. “There are regional differences, so it’s not just plug-and-play. But if you follow the systems and get the right people, it can become plug-and-play.”
From farm fields to financial spreadsheets to multi-market expansion, Scott and Jason’s partnership, and the growth of Perfection Builders, reflects what’s possible when entrepreneurial ambition meets a proven system.