As a home industry professional, Kenny McNair is putting into practice skills and principles he learned from his father and grandfather.
These “jacks of all trades,” according to McNair, helped their neighbors with plumbing, roof work, home leveling, painting, drywalling, framing and a host of other handyman jobs.
“(They) were the ones the community could depend on to keep their homes livable —oftentimes without pay,” he says. “This inspired me to be able to build new, quality homes that would last through several generations with minimal repairs.”
In 1998, McNair entered the business as a brick salesman, and in 2002, he founded McNair Homes, a custom home-building firm based in Gulfport. He runs the company alongside his wife, Sharon, who serves as the business’s interior designer and quality control manager.
Since the company’s inception, McNair has developed a 34-lot subdivision and a 170-unit apartment complex in Gulfport in addition to building over 125 homes in the past 15 years. Recently, the city of Gulfport approved a plan for McNair to develop and build six new homes, with sale prices in the low $200,000s, on the corner of Duckworth and Three Rivers roads.
“My hope is to build affordable custom homes for individuals that otherwise could not,” he says.
Clients have called his firm a “one-stop shop,” according to McNair, where they can find help picking and researching their potential home site and keep that expert guidance throughout the building process. McNair’s extensive list of services also includes remodeling, renovations, repairs, roofing, additions, foundations and much more.
McNair says he prepares his clients well before construction even begins.
“I walk them through the design and building process detail by detail; I am always just a phone call away,” he says. “My personal relationship with them eases their stress, I’m not their builder; I’m their best friend building their home.”
Lately, McNair says some of the most requested home features have been an open floor plan, high ceilings, a gray-and-white color scheme and lots of natural light. McNair homes, he adds, are known for their distinctive trim package, extra crown molding and specialty ceiling designs.
Working with his business, McNair says, can help clients get exactly what they want within their budget. While
going through the planning, building, and finishing process together, he adds, “We become family.”
“The Mississippi Gulf Coast is home,” McNair says, “and to be able to make dreams come true for my clients, many of whom are my friends, means the world to me.”