Benjamin Marcus Homes

When a real estate agent chooses to build a custom home with your company, that speaks volumes about your company’s reputation, workmanship and credibility. After all, real estate agents are industry insiders; they know what is on the market, they are familiar with other builders, and they know what they want for themselves.

That is why Monica Paris chose to build a home with Benjamin Marcus, and she would do it again. In fact, she already lived in a Benjamin Marcus spec home but decided to build a custom home last year. “We wanted to build what we wanted. We know of other builders, but honestly, we didn’t interview any others. I know his quality, and you just can’t compare,” said Paris.

Company History

Barrett Hoskins, current VP of the company, has been working with his family’s company since he was in middle school. “I started doing stuff on the site, cleaning up and grunt work, punching out houses when they were finished with construction,” he said. This lasted through high school, but while he was studying at Robert Morris, Hoskins would still put time in the office in between classes. “That was when I got more involved behind the scenes, doing marketing and the business end of things. Then I joined full time after I graduated and continued from there.”

Like many family businesses, Hoskins wore a lot of hats. Today he is the Vice President, his sister is the director of his operations, and his father, Mark, who founded the Canonsburg-based company, is still at the helm.

Having been raised by his uncle, who was a tradesman in Wheeling, West Virginia, Mark Hoskins began building houses when he was just a kid. Growing up in the industry, Mark gained experience doing a little bit of everything.

“He had the chance to build a house when he was 19, and he wanted to do it again, so he started building VA and FHA housing. He cut his teeth on that, and then over time, once he was building those houses, he started doing more custom work,” his son explained. As time went on, life and his work took him from West Virginia to Washington County and the southern suburbs of Pittsburgh. Mark eventually moved his family to the Pittsburgh area, where he continued to build up his expertise and his business.

“Over time, he was just doing more custom stuff, and that became the bread and butter of our business—he loves architecture and designing,” added Hoskins.

Though Mark had been in the industry since 1979, Benjamin Marcus officially was founded in 1994, with early projects focused primarily in the South Hills. By 2002, the company had developed its first project: Windermere in Peters Township.

Eventually, Benjamin Marcus Homes began to expand their reach, building not just in Washington County and in the southern suburbs of Pittsburgh but in the northern suburbs, including in the North Allegheny School District and beyond, into Cranberry.

In Peters Township, for example, the company developed several high-end neighborhoods, such as the Hamlet of Springdale, Kensington Trace, and Regents Park. A new subdivision in Peters is Tuscany 2, with 38 lots built. And in North Strabane, they built on 14 home sites in a development called Summerbrooke, while Upper St Clair has Fair Acres, Siena at St. Clair, and its newest location, the exclusive Treetop Acres, with only seven one-acre lots.

And in the north, The Bliss in Franklin Park is one of their newest developments, with homes resting on .64 to 5 acres, while Mallard Pond is being built in Marshall Township.

Hoskins estimates that to date, the company has built at least 2,000 homes, noting that home projects of 25-30 per year lie within the company’s comfort zone. The company’s customers are a healthy mix of empty nesters who are cross-sizing, rather than downsizing, as well as first-time homebuyers. Approximately 30-40% of customers are people relocating to Pittsburgh—or coming back to Pittsburgh after time away. Haskins also has completed many commercial and medical projects.

True Custom, True Luxury

Benjamin Marcus defines itself as a custom, luxury home builder, and those two descriptors are on point. 

As far as ‘custom’ is concerned, Hoskins said that there are not too many true custom builders out there. “We’re curating something new and unique, just for you,” he said.

Benjamin Marcus builds a lot of different styles of homes, either from a wide selection of floor plans that they offer, which can be used as a jumping off point and modified to the customer’s specifications, or they can be completely custom.

In fact, the company tagline, in which they take great pride, is, ‘Your home will never be your neighbors’.’ “We’re not going into a neighborhood and building the same house in 20 lots; everything is different: the exteriors, the floor plans. What we really try to get across is that we’re not mass producers. So much is done on site; nothing is prefabricated,” he said.

Darlene Hunter, a real estate agent with Howard Hanna, confirmed the true custom nature of the business. Hunter has worked with the company, helping to sell and market various Benjamin Marcus communities. “Why I enjoy working with them is because they listen to the customer, and they try to create the dream that the consumer is trying to envision in their mind. Mark really has an eye for visualizing the home on the home site,” she said.

Hoskins said that one of the favorite aspects of his job is to come up with different exteriors, often based on inspiration photos that people sent. “It’s fun to see them come to life. We’re not stamping them out all the same; each one is its own individual build,” he said.

The company offers two home series: Cornerstone and Estate, both of which are high end but offer slightly different features. Cornerstone, for example, offers a gas fireplace on the main level; granite countertops throughout; designer light fixtures; and 9’ or 10’ ceilings on the first floor. The Estate series offers everything Cornerstone offers, but with the additions of masonry surroundings on the gas fireplace; an engineered TJI floor system; and maple cabinetry with soft close. Hoskins said that 80-90% of the houses they build are the Cornerstone packages, while the Estate takes those same features but elevates them.  “Estate is full custom; anything you can think of, you can really do,” he said. Some past projects have included an indoor basketball court; an indoor hockey rink; or a room for a golf simulator. “If there is something you’re interested in doing, there are ways to figure it out. If you have the land, space, and budget for it, you can definitely do it,” he said.

Hoskins said that unless the architectural style dictates otherwise, the vast majority of the homes produced are brick and stone.

The term luxury is bandied about, and maybe luxury really is a subjective standard. Objectively, many people would agree that a luxury good is one that boasts fine quality, has the highest standards of workmanship, and has a corresponding price point. Indeed, Benjamin Marcus Homes can range from 1.3-4.5 million, though the average is 1.6 million for a single-family home. Average square footage is around 4,500 but can go up to 13,000. All of the homes are on large lots, ranging from a half acre to an acre.

But neither luxury, nor custom, is cheap, and Benjamin Marcus homes contain elevated level ‘standard’ features. For example, depending on the footprint, every home has three garages, an office or study, regardless of the floor plan, and most homes feature a four-bedroom minimum, unless you’re in a three-bedroom product, like a patio home. The company follows an owner-centric level of living, such as putting the laundry in the vicinity of the owners’ suite.

Design Gallery

Many home builders will show you catalogues or take you to spec homes to display some of the options that a home buyer can choose for their houses. However, Benjamin Marcus offers somewhat of a unique feature in that it has an entire, 12,000 square foot design gallery at their corporate headquarters at Southpointe in Canonsburg. This allows the customer to come to the gallery in person and choose everything from tile to carpet, cabinetry, countertops, even samples of trim details for crown molding and baseboards. 

“It’s nice that you can tangibly touch and feel samples. This was a good direction for us; it is unique, is something that customers really appreciate, and makes it a better experience for everyone,” said Hoskins. Designers are on site to help with the process and give design advice if needed. “We give as much or as little input as you want, but it’s nice to have someone to bounce ideas off of.”

And the company can even go above and beyond, as its vendors have access to more than just what is represented in the design gallery, so if a customer wants something different, the likelihood that they are able to source it is relatively high.

Working with Benjamin Marcus

Of the many things that Paris appreciated about her time working with the company was the accessibility of Mark and the rest of the team, throughout the process and even after it was finished. “I would email or call and get an answer immediately or within the next couple of hours,” she said.

The fact that the company was so accommodating to Paris was another reason why she said that the experience was “…150% awesome.” For example, Paris and her husband sold their previous house much sooner than expected, so Mark sped up the process to finish building their house, though without cutting any corners.

She also joked that her husband was very particular about things he liked or did not like, but Mark made sure that all options were on the table. “Even after we designed it, we made changes, and it was good. There was a lot of patience there,” she said. 

Indeed, Hoskins confirmed that the buck stops with his father, as all project members on the construction team report to Mark, who is out there in the dirt, on job sites, daily, making sure that everything is proceeding along according to plan.

That has been Britton Costa’s experience to date. Costa is in the process of his first custom home build with the company, and so far, he said that the process has been exceptional. “One of the most reassuring aspects of working with them has been their accessibility. Whenever we’ve had questions or needed clarity, they’ve been responsive and approachable, always making us feel heard,” he said, adding further that the process has felt like a partnership. “They value our input and vision, while offering thoughtful, professional guidance. It’s been a genuine balance between our ideas and their expertise.”

Costa said that they did explore other builders, but Benjamin Marcus quickly distinguished themselves, because of their reputation, emphasis on craftsmanship, and their ability to make the process collaborative. “Their willingness to adapt and course correct when necessary was a deciding factor,” said Costa.

The Future

Building 25 (or more) homes per year requires a raised level of strategy and detail, and the company is continually trying to improve how that can be done on a bigger scale without losing that essential core of what comprises a custom construction company. With the advent of more production style builders, it is important to Benjamin Marcus to continue to carve out a niche for itself as a true custom builder.

And despite 40 years in the business, there are still lessons to be learned. “All the experience with each custom house that you build teaches you something about the industry; you have to keep rolling with that and improving on that every day, every month, every year,” said Hoskins.

There are more subdivisions in the works, said Hoskins, both in the north and in the south. “We will continue to build in the neighborhoods we like to be a part of. We will continue to evolve with an ever-changing industry and stay on top of the changes. But really, we will continue to craft and perfect custom home building and bring it to a bigger footprint,” said Hoskins.

“If it’s not right, it’s wrong,” he added. “There is no in between for us. That is how you must approach this business, and that is how we stand by the quality.”  NH