Building the Valley: Family-run Grasinger Homes takes pride in custom construction
Share this post:
Over 45 years, the Grasinger family has built hundreds of houses that have become other families’ homes.
It’s something John Grasinger thought about as he drove through one of their housing plans on a Christmas season evening, seeing all the houses decorated.
“You didn’t just build a house,” he said. “You provided that community.”
John Grasinger figures that Grasinger Homes, a custom home builder based in Plum, has built more than 900 houses in Pittsburgh’s eastern suburbs since his father, Frank , started the business in 1977.
Frank Grasinger, 87, is now semiretired. But “he stops in every day to see what’s going on,” John Grasinger said.
Four of Frank and Marian Grasinger’s five sons — John, Raymond, Eric and Robert — now run the business. Their fifth son, David, was involved until starting his own remodeling business in 2021.
Michelle Grasinger, their youngest child and only daughter, is a Realtor with RE/MAX Select Realty. She doesn’t work for Grasinger Homes but represents them.
Frank Grasinger founded Grasinger Homes after John, his oldest, graduated from high school. Previously a partner in a remodeling business for about 20 years, Frank Grasinger broke up that partnership in favor of building new houses, which they previously had done on the side.
The first house built under Grasinger Homes was a split-entry in Ramsey Ridge in Monroeville. Since then, they have built houses in Plum, Penn Township, Manor, Murrysville, Loyalhanna, Salem, Unity, Washington Township, Penn Hills and Fox Chapel.
Their busiest time was in the early 1980s, when John Grasinger said they built 38 homes in one year. Recently, before the impact of the covid pandemic, they were building 10 to 12 a year, but the houses are bigger and more customized than before.
What marks a Grasinger home is that they are “old school” in how they are built, John Grasinger said. That means they are “stick-built,” constructed from scratch at the site rather than being assembled from modular pieces built in a factory.
“We try to offer our customers quality at the price they’re getting,” he said. “We don’t shop our bid out to the lowest price. I want reliability and quality, not the lowest price. We take pride in what we do.”
Grasinger offers 41 home styles, including ranch, 1.5 and two story, and split entry. Customers can bring in their own plans.
Their most popular is a four-bedroom, two-story home called the James Towne. It starts at $326,500 plus the lot.
“It has a lot of the features buyers are looking for at an affordable price,” Michelle Grasinger said. “It provides a lot of space for the money.”
Those features include open living space with a large great room, a large kitchen and breakfast area, cabinet space and second-floor laundry.
Four bedrooms are proving popular with people working from home, she said.
“It’s a flexible floor plan we can customize to the buyer’s needs,” Michelle Grasinger said.
With the better sites gone, John Grasinger said it’s more difficult to build in Plum. Michelle Grasinger said they see growth along the Route 30 corridor in Westmoreland County, in the Latrobe and Unity area where more land is available.
While Grasinger has built individual houses, most are situated in plans.
“We try to build more custom, not cracker box. You won’t see the same home in a row,” Frank Grasinger said. “We let the people select their material. Some will have more brick, some will have more siding. Some will have porches, some will have decks. Some will have different types of windows. It’s a variety. It’s built to their taste.”
Their completed developments consist of Rustic Ridge Estates in Plum, 236 lots; Green Valley Estates in Plum, 53 lots; and New England Village in Manor, 100 lots. They also built Pine Court, a townhouse development in Plum.
Grasinger Homes currently is building houses at Weatherton Farm Estates in Unity, where packages for the lot and house start around $290,000, Michelle Grasinger said. The community was started before they came in as the exclusive builder in 2020.
Grasinger Homes has built 18 houses at Weatherton Farm Estates, Michelle Grasinger said. There are 13 lots remaining with the potential for another phase with 10 more.
“We’ve had a lot of success,” she said.
The company started Colonial Pointe, an 80-house development off Elicker Road near Plum High School, in 2013. The final home on the last lot is under construction and nearly finished for the Swintek family.
Mike and Erin Swintek said they are moving to Colonial Pointe from Penn Hills for their son, Camden, 8, to attend school in Plum.
Mike Swintek said they started looking before the covid pandemic hit and had seen Colonial Pointe, but then stopped for a while. When the pandemic subsided, he said, they found it was better to build than buy an older home.
They found Grasinger Homes from seeing their houses being built at Colonial Pointe and elsewhere in Plum. Mike Swintek said the main thing they liked about Grasinger was that when they met them there was no pressure.
“They were not trying to quick sell you into anything. It was more like take your time and answering all the questions that we had,” he said. “We never built a home before. It was a great thing, allowing us to take our time and figure everything out.”
The Swinteks chose a three bedroom split-level. They customized it a little, such as by adding a fireplace. Mike Swintek said his wife wanted a fireplace, but John Grasinger said it’s a feature not many want these days.
Work on the lot started in July 2022, and they expect to relocate in mid- to late-March.
“It looks beautiful,” Mike Swintek said. “We feel good about going with them for the house.”