It was an afternoon of repairing the water pump on an old pickup truck that convinced Todd Shaddock he should go into business with his friend Ben Caldwell.

“At some point it crossed my mind that this is someone I’d go into business with,” Shaddock said. “A: He showed up. B: He knew what he was doing. C: We worked well together and had a good time doing it.”

Nearly a decade later, Shaddock Caldwell has built a reputation as one of the premier custom homebuilders in Richardson and beyond.

Shaddock cut his teeth in the industry as the son of Peter Shaddock Sr., president and CEO of Shaddock Homes, a 50-plus-year veteran of homebuilding in the Metroplex. Despite his last name, Shaddock said he and Caldwell cultivated their own unique identity and reputation.

“We created the DNA of the company slowly,” Shaddock said. “We were financially conservative and focused on creating a good name and doing things the right way.”

Shaddock found a set of complementary skills in Caldwell, who began his career in real estate development but ventured into building in 2008. Two years later, they started the business in the spare bedroom of Shaddock’s house.

“We decided to get in the batter’s box; we might swing and miss the ball, but we are going to at least try,” Caldwell said.

Since then, Shaddock Caldwell has built dozens of homes in Richardson and across the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

As growth in Dallas has expanded north, Richardson has seen an increase in buyers looking for good schools and proximity to Dallas. Shaddock Caldwell was able to get in on the ground floor of that growth, Caldwell said.

“We have been fortunate enough to help create a market brand and be a part of that [growth],” he said.

The two are in the midst of one of their most exciting projects to date: Mimosa Place, an 18-lot boutique subdivision just south of Mimosa Drive and Campbell Road.

”[Mimosa Place] is on a piece of land we have driven by for years,” Shaddock said. “We saw a great opportunity to do something there.”

Like all Shaddock Caldwell builds, the homes in Mimosa Place will be one of a kind. The process of building a custom home allows buyers to have a say in every facet of the design of their home. From the first meeting with Shaddock Caldwell to project completion, the process usually lasts 11 and 18 months, Caldwell said.

Fourteen of the 18 lots are still available for purchase. The first homes in Mimosa Place will go vertical in December and will be move-in ready by late summer 2020, Caldwell said.

Homes in the subdivision will cost between $700,000 to $1.4 million, and square footage will range between 2,500-4,500 square feet.