Owner of Worley Homes, Dedicated to Craftsmanship By Jillian Chandler| Photo by Adair Media Group
Caleb Worley, owner of Worley Homes, grew up in the small town of Snohomish, Washington, which at the time was a farming town. “To give you an idea how small, when going to school or town, we’d occasionally be held up by farming tractors on the roads,” he smiles. Today, all the land has been developed and turned into “cookie cutter” homes by large developers—which Caleb is not fond of.
To Caleb, Snohomish is no longer home due to its dense population. He made the move to Sandpoint several years ago and is proud to now call this place his home.
Caleb hasn’t always been in the business of remodeling and building custom homes. His career started out in law, though he always loved working with his hands and previously worked construction with his father and two older brothers. He realized that it was time to pursue his true passion—that of building custom homes and remodeling old homes into works of art. In 2017, Worley Homes was founded; a family business Caleb established with his brothers Abram and Brandon. And it has remained a family owned and operated company since, serving Sandpoint, Priest River, Priest Lake and Dover Bay.
Q. After years honing your skills in the field of law, you decided to pursue a new career path and opened Worley Homes. What inspired this change? A. Law was not for me. I chose that career path as that’s what people do—they go for the higher-end careers not thinking about whether or not that career is something they will actually be happy in. I just happened to realize pretty quickly that wasn’t my cup of tea. However, there’s no school that teaches you how to do this; it’s something you have to learn through others and lots of time.
Anyone these days can get a contractor’s license—but very few can actually do the work. I think the biggest issue customers have is finding the right builder who gives them options and solutions through all the phases of the projects. I constantly see contractors and subcontractors have holdups that cause delays in their projects which, in the end, causes homeowners’ deadlines to get pushed back. That isn’t as much of an issue with us because we can do most trades in-house. We still work with lots of subs for all phases of the projects, but what I’m getting at is if something happens to a sub’s schedule, we can pick up the work and keep the project going.
Q. What brought you to Sandpoint? And what are you most grateful for when it comes to this community?
A. I started my company in the Seattle area about eight years ago, and one of my long-term repeat clients happened to have a house in the area here that was in dire need of a remodel. They couldn’t find any builders they could work with or who they trusted with nearly a half-a-million-dollar budget. They had asked me to come here and do the project. Not only did I do the project, I decided to stay. My brothers, who worked with me at the time, also made the same choice.
The better part of the deal is that I also met my wife, Hannah, about four years ago, in Priest River, and since then it’s been an easy decision to stay. Plus, I just fit in better to the country life and would choose this lifestyle over the big city any day.
Q. What is most rewarding to you about the work you do?
A. It’s definitely a cross between the relationships we make with the customers and the cool factor of our projects. I occasionally see our customers outside of work too, as it eventually becomes a cross between a personal and business relationship. What else would you expect after spending six months or a year working together or putting five, six, and sometimes even seven figures into a house?
Q. In what ways do you like to give back and show your support to the community? Are you involved in any local organizations?
A. With our busy schedule, I don’t have the time to commit to any of that but, you know, big shout out to Albeni Falls Building Supply in Oldtown and the team that runs that lumber counter. Coming from the big city and working with the bigger building suppliers, it’s no comparison. They’ve always been there for us, so we’ve always continued to make sure a majority of our materials come from them. They’re about as local to the community as you can get.
Q. When not working, how do you like to spend your free time, and with whom?
A. Right now, my wife and I are building our house and a shop for the company, which has taken all our nights and weekends. She comes from a big family local to Priest River, so we usually try to spend our time with them any chance we get.
Q. Is there anything else you would like to share with our readers?
A. Thanks to our supportive community, we’re currently booked until spring of 2024. For additional information about Worley Homes, Caleb invites you to visit Worley-Homes.com, email worleyhomes@gmail.com or call 208.627.2091.
