Pirate alumna named Custom Builder of the Year
East Carolina University alumna Marnie Oursler ’01 loves to build.
Through years of building client relationships, a dedicated company team and 145 homes, Oursler also has built a reputation as an exceptional builder of custom homes.
Oursler, president of Marnie Custom Homes, was named the 2022 Custom Builder of the Year on Feb. 4 by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). Each year, NAHB honors outstanding individual achievements within the custom home building industry at an annual event known as “The Nationals.” Oursler was honored during the International Builders’ Show in Las Vegas.
Members of the Marnie Custom Homes team celebrate Marnie Oursler being named the Custom Home Builder of the Year. From left, Jim Thompson, Gray Venables, Tim Supplee, Marnie Oursler ’01, Jeff Staniszewski, Jon Subity, Chuck Say, Karen Dunn, Dustin Burkett, Celeste Henry ’01, and Tammy Thomas, Not Pictured: Carrie Subity and Matt Millman. (Contributed photos)
“My whole career is really a dream come true,” Oursler said. “I never imagined I would be standing on a stage in Las Vegas, with my dad and my team in the audience, accepting this national award. It’s really an honor.”
Recognizing custom builders for their innovative achievements, professional leadership and creativity in crafting one-of-a-kind custom homes, NAHB’s Custom Builder of the Year is the highest honor awarded within the custom home building industry. Oursler is the first female recipient and the first Delaware-based builder to receive the esteemed award. Winners also must demonstrate leadership at work and in the community, exemplify expertise in converting a client’s wish list into a unique home and contribute to the overall strength of the home building industry.
The NAHB trip was a “once in a lifetime experience” for the Marnie Custom Homes team. Oursler had been an award finalist for two years prior. Each house and award along the way have been stepping stones toward this recognition.
For Oursler, it also was a whirlwind trip as she dashed back east to be with her “Lil’ Pirate” — her 4-month-old daughter — at home in Delaware. “I was back within 30 hours holding my daughter with the award still in my suitcase,” Oursler said.
While the award does help drive interest in the business and has provided national-level attention for Marnie Custom Homes and Bethany Beach, Delaware, the notoriety is not changing the plan or focus for Oursler and her team. They are booked out on builds for some time, and Oursler has more custom homes to build in Bethany Beach.
Oursler said she expects her company to grow by focusing on improving creative design and construction techniques. “We want to be masters at our craft.”
“I really love what I do,” she said. “I love my clientele and where we are.”
Connections
Oursler’s connection to the Delaware beach began with a family vacation, and she fell in love with the area. Her career as a builder also is a family story, but not the path she expected to take. Her father built homes and put Oursler and her brother to work as laborers, picking up trash, building decks and forming concrete.
“I had a whole different experience and perspective of construction at the time. It’s not what I wanted to do,” she said. “It was dirty, hot and not much fun.”
Oursler was a scholarship athlete in softball at ECU. She entered the College of Education, realized that was not her path, and switched to business education. Looking back, Oursler wishes she had studied construction management. After ECU, she earned her master’s in business administration from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business.
Future builder-minded ECU students can focus on construction thanks to the Marnie Oursler Construction Management Scholarship, established in 2021.
Building block by block
In 2003, Oursler bought a small house seven blocks from the shore at Bethany Beach. She renovated it and eventually sold it.
“I was hooked,” Oursler said. “I loved it and found my passion. I enjoyed creating something and discovering a vision for the design and seeing it through.”
Oursler works at one of the custom home sites at Bethany Beach, Delaware. Oursler ’01 was named 2022 Custom Builder of the Year by the National Association of Home Builders.
She built and sold her way ever closer to the beachfront and, in 2008, built her first home from start to finish, lived in it and then sold it. Oursler met people by holding open houses and showing off her work.
“I had open houses at my house every day. I put balloons up and down the street so people could find me,” she said. “I even bought a helium tank. That was my one open house investment.”
After that, people began to seek her out to build homes. Oursler built homes, built relationships and built her reputation. She is proud of the work and proud of her team.
Oursler also became known through “Big Beach Builds,” a TV show which aired on the DIY Network in 2017 and 2018. Through the show, Oursler transformed homes along the Delaware coast into her clients’ dream beach retreats.
Unique team
As of 2022, Marnie Custom Homes has 14 employees and builds 10 custom homes per year on average. The company is known for building distinctive beach homes and adding unique elements, including built-in bunkbeds, hidden rooms, under-the-stair nooks, and accessible pools and bathrooms for those with disabilities.
As a custom builder, every house Oursler builds is unique. She draws and designs each home she builds, adding elements unique to the client. She enjoys using space creatively, adding storage to unexpected areas.
Oursler is excited about all of them. She said building a custom home is never dull or monotonous. New challenges come up every day. Oursler said it takes a special team of people who “want the work to be hard every day and find the actual joy of solving problems. It’s part of our company culture to be problem-solvers.”
When it comes to her team, Oursler draws on her experience as a college athlete. Oursler found her first teams and family playing softball and then with her sorority sisters at Chi Omega.
“I’ve played sports my whole life. I’ve always been on a team and loved being part of a team,” she said. “Now I’m the coach in a lot of ways.”
She remembers the hard work of managing a college schedule that included weight training, class work, practice and games.
“It was hard work; you were tired and sore and had to be in the weight room at 5 in the morning,” she said. “The day-to-day is hard, but doing it with a team is so much easier. You’re always pushing each other to get better and relying on each other.”
She’s stayed connected with Chi Omega and continues to rely on the relationships she built at ECU. Sorority sister and 2001 ECU grad Celeste Henry is Marnie Custom Homes’ marketing director.
“ECU is really great for fostering relationships. There’s plenty to do and lots of opportunities to be involved in,” Oursler said. “It changes the experience when you find people. It makes your college experience better when you’ve made connections.”