Sherrills Ford, NC
(704) 746-6054

DV Wise, Inc. · Sherrills Ford, North Carolina

From a raw lot to the house you keep.

Tom Wise runs the company his father started in 1962. He is on your site from the first walk of the land to the day the keys change hands, because DV Wise takes on a small number of custom homes and has never worked like a production builder.

Call (704) 746-6054Talk about your lot

Family Business Since 1962

Six decades of building around this lake

Second-generation company with over six decades of building experience. Our company history dates back to 1962, when Tom Wise's father started the business. Tom grew up in construction, took it over, and still personally oversees each project from site preparation to completion.

Building around Lake Norman since

1962

Building around Lake Norman since

Family-owned and locally operated since 1962

2nd

Family-owned and locally operated since 1962

Certified Aging in Place Specialist

CAPS

Certified Aging in Place Specialist

Accredited Master Builder

NCBI

Accredited Master Builder

One build, start to finish

Every one of these is our own job site

Most builders will show you a finished kitchen. These are photographs of the same work at four points along the way, in the order it actually happens, on land around Lake Norman.

Excavated foundation pit on a DV Wise lot, rebar and formwork set, a finished home visible beyond the treeline

Lot cleared and graded

The ground decides the house

Before anything gets built the land has to be read: where it falls, where the water wants to go, how a driveway can reach the house, what has to come out and what stays. Clearing, grading and excavation happen here, and they set what everything above them costs.

Poured concrete foundation walls standing on a freshly graded DV Wise lot with woods behind

Foundation poured

Concrete before character

Footings and foundation walls go in on the grade we just cut. On a sloped or waterfront lot this is where a house earns its stability, stepping down the fall of the land instead of fighting it. Nothing here is visible in the finished home, which is exactly why it gets watched closely.

A DV Wise home mid framing with weather resistant sheathing on the walls and the lake visible through the trees behind

Framed and dried in

The shape arrives

Framing goes up, sheathing goes on and the house gets closed to weather. This is the first time you can walk the rooms you have been reading on a plan, and the first time the view out of them is real rather than promised.

A completed DV Wise lakefront custom home with a gable roof, stone foundation and a covered boat dock at the water

Keys handed over

Finished, walked and yours

Exterior and interior finishes, final inspections, then a walkthrough of the whole house together before the keys change hands. The same person who stood on the bare lot with you is the person who hands them over.

A completed two storey DV Wise custom home with stone and shingle elevation and a covered front porch

What DV Wise does

One thing, carried the whole way

DV Wise builds ground up custom homes. That is the whole business. There is no production line running alongside it and no volume target pulling attention off your house, which is why the same person can stay on it from the first site visit to the final walkthrough.

Site evaluation

We look at the land before you commit to it. Slope, trees, access, utilities, drainage and what the soil will do once it is opened up. A lot that looks identical to the one next door can build very differently.

Land clearing and preparation

Taking a wooded or overgrown piece of land down to a buildable site, keeping the trees worth keeping and opening the access a build needs.

Full custom home construction

Foundation, framing, exterior finishes and interior detail, carried through as one continuous job rather than handed between crews who have never met.

Also carried in house

  • Grading and lot development
  • Permit coordination
  • Project management
  • Final walkthrough and homeowner handoff

How the build works

A finished DV Wise craftsman style custom home with a stone accent, cupola and covered front porch

Houses for living, homes for life

Build it once, and stay in it

Tom Wise is a Certified Aging in Place Specialist, a National Association of Home Builders credential most custom builders around this lake do not hold. In practice it is a set of decisions made early and cheaply: single level living where it suits the lot, doorways and hallways sized properly, an entry with no step to catch, and blocking set in the walls now so a grab bar can go up in twenty years without opening anything back up.

About Tom WiseSee the process

Why people pick us

We are not a production builder or high-volume contractor

Every home gets careful planning, direct communication and personal involvement. That is only possible because we deliberately do not build many at once.

Where we build

Family-owned and locally operated since 1962
The company has never been sold on or franchised. It has had two owners, and they are father and son.
Second-generation building experience
More than six decades of building in one place, on the kinds of lots this area actually has.
Personal builder involvement from start to finish
Tom Wise personally oversees each project rather than assigning it to a rotating site manager.
Lake Norman area expertise
Waterfront, acreage and sloped lots around the lake behave differently from a flat subdivision pad, and we have built on them for years.
Honest communication and hands-on management
You hear what is happening on your house, including when something has to change.

Custom Home Builder Around Lake Norman Since 1962

Awards and achievements

  • North Carolina Home Builders Association STARS Awards badgeWinner of multiple Stars awards
  • Lake Norman Home Builders Association Best of the Lake Design Competition badgeLake Norman Best of the Lake
  • NCBI Accredited Master Builder sealAccredited Master Builder
  • Certified Aging In Place Specialist badge, Houses For Living, Homes For LifeCertified Aging in Place Specialist

The design award is the Lake Norman Home Builders Association Best of the Lake Design Competition, and Tom Wise is also a Past President of the Local Home Builders Association.

Who we build for

  • Families relocating to North Carolina
  • Retirees moving to the area
  • Waterfront and acreage buyers
  • Homeowners building forever homes
  • Clients seeking luxury or modest custom homes

Questions people ask before they build

No. Plenty of people call us while they are still choosing between two or three pieces of land, and that is a good time to talk. What a lot costs to build on is not the same as what it costs to buy. Slope, tree cover, how far the utilities run, how a driveway can reach the house and what the soil does with water all move the number. We would rather look at a lot with you than inherit a hard one after closing.

No. DV Wise is not a production builder or a high volume contractor. We take on a small number of homes so Tom Wise can stay personally involved from site preparation through the final walkthrough. That is the whole reason the company is built the way it is.

The whole arc from a vacant piece of land to a finished house: site and lot evaluation, land clearing, grading and excavation, permit coordination, the full construction of the home from foundation and framing through exterior and interior finishes, project management along the way, and the final inspections and walkthrough before we hand over the keys.

Yes, and a good part of our work around Lake Norman is exactly that. Waterfront and acreage lots change how a house has to sit, how you get equipment in, how the foundation steps down the grade and where the water goes once you have changed the shape of the ground. It is work worth doing carefully rather than quickly.

Yes. Tom Wise is a Certified Aging in Place Specialist, a National Association of Home Builders credential for designing and building homes people can keep living in. In practice that means decisions made early: single level living where it makes sense, doorways and hallways sized properly, entries without a step to trip on, and blocking put in the walls now so grab bars can go up later without opening anything back up.

Since 1962. Tom Wise's father started the business, Tom grew up in it and now runs it, which makes DV Wise a second generation family company with more than six decades of building behind it.

Custom homes, both luxury and modest, primary residences and second homes. Our clients are usually families relocating to North Carolina, retirees settling near the lake, waterfront and acreage buyers, and people building the home they intend to stay in.

Building Custom Homes Across the Lake Norman Area

Bring us the lot. We will tell you straight.

Serving Lake Norman, Mooresville, Cornelius, Davidson, Huntersville, Denver, Charlotte and surrounding communities. We also build in Sherrills Ford, Troutman, Terrell, Catawba, Mount Ulla.

Call (704) 746-6054Send a message

PO Box 605, Sherrills Ford, NC 28673|Monday to Saturday, 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM