A home is a sanctuary—a place to relax, find comfort, and be one’s true self. When designing and building a home, it’s essential to rely on a builder who is honest, communicative, and even fun. Greg and Katie Frazell, high school sweethearts now married for 21 years and co-owners of G. Lee Homes, aim to provide an unforgettable experience for their clients when building dream homes. Although they can build in any neighborhood, they specialize in what they call the “destination home niche,” focusing on lake communities, acreages, and areas with unique topography and views, allowing for one-of-a-kind designs.
“I think people need to go into a custom homebuilding experience knowing it can be enjoyable,” Katie says. “It’s probably not something you’ll do often in your life, and we want to make it a positive experience.”
Greg agrees: “We set expectations, manage those expectations, communicate, and then just have fun—and that goes for our team and homeowners. It can be a stressful process, and there may be times when a homeowner feels like the world is going to collapse, but I assure them: Anything that goes wrong, we can fix.”
Greg and Katie underscore constant communication is key to being a strong partner with homeowners. With a staff of 13 in their Elkhorn office, G. Lee Homes offers a one-stop shop for designing, building, and even selling a homeowner’s current home, as Katie is also a licensed real-estate agent at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices. The design process often takes the longest, but Greg and Katie welcome it.
“We tell people to ‘shoot for the moon’ during the design process,” Greg notes. “You need to design the dream so you know what it costs.”
Greg then “takes a chisel or chainsaw” to the design. “We move through the design and chisel away to make the build cost palatable,” he says. “If we’re really off base, then we take a chainsaw to it. We might have to cut back rooms or simplify the design, but we’ll get there with everyone on the same page.”
Finishes are what make a house a home, and Greg explains there are no “standard” finishes—only realistic ones. “Realistic became a better term for us because realistic is what the customer wants,” he says. “We find out what’s realistic through our conversations. If you’re saying you need a 48-inch, dual-fuel range, that’s different than a 30-inch slide-in ceramic cooktop. The dual-fuel range is a realistic finish, and now I need to show you the cost.”
Katie and Greg say their two selection coordinators make the finish-selection process exciting. There are no set hours for selection appointments because the G. Lee Homes team wants homeowners to enjoy the collaboration. In fact, where most builders my shy away from a new design, product or idea, Greg, an artist and studied architecture at Millard North High School, loves when a homeowner wants to try something new to him.
“Greg isn’t afraid of a challenge,” Katie says. “He has this amazing ability to see the dream when we’re sitting down with people making the plans or when he walks into a room that needs to be remodeled. Greg can see what the finished project will look like, and he knows how to get there while following the homeowner’s vision.”
Greg grew up in the trades—his father was a painter—and always knew he’d be in the homebuilding business. The couple had their first child, Aleia, early, so Greg began working as a subcontractor for high-end builders to support his new family while Katie earned her marketing degree. However, Greg had a strong desire to build his own homes. In 2005, G. Lee Homes put its first foundation in the ground. Despite the looming housing crisis, Greg believes he and Katie started G. Lee Homes at the perfect time because it made them cautious.
“We are still so careful,” Greg says. “We watched it go bad for so many people, and we agreed to do the opposite of what we saw. That’s really part of being in MOBA (Metro Omaha Builders Association) and maintaining the industry standard. It’s about ensuring we’re installing quality products properly and working with the right subs who know the technique or will work with me on it and understand this is how we want it done to ensure our level of quality.”
Greg credits G. Lee Homes’ subcontractors with winning the “People’s Choice Award” three times—most recently in 2024—during MOBA’s annual Street of Dreams, a multi-site luxury home tour. “Hearing what the public would say as they came through our home was great,” Greg says. “The subs are incredibly important to the quality of our homes.”
While building their business, Katie and Greg’s five children have remained their top priority. The kids joined them on job sites, completing tasks that fit their abilities over the years. Now their oldest son, Ryan, 19, is in his first year of construction management at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. “I’d like to be a second-generation business and see what Ryan brings to the company,” Greg says.
Greg and Katie plan to continue having fun, helping people build their dream homes, and growing G. Lee Homes as they have been—through beautiful, one-of-a-kind designs and quality craftsmanship. “We’re thankful for what we have and what we’ve been fortunate enough to experience throughout this life,” Greg concludes. “It’s been crazy good, and there’s still so much ahead.”
G. Lee Homes and The Arbour at Heartwood Preserve
G. Lee Homes, which focuses 70 percent of its business on new custom homes and 30 percent on remodeling, is adding to its portfolio by joining part of the Heartwood Preserve development in West Omaha. The Arbour at Heartwood Preserve— located northwest of Millard North High School—will include 210 homesites made up of single and dual family homes and rowhouses.
“Because of the topography and types of homes, they are narrow lot lines,” Greg Frazell, co-owner of G. Lee Homes, explains. “The single-family homes are only 25-feet wide but some will be four-stories tall and 4,000 square feet with rooftops, golf simulators and more.”
“Applied Underwriters, the master developer, had a direction in mind but gave Greg the freedom to use his creativity,” Katie Frazell, co-owner of G. Lee Homes, adds. “When you walk into Greg’s office, he’s creating these cool renderings. It is going to be awesome to see it come to life!”
“It’s my life coming full circle,” Greg notes. “While I was at Millard North taking architecture, I would open up the back door of the architecture room and would look out over this field on which we'll now be building for the next five to seven years.”
Greg, Katie and their team are ready to apply their full design services to The Arbour’s floor plans. “We’re excited to pull off custom in these tight urban settings,” Greg says. “It’s going to be a lot of fun!”
"You need to design the dream, so you know what the dream costs.”
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