The team behind West End Farms—Justin Metcalf, Matt Brandt, Jason Shreder, and Rosalie Cates—aren’t just business partners. They’re true Missoulians—community-minded, nature-loving creators, and long time friends.
“The blueprints for this simply didn’t exist,” says Justin Metcalf, Co-Managing Partner of Collaborative Development and U of M graduate.
While most developers are hidden behind a web of third-party contractors and bidding wars, this team of developer (Collaborative Development) and builder (Northwest Community Builders/NWCB) is vertically integrated, meaning the developer and the builder are one and the same.
They share an office where the only thing separating the developer from the builder is a glass wall. If there’s a problem, the response isn't an email chain—it’s an instantaneous conversation signaled by a wave to one another. Matt Brandt, President of NWCB who runs the construction side, says this is a huge part of their project’s success.
Matt and Justin met years ago when their kids both attended Clark Fork Preschool, and continue to see each other after office hours at flag football and soccer practices. “Life is too short to work with people who make you go (slight ‘ugh’) when their name pops up on your phone,” Matt says with a deep sigh, triggering a burst of laughter from the group. “They like us. We like them. They believe in doing a good job…Construction is very much a relationship business and it takes time to develop them, and then, when you do, you can do a lot.” Matt has been developing these relationships for over 20 years, and takes pride in being able to call former colleagues to get different inputs on solutions.
The design process was just as personal. Before settling on blueprints, Justin consulted three different architects, but the plans still didn't feel "right." So, he took the lead and then put his designs through a gauntlet.
"My initial designs got audited heavily by a lot of family and friends," Justin admits. “I started with what I thought people wanted, only to learn that Missoula doesn’t want condos, it wants single family homes.”
He ended up pulling features directly from his own house—like a geo-mat and insulated concrete foundation that endure the Missoula terrain well. He also incorporated 9’ ceilings and oversized windows to bring in lots of light and create an inviting space. To pull off the "Agri-hood" vibe (a mix of trails, green space, and a working farm), they hired a design firm out of Denver. But in a classic move of local humility, they made the City of Missoula the "client" for the park space and then stepped back to let the experts create a space the whole community could use.
For the interior, Justin secured the interior design expertise of Donna Godert. “Donna went through and picked everything here especially—every door handle, every faucet. It’s all good quality, good fixtures, and she knows colors,” says Rosalie Cates, a long-time friend of Justin and consultant for this project.
Rosalie spent her entire career in community development finance, and aids the project when it comes to numbers. “Justin asked, ‘How can I take what I know about building houses and put good ones in Missoula that people can afford to buy?’”
Rosalie’s intrigue with the whole proposition got her on board, along with their commitment that regular people working in Missoula ought to be able to buy a house. “The fixed price model checked all the boxes for me. It is a combination of good land buy, good design, good materials, good build,” she says.
In Missoula, where the median home price has soared to $560,000, the "missing middle"—the teachers, nurses, and local professionals who earn the city’s average household income of $73,000—have largely been priced out. According to the Missoula Organization of Realtors, an income of $144,630 is now required to afford a median mortgage, a problem that the West End Farms team is working to remedy.
“The goal isn’t to build under market value—it’s to build as efficiently as possible and then give them to people [who] need them locally,” Justin explains. “One restriction we’ve even baked in is a two-year owner-occupancy requirement. This means these are all homeowners in this neighborhood, and investors are kept out...It’s really fun building housing for the local community."
And there are homeowners who are eager to move in. Every home is sold to someone on the project's waitlist the second it becomes available.
“Seeing people just steps away from trails, feeling safe—it’s why we’re doing this,” says Jason. Jason Shreder serves as the real estate broker for West End Farms. He and Justin go back 25 years to the early 2000s river community. Back then, Jason was a white-water guide and outfitter. When he decided to pivot to real estate, he didn’t just send a resume—he started showing up at the office every single day until it stuck.
It’s clear that West End Farms is more than a neighborhood of quality constructed houses with a large central green space and farm. It is friendships being poured into concrete and glass. It’s a community collaboration—proving that in Missoula, the best way to build the future is to do it with people you’d actually want to see on the sidelines of youth sports games or on the Clark Fork river.
With homes becoming largely unattainable for a large portion of our working community, West End Farms was born as a result in 2022. The vision turned reality sits on 70+ acres adjacent to Hellgate Elementary, with 28 acres serving as a public park that will sit alongside the new community of 260 homes. In 2024, the project donated 16 acres of the park to the City of Missoula. The homes have good energy efficiency, are smart, functional, and made from better quality materials. They maximize contiguous outdoor space for pets, recreation, and garden practices. To learn more about this project and potentially sign up to be on their waitlist, visit WestEndFarmsMT.com.
"Construction is very much a relationship business and it takes time to develop them, and then, when you do, you can do a lot.” - Matt Brandt