Page 94 - Southern Oregon Magazine Fall 2021

welcome home | build

n every profession, there are those who are fueled by a Meadows’ process begins each new project with a series of conversa-
love of what they get to do every day, and the construction tions. “It might sound kind of strange but it’s like I’m married to a
industry is no exception. “When a guy is doing what he customer for a year—or beyond—so I get to know them and see if it’s
Iloves and having fun doing it,” says Ron Meadows, founder a match.” A building project has myriad details and decisions that need
and owner of Ron E. Meadows Construction in Central Point, to be communicated well over an extended period of time, reminds
“it’s pretty simple. It’s not a job.” You don’t have to speak with Meadows, so that “fit” is important, and his experience helps him know
Meadows long to realize he’s doing exactly what he loves. fairly quickly how to evaluate that compatibility.

Born and raised in Central Point, Meadows left “a good paying job” That fit also led Lisa Slayman, founder and owner of Slayman Design
at age seventeen to begin working in a cabinet making shop for $5 Associates, Inc. in Laguna Beach, CA, to choose Ron E. Meadows
an hour and admits he has never looked back. Achieving his cabinet Construction when looking for a contractor to help build her own
maker’s license in 1982, Meadows knew he’d found the right fit. “It home in Southern Oregon. Over series of visits to the area, Slayman
was something that I loved,” he remembers. “It was a passion.” From had begun to dream of a home on the Rogue River, and when the right
cabinet making, he went on to learn the trade and art of finish car- property became available, Slayman moved quickly to begin a home
pentry and worked with local builder Ron Gressett for eighteen years design and start interviewing contractors in the area. Slayman soon
before building his first complete home in 1998. recognized that Meadows would be the right contractor to bring her
dream to reality. “The chemistry was there,” she says. “I enjoyed talking
Today, Meadows specializes in custom home building and custom to him. He was very responsive and obviously very experienced.”
remodels, both ideally suited to his vast experience and his passion
for construction crafts. With every project, says Meadows, his goal A professional designer herself and completely comfortable with multi-
for each home and each customer is simple: “I enjoy building their million dollar projects, Slayman admits that it was different being on
dream.” His experience gives him both a broad-picture perspective the client side of the table. “It made me appreciate my clients and what
and an attention to detail that serves each home and each project well they go through,” she says. “I make expensive decisions every day, but
in the myriad of decisions that have to be made between design and when it came to my own home, I struggled with so many choices,” she
completion. laughs. “It probably slowed the project by six months.” Meadows was

92 www.southernoregonmagazine.com | fall 2021