The News & Observer

IT WASN’T THE PATH HE INTENDED TO TAKE, BUT FOR REX BOST, BUILDING HOMES HAS BECOME A PASSION AS WELL AS A SUCCESSFUL CAREER.

Born in the small town of Claremont in Western North Carolina, Bost learned to work with stone very young under his father, who was a mason contractor. He worked odd jobs as a carpenter and mason during college, but when he graduated he followed another calling.

Bost wrote music and played guitar professionally for the rock band Sidewinder, touring up and down the East Coast. The popular band appeared on the television show Star Search, taking second place to another band, Sawyer Brown.

When Bost left the band, he turned his attention to stonework. The unique contemporary homes that his stone company worked on caught his creative interest. He began playing around with designing a home and eventually came up with a plan.

“Our first house was a plan that I designed, and it sold rather quickly. That’s what got me started,” said Bost.

Bost began to transfer the creative energies that he had used with song writing into the design of homes. He built his own personal home by transforming an 1100 square foot tobacco barn into a dream house.

“I had to re-direct the front of the home and pull it away from the street to end up with a project that looked like it was all part of one original plan. Obviously, every aspect of the original structure was affected, and the final square feet is three times the original. The result is a home that guests describe as a resort.”

His unique homes have won Bost awards in the Parade of Homes and the Dream House Showcase. One of his entries in this year’s Parade, called “For Evan’s Sake” and priced at $589,880, features a large foyer with a built-in waterfall over the curved staircase.

Bost jumped back into the completion of this home this week after returning from a week in Honduras, where he and a group of his church members finished an addition to a missionary church.

“It was a beautiful week. We worked really hard and I’m kind of riding high on it right now,” said Bost. The group worked hard in extreme heat, slept on the floor in the open air and took cold showers.

“It was tough, but it was a good tough. So I feel like the Lord’s on my side, and I’m going to get this Parade house finished,” he laughed.

The home building career that started with a little stonework is quite the story of success. And Bost still gets to play music. In fact, he put together a little band several years ago that plays at the annual Parade of Homes awards banquet as the builders are approaching the stage to collect their awards. The band’s name: Behind Schedule.

Background Facts

PROFESSIONAL

President, Bost Construction Company, Inc.

Professional background: Jack Bost Masonry; Bostone Specialty Masonry; Rex A. Bost Builder/Designer; self-employed

Education: East Carolina University; Bachelor of Science/Biology

Number of homes built: 52

Prince range: $170,000 – $1 million

Typical style of homes: all styles, mostly transitional

Award-winning homes: Chrysalis Award for Best Whole House Renovation in the Southeast; Gold Winner 1993 & 1994 Parade of Homes; 1991 Dream Home Showcase

Civic Involvements: Executive Committee and Board member, Raleigh-Wake County Home Builders Association

PERSONAL

42 years of age

Family: wife, Brenda; sons, Wells, 19; and Evan, 7

Interests: musician; baseball, softball, golf, skiing, water sports