Kingon Homes turns 20
Luxury home builder turns attention to Bonita market

By STACIE ZINN, Special to The News-Press
Reprinted with permission by the Ft. Myers New-Press

Twenty years ago, Ann and Ken Kingon started their company Kingon Homes by building homes priced at about $40,000 in the Fort Myers area.

Times have certainly changed. Today, the custom home builder builds luxury homes in Bonita Springs priced from $800,000 to $5 million. How did this small, family-owned custom building company make such a giant leap in just two decades?

“It wasn’t so much of a leap as a little crawl,” Ann Kingon said.

Building between 15 and 20 homes a year, Kingon Homes has amassed a portfolio of about 400 homes since it’s been in business.

Ken Kingon handled the financial duties, and Ann Kingon took care of all the design details. These days, the two are joined in the business by their son, Ken Jr., vice president of construction, and daughter-in-law Carrie, vice president of sales. The company also has a close-knit group of 15 employees. AT A GLANCE

Though the Kingons started their business in Fort Myers, they moved their headquarters to Bonita Springs a few years ago after they realized nearly all of their buyers were choosing a south Lee County location to build their homes.

Now with two furnished models and a showcase home in The Brooks in Bonita Springs, Ann Kingon said the company tries to keep all of its home-building efforts focused in a five-mile radius around that U.S. 41 community.

In fact, Kingon Homes owns some 34,000 square feet of commercial office space off U.S. 41 just south of The Brooks that houses the company’s headquarters, their Southern Showcase design center, and several other tenants.

Southern Showcase opened in January of last year. This 3,000-square-foot facility is where Kingon’s custom home buyers go to select everything from tile to paint colors to flooring. But more than that, Ann Kingon said her staff of nationally certified designers also helps clients with furniture, window coverings and other finishes associated with the home.

Eventually, Ann Kingon said, the hope is to open a division of Southern Showcase that will be open to the public.

Many of the homes Kingon Home builds are turnkey, meaning the owner takes possession of a home that is furnished all the way down to the bed linens.

Sam Licavoli, CEO of the industrial sector of the Textron Company — makers of, among other things, Jacobsen lawn mowers — is building a house with Kingon Homes in The Brooks. Licavoli said he and his wife, Lenore, who live most of the year in Michigan, are selecting colors, furnishings and window treatments, “the whole house,” at Kingon’s Southern Showcase design center.

“My wife can go in there and just spend a day or two with them and get a great deal accomplished. They’re very good at trying to understand your lifestyle, the type of furniture that you like, how you use your furniture. Then they start in with their recommendation, and you give and take a little bit, and you end up with something that looks pretty good, I think,” Licavoli said. “It’s extremely helpful particularly for a person that’s trying to do this long distance, to come in, and they’ll have appointments set up for me when I hit the ground.”

Carrie Kingon said the company is known for its attention to detail. Touring a Kingon Homes model, one might find intricate wood ceiling treatments, arched doorways, scrolled wrought-iron door hardware, custom-made cornices and window treatments, and a whole array of tile floor inlays and designs.

Ann Kingon said these details have won the company “hundreds” of awards, the most recent of which include 20 honors in this year’s Parade of Homes, and a prestigious Aurora Award last year from the Southeast Builder’s Conference.

Ray Multer is a Realtor with Prudential Florida WCI Realty in Bonita Springs. Multer said he’s sold three of his clients a home from Kingon Homes in the past two years.

“They pay particular attention to detail. They have very good ears, and they pay particular attention to what their customer wants and interprets that into the proper design and design details and finishes. That makes a big difference,” Multer said. “I can trust them right down the line, from the beginning to the end, because they produce. They make happen what they promise in a timely, cost-effective basis.”