Cory and Lindsey Stone Vie to Make Ultimate Choice Luxury Homes the Ultimate Builder
By Beverly Smirnis
No one expected the Cameron University men’s golf team to go from being virtually unknown to finishing in the top three in the nation in its division. And no one expected that a former PGA golfer and six figure earner in Corporate America, who was reduced to selling cars on a lot would own two homes and be operating a business that did 100 roofing jobs and another 100 remodeling jobs last year.
Cory Stone has homebuilding in his blood. His grandfather, Till Stone, was one of the original homebuilders in Stephenville, Texas, building some of his first houses around the Legends Golf Course there. Cory’s father Darrell Stone and uncle, Randy Stone, followed in their father’s footsteps, also building homes in and around the Stephenville area. But his own path back into the construction industry was far from easy. Without his relentless determination and a firm refusal to stop chasing his dreams, a lesser man might have settled for a life of mediocrity.
Cory spent his early childhood years in Stephenville and says credits his father Darrell for getting him on the golf course at an early age which would later lead to his success in golf. Cory moved to Pampa, TX, with his mom Cara, a school teacher for 30 years, and his younger sister, Cami. He became known as a golf champion during his high school years. He went on to play two years of college golf at Western Texas College in Snyder, Texas, and another two years at Cameron University in Lawton, Oklahoma. Every team he played on won championships and Cory enjoyed the titles of MVP and team captain more than once.
After college, Cory made it to the pros, playing for three years in tournaments including the Tight Lies Tour, Hooters Tour and the US Pro Golf Tour. Next, he started a career working for Celanese Chemicals where he rose to the top again, earning a six-figure salary. But he wasn’t living his dream, so he left behind a pension plan to chase his dreams and joined the fledgling US Pro Golf Tour which had set out to rival the PGA, hoping for a chance to win the Trump Million Dollar Shoot-Out. He was one of the members that paid dues for the 2007 season that was cancelled when management changes doomed the tour that year and eventually disbanded the organization behind it.
With his money and career “gone like the wind,” Cory humbled himself and took the first job he could find—selling cars at Bill Heard Chevrolet in Houston. Of course, the champ also did as well in car sales. He did so well, in fact, that one of his colleagues, Taylor Roberts, who sold cars on the side and also owned a construction company, took notice. Taylor asked Cory to become his partner in launching a roofing business in Houston. Cory later started over in Dallas, to establish a new division for the same roofing company. This time, that meant moving to a one bedroom hostel in Irving and working long hours to earn business for the new division. Working in the community of Lantana after the 2010 hailstorm, Cory did the same thing in those early days as he still does today—he made the entire process easy for his clients by going to them, inspecting their roof, and going over the best options to make their property stand out and protect it for years to come. After an event like a hailstorm, it becomes easily apparent who is willing to work hard on behalf of their customers in working with deductibles and insurance agencies and those that just tell you that they’ll do that.
The old adage, “the cream rises to the top,” proved true again. Cory founded Ultimate Choice Roofing & Remodeling in 2012, which completes some 100 roofing jobs on an annual basis, earning it an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau. Jobs well done for roofing clients left clients wanting more, launching Ultimate Choice into the business of providing siding, fencing and tree removal services for home exteriors, as well as flooring and painting for home interiors, which later evolved into full service kitchen and bath remodeling. Just like the roofing jobs, other types of jobs have led to work for Ultimate Choice across a number of Texas cities and even across state lines in several instances.
Enter Lindsey Roach, a gal from Anderson, South Carolina, who became Lindsey Stone in 2019. Like Cory, Lindsey is a doer. Self-confessed to be OCD, she loves cleaning and organizing. When her clients back in South Carolina told her that she should open a commercial cleaning business, she jumped on the opportunity. After selling that business and moving to Dallas, Lindsey was a natural at helping Cory run all the jobs in his burgeoning business when she joined Ultimate Choice. In the past two years, Lindsey’s focus has been in building up the general contracting side of the business. Last year, Ultimate Choice GC completed some 100 remodeling jobs ranging from minor upgrades to full scale projects.
The husband and wife team behind Ultimate Choice opened a new showroom for Ultimate Choice Flooring in Rockwall last year to further their flooring division and Ultimate Choice Luxury Homes will soon break ground on a new spec home project in Heath that it is building in partnership with Dallas Design Group.
Cory defines the ultimate builder as one with thoroughly vetted subs and that builds what the client wants, adding, “I am very excited to be building our latest new home project in partnership with Erich and Jason Wynn, the sons of Fred Wynn who founded Dallas Design Group. Their designs are one-of-a-kind, with many award winners among the thousands of custom residences that the firm has designed across the United States in its 50 years of business.”
The goal for 2021 and beyond is to make Ultimate Choice Luxury Homes the ultimate custom builder across Texas and Oklahoma. It is poised to reap the kind of success that the Stone team has already proven with Ultimate Choice Roofing & Remodeling, Ultimate Choice Flooring and Ultimate Choice GC.
“We do it all,” says Cory. “All our clients have to do is make the call.”
