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Indiana Builder Named an Entrepreneur of the Year

Shoopman was cited for demonstrating that high quality homes can be affordable. His firm, Dura Builders, builds between 600 and 700 homes a year in the $90,000-$250,000 range.

The Indianapolis-based company has its own manufacturing plant, engineering and surveying service, development firm and mortgage lending service. "This vertically integrated approach provides a great convenience for customers by allowing them to apply for a mortgage, view a model home and select their own color palette all in one place," it was noted during the awards.

Shoopman used the industrial arts skills he learned in high school to follow his two brothers into construction. He started out building custom homes one home at a time and also did concrete work for a large production builder. Refused financing by every bank in town, he was able to build his first home at 18 after his father signed for the bank notes for the lot and building materials.

In 1979, the beginning of a five-year period of a severe economic downturn with peak interest rates of 21%, “I just shifted gears,” Shoopman recalls. “I went into housing production because nobody was buying custom homes, and my decision turned out to be perfect timing.”

Bill Carson, chief executive officer of the Indianapolis builders, says that Shoopman “has a tenacious approach to everything he considers worthwhile.”

He became interested in the NAHB Spike Club in the late 1980s and in his first-year recruitment efforts brought in 84 members, making him the nation’s top producing Spike. In 13 years he has recruited 500 Spikes, a record that is surpassed by only one individual in the history of Indiana.

Dura only considers bids on work that come from members of NAHB. He is a Gold Key member of BUILD-PAC, NAHB’s political action committee.

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