#485 - KIRK LAUTERBACH AND CHRISTINE KEGEL, COO and CEO of Blue Alpine Builders
SUMMARY
This week, David and Marina of FAME Architecture & Design are joined by Kirk Lauterbach and Christine Kegel, COO and CEO of Blue Alpine Builders. The four discussed Kirk & Christine’s background, how they met, working with your partner, good contractor & customer service, contractors & architects working relationships, ideal client, architect and contractor relationship, understanding everyone’s needs & communications, advice for clients working with contractors, favorite place in Tahoe and more. Enjoy!
ABOUT KIRK & CHRISTINE
Blue Alpine Builders builds custom homes that blend intentional design with expert construction. Led by CEO Christine Kegel and COO Kirk Lauterbach, two professionals united by a belief that great homes should feel grounded, purposeful, and deeply personal. Christine shapes client experiences and design vision with creativity and strategic insight, while Kirk anchors projects with operational excellence and building science expertise. Together, they deliver custom homes that feel beautiful, and enduring — spaces where life unfolds with intention.
Kirk Lauterbach is the COO of Blue Alpine Builders, where he leads construction excellence, operational execution, and technical delivery. A second‑generation builder, Kirk’s journey in construction began in the foothills outside Yosemite, apprenticing under his General Contractor father and learning the craft firsthand amid the rugged beauty of the Sierra Nevada.
After working across Colorado, Washington, and Utah, Kirk returned to the Sierras in 2020 to build custom homes that reflect both place and purpose. When he’s not on a jobsite, you’ll find him making music or exploring the outdoors with his partner and their pups, continually inspired by the landscapes that shaped his path.
Christine Kegel is the CEO and Head of Design + Client Experience of Blue Alpine Builders, where she leads the creative vision, client partnerships, and overall business strategy. With roots in graphic design and brand strategy, Christine believes that thoughtful design builds trust, enhances daily life, and creates environments where people feel truly at home. She guides clients through the build process with clarity, care, and open communication, ensuring that every home reflects both function and personal meaning. When she’s not on a jobsite, you’ll find her hanging from aerial silks or swimming at the river with her 2 pups and Kirk in tow.
TIMESTAMPS
(00:00) Kirk & Christine's background.
(13:37) How Kirk and Christine met.
(17:25) Working with your partners & roles.
“Homeowners have a busy life. They don't really care about all the nitty-gritty stuff. So I'm giving them the TLDR about what’s important. This is a multi-year relationship where you're building something together. It's inherently a collaborative process; it just doesn't work if people don't approach it that way. There needs to be someone who sees all the moving parts and knows how to distill that and communicate that effectively so that not everybody has to see the bird's eye view, but they do need relevant information. Subcontractors and designers need to coordinate with each other for it to be a truly cohesive project and not a house where all the rooms just feel off.” (26:42)
(30:39) Good contractor & customer service.
“Everybody has a different idea of what a General Contractor is or does. We've certainly interviewed clients before where they've hired us because they want to be in control of the job, they want labor, and somebody who can do it all. I've had to explain that's not what we do as a GC. If you want a framer, you can hire a framer. But the reason you would hire us is to oversee and manage the job. If we clarify that early on in the project, then I find there's less assumptions being made, and fewer of an ego battle where people are upset that we're charging them for a service that they are trying to do themselves because they don't understand what our role is.” (34:10)
“Being a good carpenter does not mean being a good business owner. I knew they were separate. I think there are a lot of very talented carpenters and farmers out there, but maybe they don't have a website [or other forms of formal contact]. I bet that a lot of the communication that the client wants is not going to happen. They're going to say, “Well, I don't have a website. I don't do computer stuff.” I'm hyper aware of how much money these projects cost when people are spending hundreds of thousands, millions of dollars. I think it's fair that they get updates and communication.” (39:04)
(42:30) Contractors & architects working relationship.
(49:20) Ideal client, architect, and contractor relationship.
“There’s a natural scope creep that happens when you get excited about creating. Specifically, in the last couple of years, it's been hard to nail down pricing just with how volatile the building cost has been. We've experienced before where we've gotten plans from an architect and bid them for a client, and the client's like, “Wow, that was double what I expected to pay. But I really still want to do this job.” We can still get them an update to their house and really figure out why they even want this remodel in the first place. How do we make their money have the most impact, even if we do scale down the scope? I hate to see the standoff where an architect won't compromise on the grand scheme of their vision, and the homeowner is just like, “I told you where my line was, and I'm not crossing it.” Then the project never gets realized, and that's sad.” (55:23)
(01:07:00) Understanding everyone's needs & communications.
(01:12:12) Advice for clients working with contractors.
“It does not matter what day we say the project will be done. The owner will almost always try and move that forward, thinking that we'll just squeeze it in quicker. It doesn't work like that. As soon as you move into that project, then we're getting texts on the weekends like, “When are you coming back to do that?” But you live in the house now. We had three subs in there who were in the middle of finishing, and it was apparently of the utmost importance that you moved in on this date that we never promised. Everybody has pulled their stuff out of the garage. That's not enjoyable for the client. It's not enjoyable for us because you just turned what could be another two weeks if we just had the place into two months. We had full-time work during those two weeks. You remove that, so now we're on another job.” (01:18:10)
(01:20:18) Favorite place in Tahoe.
