By Conrad Dudderar
Staff Writer
A Yukon builder and developer now leads Oklahoma’s strongest home-building association.
John Nail Jr. is the 2021 president of the Central Oklahoma Homebuilders Association (COHBA). Nail was honored during the COHBA’s Spring Celebration on April 17 at Coles Garden, 1415 NE 63rd in Oklahoma City.
“We are ‘dream-makers’,” Nail told the audience. “Are we not?
“It’s in the American psyche – the ‘dream home’. It takes every one of us in this room to do it.”
COHBA is a nonprofit, professional organization that promotes the home-building industry and its members by connecting builders, developers, associates and home buyers.
Membership is comprised of Oklahoma homebuilders, bankers, contractors, suppliers, utility companies, architects, mortgage lenders, engineers, and more.
“It takes all of us,” Nail said. “We’re in the dream-making business. What’s more important than that, we’re in the memory-making business. Think about the house you grew up in – your bedroom, the living room, the kitchen, the front yard, the back yard, the neighborhood.
“We are privileged to live in such a great country that we’re in the dream-making business … we’re in the memory-making business.”
THE PEOPLE, RELATIONSHIPS
The COHBA’s spring celebration featured entertainment by Superfreak, Oklahoma City’s ultimate disco party band.
Nail referred to the camaraderie among members of the central Oklahoma homebuilders’ group, representing various professions.
“You know what’s great about this organization?” Nail asked the audience. “It’s the relationships. It’s the people.
“We missed that last year with COVID.”
Nail’s daughter, past Oklahoma Czech Queen Kristin Richards, introduced her father at COHBA’s recent spring gala event.
“This is a pretty spectacular celebration,” Richards told the crowd.
John Nail Homes built the showcase home, in the Stone Mill Addition, during the COHBA’s annual 2020 Central Oklahoma Parade of Homes.
Stone Creek is John and Carrie Nail’s other development in Yukon.
A Yukon High School graduate, Nail previously taught construction trades at Canadian Valley and Francis Tuttle technology centers.
He also served 15 years on Yukon Public Schools’ Board of Education.
