Testimonials
BY REGINA MARCAllO
"We're priced right and the area is great," said Steck. who starting selling the houses in late October and already has one and a half out of five sections sold.Steck attributes the quick sales to the price of the Country Estate homes.
Homes in the new develop­ment Country Estates at Commack are selling much faster than anticipated? according to Wayne Steck, one of three partners in the 129 home venture located two miles north of Jericho Turnpike."There are no new homes in Western Suffolk or Nassau in that price range," he One of the reasons the homes can be sold at a price lower than others in the area is that the land was purchased at a reasonable price. "We bought the land after prices already came down," Steck said, noting that the property was purchased in 1992. Many builders are currently constructing homes on prop­erty that was bought in the late 1980s when prices were high. Working on a low prof­it margin also helps keep the price down.Pre-construction of the homes also began in October in the development that has been two years in the making and will take another two years to complete.

"All the homes are tradi­tional exterior and contempo­rary on the inside," said Steck. Included in the price of the homes are two zone central air conditioning and heating and a full basement. All of the models come with two and a half bathrooms with the smaller ones featuring three bedrooms and the larger, four.
There are six Country Estate models to choose from with variations including porches. Among the options that are not included in the price are fireplaces and sky lights, Steck said. "We're still under the mar­ket. We're giving people more than the next guy," said Michael Giglio, another of the three partners.
The 129 home development consists of five sections with two cul de sacs per section. Belgian block curbing, side­walks and traditional street lamps will line the streets of the new community.

The development sits on 80 acres of land which is being clustered into one third to one half acre lots with natural buffers. The original plan was to construct on all half acre lots but the developer and the Town of Smithtown, where the property is located, preferred the clustering. The homes are in the Commack School District. Steck, Giglio and George Heinlein, the third partner, are combining their building experience for a nice mix. "We all have different back­grounds," said Steck who for about eight years has been constructing high end resi­dential homes in Nassau County with prices ranging from $800,000 to $2.5-mil­lion. "I don't know how we got together, I guess fate," Steck said.Giglio, the owner of Structural Technology Inc. in Shirley has been building houses in Shirley, Manorville and Wading River ranging from $140,000 to $199,000 and Heinlein builds afford­able housing on the South Shore priced between $100,000 and $119,000. "It's still unclear how we ended up here," said Giglio.