Spartan Profiles: Dan O'Dwyer
BUILDER OF THE YEAR
After spending nearly three decades building homes in the Atlanta area, he finally received two of the home building industry’s highest honors. Dan O’Dwyer, ’81, owner of O’Dwyer Homes in Alpharetta, GA, has been named Builder of the Year by the Greater Atlanta Home Builders Association and also Captain of the Year by HomeAid Atlanta.
“Being honored by these two groups leaves me humbled,” says O’Dwyer. “I’ve always been focused on service, giving back and doing the right things.”
A native of Lake Orion, Dan was accepted by both the University of Michigan and MSU. “I chose MSU because I liked the atmosphere better,” he recalls. “It seemed like a better fit. I can tell you that I have no regrets.”
At MSU he fell in love with the Building Construction program. “(Professor emeritus) Doug Cron was a good instructor because he had a lot of real life experience,” he recalls. “For a young student, hands-on experience was very helpful.”
Dan met his wife Kathy (Boyll), ’81, at MSU. As much as they like Michigan, they love Atlanta. “Sure, the weather is great, but beyond that Atlanta is a great place to be a builder,” Dan explains. “It’s affordable and year in, year out, Atlanta has led the nation in new building permits. We feel very fortunate to be here.”
After working in the building business for several years, Dan founded his company in 1992 and estimates that he has closed on 5,000 houses since. “It’s great to be able to achieve a level of success where you can give back to the community,” he notes.
He and his wife come back to Michigan to visit friends and relatives in the fall. “We try to come to a football game,” he explains. “The last one was our game against Notre Dame. We let it slip away, and I think that was the beginning of the end. I hope our new program will have more success. It’s like our business—it’s about the basics, blocking and tackling.”