article by Stephanie Hobby | Photos by Nathan Satran

A stunning five-bedroom, seven-bathroom house comfortably nestled on 1.25 acres is the newest addition to The Timbers, a new subdivision off Alkali Creek and a feature of the Parade of Homes.

The home is a collaboration between BRS Construction, owned by Army veteran Scot Bonenberger and his son Seth Bonenberger, and homeowners Christy and Zeb Fettig of Billings. Christy recently retired from a 25-year banking career and has switched gears to pursue her lifelong passion for interior design. Her design firm, Christy Fettig Designs, is the result of years of dreaming and designing her own family’s homes, emphasizing creating beautiful environments that are livable and comfortable. Every detail in this Parade home echoes that sentiment, from the custom-designed game and theater rooms upstairs to the indoor pool that opens to the outdoor entertaining space, with lush landscaping around a custom fireplace.

The project launched more than two years ago when the Fettigs started looking for a new home, knowing they wanted to stay close to their current neighborhood in Alkali Creek. They had seen advertisements for The Timbers subdivision and had watched the developer’s home being built. In late 2022, they chose a lot and started looking for a builder to make the family’s dreams a reality.

For the Fettig family, the top priority was a practical one: a solid foundation. The home they built has 88 piers to ensure there would be no foundational issues, and finding a builder who understood what needed to happen structurally was a necessity. Beyond that, the next most important element would be a pool. Christy is a lifelong swimmer, and her teenage daughter swims for Skyview. “Being in Montana, I knew we needed an indoor pool so we could use it year-round,” she said.

While touring the Parade Homes in 2022, the Fettigs met Scot and just clicked. “I toured his Parade home three or four times after the Parade and decided his finishes were exactly what I was looking for,” Christy said

Christy aimed to create a welcoming space that reflected her family’s interests and welcomed their friends and loved ones. “I’m excited to see my kids have fun; my life revolves around my family, and having the ability to create something where they are comfortable to be here all the time with their friends was important.”

Scot Bonenberger has been building homes since 2009, emphasizing custom homes for the past six years. He and Christy met with designer Cory Hess of Peak Custom Home Design to develop a more concrete vision for the home. “I don’t think enough can be said about him. You tell him what you want and verbalize it, and he puts it on paper, and it’s nearly perfect. We do a few tweaks. It was amazing,” Christy said.

The next six months were focused on planning to ensure every detail was covered before breaking ground, followed by a flurry of activity. It takes a small army of contractors to make it all come together for a home of this scale. The number of man-hours is impossible to calculate, but Bonenberger said he started with a crew to level the dirt and get the lot elevation correct, then worked with a team to sink the piers. From there, jobs included foundation, framing, siding, roofing, gutters, exterior finishes, flooring, tile work, cabinets, countertops, masonry, concrete and epoxy, plumbers, electricians, HVAC, smart home design, lighting, security, integrated sound systems, home theater, trim work, painting, landscaping, pool construction that included a separate HVAC system, and custom woodwork panels.

“When you add all those subs up, think about how many jobs are created just in building a house. People don’t always think about that; it’s not just the cost. People are making a living out of building a house, and the reality is that it’s not just the builder; it’s a lot of people,” Bonenberger said. 

Coordinating all of that effort rests on the partnership between the contractor and the homeowners. “It’s so important to find a builder with common interests because they understand and can help your vision grow,” Christy said. “It’s never singular. There’s a lot of input that goes in there, and a lot of ‘Oh, I never thought about it that way’ where you add to the vision.”

Scot agreed that with custom homes, the process offers a lot of wiggle room. “You see, things start to take form and tweak them along the way and not have to start all over,” he said.

Both are dog lovers, which led to a dog room on the main floor, complete with a kennel for each of the Fettigs' three dogs and a raised dog wash station.

For the two-legged family and friends, the main floor is also home to the master suite, which has a coffee bar and outdoor access to the hot tub, a mother-in-law suite, an extended pantry with an extra refrigerator and sink, a music room for their grand piano, an exercise room, a mud room, and a laundry room flooded with natural light.

Upstairs is home to their teenage children’s bedrooms, a theater room, a game room, extra storage, and a family room with a fireplace and kitchenette where their friends can relax together.

Another less visible but highly practical aspect is the smart home features. Four bays of computers control the temperature, with three furnaces and AC units, and all lighting and security.

Beautifully designed and thoughtfully planned, the home is a masterpiece of design and careful construction. “I think the craftsmanship is the number one thing about this house. I think that we think outside the box, and we’re open to building things that haven’t been done before or are not very common,” Scot said. “I truly enjoy the gratification that I get personally, and I think my team is the same way: taking someone’s vision and making it a reality for them. There’s nothing more satisfying than to see the glow on someone’s face or the smile that they have when you’ve nailed it.”

Originally printed in the November 2024 issue of Simply Local Magazine

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