Two businessmen say they plan to open a franchise in Spokane Valley of HiLine Homes, which builds conventionally constructed homes "on your site", to serve the Spokane, Coeur d'Alene, and Sandpoint areas.

HiLine Homes, based in Puyallup, Wash., develops stick-built homes and buys construction materials in volume to reduce costs. The Valley franchise will be the company's seventh, says Bob Oliver, who will own the franchise with Don Kolcz. The company says it builds homes at $38 per square foot, while the national average is $90 per square foot.

HiLine's six other franchise locations include Yakima, Wenatchee, Kennewick, and Burlington, Wash., and Redmond and Salem, Ore.

The Valley franchise will occupy 2,700 square feet of floor space at 15320 E. Marietta for offices, a showroom, and storage, Oliver says. He says he and Kolcz hope to have the franchise open next month, or possibly in January 2010.

Oliver says he and Kolcz plan to move to the Spokane area from Western Washington to operate the franchise. He says they hope to have four employees by spring, including a construction manager, administrator, and two salespeople. The home building will be subcontracted out, he says.

"There're some great builders in the area," Oliver says. "HiLine can build them cheaper because they stick with designs already developed. And we get volume discounts on materials."

HiLine's homes here generally will range from about $50,000 for a home with about 900 square feet of floor space to $89,000 for another model that has 2,100 square feet, with four bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a two-car garage, Oliver says. Those prices don't include land.

Oliver says the two partners are looking for some property near the franchise office to build a model home, and they hope to have the home built by spring to show potential homebuyers.

Oliver says he has been working for HiLine for eight years in Puyallup and Centralia, Wash., two of the company's five branch locations owned by the founders, along with Grays Harbor, Port Townsend, and Woodland, Wash. Kolcz is a friend, Oliver says, and has been working in commercial construction and project management in Western Washington. HiLine says it has built 5,000 homes in Washington and Oregon.

Wendy Shiley, of Windermere Spokane Valley, managed the leasing of the space on Marietta for Olive and Kolcz.