A Builder with Heart

“Ideal’s priority has always been to support the communities in which we live and work,” says CEO and co-founder Vernon McKown. From the very beginning, Ideal has paid employees’ time to volunteer for nonprofit organizations and contributed money, services and fundraising assistance.

As of 2023, Ideal has become one of the largest, most successful and most highly regarded builder/developers in Oklahoma. Along the way, the company has achieved significant national recognition for innovation in building science, leadership in energy conservation, excellence in company management, community involvement and public service.

Ideal’s genuine dedication to community service is a rare trait to find in homebuilders of this size. At the company’s heart is a drive and determination to make the communities in which it builds better than ever. The leadership team at Ideal might hear of a school, a nonprofit, or individuals in need, and they are tenacious in their commitment to help. Ideal’s director of community outreach knows no bounds in the effort to raise funds or source support above and beyond what Ideal itself can donate. She has sourced trade partner support to renovate areas in need and employees often contribute personally to organizations and people in need. If anyone can make a difference both large and small, it’s Ideal Homes & Neighborhoods. 

Ideal donates 10% of profits to give back to the community. But above that, Ideal’s employees give incredible amounts of time and resources to serve their communities. Often, more than half the company is on-site at volunteer events, and they bring their families and friends to support these organizations as well. The countless hours of employees’ time, talents and treasures truly make this company one that employees are proud to call their own. Additionally, employees personally donate to many coordinated efforts by donating to a trade partner with upcoming medical expenses.

Each year the company supports more than 10 company-wide volunteer opportunities, including mission trips outside Oklahoma that organize dozens of employees and their families to support areas in need in other states. Employees give back in incredible ways such as utilizing their talents to create plans for new office spaces for United Way, recruiting trade partners to help by donating their time and materials to renovate a foster center, creating a new logo for a nonprofit, providing hundreds of volunteer hours to landscape overgrown nonprofit offices, packing holiday meals for those with food insecurity and so much more.