Shawn and Amy’s story began 12 years ago – long before their company Phoenician Custom Homes, LLC., started. Shawn, from Las Cruces and a graduate of Las Cruces High School, and Amy, a Phoenix native, settled down in Phoenix to build a family. When son Zachary Alan was born the couple was ecstatic. “Family has always been so important to us,” Amy says. “It’s what we live for.”

While they lived for their family, Shawn was working in the building industry, considering becoming a builder himself, when he and Amy found themselves in a battle that would shake the ground they stood on, and eventually lead them to Las Cruces.

Zachary became sick, and Shawn and Amy soon lost their son to meningitis in October 2002, just after he turned five. The couple was shattered, and spent much of their time trying to determine why Zachary died. Eventually, it was found that a strain of the meningitis he had was in the water, leading to intensive investigations, legal battles and a settlement that served only as a band aid to the intense hurt Shawn and Amy were going through.

Working desperately to overcome their loss, Shawn and Amy tried for another child – joyfully welcoming daughter Riley in 2004. It was the chance the couple needed to move on with just the memory of Zachary, but the family never made it home from the hospital. Riley was born with a genetic disorder that took her life when she was three weeks old.

“We were devastated,” Shawn says. “We lost Zachary, then Riley. It was a lot to handle. We knew we needed to get out of Phoenix. We had our home there, but we shut Zachary’s door, then Riley’s, and we just lived around those two rooms.”

Shawn’s desire to build came on even stronger – something to do and to take his mind of their losses, and after trying to build in Phoenix, several friends from Las Cruces suggested he return home. When Shawn and Amy arrived in 2006, Shawn hit the community by storm with his creative building and desire to see happy families in each of his homes, even though his was hurting so much.

“More important than the home is the relationship,” Shawn says. “I want to do everything I can to make them happy.”

With Amy’s help, Shawn designs the homes, and Amy decorates. The couple pours themselves into building, including their own home in Mesilla Verde Estates. While the home styles change based on each customer’s wants and needs, details in Phoenician homes include gorgeous landscaping with large grassy areas and pecan trees, intricate ponds, custom cabinetry from Desert Craftsman Custom Cabinetry in Phoenix and handcrafted items like sinks and mosaics.

More importantly than the quality of work Shawn provides, most of which comes from his dedicated set of subcontractors, Shawn and Amy work by a standard of faith, courage and a motivated desire to live. The name of their building company proves it.

Appropriately named, the Phoenician name and logo of a rising bird in all its glory comes from the Phoenix – a mythological bird that is consumed by fire in its nest at the end of a life cycle, then from the ashes comes a new, young Phoenix.

The end of one life, the start of another.
Shawn and Amy, who will forever live with the memory of their children who died too young, now have the start of a new life – creative, innovative builders, and proud parents of newborn Hayden Alan, born in March.

“We weren’t going to try again,” Shawn says. “We lost two children, and we couldn’t go through it again. This was a miracle accident. That’s the only way to say it.”

Now, with Shawn, Amy and Hayden, Phoenician Custom Homes continues the sophisticated building many in Las Cruces enjoy, and they do it with the same type of zest for which they live. As Shawn says, “You do what you can, everyday, remembering it is about all of us. The family, the business, the clients and even the losses and the life.”