The new development in south Tonganoxie, east of Pleasant Street on Evans Road, eventually is expected to hold 14 houses, all constructed by Basehor builder John Bonee.

The first house to go up in the development belongs to Steve and Kathy Harrell.

Harrell said he and his wife always had thought that area would be a good place to build a house.

“We were looking for something a little bit larger, and we knew that that property would eventually have houses on it,” Harrell said. “As soon as we saw them breaking ground, we contacted John Evans to see what it was all about.”

Harrell said he’s glad to have John Bonee in charge.

“I think he’s a great builder,” Harrell said. “He listened to what we wanted, and he did a good job of finding house plans that were what we were looking for.”

Bonee, who has been in the construction business since 1981 and a builder since 1986, works with his father, Jack Bonee, and his brother, Dennis Bonee. He said Evans East differs from other new Tonganoxie developments that are geared more for first-time homebuyers.

“These are upper bracket homes for the move-up buyers and second-time home owners,” Bonee said.

The typical house at Evans East will cost $215,000 to $285,000 and will include about 2,400 square feet of living space. That space will include four bedrooms, a full basement, brick exterior, high efficiency heating and air-conditioning and clad casement windows, Bonee said.

“I base my business on a category for people who can afford to have a good home,” Bonee said. “It’s higher on the installation end, but you end up getting what you want because you get the home you design yourself.”

Bonee and his father and brother do as much of the work as they can themselves, working on about five houses at a time, he said.

“We’ve tried subbing out some of the work,” he said, “And we’ve found we get a better product when we do as much as we can ourselves.”

J.W. Evans said three of the 14 lots have been sold. Evans East will include sidewalks, trees and shrubs, all put in by the developer, utilities are underground and the lots are about three-fourths of an acre.

Evans said he’s not in a hurry to see houses going up on all the lots.

“We want to make sure everybody’s happy with their neighbors,” Evans said. “We want it to be a nice area. It might take a little longer because of the price.”

Evans said he selected Bonee to build all of the houses to provide a consistent, high-quality look for the neighborhood.

“I don’t want to worry about other builders building different kinds of houses here,” he said.