Shannon Schad began his career in residential construction at age 15 alongside his dad in the Black Hills of South Dakota. After a few years hiatus as a skier in Montana and Colorado, the lure of family and a career designing custom homes called him back home.
In 2008 he struck out on his own with Shannon Schad Design & Construction. Now he works alongside homeowners to create mountain homes that reflect both his clients’ design ideas and the landscapes that surround them.
Project: Coal Mining House, South Dakota
Builder: Shannon Shad Design & Construction
Product: TRUTEN™A606 (metal roof and metal siding)
Shannon Shad works closely with homeowners to incorporate their ideas into the ultimate dream home.
One of his latest projects, the Coal Mining House in the Black Hills, is the perfect example of a stunning home that melds with the surroundings. The homeowners dreamed of creating a guest house which incorporates the storied mining history that shaped this corner of South Dakota and blends with the surrounding environment.
“The customers are really what inspire me,” says Shannon. “For a lot of these projects the customers are into the design as much as we are. We have fun with it.” Most of Shannon’s clients, including the owners of this house, are the inspiration for the creative features that make each home unique. Shannon’s clients come up with many of the creative details that make each house stand out.
When choosing the exterior rustic metal for the house, Shannon and his client spent hours standing in the lot with material samples to find the best match. The goal was a house that elegantly fit into the pine trees and rocky ledges that surround the property.
“We just wanted the house to blend into the hillside. It was our biggest concern.” says Shannon. “We’d always stand in the back and pick an element that would stick out. That’s how we matched the materials to the elements.” After much consideration, they landed on Truten™A606 for the metal siding and the metal roof. The texture and color of the rusted custom metal panels matched the Ponderosa Pines on the lot and is the perfect material to replicate traditional mining construction in the 1800s.
The metal siding panels are a custom design for the house inspired by the homeowner’s ideas. “We copied the siding design from an old mine theme where they only used metal. Truten™A606 metal siding was the best product for the job,” explains Shannon. The detail and care taken to honor the history of mining can be seen throughout the home, from the siding of the house to the smokestack-shaped chimney. Shannon explains, “The chimney was a lot of fun, and the homeowner helped to design the cap to match the mines in the Hills. We copied the design of a mine shaft on one of the local mines.” The beautiful rustic roof and chimney fit the customer’s ideas perfectly.
The theme of the Black Hills mines carries through to the home’s interior. Shannon used flat metal panels of TrutenA606™ to wrap the foot bases for the kitchen island and the living room bar. He used the same metal panels in the master bedroom over the fireplace mantel. He pre-rusted the panels before installing them to create the perfect texture for the theme of the home. Pre-rusted flat panels carry the mining theme through the interior of the house.
Shannon had used rusted flat panels on the interior of another design and knew they were perfect for the Coal Mining House. “Originally we had drawn in board and batten, but we knew it wasn’t quite right,” says Shannon. “We wanted to come up with a different texture, and the metal matched the surroundings.” The home has many unique and incredible features, including a sturdy covered bridge entry with a TrutenA606™ metal roof that spans a small brook running through the property. The welcoming front entry and appealing roof lines come together to create an elegant and refined home. Every detail blends with the surrounding trees and gives a nod to the 1800s mining architecture that helped to shape the Black Hills.
