Tom Gipson builds luxury homes starting in the $900,000s; he builds other homes for free. The Raleigh custom home builder collects fine wine and antique cars that include Jaguars, Rolls Royces and a Porsche, but when he heard the family of a disabled child had no transportation, he and two colleagues bought them a car. He serves on the boards and councils of numerous charitable, civic and professional organizations, including the Home Builders Association of Raleigh-Wake County, Grace Lutheran Church and Habitat for Humanity of Wake County. But at the Lake Gaston house where Gipson and his wife Pat often entertain, the builder/philanthropist can be seen wearing a baseball cap with a fake ponytail that matches his silky white hair.

Confusing? Not when you understand Gipson is one of those individuals whose lives are so satisfying they are always finding ways to give something back to the community that made it possible. “The community has provided a great environment for me and my family to live successfully,” said the Thomas Gipson Homes CEO who initiated the highly successful HBA Builder Blitz events that benefit Habitat for Humanity. He pointed out that his five children’s successes can be attributed in part to the Wake County school system and the many programs the community has provided for them.

Actually, the builder/philanthropist learned early about civic responsibility when he was growing up in Monticello, a small upstate New York town. His father was “Mr. Everything” — chairman of the board of education, the heart fund and chamber of commerce, vestryman in the church and much more. “I was brought up in a family that believed you had to give back to the community in a very meaningful way,” he said, pointing out that the Builder Blitz events give professional homebuilders an opportunity to make an important contribution to their communities in a relatively short time. They’ve also changed the lives of 1,000 families.

Gipson conceived a plan to build 1,000 Habitat homes in communities across the country in one week. But first that concept had to be tested locally. In 2002, he recruited 11 local homebuilders to participate in a Raleigh Builder Blitz in which each of them, including Gipson, would build a Habitat house in a week. “I was there at 6 a.m. every day with my hammer, and dragged myself home at 8 p.m.,” recalled Kent Seeley, president of Skywater Building Co. The 12-home blitz was such a success that the total number of homes built for Habitat doubled in 2003 when twice as many homebuilders participated.

Gipson then started working on a nationwide blitz, persuading Habitat for Humanity International (HfHI) to partner with the National Association of Home Builders to build 1,000 standard Habitat homes across the country.

“Tom proposed his vision, which included builders around the country as well as contractors who made contributions like shingles and plumbing,” recalled David Pressly, NAHB chair during the 2006 Builder Blitz.

In June 2004, HfHI moved Kevin Campbell, its director of Builder Industry Relations, to the Raleigh area so he and Gipson could start planning the 2006 Blitz. “We decided the strongest outreach was having builders who had worked on the Raleigh project talk about doing (the Blitz) on a national scale to other builders,” Campbell recalled.

They traveled to 60 cities across the country so that Gipson, who financed most of the trips, could recruit builders. “Tom said it was important for the builders to actually get out and work alongside the plumbers and painters,” Campbell said.

Raleigh home builder Mark Massengill accompanied Gipson and Campbell on some of those recruiting trips. “Tom Gipson is a phenomenal recruiter,” he said. “You can see the light bulbs come on as he talks. He is like a professional coach who assembles the team and gets his house built.”

Jonathan Reckford, the HfHI CEO, learned that after he visited the Detroit Blitz the builders started competing with one another — “one ended up building a house in 24 hours.” He said he loved that “those builders were all thanking me because they had such a great experience.”

Pressly was working on a house in Charlotte on the day HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson visited the Blitz. He said Habitat officials and homebuilders from all over of the country were there. In one week, the 2006 nationwide Builder Blitz produced 459 homes in 130 cities across the country.

In 2008, a year Gipson describes as “the worst housing recession in history,” the Builder Blitz produced 263 Habitat homes nationwide. He estimates the total value of homes built during the two events was approximately $50 million.

“When you are working on a project like the Builder Blitz, it is harder to get people involved,” said Tim Minton, executive vice-president of the Raleigh-Wake County HBA. But Gipson was tenacious. “Every time a door closed, he would try to open another one.”

For his efforts in the Builder Blitz, Gipson was awarded the prestigious Hearthstone Builder Humanitarian award; the Purpose Prize Fellow for Innovation, Extraordinary Contribution in Encore Career After Age 60; and the Building Achievement Award from the National Housing Endowment.

Gipson downplays his role in the highly acclaimed Blitz events. “The builders throughout the country who have done this are the real heroes,” he emphasizes. “Making such a huge contribution in these times is incredible.”

Gipson also applies his tenet of giving back to other charities and the arts. He is a top fundraiser for the Muscular Dystrophy Association of Wake County, he raised $200,000 to cover the cost of repairing hurricane damage to Faith Lutheran School, and he headed the building team that renovated Grace Lutheran Church. In addition to serving on the Wake County Habitat and HBA boards, Gipson is on the NAHB board. And that’s not all.

Gipson and his wife Pat have pledged $1.5 million toward construction of the N.C. Museum of Art’s new building, according to Museum of Art Director Lawrence Wheeler. “Tom is very generous, genuinely charitable,” Wheeler said. “He is one of those people who don’t operate from their ego, but operate for the public good.”

If you think you now have a complete portrait of a man who spends all his waking days in charitable and community service, take another look. It turns out that Gipson knows how to relax and enjoy himself. In addition to collecting vintage cars and fine wine, he enjoys cooking, water and snow skiing and traveling extensively with Pat. In fact, they’ve trekked in Nepal, been on safari in Africa, white-water rafted the Nile, and the list goes on. Most summer weekends the couple can be found at their Lake Gaston retreat enjoying good food and wine with friends.

Those activities plus the charities and blitzes would be more than enough to occupy a retired person, but Gipson still manages to go into his business office four days a week. Building is actually his second profession — he worked as a management consultant after getting an MBA from the Wharton Graduate Division of the University of Pennsylvania. But building houses was always of interest (his grandfather was a builder and his father a developer), so in 1977 he and his family moved to Raleigh where he built his first house. Today, Thomas Gipson Homes builds high-end European-design homes with a contemporary flair.

Roland and Helen Harris fell in love with Gipson’s homes and bought one. “We’ve had houses in three different states, and he’s the best builder we’ve ever worked with,” Roland Harris said.

Because the industry has slowed in the present economy, Gipson told me his company is taking on renovation projects “just to keep people employed.” But he emphasized that any profits from those projects will go directly to Habitat for Humanity. “There is a great need both in our country and our world for simple, decent, affordable housing,” he said. That would be motivation enough, but in this story there’s more.

Gipson recounted an incident that occurred when he was building a Habitat home in the 2006 Builder Blitz, and the homeowner family came by every evening to check the progress. On Thursday evening the home was virtually complete and Progress Energy arrived at dusk to turn on the electricity. “All of a sudden all of the lights came on, paddle fans started whirling and kids started jumping around their home with glee,” he said. “Looking at their eyes made it all worthwhile and pushed me to try to do more.”

Get out your hammers, builders. Plans are under way for the 2011 Builder Blitz.

E-mail Iris June Vinegar at irisjune11@aol.com.