A year ago, Liberty Lake resident Tiffany Cable built her dream, a bakery just down the street from her River District home at the corner of Barker and Mission. At the same time, her neighbor and property owner, Dr. Owen Packard, expanded his Lakeside Dental practice into the greater Liberty Lake area.
Looking back, both the baker and the dentist are particularly thankful for a third party: the builder.
“I could write a book about how amazing Baker Construction has been to me,” Cable said.
With a background in family business, Cable brought lots of experience to her Blissful Whisk venture — just not construction experience. In stepped Superintendent Terry Batterman and Project Manager Zach Bull with Baker Construction and Development Inc.
“My shop would not be the show place it turned into without Terry’s skill set and attention to detail,” said Cable, explaining how Batterman’s crew regularly took Cable’s vision and brought it to life. “There were many things along the way that just didn’t quite work out as purchased, and Terry always found a way to fix things and they always turned out better than before.”
With Bull’s help, Cable added that the project actually came in under budget, “which is so rare considering how nice my place turned out and how many changes there were along the way.”
Next door, Dr. Packard’s past experience with Baker Construction set his mind at ease for this project.
“I have used Baker Construction before,” he said. “They have built four or five buildings for us now. We just wouldn’t use anyone else. They’re just phenomenal. These guys are class acts.”
Specifically, Dr. Packard listed customer service, professional knowledge, quality and accuracy as standout Baker qualities.
“I was surprised at how accurate their building estimate was,” he said. “I just find them very, very easy to work with.”
President and CEO Barry Baker, whose parents started the company in 1951, likes to hear reports like this, as they line up with company values that emphasize relationships and integrity.
“People want someone that they can trust, someone that will take their dollars and spend them like they are their own, and we don’t take that responsibility lightly,” said Baker, a Liberty Lake resident himself. “Our business is a people business, it’s a relationship business and it’s an accountability business, and I think we work really hard to do all of those things well.”
Count Cable among those who believe Baker practices what it preaches.
“The Baker family runs their business very much like I always ran mine: Work with integrity and surround yourself with employees you are proud to know and work with every day,” she said. “By doing this you bring the very best to the market, and they seriously do that. Every day, I see the look on my customers’ faces when they see my shop for the very first time. They are seriously in awe of how nice it looks, and that could not have happened without the Baker Construction team.”
NOTE: A version of this article first appeared in the 2020 Liberty Lake Yearbook.
