.bodytext {float: left; } .floatimg-left-hort { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right: 10px; width:300px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-caption-hort { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:300px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-vert { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right:15px; width:200px;} .floatimg-left-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; font-size: 10px; width:200px;} .floatimg-right-hort { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px;} .floatimg-right-caption-hort { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimg-right-vert { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px;} .floatimg-right-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; border-top-style: double; border-top-color: black; border-bottom-style: double; border-bottom-color: black;} .floatimgright-sidebar p { line-height: 115%; text-indent: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar h4 { font-variant:small-caps; } .pullquote { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 150px; background: url(http://www.dmbusinessdaily.com/DAILY/editorial/extras/closequote.gif) no-repeat bottom right !important ; line-height: 150%; font-size: 125%; border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} .floatvidleft { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatvidright { float:right; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} I was ready for the house Chad Langworthy built. All of the houses at the Greater Des Moines HomeShowExpo 2007 are a treat, of course, but the first five on the tour seem to be trying a bit too hard to impress. Like a guy who arrives at the class reunion driving a Bentley.

Not only do a couple of the houses in Johnston’s Silverstone Development top 7,000 square feet, putting them close to the hotel category, but they leave typical Iowans wondering if they won’t be welcome much longer around these parts.

With a supersized turret here, a “lighted trayed ceiling” there and dark, textured plaster walls everywhere, the Silverstone homes suggest that Central Iowa’s elite like to pretend that they’re actually exiled European royalty.

The ostentation seems a bit surreal at a time when Countrywide Financial Corp. is reporting that more and more home buyers with good credit are falling behind on loan payments.

Compared with the other Expo homes, the house built by Langworthy’s company, Troon Homes LC, is as straightforward and bright as a small-town valedictorian. From outside, you notice the simple geometric mullions in the windows, the low roof and the way one of the garage doors discreetly faces the side lot instead of the street.

Walk in and the place is airy and light, with unstained birch trim and maple flooring, and the stair railings are straight black metal tubes. It’s impressive without trying to be a Bavarian castle.

Remember, though, we’re comparing it to the other Expo extravaganzas, not to a three-bedroom ranch in Colfax. The 5,600-square-foot house has a 20-foot ceiling in the great room, a bridge punched through that room’s stratosphere, a bathroom for each of its six bedrooms and a recreation area big enough for dozens of guests and possibly a volleyball game. The price tag is $1 million, which means most Expo visitors had no intention of ever living in the place.

However, Langworthy says he has talked to a couple of potential buyers for this, his first HomeShowExpo project. Eventually he’ll find out if the time and effort of being an Expo builder will pay off in more clients.

“If I hadn’t been here on Saturday …” he said. “A lady I knew years ago came through, and she didn’t even know I was building houses. She’s getting ready to build, and now she’s strongly considering me.”

Four of the six Expo houses were custom-built and sold before the gawkers arrived. Six was an unusually small total for an Expo; Langworthy said that reflects the cautious attitude among homebuilders these days.

Langworthy, a 35-year-old Johnston native, started Troon just three years ago, but has been hanging around home construction projects since he was a kid, when he accompanied his painter dad on weekends.

He didn’t go to college; he learned the ropes by working for other builders. Now he hopes to construct about 15 houses a year in the $400,000-and-up category.

Langworthy’s Expo home is a lot like his own home in Clive, and also resembles a house Troon is building for major league umpire Eric Cooper. “It’s my style for now,” Langworthy said. “But styles change.”