When you spend years moving people out of one home and into the next, you start to notice things.

You see the new build that's spotless but feels like no one actually lives in it. You see the modest house where the backyard is set up so well you could practically smell the grill smoke from last weekend's cookout. You see what people prioritize when they're packing up their lives — what stays in the box marked fragile and what gets left for the donation pile.

The homes that felt the most like home weren't always the biggest or the newest. They were the ones where the people had built something for themselves. A backyard with a real outdoor kitchen. A patio set up for the way the family actually entertains. A fire feature worth sitting around at 10 PM in October. Space made for the people they love.

I started Upscale Home HQ to help people build that.

Here's what that looks like in practice.

If you call, you'll talk to me. If you want help speccing your patio — sizes, layouts, what fits where, what goes with what — I'll put a real plan together and email it back to you. Even if you never buy a thing from me. I'd rather be useful and lose the sale than be a salesperson and lose your trust.

Every brand on this site is one I'm authorized to carry. That sounds like a small detail until you try to register a warranty on something you bought from a random reseller and the manufacturer won't honor it. Then it stops sounding small.

I focus on American-made when I can. Cal Flame builds in Pomona, California, and has since 1980. Summerset Professional Grills is California-made too, family-owned since 1995. When the dollar you spend stays in the country and pays someone fairly, your purchase does a little more than just decorate a patio.

And I keep the catalog deliberately small. I'd rather sell you the right outdoor kitchen than have you scroll through 400 options that all blur together.

That's the operation.

Not every customer is going to be a fit. Some people want the cheapest version of everything, and I'm not the cheapest. But if you're spending real money on a backyard you'll live in for the next twenty years — and you want the person on the other end of the line to actually care whether you get it right — you're in the right place.

— Trevor Christopher

FOUNDER, UPSCALE HOME HQ

GET IN TOUCH

Real people. Direct lines.

Have a question, or need help speccing your project? Pick whichever channel works for you.