Horry County builder earns top spot

Friends and fellow builders describe Harry Dill as a man who has a hard time saying no if someone asks him to help, and it's that giving spirit and his dedication to the building industry that have earned him a spot in the South Carolina Housing Hall of Fame.

Dill, 55, will be inducted into the hall of fame Wednesday after being nominated by the Horry Georgetown Home Builder Association and selected by a panel of homebuilders throughout the state. The South Carolina Housing Hall of Fame honors people who have made a lasting contribution to the housing industry, and Dill is only the third selected from the Grand Strand in the award's history.

"When I think of Harry, I think of someone who puts other people before himself," Rose Anne O'Reilly, the executive vice president of the Horry Georgetown Home Builders Association said. "Harry is about we, not about I. He's just an all around good guy, and he cares about other people as well as the industry."

Dill has been a builder in the area more than 20 years and has served on almost every committee at the local association, including three terms as president. He also is the fifth district representative for the South Carolina Home Builders Association.

"He's been very active in the association. He's gotten us more involved, I think, in the community," O'Reilly said. "Through his leadership, I think we have really helped the industry and the two counties."

Mark Nix, executive officer South Carolina Home Builders Association said he can't think of any one better than Dill to receive the award given his impact in Horry and Georgetown counties and everything he's given back to the community, including with the "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" homes he has built.

"[He's] the perfect mirror of what a homebuilder should be in South Carolina," Nix said.

Dill wasn't always a builder - he studied to be an accountant at the University of South Carolina and worked for his father's accounting company for about six months before realizing it just wasn't for him. He spent some time helping out a friend of his who was a builder and found that he enjoyed the job.

After being laid off from one construction company, he took his last $400 to Sears, bought some tools and went into business for himself the next day. He would do any work - simple repairs, build bookshelves and even cut grass, Dill said.

Dill says he was made to be a builder, with creativity, an ease with numbers and arms long enough to cut across an entire sheet of plywood with a skill saw.

"When I sit there and look back, the good Lord put me together to do what I'm doing," Dill said. "I've always kind of had this vision. ... I can literally in my mind see what the finished product looks like."

Dill, now a partner at Sterling Homes in Myrtle Beach, said he hasn't always been successful.

There were hard times, when he couldn't afford to buy a Coca-Cola on the way home from work, or pay the electric or water bills, but those experiences helped bring him to where he is today, he said.

Dill is being honored in part because of his giving spirit, and there are multiple examples of his work - from the "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" houses built for Renee Wilson of Longs and the Suggs family of Loris, to the abused woman whose lock he replaced and the people behind him at Chick-fil-A whose meals he paid for.

"I've been through hard times, I know what it feels like," he said. "If it's within my means to do something for someone who needs something, I will find a way to do it somehow."

Dill moved to the Grand Strand in the late 1980s and went to work for Hall Realty and Development, where he worked his way up to be the vice president of construction and development before buying the company, with Clinch Heyward, when the owner retired. The company is now known as Sterling Homes.

Dill had a rough childhood with an alcoholic mother and a father who worked long hours. Perhaps because of that, Dill is especially willing to help children.

"I have this huge passion for children because they don't get to choose where they end up and a lot of times they end up in places they just don't need to be," he said.

Dill genuinely cares about people and often helps people anonymously, which demonstrates his sincerity, said Jeff Dunn, the minister at Christ United Methodist Church, where Dill and his family attend.

"He's just a very sincere honest caring person," he said. "There isn't any fluff in him or any pretense."

Dill is always willing to lend a hand at the church, even putting up money years ago when it was nearly all he had. Dill is a leader on some projects but doesn't shy away from the dirty work, Dunn said.

"With all that he's got going on, a business to run and family to raise, all the stuff that he has, he takes the time out to make sure you're OK and see if [he] can do anything for you," he said.

Dunn said Dill's character is evident in the way his children, especially his 17-year-old son Kirby, act and are growing up. Dill also has a daughter Caroline, 6, with his wife Missy and a son Justin, 30, from a previous marriage. Last year he also became a grandfather, which he brags about.

Dill says he's a country boy at heart and he enjoys hunting and fishing, and has a favorite tractor. He'll make duck calls that he donates to charity in his spare time and has a garden where he grows fresh vegetables.

"Harry is one of the most giving people I've ever seen," said Raymond Goodman, a long-time friend. "He's got a heart of gold."

Goodman, who has traveled several times with Dill and his wife Missy, said that they always have a great attitude and go out of their way to treat people well.

Dill will pick up the bill for dinner and make sure that everyone can afford to participate in all of the activities, even if some are less fortunate, Goodman said.

The two have also gone to NASCAR events together, and Dill is always the one that makes friends with neighboring tailgaters and doesn't shy away from poking fun at a friend who's pulling for a different driver.

Goodman, who works at 84 Lumber, and supplies many builders, said Dill has a lot of respect in the industry. Builders just entering the business look to Dill as a role model and he often serves as mentor, Goodman said.

"He's considered a leader because he knows the proper ways of doing things," he said.

Heyward, Dill's partner at Sterling Homes, said he is proud of Dill and that Dill truly cares about the building industry.

"He's always encouraging and supporting and uplifting the building industry as one of America's great professions," Heyward said. "For him to get this award now, after just a long, steady period of growth and giving back, is very well deserved."