Showtime Homes: Directing a New Vision for Custom Homes

When Showtime Homes opened its doors in 2020, owner Derek Lines set out to do more than launch another custom home building company. Based in the Des Moines metro area, Showtime Homes blends craftsmanship with a creative, film-inspired lens—a combination that immediately sets it apart in the local market.

Showtime Homes began as a roofing business before evolving into a full-service builder. Derek founded the company with a simple mission: make the home building journey just as exciting and rewarding as the finished product. Today, the team—led by Vice President Matt Buman, with decades of construction experience—builds 15 to 20 high-end custom homes each year, designing every plan from scratch to deliver a truly personalized experience for every client. Their thoughtful approach reinforces the company’s guiding mantra, Built to Last.

Behind the Scenes

What truly distinguishes Showtime Homes is the creative experience woven throughout its process. The film-inspired brand has developed a signature approach grounded in storytelling and personal expression. Each home receives a movie-style title and a custom poster. When construction begins, clients walk a red carpet for “Dig Day,” collect a jar of soil, and later receive a plant grown from that same dirt—an unexpected, symbolic detail connected to their home’s beginning. Inside the Showtime Homes office, those plants propagate along a living wall, each representing a family’s story in progress. Cinematic videos and thoughtful touches make the process memorable for clients and distinctly their own.

Cambria Connection

Showtime Homes’ relationship with Cambria goes back to Lead Designer Alex Retallick’s college days, when he first used Cambria designs and textures in his 3D renderings. He continued working closely with the brand when he began his commercial design career, forming strong ties with local reps that carried into Showtime Homes. “Cambria is the only quartz surface company here locally that reaches out and truly cares. We have meetings and lunches, they present new products, host events—it’s very important to us,” he says. 

For the team, Cambria aligns perfectly with their philosophy: expressive, high-performing surfaces that enhance both design and story. They love the blend of warm and cool tones within many Cambria designs, which makes coordinating finishes throughout their design journey effortless for clients. 

That integrated design journey happens entirely in-house—from custom floor plans to material curation—quartz selection becomes an especially intentional part of the process. Every surface is chosen to support the home’s overall aesthetic and story, making Cambria a natural fit for the way Showtime Homes designs.

Projects in Focus

Over the past two years, Showtime Homes has debuted custom homes, designed in-house by Alex, at the Des Moines Home Show.

Inception: Showtime Homes’ 2024 home show entry, Inception, was designed for a bachelor client and leans into dark, moody finishes and strong architectural contrasts.

In the award-winning lower-level bar—named Best Entertainment Space at the show—modern, high-contrast Blackbrook™ wraps the countertops, waterfall edges, and an indoor-outdoor pass-through awning window.

The kitchen features a mitered Windsor Brass™ waterfall island with a substantial 3-inch edge, designed as the bold focal point of the space. Behind the range, a slab of Woodcroft™ complements the lighter island and ties into the home’s black-and-white palette. Just off the kitchen, a backlit Skara Brae® installation in the mudroom glows to life on a motion-activated timer, creating a dramatic reveal that became a favorite moment for home show visitors.

Skyfall: For the 2025 show, Skyfall drew inspiration from James Bond, with the name nodding to a hidden speakeasy in the basement, where dark and dramatic Charlestown™ clads the bar countertop beneath a domed ceiling.

Across the main level, Everleigh plays the leading role. It clads the curved kitchen island, perimeter countertops, and a full-height backsplash that continues into the dining room to a built-in hutch for a cohesive, connected look. The design also carries into the mudroom on a custom storage piece as well as a thick, mitered bench. In the powder bath, Woodcroft is inset into a wood vanity with an extended mitered edge and matte black sink.

Before opening Skyfall to the public, Showtime Homes partnered with Make-A-Wish Iowa on a fundraising event inside the home—sponsored in part by Cambria—that raised more than $15,000 to grant a wish for a local child.

Setting the Stage

In a market where traditional and transitional homes dominate, Showtime Homes is focused on widening the design vocabulary. “Most homes in Iowa lean traditional or transitional, so we’re intentionally bringing in more modern, coastal-inspired design—styles you don’t typically see here,” Alex says. The goal is to introduce new possibilities, pushing beyond what’s expected to create homes that feel fresh and forward-thinking.