A Conversation With Sara Marcille Of Mountain Home Collective
IN CONVERSATION BRINGS TOGETHER THE PEOPLE BEHIND THE HOMES, BUSINESSES, AND IDEAS SHAPING THE WEST. IN THIS ISSUE, WESTERN HOME JOURNAL SPEAKS WITH SARA MARCILLE, OWNER OF MOUNTAIN HOME COLLECTIVE, ABOUT THE FIRM’S WORK, ITS CLIENTS, AND THE THINKING BEHIND THE SPACES IT CREATES. WE ALSO SIT DOWN WITH MICHELE MCCARTHY AND RON NEMETZ, THE TEAM BEHIND VERTICAL ARTS ARCHITECTURE’S NEW BOZEMAN BRANCH, ABOUT ESTABLISHING A LOCAL PRESENCE AND APPROACHING DESIGN IN SOUTHWEST MONTANA.
A Conversation With Sara Marcille Of Mountain Home Collective
Since founding Mountain Home Collective in 2020, Sara Marcille has built a Montana design practice with a meaningful presence in Bozeman, Big Sky, and the Flathead Valley. Longstanding relationships in Whitefish helped the firm’s work there flourish, leading to successful collaborations with some of the region’s foremost builders and architects. At the same time, MHC has continued designing sophisticated homes closer to its Bozeman base.
Now, as Sara and her team focus more of the firm’s energy on Bozeman and Big Sky, she is thinking not only about the homes MHC helps create, but also about everything clients experience along the way. Beautiful, highly resolved interiors are expected at this level, but what clients remember long after they’ve moved in is the confidence, communication, and deeply personal attention surrounding the work.
“WE HAVE A LARGE, DEEPLY EXPERIENCED TEAM, INCLUDING PEOPLE WITH COMMERCIAL AND HOSPITALITY BACKGROUNDS AS WELL AS AN ARCHITECTURE DEPARTMENT WITHIN THE FIRM. OVER THE PAST SEVERAL YEARS, WE HAVE BUILT OUR PROCESS STONE BY STONE.”
WHJ: Mountain Home Collective has built considerable momentum in Whitefish. What makes this the right moment to grow in the Bozeman and Big Sky market?
Sara Marcille: We have grown very intentionally. When Mountain Home Collective began in Bozeman, I drew on relationships from the years I had previously lived in the area. This led to opportunities to collaborate with some of the region’s top builders, develop our portfolio, and, most importantly, create successful homes and great experiences for our clients.
We understand the level of talent and design sophistication in Bozeman and Big Sky, and we respect it. We also know our work matches that caliber. We have a large, deeply experienced team, including people with commercial and hospitality backgrounds as well as an architecture department within the firm. Over the past several years, we have built our process stone by stone. We know how to deliver—as designers, as professionals, and as partners to homeowners, builders, and architects.
WH J : At this level, excellent design is expected. What do clients need beyond that?
Sara: We want the experience to feel like the highest level of hospitality. A home may take two to four years to design and build, and the story of that process becomes part of the home. Clients should feel cared for, heard, and invited into a genuinely collaborative relationship from beginning to end.
That is especially important in Big Sky, where many of our clients are building from afar. They need to know that we are their eyes and ears on the ground. It requires exceptional organization and proactive communication, but it also requires trust. Even at a distance, they should feel that they have a strong pulse on the project and a meaningful connection to what is taking shape.
WHJ: What does that level of service look like in practice?
Sara: First, it means understanding far more than a client’s visual preferences. We want to know their stories, the places they love traveling, how they entertain, how they spend an ordinary morning, and how they imagine gathering with family decades from now. The goal is not simply a beautiful, finished project. It’s a home that expresses who they are and supports a lifetime of memories.
Then there are the personal gestures. If we know a client’s favorite food or wine, we may have it waiting when they arrive. If their dogs are part of the family, there might be new leashes with their names on them. Those details are small, but they communicate something important: We know you, we have been paying attention, and this place was made for your lifestyle.
Ultimately, the service and the home should feel like separate things. We want the process to take care of our clients, and we want the finished home to take care of them and their guests. It is a continuous story.
WHJ: There is real confidence in that approach.
Sara: As humbly as I can say it, we are working to create the best design experience in Montana. People whose lives cross paths with this state understand that there is something here that cannot be replicated elsewhere. We understand what that feels like, and we want to create homes around the lives and memories that make that experience possible.
Our clients should never have to wonder whether the team can deliver. At this level, that is the first checkbox. We want to bring them in, wrap our arms around them, and say, “Look, we’ve got you. Let’s start dreaming.”
whj IN CONVERSATION
