Billionaire real-estate developer Roy Carroll didn't set out to build a house in Montana. Roy, who lives in North Carolina and is developing a resort community there, was just checking out the upscale Yellowstone Club, a private ski-resort community near Big Sky, on the advice of a friend.

But Roy said his three daughters, now 31, 34 and 36, loved the idea of skiing without standing in lines. He and his wife, Vanessa Carroll, wanted a vacation home where the family could stay together. So when a 3-acre, ski-in, ski-out lot at the club became available for $4.5 million in 2018, everyone urged him to buy it. "They were smitten," said Roy.

Spanning roughly 15,200 acres, the Yellowstone Club has attracted privacy-seeking billionaires and celebrities, including "Shark Tank" investor Robert Herjavec, Microsoft's Bill Gates and Meta's Mark Zuckerberg. In 2018, Roy started what would end up being a $20 million project to build a 12,800-square-foot house there.

Completed in 2022, the eight-bedroom house is "mountain-traditional" style and has some areas that are "all-out Montana," said Corey Kelly, the lead architect and a partner at Bozeman-based Locati Architects & Interiors. The exterior is made of a gray wood that was reclaimed from old horse corrals, the ceilings are vaulted with timber, and there is lots of stone.

The rec room has a saloon that is modeled after a bar called the Boot Room at the Yellowstone Club. At his bar is a life-size wax replica of actor John Wayne dressed in Old West-style clothing, some of it made to look distressed by driving over it with a car.

The wine cave on the lower level is designed to resemble a mine shaft, with a narrow entrance made of stone. "You're out West, in the mountains," said Roy. "I thought, 'let's do something like that.' " The passageway opens to a vaulted room with antique bricks taken from a Pony, Mont., (population 127) bar.

No room in the house is alike, which makes it different from some 50 other custom homes the firm has designed at the Yellowstone Club, said Amanda Heys, the lead designer and a partner with Locati Interiors. The Carrolls' three daughters each have their own suite, with a bathroom, walk-in closet and fireplace, and they were given carte-blanche on the design.

Every suite varies drastically and reflects the personality of each daughter. "Roy made it very clear that the girls could do whatever they wanted, as long as it was on budget," Heys said. "I wanted them to feel like they had ownership," said Roy.

Lawyer Hayleigh Carroll Hopkins, the youngest daughter, asked for a black-and-white room. "Her style is chic and sophisticated," Heys said.

The middle daughter, Madison Carroll Snyder, is the director of hotel operations for the Carroll Companies, her father's business. She has a more down-to-earth, Montana, equestrian style, said Heys.

Brittany Carroll Chamberlain, the oldest, who works in social media, loves nature. Her suite is designed with lots of taupes and creams.

Anticipating grandchildren, Roy requested two bunk rooms: one for girls, and one for boys. They now have two grandchildren with two more on the way.

In Roy and Vanessa's bedroom, Vanessa modified an antler chandelier Roy had requested by hanging crystals from it. "She likes to bejewel everything," said Roy.

Several spaces in the house, like a reading nook under the stairway, are designed to give family members space when they need it, said Roy. "My daughters get along most of the time, but sometimes they have disagreements. Out here you can't just get in a car and drive home."

Home for all five members of the Carroll family is Greensboro, N.C., where Roy was born and where he started building homes with his late father after his father was laid off in 1983 from his job as a meat cutter at a local grocery store. In 1990, Roy bought out his father's share. The company now builds apartment buildings, self-storage facilities and hotels in six states.

In Greensboro, Roy is building three homes -- one for each daughter -- on a lot he bought for $4.5 million in 2024. Roughly 2.5 miles away, Roy and Vanessa live in a contemporary penthouse of a multiuse building they own. They also own yachts, a house in Palm Beach, Fla., and homes in the North Carolina communities of Figure Eight Island and Sandy Ridge, where Roy's company is developing an equestrian-themed, 8,000-acre resort modeled partly after the Yellowstone Club.

Although the family lives close to each other in Greensboro, they look to Montana as their primary gathering spot. They plan on spending at least two weeks there every summer and winter. "Anything that brings the family together is worthwhile," Roy said.