A critical component of their success, two of B.C.’s master builders say, is their commitment to the nascent and evolving environmental concerns, or expectations, of their customers.

These are residency in homes in which the households might actively ease their collective footfall on the environment and in neighbourhoods in which households might experience a natural environment, however approximate or remnant.

Vicki Gerrits of Homescape Building & Design in Summerland and Robert Grimm of Portrait Homes spoke with The Vancouver Sun

after their companies were named best small-volume builder,

single family detached, and best large-volume builder, single family detached, in a provincial competition.

The annual competition is called by all involved the Georgies and is organized by the Canadian Home Builders’ Association, B.C. chapter, or the CHABC.

As a guide to new construction and renovation excellence and expertise, the results of the judging collectively are useful — although not necessarily comprehensive.

That’s a consequence of the disinclination of some of the most important Lower Mainland developers and builders and organizers of their sales and marketing campaigns to enter the annual competition.

For companies who submit their corporate achievements to the competition judges, finalist status and winner status in the more than 40 categories — ‘’silver” and ”gold” awards — are emblematic of master-builder achievement.

“[A Georgie] is a qualifier of your quality and your ability to build good homes,” Vicky Gerrits says.

A competition award also helps attract customers, she says: “I must say the Georgie awards for us has been very important for us to be recognized.”

When Robert Grimm learned Portrait Homes was the competition’s large-volume builder of the year, single family detached, for a second year, he felt “shocked.”

It’s a huge award not to be taken lightly, Grimm says. “When you get something like this, it reinforces what you’re doing. It’s re-energizing.”

The same Silver Ridge development in Maple Ridge, in the fullness of time 600 homes, lifted Portrait Homes in both years to the top of the pile. This year’s entry was a new phase of the project.

“We were fortunate to get it last year as well,” Grimm says. “So we’re completely shocked.”

Perhaps the most important competition category for the new-home shopper is the “best customer service” category.

It is acknowledgement by industry that the builder-buyer relationship is too frequently marred by dispute and disappointment — and has been for all of recorded time. As the 229th entry in Hammurabi’s Code directs: ”If a builder builds a house for a man and does not make its construction firm, and the house which he has built collapses and causes the death of the owner of the house, that builder shall be put to death.”

This category matters because possession of either the “silver” or “gold” in this category says this builder has demonstrated to adjudicators of a provincial competition the presence of a “service strategy,” “creativity in addressing industry-client needs,” “strategies to eliminate callbacks or defects” and “strategies to promote professional development.”

Suppose the new-home shopper has narrowed his or her choice to two similar products. One is from a company that year-in, year-out is a finalist in the customer-service category. The other is from a company with no demonstrable customer-service record. The former is selling its apartment for $460 a square foot; the latter, at $455.

Is it worth parting with an extra $5 a square foot to buy from the former? It’s certainly worth considering.

The Adera development company has won the customer-service competition in seven of the last 11 years. It won again this year, its fourth in a row. It was named builder of the year award, multi-family.

While Portrait Homes’ Grimm was “shocked” to be called to the podium to accept a master-builder award for the second year in a row, he says he’s not surprised new-home prospects and shoppers are responding so positively to the company’s Silver Ridge project, particularly on their first drive-throughs.

“When you drive in, it’s like ‘wow, what’s all this green space?’,” he says. “It’s great.”

More than 40 per cent of the site will remain as protected green space, a unique feature for a new-home buyer to enjoy, Grimm says.

Portrait also created unique drainage, a special storm water management system to limit the environmental impact of the project.

Essentially this means that “post-development water-flows mimic pre-development” stream water flows, he says.

Overall, Grimm says, the development aims to limit the impact it will have on the area.

Most of the new homes — ranging from 2,100 square feet to 2,400 square feet — face or back onto the green space, he adds.

Take your cues from your surroundings when doing up a home’s decor is a repeated interior design direction. At Silver Ridge, the interiors are designed to demonstrate a “woodsy feel,” thanks to design guidelines influenced by the forested setting, Grimm says.

“It’s not just about the homes,” he says, again alluding to the forest-centric location. “It’s got a resort-like feel.”

Vicki Gerrits, with husband, Eric, owner of Homescape Building, says she sees ”green” building as key to the future of new home projects.

The Homescape entry is a lakeshore home in the Okanagan that integrated the owners’ “love of Oriental simplicity” with strong lines, Gerrits says.

The concrete home used acrylic stucco, quartzite and metal-clad windows on the exterior. A suspended concrete deck with a spiral staircase is located above the water.

Inside the home 10-foot ceilings combined with an open floor plan added a lofty feeling. The floors and stairs are tiled “a pet and beach friendly touch,” she adds. In the kitchen two large work islands and a large pantry kept things functional for entertaining.

Gerrits says this home illustrates how green design can be functional and stylish.

“People used to think an energy-efficient home had to be simple but that’s not true,” she says. “You can have both.”

Many new homebuyers in the area are looking for summer homes, she says, so they all want different qualities in their custom homes. This means it is difficult to pinpoint an “Interior B.C.” style, she says.

Climate and geography — like lake views and vineyards — are big factors to consider in the region’s home design, she says.

The home, an R2000 B.C. Built Green Gold home, uses radiant floor heat and a low-energy consumption air conditioner. Heating and cooling is a big deal in the Okanagan, she says.

“We’re in a semi-desert area so we can have huge climate changes,” she says. “Insulation is important. We warm our homes but we also cool our homes.”

homes@png.canwest.com source : www.canada.com