Posts Tagged ‘new home’

Each year the Blue Ridge Homebuilder’s Association hosts the Parade of Homes.  The builders that participate make their homes subject to judging across a variety of categories. This Thursday evening the awards will be announced at the King Family Vineyards during their annual banquet.

Parade Homes will be open to the public from 12-5 on Saturday and Sunday October 9th/10th and 16th/17th.  The homes will also be open for Realtor previews from 10-2 on Tuesday, October 12th and Thursday, October 14th.

Check out the Daily Progress Parade Insert here.

Piedmont Realty and Construction has three entries:

1. The Edinburgh at Spring Creek

2. The Addison in Belvedere

3. The Chatham in Poplar Square.

After all of the construction is finished, the process culminates with a walk through with the builder to see the home in its finished form, identify any items that need to be completed, and learn about the home and how it operates.  Its hard to describe the feeling one gets when you get to see how all of the decision making and selections come together for the final result. A home. A home that has never been lived in by anyone else and fits your tastes and the way you live. I’m lucky to get to watch people experience this as often as I do. Piedmont Realty and Construction and the homeowner created something very special. Enjoy.

In regards to energy efficient construction and best practices for sustainability, Earthcraft is the most common third party certification of new homes..  When I represented Church Hill Homes, they moved to pursuing this certification for all of the homes they constructed. When I met Drew Holzwarth of Piedmont Realty and Construction, he told me they would not be utilizing this certification. Instead, he explained to me his concept of “Earth Friendly” construction. He had a variety of reasons and it all makes a lot of sense to me now.

One of the reasons I really like working with Piedmont is Drew’s meticulous approach to every component in the home. He works very hard to make sure he is putting the most in the home he can and still be relevant to market demands. This philosophy is refreshing. While others look for ways to just lower construction costs, Drew looks for ways to add value. That leads us to Earth Friendly vs Earthcraft.

The Earthcraft certification is a point system. The basic qualification is scoring 150 points on their scale.  Piedmont did not want to be compared to builders achieving the minimum standard, especially when they knew their offering was superior. The other reason is financial. The Earthcraft certification costs $1500. That may not seem like a lot of money, but if you choose to re-invest that $1500 into the components of the home, its not insignificant.

To be sure their offering was superior, Piedmont recently subjected one of their homes to the Earthcraft certification process.  Their 2010 Parade of Homes entry at Belvedere scored 210 points. In other words, their standard specifications for home construction resulted in Earthcraft Gold (Level II) cerfication.

See the worksheet here. Watch an interview with Drew Holzwarth discussing Earth Friendly here.

It’s so beautiful out today, I took a walk down West End Drive, Old Trail in Crozet, Virginia. Take a look.  If you’d like to see a walk through of 8161 West End Drive (The Riverton), you can do so here.

I was flattered to run into a colleague the other day and have them say…”Let’s Build a Home… Together!” It made my day. That’s the title of the series of videos I am posting to document the new home construction process during the construction of a home by  Piedmont Realty and Construction.

I have a lot of conversations with people about how to evaluate the different communities, floor plans, and builders in the decision making process. Choosing the right builder is critical.  Its easy to take a floor plan, a pretty rendering, some option pricing and come up with a plan.  Its the execution of these plans where I think some builders distinguish themselves. That leads me to the point of this post. When building a home, you are going to have a relationship with your builder and their team. Its important to understand who is on this team and how they will interact with you during the process.  Regardless of the quality of the home, at the end of the process, that relationship can impact the overall result and your feelings toward the home.

In my opinion, this is where Piedmont has distinguished themselves in the marketplace. Drew Holzwarth has assembled and exceptional team that executes their plan and interacts with their customers. They are all very experienced and highly skilled. But that’s not it. They all love what they do. They genuinely get excited for each home they build. They appreciate what it represents to their customers. They work hard to make sure the customer has a good experience and try to have fun doing it. (Contrary to the myth that building a home is always a horror story.)

My point…they don’t just build homes for their customers, they build  homes WITH their customers. Don’t take it from me, ask one of their homeowners. (Always ask a builder you are considering to provide homeowner references.)

If you are interested in opportunities in the Charlottesville area for new construction, contact me. I would love to share everything I know about our area’s new communities, our local home builders, and the process, so you can make a decision that’s right for you.

The video below shows progress made during Week 5 of construction. You’ll see the HVAC equipment and ductwork installation, plumbing and electrical rough in, as well as a discussion on post framing inspections. Concrete was poured for the porches and a post framing walk through resulted in a field change to add a double window.

Here’s a look after Week 4 of construction.  Framing takes a big step forward, porches take form, shingles and windows show  up, and the we take our first look inside the home.

The video below captures what occurred in the third week of construction. The slab was poured, the framing package was delivered, and the carpenters framed for three days. Lots of progress. Check it out.

The video below captures the progress made in Week 2 of construction. I was joined by Scott Carlson of Piedmont Realty of Construction to talk particulars regarding drainage, radon mitigation, waterproofing, and county inspections.

The video below is the first four days of construction of a home being built by Piedmont Realty and Construction. It shows ground breaking through basement wall completion and waterproofing. Scroll down for previous video or click on “Construction Video” category link for all videos to date.