Author: Bellwether Builders

Asheville Parade of Homes 2016

By: about

Asheville Parade of Homes tour custom home

Even though it’s just May, we’ve already begun planning for the 2016 Asheville Parade of Homes! Our owner Brad is on the Asheville Parade of Homes committee for the Asheville Home Builders Association, so he’s part of a group of volunteers that work with the Asheville Home Builders Association’s staff to organize the Parade each year. It takes a lot of time and effort from the committee and staff to plan such a big successful Parade of Homes tour each year. The team works hard to organize the builders and subcontractors, plan the routes, enlist the judges, put together marketing materials, among other things that are involved. There are lots of “behind-the-scene” collaborations that happen.

On top of all of that, we are excited to announce that Bellwether Design-Build has entered one of our Asheville homes in the Parade of Homes! You’ll be able to take a tour of our house located in the Chicken Hill development off of West Haywood Street in the River Arts District of Asheville. You’ll be able to see a Bellwether built home up close and personal and even meet Brad himself. This home is very different from our award-winning home that was entered into the 2015 Parade.

Mark the weekends of October 8-9, 2016 and October 15-16 on your calendar for the 35th annual Asheville Parade of Homes! Stay tuned to the Parade of Homes website for more updated information such as the homes and home builders that will be featured. As the dates get closer, more homes will be added to the tour.

Custom Home in River Arts District

By: about

Custom home in Asheville RAD

Photograph by Mountain Lens

What’s the latest house that Bellwether Design-Build has been working on?

Well we just finished up building a really cool custom home, if we don’t say so ourselves. The house is located in the well-known River Arts District near downtown Asheville, North Carolina. It’s actually in a neighborhood called Chicken Hill. Yes, that’s right, Chicken Hill! Chicken Hill has the best of both worlds in Asheville, and by that we mean it’s a short walk to downtown and the shops/galleries, restaurants, breweries within the River Arts District.

The custom home was unique in many ways, but one key thing is that the homeowner, Josh Pettler of C3 Architecture designed the home for himself. That’s a perk of being an architect, don’t you suppose? The living area of the home is on the second floor. There’s a specific reason for this too. The house has an amazing view of the River Arts District and the French Broad River. Considering that it sits on a hill (Chicken Hill), it basically overlooks the River Arts District and New Belgium Brewing’s new Asheville location. That’s also why the double-decks are positioned on the front of the house. They really take advantage of the great views overlooking the R.A.D. area!

Some key features of the exterior of the home are the corten steel that the unique “bump-out” is made from. Bump out is not exactly a technical building term, but it makes a good description! There’s a standing seam metal roof with seamless box gutters and round downspouts. Also we’ve heard a lot about the fun exterior paint choice, good things, not bad! Some of the interior features are the large kitchen island with an eastern white pine countertop that has a live edge. There are open shelves made of spalted maple in the kitchen with a brightly colored tile backsplash. There’s a sliding barn door that is made from reclaimed barn wood. The interior floors are a prefinished hickory.

We can’t wait to show you all of the pictures of this home from our photo shoot. Stay tuned and check out our gallery later to find them!

 

Asheville Home Builders Playhouse Showdown

By: about

Brad from Bellwether Design-Build is helping mentor students at Enka High School in Asheville. We’re working with the students to build a playhouse for the Asheville Home Builders Association’s Playhouse Showdown. This is the fourth year of the Playhouse Showdown event. Each year, the Asheville Home Builder’s Association pairs its builder members with a local high school’s construction trade program, the Career and Technical Education program. The builder works with the students and teachers in the program to help build their playhouses. The playhouses are completed in time for the Asheville Home Builders Association’s and then they are raffled off at the AHBA’s Expo and the proceeds benefit the schools.

Each year there is a theme for the playhouses. It’s exciting to see what ideas the students come up with each year using the theme. This year’s theme is Mountain Living. The students decided on the specific theme of their house. The CTE students at Enka High worked with the interior design students to create their playhouse, from the inside-out.

You can see the playhouses in person at the Asheville Home Builder’s Association’s Build and Remodel Expo the weekend of February 27, 2016. They’ll be raffled off on day two of the Expo. You can check them out and pick which one you’d like to try to win. Raffle tickets are just $5.00 each and the proceeds go back to each school and the countywide CTE program. We’d also like to thank the sponsors of this program who donated materials: 84 Lumber, Builders First Source, Jennings, Lowes, and ProBuild.

Check out our interview with the students and teachers about the concept for the Enka High playhouse!

How To Winterize Your Home

By: about

modern fireplace Asheville

It’s not too late to winterize your home and make sure you’re not driving your power bill up, or worse, that you might have a safety issue! If you have an older home, it may be time to update your home with better, more efficient technology. Of course, if you build a home in Asheville with Bellwether Design-Build, we are sure to use the latest and greatest technology to build a well insulated and energy-efficient house!

Here are some tips that you can use to winterize your home:

  • Cheap trick: Plug those drafty doors with a draft guard!
    • The better solution is to make sure you have quality storm doors
  • Cheap trick: Add window insulation film to your windows
  • Weather-stripping and caulking can also help seal up those pesky drafts
  • Check for bigger gaps such as loose roof shingles, chimney or foundation issues or any large holes that could leave you with bigger air leaks.
  • Have your fireplace checked to make sure that it’s clean and safe.
  • If you’re not using your fireplace, your chimney is drafty too. Have a pro install a quality damper or a chimney balloon to help block the draft.
  • Make sure your carbon monoxide detectors are working and have fresh batteries
  • Add more insulation. Make sure your attic floor and basement ceiling are well insulated
    • Make sure your attic hatch or pull down stairs are well insulated
  • Clean your gutters to allow for more water flow and less ice build-up
  • Clean up dead tree limbs that are close to your house or property. You don’t want a large limb falling on your home or car during a winter storm!
  • Change your air filters so that your HVAC system can function more efficiently and to the best of its ability
  • Have an HVAC contractor perform a checkup on your HVAC unit once a year. Also have them test and seal your ducts.
  • Shut off the AC unit water valve to prevent water from collecting and freezing in there. Same thing if you have a sprinkler system…
  • Reverse your fans so that the warm air is blown back down from the ceiling
  • Insulate your water heater and your pipes! Insulating your pipes can help save you money and help ensure that your pipes don’t burst, which would be a big bummer.
    • If the temperature of your pipes drops below 32 degrees, it could cause a fracture.
    • Know where your main waterline shut-off valve is, in case of an emergency!
  • Shut off outside water spigots and disconnect hoses.
  • Turn down your water heater
    • We love tankless water heaters or even solar-powered!
  • Lower your thermostat (even just a smidge will save you money!)
    • Get out your blankets, socks and sweatshirts and bundle up rather than turning on up the heat
    • Get a programmable thermostat to make it easy

Bellwether Spec Home Asheville

By: about

Asheville-spec-home-exterior-view

Bellwether Design-Build recently built a new spec home that we had for sale in Asheville, North Carolina. We not only build custom homes, but we also build spec homes that we put on the Asheville real estate market. Many of our spec homes are perfect for a single person, a small family, or as a starter home. We’re currently building other spec homes in the Asheville area and we’ll share the details soon!

We are featuring this past home building project as an example of the quality spec homes we build! This particular house was affordably priced for a 1,272 square foot 2-story home with 3 bedrooms, 2 ½ bathrooms, and a laundry room on the main level. It has an open living room, dining room, and kitchen plan with hardwood floors throughout. There are new stainless steel appliances along with granite countertops in the kitchen. The kitchen has plenty of cabinetry for storage. The spacious master bedroom has vaulted ceilings and carpet. The other 2 bedrooms are also carpeted. The home features a large covered front porch and a deck in the backyard. It is situated on .35 acres of land.

Check back often for new Bellwether homes that are for sale. We’ll share photos, design details, and our listings once the homes are finished. Keep us in mind if you’re looking for a new home in Asheville!

Bellwether Design-Build Wins Innovative Home Award

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Asheville Home Builders Lot 10 Ciel

Bellwether Design-Build’s latest custom home is now officially an award-winning home! Our home in the CIEL development in North Asheville, North Carolina won the Innovative Award from the Asheville Home Builders Association for the 2015 Parade of Homes. This is truly a one-of-a-kind ultra modern green home!

Lot 10 Ciel Bellwether Builders Asheville

There are quite a few features that contributed to our home winning the Innovative award. One of the most innovative features of this home is the design and construction itself. This home is placed and built to enjoy private views of downtown Asheville and Mount Pisgah. The home is built with cantilever construction at three levels that defy gravity as it reaches towards the mountains. The way the home is built and designed provides not just a unique modern style, but also three walkout roofs to enjoy the stunning views. The roofs have contemporary metal railings and Iron Wood Ipe decking.

The top floor is an entire private master suite, complete with a breakfast bar and the most dramatic views. The Kolbe VistaLuxe windows that are used throughout allow the homeowner to experience unobstructed views from multiple angles within a room, while remaining energy-efficient. There are even strategically placed windows within hallways and bathrooms so that you can enjoy the view and closeness of nature from nearly every space in the home!

Lot 10 Ciel Asheville Home Interior

The home’s design and construction is rarely seen yet well-thought out. The attention to detail from the vertical cypress tongue and groove siding to the detail of the drywall reveal around windows, doors and baseboard is superb. The luxurious finishes within this home certainly are a bonus as well!

Congrats and many thanks to Retro+Fit Design, who’s responsible for the thoughtful design of the house, as well as Allard and Roberts Interior Design for the interior design and decor.

3 Types of Home Building in Asheville

By: about

Asheville Home Building Project

There are a variety of ways to have a home built in Asheville, North Carolina. At Bellwether Design-Build, we work with each and every client on an individual basis. We find out the exact type of home that want to build and move into. We offer:

  1. Custom Homes – Work with us to design and build a custom floor plan for your dream home. Bellwether Design-Build can take it from a dream to a concept and then and make it a reality.
  2. Unique Homes – There are so many available upgrades to choose from, starting with your foundation, the types of walls, specialized materials, and more. We are educated and experienced on using a wide variety of efficient and eco-friendly construction initiatives.
  3. Spec Homes – If you do not want to go through the home building process and you simply want a new home that’s completed, you can also have a quality Bellwether home. Check back and take a look at the inventory of spec homes we have available at any time. Bellwether Design-Build builds affordable spec homes on property in the Asheville area often. They range from about 1,500 square feet and up and normally about 3 bedrooms. These homes are great for starter homes or for a small family!