Asheville Home Builders Playhouse Showdown 2017

By: Bellwether Builders about 8 years ago

Brad Rice, owner and general contractor at Bellwether Design-Build is mentoring Enka High School students again this next year through the Playhouse Showdown program put on by the Asheville Home Builders Association (AHBA). Brad is working Enka High, which is one of several local high schools involved. Brad is working with the students in the Buncombe County Careers and Technical Education (CTE) program to help mentor them while they’re designing and building a children’s playhouse.

The playhouses have a theme each year and are built to certain guidelines determined by the AHBA. Asheville Home Builders Association member companies donate the materials to build these playhouses. Each school’s CTE students are matched up with a home builder like Brad to help mentor them during the construction process. Brad works hands-on with the students and teachers to help them design the playhouse and construct it.

The finished playhouses will be on display at the 2017 Asheville Home Builders Association’s Build and Remodel Expo. They’ll be raffled off there as well as a fundraiser for the schools. Part of the proceeds will be donated to each the Buncombe County Careers and Technical Education Programs. The rest of the proceeds go back to each of the schools in the form of scholarship money.

If you want a chance to win Enka High’s playhouse or one of the others, raffle tickets are on sale for $5 each and include admission to the Asheville Home Builders Association’s Build and Remodel Show. The Show will be held on February 25th and 26^th of 2017 at the Western North Carolina Ag. Center.

Vote For Bellwether Design-Build Asheville Home To Win!

By: Bellwether Builders about 8 years ago

Did you know that North Carolina has the third largest concentration of Modernist houses in America? Who would have thought? Well here at Bellwether Design-Build, we have an affinity for modern architecture. We are thrilled for a custom home we built to be featured on North Carolina Modernist Houses and in the running for the NCMH George Matsumoto Prize. This modern home in Ciel Asheville is designed by Jason Weil of Retro+Fit Design hnd is an entry to win the People’s Choice award.

North Carolina Modern Houses is the world’s large open digital architect for residential Modernist architecture. George Matsumoto is a recognized architect and architecture professor. He practiced architecture for several firms and a private practice, before becoming an instructor. He became a professor at North Carolina State University’s School of Design along with other colleagues from University of Oklahoma. This became an epicenter for Modernist architecture in the United States. Matsumoto won over 30 awards during that time for his residential architecture projects and was widely published. Read more about Mr. Matsumoto here.

The NCMH Matsumoto Prize honors him and his modern architectural designs. Bellwether Design-Build and Retro+Fit Design need your vote! Please vote for our Ciel 10 project to win and share with your friends. Vote now! Voting ends June 29^th at 5 pm EST.

Asheville Parade of Homes 2016

By: Bellwether Builders about 8 years ago

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 35^th 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.

Asheville Home Builders Playhouse Showdown

By: Bellwether Builders about 9 years ago

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!