Awards in focus

Sarasota's Vision Homes wins seven Aurora honors
in Southeast Building Conference's design competition.

Vision Homes' Rilassaire house in Sarasota's McClellan Park won a Grand Aurora award for custom homes
priced from $750,000 to $1 million. The firm also won six other Aurora honors at the Southeast Building Conference.

The Home Builders Association of Sarasota County's "Tech House" in the Trillium subdivision
earned Vision Homes a Grand Aurora for its energy-efficient and sustainable features.

By HAROLD BUBIL
harold.bubil@heraldtribune.com

"Vision" is often used in the business world to describe a company that has clear goals and a solid plan.

One of the region's newer home-building companies created a plan to be on the cutting edge of energy-efficient construction, and it has paid off. Vision Homes founded just seven years ago, won a basket full of Aurora Awards at the Southeast Building Conference (SEBC) in Orlando a week ago.

The Sarasota-based company, headed by Chip Nemec and second-generation builder Mike Padgett, won three Grand Auroras and four Auroras at the 27th annual SEBC, which covers 12 states from Texas to Virginia. Vision was recognized for achieving its goal of building houses that combine sustainability with distinctive design.

Other local builders also won Aurora Awards, including Pruett Builders, Bruce Williams Homes, Ryland Homes and Kemick Construction in Manatee County, and PGI Homes in Lake Suzy, near Port Charlotte.

When Nemec and Padgett formed Vision Homes, they weren't thinking about someday winning design awards.

"Our focus at the time was just trying to be a cutting-edge builder, trying to fill a niche that we believed wasn't being met," said Padgett. "Our business plan was, 'How do we provide the next best step?'

"An example of that is when we started in 1999, the building code required a 10-SEER (seasonal energy-efficiency ratio) air conditioner and clear-glass, single-pane windows. We immediately started with 12-SEER as a standard item, and tinted windows as standard. Since then we have gone to a 13-SEER with tinted and insulated windows as standard."

Vision has also moved beyond a radiant barrier in the attic to a sealed roofing system with Icynene insulation.

"In our newest community, a town-home community right downtown called Grenada Park," said Padgett, "Icynene and green-building features are standard there, as well as at Gladstone Park on Beneva Road."

Vision's Savannah III model, also known as the Home Builders Association of Sarasota County's "Tech House," won an Aurora and a Grand Aurora in the Demonstration Model Green Home category. Built in the Trillium subdivision off Sarasota's Proctor Road, the 2,684-square-foot house uses the latest technologies to reduce energy consumption, conserve resources and promote indoor air quality. Features include a study, theater room and hurricane safe room.

Vision also won an Aurora in the energy-efficiency category on the strength of the house's Home Energy Rating System (HERS) rating of 91.4, as measured by the Environmental Protection Agency.

For the Tech House, Vision was presented an Aurora and a Grand Aurora in the "Water-Wise Home" category. All of the landscaping is native, with less than 50 percent of the landscaped area covered with drought-tolerant turfgrass, to reduce the need for irrigation. Plants are grouped according to their watering requirements, and the irrigation system is zoned and balanced for efficiency. A rain barrel catches water for plants on the patio and inside the house. Other water-saving features include pine-straw mulch installed to a depth of four inches, a non-irrigated natural habitat at the rear of the home, flapperless toilets, low-flow fixtures, and shut-off valves at each toilet and sink.

Vision Homes is a member of FPL's Buildsmart Program and the Florida Green Building Coalition.

In the Custom Home category, Vision won a Grand Aurora for its Rilassare house in Sarasota's McClellan Park. Inspired by the vintage Arts & Crafts style, the 3,984-square-foot house has Colorado river stone accents, shake siding, metal roofing and a porte cochere. Inside, it has four bedrooms and four baths; the guest suite has elevator access. Accents include distressed maple and chipped travertine flooring, a designer kitchen with Viking appliances, and three fireplaces.

Ryland, based in Southern California and one of the nation's largest home-building companies, won a Grand Aurora for the interior merchandising of its St. Charles II model in Ellenton's Oakleaf Hammock. The house has four bedrooms and three baths in 3,551 square feet, and is priced at $484,900.

"The Aurora ranks as the most prestigious award in the home-building industry," said marketing manager Cheryl McCormick Brown of Ryland's Tampa office. "We are thrilled with the recognition."

The Evans Group, a design firm in Orlando that works under contract to builders, won a Grand Aurora for the landscape and pool design of the Seagrove condominium on Siesta Key.

Other local Aurora Award winners by category:

Kemick Construction, Manatee County, solar energy house.

Pruett Builders, Manatee County, Villa Del Mar II, kitchen.

Pruett Builders, Villa Solivita II, Sarasota, energy-efficient house.

Pruett Builders, Villa Solivita II, Sarasota, Water-Wise house.

Kay Green Interior Design/Bruce Williams Homes, Manatee County, Live Oak IV with Bonus Room, interior merchandising.

Bruce Williams Homes, Manatee County, Laurel Hill II with Bonus Room, green construction.

Bruce Williams Homes, Manatee County, Live Oak IV with Bonus Room, green construction.

PGI Homes, Lake Suzy, Farhat Residence, detached single-family home.

PGI Homes, Lake Suzy, Farhat Residence, bath.

PGI Homes, Lake Suzy, Farhat Residence, interior merchandising.

PGI Homes, Lake Suzy, Farhat Residence, landscape design/pool design.

The Evans Group, Siesta Key, courtyard villa, attached for-sale home.

The Evans Group, Siesta Key, Beach House Skyhomes, attached for-sale home.