Milt and Mary Jorgensen had the home of their dreams custom-built in Harrison Mills to spend their retirement years. It was all they wanted and more. What they didn’t expect was the accolades the house would receive on a national level.
Their Eagle Point home was recently crowned as best custom single-detached home in the 2,200-4,000 square foot category with a national Canadian Home Builders’ Association SAM award.
“It doesn’t get any bigger than that in the industry,” says the home’s project manager Wilf Blum of My House Design / Build Team.
The Jorgensens have lived at Eagle Point for eight years. They bought a home and the property where this house not sits. They used to drive out from Port Coquitlam on the weekends to their getaway place. Then in became long weekends and finally turned into full-time.
Their dream home, only two doors up from where they were living before, backs onto the golf course and the Harrison River. They hired My House Design / Build Team Ltd., to “quarterback” the whole project, while they spent time popping in and out to see the progress and making decisions on everything from faucets to light fixtures.
The Jorgensens love everything about their home. But their favourite feature is the great room, with its large glass windows and an incredible view beyond.
“We have a great view of the river and the golf course, particularly when there’s eagles out there,” says Milt.
Blum says there were some unique challenges with the property as it was an odd-shaped pie lot with a large dike and setback requirements. He is most proud of the execution of the house, how care and attention was put into the materials used, the details of the home and the use of many local contractors.
The team focused on achieving a high energy-efficiency rating, achieving platinum status which is “almost unprecedented,” says Blum.
My House Design / Build Team was also nominated for three Georgie Awards, a B.C. home-building awards, in three categories for the Jorgensen’s home (best custom home valued between $750,000 and $1.5 million, best innovative production or custom certified home and best outdoor living space). The Georgie Awards took place in February and the Jorgensens joined the company for an entertaining, though non-winning, awards night in Vancouver.
The Jorgensens are pleased their home has been nominated at the Georgies and won at the SAM Awards since they built the home for their own needs in mind, not for architectural glory.
“We just wanted to build a house,” says Mary. “We didn’t expect all this fanfare.”
My House Design / Build did a video on the Jorgensen’s home. To watch it, go to http://myhousedesignbuild.com/feature-videos/
