Trumbull-based Cerreta Builders won the Home Building Industry Award for best spec home for this 7,000-square-foot stone-and-shingle house the company built in Westport. The HOBI Awards, given by the Home Builders Association of Connecticut, were presented last week at the Aqua Turf Club in Southington.
A remodel that turned a tired ranch house in New Canaan into a 6,400-square-foot shingle-style home and a new $4 million home in Westport that adhered faithfully to the turn-of-the-century style of its stone-and-shingle design were among the homes that received Home Building Industry Awards last week at the Home Builders Association of Connecticut’s annual dinner.
Wilton-based Country Club Homes won the award for the best remodel in the state for transforming a 1950s, 3,700-square-foot gray-shingled New Canaan ranch that had not been well cared for into a different, almost unrecognizable home.
“There are a lot of nice ranches out there, but this wasn’t one of them,” said Carolyn Wheeler of Country Club Homes. “This was really a nothing house on a beautiful lot.”
The builders, she added, were lucky because the original home was structurally sound and had a large footprint. The layout of the home was almost entirely useable and the company only had to move a couple of walls, Wheeler said.
The resulting structure is a 2-story, rambling home that is incorporated into the existing landscaping of the site.
“In my mind, it’s just a very livable, cozy house,” Wheeler said.
The home has details such as a mahogany front door, flanked by spider-web windows, which opens to a formal foyer with a herringbone wood floor, according to the Home Builders Association of Connecticut. The kitchen has a marble island and a butcher-block workstation with a built-in desk and walk-in pantry. There is also a playroom over the three-car garage.
“This ‘not-so-big house’ is a lovely family home that is in scale with the property and its neighborhood,” according to a statement about the winners from the Home Builders Association.
Wheeler said she believes the remodel won because of the dramatic difference between the original home and the resulting one.
“[We] probably won because of the transformation,” she said.
Connecticut sees many beautiful renovations every year, but many of them start with nicer homes, she said.
The renovation took about a year, roughly the same amount of time it would have taken to build the house from scratch, because the builders stripped the original home down to the studs.
‘Old-World Look’
Trumbull-based Cerreta Builders won the award for best spec home for a 7,000-square-foot stone-and-shingle house the company built in Westport. The home includes details like a 2-story entry foyer with a limestone floor and a curved staircase; a coffered-ceiling living room with a stone fireplace; a cherry-wood library; and a marble master bath with split vanities and an oversized whirlpool tub, according to the Home Builders Association. The backyard has a stone terrace and a swimming pool enclosed with a wrought iron fence.
The interior of the six-bedroom home, which is on a 1.7-acre lot, also has a lot of niches and built-in bookshelves, features that the judges were impressed by, said Mike Cerreta of Cerreta Builders.
“We really tried to create the old-world look,” he said.
Cerreta, who founded the company 20 years ago, personally oversaw the construction, as he does with all jobs, he said.
“We tried to keep it authentic inside and outside,” he said.
Stone Ridge Partners also won the award for community of the year for the Stone Ridge at Fairfield development. The gated luxury community holds three brick-and-stone buildings that contain 70 single-level condominiums. The condos cost between $550,000 and $950,000 with a monthly fee of $525.
Branford-based E.M. Rose Building Co. also won an award for best custom home. The company built an 8,500-square-foot stone Georgian-style house that is used as a weekend retreat. The home took six years to build and features a pool and a barn designed as a party room.
The awards were presented on Oct. 19 at the Aqua Turf Club in Southington.
According to the Home Builders Association, “The HOBI Awards are the most prestigious recognition in the state for excellence in new construction and land development, remodeling, sales and marketing, and home financing.”
“This is an exciting event that celebrates the best in our industry,” said Home Builders Association President Greg Ugalde. “The HBA is proud to recognize and showcase these outstanding winners.”
The awards have been presented since 1993. This year’s judges came from out of state to Connecticut for three days and visited the homes and developments that were up for the award. Entries ranged from a $5 million sports barn in New Canaan to an 11,500-square-foot weekend home in Darien and from a $230,000 luxury condominium in downtown Hartford to a 1,773-square-foot attached home in a Litchfield subdivision.
“It’s all about diversity in Connecticut,” said HOBI Awards producer and Home Builders Association Director Joanne Carroll.
“HOBI winners demonstrated the latest housing trends and the newest construction technology,” Carroll added. “Special focus awards recognize home products, homebuilding technology and home features that add value to today’s homes.”
