Member News

The Lewis Cenker Award is the highest honor given by the HBA to an individual who has made a lifelong contribution to the advancement of the homebuilding industry in Atlanta. The award is named after Lewis Cenker, who was president of the National Association of Home Builders in 1974 and is the only Atlantan to have held this prestigious office.

This year we are presenting two Lewis Cenker Awards.  Both of our winners have been building in the metro Atlanta area for more than 25 years. Their work can be seen in intown Atlanta, as well as in north Fulton, Gwinnett, Forsyth, DeKalb, Newton, Rockdale and Morgan counties.  Both winners were raised in Stone Mountain and are natives of Atlanta, where their family has close ties to the community and local economy.  Their company’s philosophy is “to take pride in our work, to build homes based on lasting relationships with the people who help us build and the people who own our homes.”   Their corporate goal is to use talents and resources more efficiently, benefiting the home, the homeowner, the builder and the community.

Our first recipient earned his degree from the University of Georgia in Environmental Sciences.   He was President of the HBA’s Gwinnett Chapter in 1999 and was named the Gwinnett Builder of the Year.   In 2009, he was named Builder of the Year by the Home Builders Association of Georgia.  He has served on the HBA Board of Directors for eight years.   He has also served as a HBAG and a NAHB director for many years.  He is a Spike with 24 spike credits.   He has also served many years on the HBAG Government Affairs Committee.   He has also served countless years as a BPAC trustee.   This winner is a car enthusiast and keeps a red Porsche that he takes out on weekend drives.  He lives in Berkeley Lake with his wife, Pat.   
 
Congratulation to Mark King.

Our second recipient graduated Georgia Tech with a B.S. in Civil Engineering and from Georgia State University with a B.B.A. in Real Estate.   He has been a HBAG and NAHB national director since 1992.   He has served as Gwinnett Chapter President and was named Gwinnett Builder of the Year.    He is a Life Director on the HBA Board of Directors.  He is a Life Spike having accumulated almost 200 spike credits over the years.  He is a founding member of the Housing Institute.  He has served on the State Codes Advisory Committee and HBAG’s Regulatory Affairs Committee.  In 2009, he was named Builder of the Year by the Home Builders Association of Georgia.    This Eagle Scout was the founding member of the Highway 78 Community Improvement District – the first CID in the Atlanta region.   This winner and his wife Marty live in Loganville where they have raised their two children Kyle and Megan.

Congratulation to Kenny King.

Join me in congratulating our 2011 Lewis Cenker Award recipients - Mark King & Kenny King.

Builder of the Year

The Builder of the Year award is presented each year to a HBA member who has demonstrated his commitment to professional excellence. This award recognizes a builder for his contributions to furthering the goals and mission of the association through volunteer efforts within the association, the housing industry and in community and charitable programs. The 2011 Builder of the Year is Steve Palmer.

This year’s winner is a veteran of the homebuilding industry.  He started his career in Northern Virginia.  In Virginia, he was the Vice President of Finance for Trafalgar House Residential in McLean, Virginia for 13 years where he was very involved in the local homebuilders association.   He came to the Atlanta area over 12 years ago and served as Chief Financial Officer for Bowen Family Homes.  He is now the Chief Financial Officer for Home South Communities and is a Principal in Fieldstone Properties.  He was the Gwinnett Chapter President in 2003/2004.   He is a Life Spike having accumulated almost 200 spike credits over the years.   He is also a Life Director on the HBA Board.   As a Board member, he has held the office of Secretary, Treasurer and was elected HBA President in 2008.   He is a manager of the HBA’s Builder Resource Fund and an active member of the HBA’s Finance Committee. He continues to serve on the HBA Board and continues to be very active in industry affairs.   He is also a HBAG Board member.    He is a CPA and has B.S. in Accounting from Washington & Lee University.

He is a devoted father to his children Evan, Ethan and Brittany and loving husband to his wife Amanda.  

Congratulations to our 2011 Greater Atlanta Home Builders Association Builder of the Year – Steve Palmer!

Associate of the Year

The Associate of the Year award recognizes an associate member for his or her accomplishments in the areas of service to the industry and association, professional excellence and community involvement, and furthering the mission and goals of the association. The 2011 Associate of the Year is Cindy Huber.

Cindy Huber has been in the homebuilding industry for over 29 years. She started out at the Louisiana Home Builders Association where she served the industry through various associate roles as a vendor, volunteer and council board member.  Cindy joined the Greater Atlanta Home Builders Association (HBA) and the Sales and Marketing Council (SMC) in 1996 when she began her career at KNOWAtlanta Magazine. 

In 2001, after being promoted to the position of Publisher at KNOWAtlanta, Cindy focused her career on promoting the Atlanta metropolitan area and the quality of life one would find here when making Atlanta home.  Her passion for Atlanta and the housing industry led KNOWAtlanta to become one of the top magazines in the city, as well as a sought-after resource.   Currently, Cindy is Vice President of Sales for the Eastern Division of StrucSure Home Warranty, LLC, the nation’s fastest growing new home warranty and risk management provider.  She directs the branding and marketing efforts of StrucSure and to provide premium programs to a select group of builders and remodelers.

Through the years Cindy has passionately committed herself to the HBA and the SMC where she has served on various committees. In 2000 she was elected to the SMC Board of Directors where she served for 10 years. In 2009, during her year as Chairman of the SMC, the council won the gold award at The Nationals for the “Best SMC in the Nation.”  For the past two years Cindy has been a vital part of the HBA Board of Directors as the chairman of the Membership Committee. She has worked tirelessly and enthusiastically to recruit and retain HBA members through these tough economic times.  In addition she is a huge supporter of the HomeAid Atlanta, the HBA’s designated charity. 

Cindy is definitely a multi-tasker.  When not traveling the Southeast for StrucSure or heading up a Membership Drive, Cindy is the mom two boys, Craig and Ryan.  She regularly volunteers at their school, Big Creek Elementary, she is a karate and baseball mom, domestic goddess, executive home manager and homework diva.  She leaves the Cub Scout duties to her husband, Michael.

The HBA is proud to recognize Cindy Huber as the 2011 Associate of the Year.

Council Chair of the Year

The final award presented was Council Chair of the Year. This award recognizes achievement in the areas of education and membership development within a local council. The 2010 Council Chair of the Year is Sandie Tate.

Unless you had the privilege of meeting Steve Jobs, you’ve probably never met a more focused and driven leader than Sandie Tate. Whether you know her as a manager, council chair, committee member, or you happen to be in her circle of family and friends you know there are no truer words. Any task that she takes on becomes a mission to the finish and you better not try and get in her way!  In her work life, Sandie is a mortgage banker with a proven track record of successful partnerships that often become a part of her business, social, and charitable endeavors.  With her volunteer efforts she commits the same focus and energy that have made her company a success. She earns respect by simply walking the talk!
Speaking of walking, she loves to hike and take long strolls with her favorite four legged friends where she commands the same perseverance and commitment!

She began her career in 1983 with Decatur Federal, the largest Savings and Loan in
Atlanta where she was the top producer for eight years. Later she managed mortgage production for the largest real estate company in Atlanta before forming her own company, Guaranty Mortgage Services.  Since 1998 Sandie has led Guaranty with her vision for mutually profitable partnerships with some of Atlanta’s most respected Realtors, builders and bankers.  She prides herself on building solid long lasting business and personal relationships with her marketing partners and employees.  Today, Guaranty offers home financing to all segments of the market including first time homebuyers, the growing senior market and many happy customers for life.  In the last four years, with the economic challenges facing our industry, her leadership has been tested like no other, especially at the helm of the HBA’s Sales and Marketing Council.  Sandie has been a board member and chair during some of the toughest times and never lost sight of her goals and fearlessly fought for the support that the industry needed from its association.

Greater Atlanta HBA Wins National Award

The HBA’s winning project was the FEMA Disaster Assistance and Coordination workshops. In September 2009, metro Atlanta had the worst flood in its history, getting almost two feet of rain in just a few days. In response, the HBA quickly coordinated efforts with local building departments, FEMA and other agencies to host flood a clean-up and repair workshop for members.

The workshops helped prepare our members to work with home owners who had been impacted by flooding, as well as to comply with FEMA and other federal guidelines while doing so. The HBA also provided resources to educate home owners about choosing a licensed, reputable contractor to perform cleanup and repairs.

“Winning an Association Excellence Award is truly a great honor,” explains David Ellis, president of the Executive Officers Council and executive vice president of the Greater Atlanta Home Builders Association. “Each award recognizes the outstanding effort, commitment and achievement an executive officer and the association membership made to further the value of involvement in the association.”

“It’s a special honor this year for my own association to win an award, the same year I am president of the EOC. I’m very proud of the accomplishments of the Greater Atlanta HBA and the hard work of our staff,” said Ellis. “To receive an Association Excellence Award and to be recognized by peers from across the country is a high compliment.”

The winning entries will become part of the Executive Officers Council's Idea Loan File in an effort to help other executives and associations across the country provide better service to members and their community.

Atlanta Remodelers Council Receives National Industry Award

The HBA's Remodelers Council recently won a 2009 Council Awards for Demonstrating Remodeling Excellence for Membership Recruitment and Retention. The awards, known in the industry as the CADREs, were announced during the National Association of Home Builders’ (NAHB) Annual Remodeling Show, held last month in Indianapolis. Winners in eight categories were honored for outstanding contributions and performance at the local council level.

The CADRE Awards, judged by members of the NAHB Remodelers Board of Trustees, are presented each year to local Remodelers Councils and individuals whose work at the local council level exemplifies the best practices of the remodeling industry.

The HBA Remodelers Council adopted a fresh approach to recruiting new members by reaching out to kitchen and bath designers, interior decorators and builders who are new to remodeling. The council designed a new membership brochure featuring information about the council, high-quality photos of home remodels, a summary of benefits of joining the council, testimonials about the benefits of membership and an easy-to-complete application.

HBA Remodelers Council Chair Rocco Sinisgalli of Oneida Builders explained, “Our goal was to creatively attract new members with new materials, events and outreach activities that show the benefits of developing connections with remodeling industry professionals and association resources. This award acknowledges our council’s hard work and recognizes us as a leader among our peers.”

FREE Home Listings for Builder Members on HBA Web Site  and Vacant Dwelling Insurance Coverage at Significantly Reduced Rates

The HBA is pleased to offer two new benefits for our builder members.

FREE Home Listings for Builders

The HBA’s web site now includes new home listings for all builder members. Powered by New Home Source, the HBA’s web site is a resource for shoppers specifically looking for new homes and builders in the metro Atlanta area.

Click here to view the listings.

All HBA builder members can list their homes and communities through the HBA web site for FREE. What this means for builders is high-quality leads, traffic to your own web site and traffic into your communities. When you list your properties, you will gain valuable exposure to home shoppers using the HBA’s web site. You also can easily expand your reach to include NewHomesource.com, AOL Real Estate, Yahoo! Real Estate, Truilia, Zillow, Homeagain, Frontdoor and more than a dozen additional sites.

Listings feature only new homes, so builders will not be competing with re-sales, rentals and most importantly, no foreclosures!

Highlights:

• free listing on web site for all HBA builder members
• one-time implementation fee of $85 is waived
• optional access to a network of leading online home shopping portals with a reach of more than 21 million home shoppers

Benefits:

• comprehensive listings that include images, floor plans, community information, mapping, video links and virtual tours
• automated e-brochure responses to sales leads sent every 2 minutes
• easy-to-use search tools enable consumers to narrow results based on home size, amenities, school districts and more
• automated data collection available at no additional charge to keep builder data fresh

The listings on the web site are free for all builder members. If your company is a current subscriber to New Home Source’s services, your homes will automatically be included on the HBA web site.

If you have any questions or want to have your homes added to the site, contact New Home Source representative Shannen Manso at 678-794-0941.

Vacant Dwelling Insurance Coverage

Through a partnership with Appalachian Underwriters, Inc., the HBA is making vacant dwelling insurance coverage available for all association members in good standing. This insurance is offered exclusively through a select group of agents that are members of and support the HBA.

Your rates will vary due to the number of properties to be insured and their location, but taking advantage of this coverage could save a considerable amount of money. The HBA has worked hard to negotiate a very competitive rate for you!

Click here for a list of agents that are offering this coverage. Please consult them if you would like more information or want to begin taking advantage of this significant cost savings.

Developing partnerships and programs such as this are made possible through your continued loyalty and membership. Thank you for support as we work together to help each other during these challenging times.