By Maggie FitzRoy, Contributing Writer
When Dostie Homes Marketing Director Alaina Record entered three of the company’s model homes in the 2017 Northeast Florida Builders Association Parade of Homes, she had high hopes for all.
The company was especially hopeful about its model at The Ranch at Twenty Mile at Nocatee in St. Johns County, decorated by Ponte Vedra Beach interior designer Andrew Howard.
All three won silver or gold awards May 18 at the Parade of Homes banquet.
The awards are important, Record said before the ceremony at the Jacksonville Main Library. “We use them for marketing. We like to tell people we have an award-winning model home.”
Five of the eight model homes ICI Homes entered won, as well.
“It’s fantastic,” said Sales Manager Jocylyne Corlew. “It’s really important to win. It really shows the quality of homes we put together.”
The Parade of Homes featured 105 entries from 30 builders, NEFBA Executive Officer Corey Deal said in an introductory speech. They included models from Fernandina Beach to South St. Augustine, priced from $180,000 to $2.5 million.
“The winners represent the very best in home construction,” said NEFBA President Lee Arsenault, who presented the trophies. “The parade is a pageant of new homes and builders in Northeast Florida. It recognizes those who excel in architecture and interior design, as well as quality craftsmanship.”
Dream Finders Homes won gold for the first category, $180,000-$200,000, for its model in The Meadowbrook in Caney Branch Villas.
Alpha Builders Group was awarded the final trophy of the night — gold in the $2.4 million to $2.5 million category — its model in The Villa Marina in Pablo Creek Reserve.
In keeping with tradition, the banquet included a humorous video created for the occasion.
This year’s was a takeoff of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol,” dubbed “A NEFBA Carol.”
With footage interspersed among various award categories, it told the story of “Christopher Scrooge,” owner of “Ebenezer Homes,” who is too stingy to participate in the Parade of Homes.
He is visited by the ghost of his deceased developer — and equally stingy — friend, Marley. Marley was followed by two ghosts of NEFBA Past, followed by Arsenault as the ghost of NEFBA Present, and then by Jerry Dean, as the ghost of NEFBA Future.
“None of this had to happen,” Dean says of the misfortunes that befall Scrooge, including going out of business. “Just enter some homes in the Parade of Homes.”
Scrooge, played by Dostie Homes owner Chris Dostie, sees the light, and gleefully enters all of his eight model homes — “twice.”
The video, produced by Media Content Advantage in a grainy sepia-tone style, took several days to film, Record said. The Alhambra Theatre & Dining provided the Victorian-era costumes. The bedroom scenes, where Scrooge is visited by the ghosts, were filmed in the Thoreau model at The Ranch at Twenty Mile, which took silver in the $900,000-$950,000 category.
“They do a video every year, and Chris is always in them,” Record said of Dostie. “They are always really funny.”
GOLD
Builder: Dream Finders Homes
Model: The Meadowbrook
Subdivision: Caney Branch Villas
GOLD
Builder: Lennar
Model: Trevi
Subdivision: Arbor Mill at Oakleaf Plantation
SILVER
Builder: Express Homes
Model: Hayden
Subdivision: Express Homes - Villages of Westport
GOLD
Builder: Lennar
Model: Trevi
Subdivision: Windward Ranch
SILVER
Builder: Lennar
Model: Chastain Bonus
Subdivision: Caroline Hills
GOLD
Builder: Lennar
Model: Charle
Subdivision: Shearwater
SILVER
Builder: Lennar
Model: Oxford Bonus Creekside at Twin Creeks
GOLD
Builder: Dream Finders Homes
Model: Edison II
Subdivision: Lexington Park
SILVER
Builder: Lennar
Model: Julien Bonus
Subdivision: Longleaf
GOLD
Builder: Dream Finders Homes
Model: Avalon II with Bonus Room
Subdivision: Plummer Creek
SILVER
Builder: KB Home
Model: The Westin
Subdivision: Southshore at Bannon Lakes
GOLD
Builder: Drees Homes
Model: San Pablo
Subdivision: Arbor Mill at Oakleaf Plantation
SILVER
Builder: AV Homes
Model: Olivia
Subdivision: The Grove at Bannon Lakes
GOLD
Builder: David Weekley Homes
Model: The Ft. Stallings
Subdivision: Shearwater
SILVER
Builder: D.R. Horton
Model: Magnolia
Subdivision: Egret’s Landing
GOLD
Builder: Landon Homes
Model: St. Johns
Subdivision: TrailMark
SILVER
Builder: Landon Homes
Model: Bella
Subdivision: Conquina Ridge
GOLD
Builder: Providence Homes
Model: The Ellaville
Subdivision: Gran Lake
SILVER
Builder: ICI Homes
Model: Serena
Subdivision: Tamaya
GOLD
Builder: ICI Homes
Model: Egret II
Subdivision: Amelia National
SILVER
Builder: Mattamy Jacksonville
Model: Beauclair
Subdivision: Rivertown
GOLD
Builder: CalAtlantic Homes
Model: Santa Cruz
Subdivision: The Villas at Nocatee
SILVER
Builder: SEDA New Homes
Model: Almeria D
Subdivision: Flora Parke
GOLD
Builder: Dream Finders Homes
Model: Avalon II
Subdivision: Cedar Point
SILVER
Builder: Mattamy Jacksonville
Model: Abbott
Subdivision: Lakeside at Nocatee
GOLD
Builder: Richmond American Homes
Model: Piermont
Subdivision: White Oak Estates
SILVER
Builder: Dream Finders Homes
Model: Avalon II
Subdivision: Eagle Landing
GOLD
Builder: Providence Homes
Model: The Lafayette
Subdivision: Nocatee
SILVER
Builder: Emerald Homes
Model: Dayton
Subdivision: Emerald Homes - Aberdeen Estates at Grendholm Point
GOLD
Builder: David Weekly Homes
Model: The Sunnyside
Subdivision: Riley Oaks
SILVER
Builder: Mattamy Jacksonville
Model: Oren
Subdivision: Reserve at Greenbriar
GOLD
Builder: ICI Homes
Model: Egret V
Subdivision: Tamaya
SILVER
Builder: Ashley Homes
Model: 3060
Subdivision: Aldea
GOLD
Builder: ICI Homes
Model: Brooke
Subdivision: Tamaya
SILVER
Builder: ICI Homes
Model: The Brooke
Subdivision: Outlook at Twenty Mile
GOLD
Builder: Dostie Homes
Model: Hemingway Coastal
Subdivision: The Crossing at Twenty Mile Nocatee
SILVER
Builder: Providence Homes
Model: The Madison
Subdivision: Nocatee
GOLD
Builder: David Weekly Homes
Model: The Southfield
Subdivision: Oxford Estates
SILVER
Builder: D.S. Ware Homes
Model: Palazzo II
Shearwater
GOLD
Builder: Providence Homes
Model: The Monroe
Subdivision: Nocatee
SILVER
Builder: Dostie Homes
Model: Riverside Coastal
Subdivision: The Forest at Las Calina
GOLD
Builder: Trevett Building Systems of Florida
Model: The Lincoln
Subdivision: Waterman’s Bluff
SILVER
Builder: MasterCraft Builder Group
Model: Thomas Plus
Subdivision: Oxford Estates
GOLD
Builder: CalAtlantic Homes
Model: Danbury
Subdivision: Terra Costa
SILVER
Builder: Dream Finders Homes
Model: Fernandina
Subdivision: The Preserve at Ponte Vedra Lakes
GOLD
Builder: Arthur Rutenberg Homes
Model: St. George
Subdivision: Markland
SILVER
Builder: David Weekly Homes
Model: The Zespedes - Design It Yourself
Subdivision: The Outlook at Twenty Mile
GOLD
Builder: David Weekly Homes
Model: The Waters
Subdivision: The Ranch at Twenty Mile
GOLD
Builder: CalAtlantic Homes
Model: Vincent Artisan Lakes in Nocatee
SILVER
Builder: Dostie Homes
Model: Thoreau Americana
Subdivision: The Ranch at Twenty Mile Nocatee
GOLD
Builder: Legacy Buiulders of North Florida
Model: The Seagull
Subdivision: River Story
GOLD
Builder: CalAtlantic Homes
Model: Sterling
Subdivision: Celestina
GOLD
Builder: Arthur Rutenberg Homes
Model: Castellina
Subdivision: Palencia
SILVER
Builder: Toll Brothers
Model: Catalina Shingle
Subdivision: Toll Brothers at Atlantic Beach Country Club.
GOLD
Builder: CalAtlantic Homes
Model: Victoria
Subdivision: The Island at Twenty Mile in Nocatee
GOLD
Builder: Alpha Builders Group
Model: Villa Marina
Subdivision: Pablo Creek Reserve