More than 830 home building industry members attended this year’s Building Industry Gala at Mystic Lake Casino and Hotel on Thursday, Oct. 26. The red carpet event honored this year’s top builders, remodelers, suppliers, and individuals.
Once again, WCCO’s Jason DeRusha emceed the event. More than 150 awards were handed out including the presentation of the coveted Builder of the Year, Remodeler of the Year, and Associate of the Year trophies.
“Building and remodeling families’ homes is an extremely rewarding career, and our awards gala is a chance for the industry to all come together and celebrate the amazing work that we get to do everyday,” said Bob Michels, President BATC-Housing First Minnesota. “The BIG Night is truly a celebration of the homes and communities we’ve built that make the Twin Cities an amazing place to call home.”
Congratulations to all of this year’s winners! Other top awards presented included the Housing Industry Leader of the Year, the Robert L. Hanson Lifetime Achievement Award for industry service, the Building BATC Award for recruitment of new members, and Advocate of the Year for work by a member in the advocacy arena. BATC-Housing First Minnesota also bestowed its Legislator of the Year award to State Representative Dennis Smith (Maple Grove) and Senator Dan Hall (Burnsville) for their support of the housing industry at the Capitol.
Builder of the Year Remodeler of the Year and Associate of the Year
BATC-Housing First Minnesota’s most coveted honors are the annual Builder, Remodeler and Associate of the Year Awards. The winning companies were selected based upon evaluations of trust, communications, loyalty and ethics by the firms with which they do business, and in the case of Builder and Remodeler of the Year, by their customers.
2017 BATC Builder of the Year
John Kraemer & Sons, Inc.
2017 BATC Remodeler of the Year
James Barton Design-Build, Inc.
2017 BATC Associate of the Year
Admit One, Inc.
Robert L. Hanson Lifetime Achievement Award
The award is presented to a member that has more than 20 years of experience in our industry and has a powerful legacy of engagement and industry involvement throughout their career.
The 2017 Robert L. Hanson Lifetime Achievement Award:
Len Pratt, Pratt Homes
Housing Industry Leader of the Year
The Housing Industry Leader of the Year Award is given to an individual or company in recognition of their outstanding contribution in the past year to BATC, who’s contributions go above and beyond.
Housing Industry Leader of the Year
Lennar
Building BATC Award
Each year, BATC recognizes the member who has recruited the most new members with the Building BATC Award.
2017 Building BATC Award
Jill Murphy, True North Consulting, LLC
Advocate of the Year
The Advocate of the Year honors an individual Housing First Minnesota member for efforts helping the association in its advocacy work, ensuring that local, regional and state legislators and government officials understand the impacts of regulation and law on the industry’s ability to provide affordable, durable and quality homes for Minnesotans.
2017 BATC Advocate of the Year
Bill Gschwind, Minnesota Construction Law Services, PLLC
View the full list of winners here. When available, you can view the event photo gallery here.
