Blu in Review: Blu Homes(TM) Reveals its "Top 10 of 2013"

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 19, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Blu® Homes, Inc. ("Blu"), the leading builder of premium prefab homes, today announced its Blu in Review Top 10 of 2013 roundup.  Highlighting some of the company's most fun and memorable experiences from the 2013 calendar year, it includes everything from inspired customer requests to its greenest homes, and most award-winning project designs.

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Most Eco-Friendly Home. The Net-Zero Breezehouse in Healdsburg, CA On June 5th, 2013 at the PCBC Homebuilding Tradeshow in San Diego, Blu Homes was awarded the Gold Nugget Award for the Best Zero Net Energy Home, for its Healdsburg Breezehouse, owned by Steve and Jo Cooper. Blu also won awards this year in the 2013 Architizer A+ Awards, the Builder's Choice & Custom Home Design Awards (BCCHDA), and the 2013 Gold Nugget Awards competition, among others.

Most Successful West Coast Transplant: The Copake, NY, Breezehouse Who would've thought a home "born in California" would work so elegantly in a snowy climate? Renowned for its beauty, the sun-filled Breezehouse, previously only viewable west of the Rockies, traveled east in 2013 to New York State. Located in Columbia County, just two hours north of New York City and two and a half hours west of Boston, this Breezehouse overlooks the scenic Hudson Valley and the Catskills. The home was profiled in a number of publications, including Huffington Post Home.

Tightest House Set: Sonoma, CA Located three blocks from historic Sonoma, CA's town plaza on a 75 by 150 square foot lot, this one-story Breezehouse was Blu's first developer-designed urban infill project. The narrow lot and dense suburban neighborhood made for a dramatic prefab set, including a harrowing six-inch property line clearance for the crane! Whether rural or urban, Blu can build wherever customers desire, even in some of the most challenging-to-access or narrow lots.

Most Creative Delivery Method: Ferry This year, Blu started two new projects on opposite sides of the country that can only be accessed by ferry.  The first is located on Shelter Island in New York, while the second is on Cortes Island in British Columbia. Given Blu's experience coordinating ferry logistics for its 2012 Glidehouse on Vashon Island in Washington State, these upcoming deliveries will provide a welcome opportunity for the experienced Blu delivery team. While ferry deliveries require lengthy up-front planning processes, the payoff in terms of privacy, beauty, and spectacular waterfront views is well worth it.

Most Unusual Home-Related Hobby:  Train Spotting Want to integrate a favorite hobby into your new Blu home? Blu is up for the challenge! A California Blu Homes customer who enjoys "train spotting" is building a Blu home on a piece of property specifically chosen so he can watch trains go by. Of course, the enormous expanses of glass integrated into the design ensure that he can watch trains in any weather or season, too. Blu loves to work with its customers to make room for all of their needs and hobbies. Other current customers worked with Blu to integrate such hobbies as beekeeping, kayaking, skiing, stargazing, vegetable gardening and even animal husbandry into their home and property design.

Most Turnkey Building Experience: BluServ™ Plus As 2013 closed Blu celebrated its first year offering BluServ™ Plus, a program for customers who want a full-service approach including site contracting services, that makes it even easier and more enjoyable for families to build their dream homes. One customer who built using BluServ™ Plus noted, "When we learned that Blu Homes could take care of all the details for us, we jumped at the chance and immediately signed up for BluServ Plus. Making the process of building our house as painless as possible is a big priority for us and this is a fantastic way to do that. Being able to get a home we really wanted in such a customer friendly way is perfect."

Top Three States For Blu Projects: California, New York, and Massachusetts While these three states lead the pack, Blu also started projects this year in Vermont, Connecticut, Colorado, Rhode Island, Florida, Washington, Hawaii, Louisiana, and North Carolina. Where will we build next? Take a look at our project map to see more of our current featured homes.

Most Coveted Outdoor Feature: Circular Deck With Infinity Hot Tub One Pacific Northwest client is building a Blu home with a multi-level circular deck overlooking his stunning beachfront property. Even better? He's also adding an infinity hot tub overlooking the beach. Given that we'd also like to nominate this client's property for Most Beautiful View, these features make perfect sense for the project.

Most Tempting New Program: Blu Homes' Rewards Launched November 2013, this rewards program is open to any enthusiast who loves the premium quality, award-winning design and superior convenience that Blu Homes offers.  By sharing the rewards program through email and favorite social networks, participants earn points as their friends move through the homebuying process. Rewards program participants can earn over $4,000 per referral and can redeem their rewards for Visa gift cards, Whole Foods Gift Cards, and Blu Homes Purchase Credit. Blu Homes will also be launching an exclusive realtor rewards program in early 2014.

Best Overall Advice For Building a Prefab Home: Bill Haney in Dwell Magazine "Find someone you can trust who is going to help you through the process. It's an important emotional and financial decision and not something you're going to do very often. It's hard to be an expert if you've only ever cooked or golfed twice in your lifetime! So, partner with a firm who has a deep base of knowledge." You can read the entire interview in Dwell. Other press highlights this year include features in The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, House Beautiful, Entrepreneur, Kiplinger, Fortune, and California Home+Design.

For more information on Blu Homes, email [email protected]. Or, visit www.bluhomes.com, follow Blu on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/bluhomes) and Twitter (@BluHomes). 

About Blu Homes

Blu Homes, Inc. is the leading provider of premium prefab homes in North America.  Architect-designed and precision-built in half the time of conventional custom homes, Blu homes provide healthy green features, luxury quality finishes, and high performance systems for convenient and comfortable living. Blu's proprietary information technology enables customers to personalize their design online for free and in 3-D and receive a transparent, fixed price.  Unique steel-reinforced building technology allows Blu to ship its expansive designs efficiently and complete homes quickly, all with its own dedicated teams. Built in its 250,000-square-foot state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Northern California, Blu's inspired and nationally recognized homes can be found from New York to the Colorado Mountains and the Pacific Coast. Visit www.bluhomes.com.

Blu is also the proud builder of the Sunset magazine 2012 Idea House in Sonoma County, California. For more information on the Sunset Idea House, click here.

SOURCE Blu Homes, Inc.