PRESIDENT'S AWARD

Quality finishes wow judges

The President’s Award is special recognition of a home that combines affordability with quality workmanship and innovation. In addition to achieving top marks in the standard judging criteria, the construction cost must not exceed $350,000, making it a home every Queenslander can aspire to

WINNING the award this year is Hotondo Homes for the Erskine 225 Southampton design in Coomera. Ideal for families, the popular Erskine series of homes has been adapted to suit a narrow block of land. The Erskine 225 is only 11.3 metres wide, making it suitable for most blocks of land.

Hotondo Homes Gold Coast owners, Corey and Rachael Hobbins say they pride themselves on their attention to detail, and the Erskine delivers.

"From conception to completion, the focus has been always been on creating a truly special home," Corey said. "With this in mind, the delivery of this project was very similar to the delivery of a bespoke home, with design and styling co-ordination meetings and works continuing until the day before opening." Every aspect of the home from the selection of the floor plan, façade, landscaping, pool, colours and furniture layout including styling has been carefully analysed to make sure everything complements each other. The Erskine 225 is a compact four bedroom, two bathroom, double lock-up garage home with an open plan kitchen, dining and lounge overlooking the rear patio and pool. With the use of a 25-degree roof pitch and parallel cord trusses the rear dining, lounge and outdoor patio have a cathedral ceiling with four-metre bi-fold door and high-level windows allowing for an abundance of natural light from the northern facing rear. This combination makes a truly stunning entertaining space for a family to enjoy the

Gold Coast lifestyle. The Southampton façade focuses on the very popular Hamptons style with a coastal touch that has been carried through the entire home.

The design uses warm timber look flooring, light greys tones, soft coastal blues, pattern tiles, chevron feature panels, 2pac kitchen with shaker panels , herringbone tiles, soft natural and man-made stones with tumbled travertine and culture stone, weatherboards and open pergola to the front porch. Hotondo Homes have chosen to exclusively use BlueScope Steel Truecore frames making the amazing cathedral ceiling to the rear of the home easy and cost effective without the need for externally designed and manufactured structural steel — and in this case, eliminating the need for vertical cranage. “Through a close working relationship with BlueScope and our own experience on multiresidential, steel framing and commercial façade systems, we have been able to assist our trades and suppliers that aren’t familiar with the use and benefits of steel house frames to overcome their concerns and deliver a superior quality job with none of the common timber frame problems," Corey said.