Justin Boyle of Green Valley Builders hosted in April a group of undergraduate and graduate architecture students at the site of a new home in the Mount Tabor Meadows community in Blacksburg.

The home visited is part of a 49-lot development in which all homes will be both EarthCraft and ENERGY STAR certified.

The students visited the site as part of assistant professor Elizabeth Grant's Environmental Building Systems and Architectural Systems Integration courses, part of the curriculum of the School of Architecture + Design in the College of Architecture and Urban Studies at Virginia Tech.

During the tour, Boyle told the students that while many ancillary systems, such as photovoltaic arrays and solar thermal domestic hot water, are popular methods to reduce reliance on traditional energy sources, making a building energy-efficient begins with the basics.

'EXTREME MAKEOVER'

Pembroke company takes part in rebuild

The May 16 episode of ABC's hit series "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" featured a project with local ties.

Local homebuilder Jay Cole and Pembroke-based NRV Homes were part of the team that sponsored building a modular dream home -- for free -- as part of the weekly reality television program, which surprises a family with extensive home renovations or a new house. The series featured the story of the Williams family from Pine Mountain Valley, Ga.

With two disabled family members and a mold-infested house that was falling apart, Jeremy and Jennifer Williams desperately needed a new home. The couple's 6-year-old son, Jacob, was born with spina bifida, a developmental birth defect of the spine. In a wheelchair, Jacob often had difficulty maneuvering around the home, meaning he required assistance from his mother, his 8-year-old sister, Josie, and until a couple years ago, his father.

In 2008, Jeremy Williams was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease, also known as ALS, a fatal, progressive disease affecting nerve cells that causes muscular weakness.

Nationwide Homes, a leading builder of high-performance modular homes for single- and multifamily residences, came aboard and donated a single-story, energy-efficient dream home to the Williams family. Dozens of regional builders, such as Cole and NRV Homes, also contributed money from their own pockets to make the project happen.

The core crew of Nationwide builders took on the project, and after the home was transported from Nationwide's production facility in Martinsville, to Pine Mountain Valley, the team had only 109 hours to construct the home on site.

NRV Homes, which has been operating for about five years, is an approved builder of Nationwide Homes. The business is on U.S. 460, about six miles north of Blacksburg.

Crockett employees take lead course

Crockett Home Improvement Inc. recently completed the Greenville Technical College's "Lead Renovation, Repair and Painting Training Course" on May 13-14.

The course was successfully completed by nine employees in order to comply with recent mandates from the EPA where renovation or repair involves the removal of lead paint.

-- The Roanoke Times