Annual contest honors top homes

Home shoppers and lookie-loos weren't the only ones oohing and aahing over new digs and new designs this week during the Parade of Homes.

Builders called in professionals to look hard at all 178 homes to find the best in several categories in the parade, which continues from 1 to 7 p.m. today and Sunday.

The Central Oklahoma Home Builders Association had five teams of interior designers, experienced Realtors and builders checking out parade entries.

Teams went to each quadrant of the metro area and one looked at parade luxury homes everywhere, said builder Wayne Del Bosque of Avalon Homes in Choctaw. He and Richard Peterson, a mortgage planner at Benchmark Mortgage in Oklahoma City, handled the awards.

Del Bosque said the awards are coveted because they are based on a scoring system by judges with no personal or business connections to the entrants.

Judges ranked each of five categories 1 to 10 in three price ranges in each quadrant and in one metrowide category for luxury homes.

"We populated it into an Excel spreadsheet and how it fell is how it fell,” Del Bosque said. "In a lot of cases, the difference between winning and second place was one point.”

It was winner-take-all, though. No second places were recognized.

Below are the winners.

•Allenton Homes swept the Luxury Home category — $600,000 to $950,000 — with a home at 13504 Canyon Lakes Drive in the Edmond-West area, winning Best Landscape, Best Owner's Suite, Best Kitchen, Best Overall Design and Best Merchandising.

•$200,000 and under — Brass Brick Homes won every category with its home at 18905 Summer Grove: Best Landscape, Best Owner's Suite, Best Kitchen, Best Overall Design and Best Merchandising.

•$200,000 to $400,000 — Best Landscape, Newhaven Homes, 17413 White Hawk; Best Owner's Suite, Bill Roberts Building Co., 1508 NW 174 Court; Best Kitchen, Best Overall Design and Best Merchandising, Jeff Click Homes, 17405 White Hawk.

•$400,000 to $600,000 — Best Landscape, Best Overall Design and Best Merchandising, Neal McGee Homes, 3101 NW 164; Best Owner's Suite, Bill Roberts Building Co., 16214 Muirfield Place; Best Kitchen, Livingston-Meyer Homes, 16401 Dustin Lane.

There was no category for $200,000 and under.

• $200,000 to $400,000 — Best Landscape, Richard Adams Homes, 5808 Great Hamden; Best Owner's Suite, Rice Custom Homes, 904 NW 194, and Hunnewell Homes, 4300 Man O'War (tie); Best Kitchen, Hunnewell Homes, 4300 Man O'War; Best Overall Design and Best Merchandising, Rice Custom Homes, 904 NW 194.

•$400,000 to $600,000 — Best Landscape and Best Kitchen, Suburban Homes, 4309 Frisco Bridge; Best Owner's Suite, Bill Roberts Building Co., 2901 Allie Drive; Best Overall Design, Suburban Homes, 4309 Frisco Bridge, and Silverstone Homes, 14705 Terra Vita; Best Merchandising, Silverstone Homes, 14705 Terra Vita.

•$200,000 and under — Brookside Homes swept all categories with a home at 10804 Middlesbrough.

•$200,000 to $400,000 — Best Landscape and Best Overall Design, Steve Wood Homes, 13116 Katelyn Court; Best Owner's Suite, Suburban Homes, 9017 NW 135; Best Kitchen and Best Merchandising, Crabtree Custom Homes, 2228 Falling Springs.

•$400,000 to $600,000 — Best Landscape, Best Owner's Suite, Best Overall Design and Best Merchandising, McCaleb Homes, 7712 NW 135; Best Kitchen, Livingston-Meyer Homes, 7836 NW 131.

•$200,000 and under — Best Landscape, Brookside Homes, 12221 Biltmore Drive; Best Owner's Suite, Best Kitchen, Best Overall Design and Best Merchandising, Rausch Coleman Homes, 700 E Linden.

•$200,000 to $400,000 — Best Landscape and Best Overall Design, Newhaven Homes, 4820 SW 123; Best Owner's Suite and Best Merchandising, Towne East Homes, 13119 Red Oak Drive; Best Kitchen, KA Homes, 2237 SW 117.

•$400,000 to $600,000 — Avalon Homes swept all categories with a home at 2514 Red Oak Drive.