News & Info

OMB Hosts Two Tours of Homes™

OMB Staff

OMB Tour of Homes™

The Olympia Master Builders (OMB) hosted two Tour of Homes™ recently.  The OMB Tour of Homes™, sponsored by West Coast Bank, was held in Thurston County on the two weekends of Saturday, July 26 and 27 and August 2 and 3 and the Twin Harbors Tour of Home™, sponsored by Anchor Bank, was held in Ocean Shores on August 16 and 17. The Thurston County show featured twelve homes, including one whole-house remodel.  The remodel project and another home were Built Green™, incorporating sustainable design and materials into the homes.

Attendance at the homes was excellent.  Reports from the participants show an average of over nearly 200 people thru each home each day, with three homes reporting an attendance of more than 1,100 each over the four-day event!

On the opening day of the show, a panel of three judges was escorted to view each of the homes and critique them on their own merit.  Returning Judge Tommy Poplin of Poplin Construction, Inc. commented that, "this year, across the board, the quality of the homes was impressive."  The Judges results and People's Choice results will be announced at the September 10 General Membership Meeting. 

Tour Chair, Gary Rust of Mutual Materials added, "more then most you would think that I would know that bigger isn't always better.  And that certainly was true of this year's Tour of Homes.  We had eleven outstanding participants this year and featured twelve equally outstanding sites. Tour participants got full value for their time and marketing dollar.  By changing to a weekend only event, participants felt that attendance was boosted among the fewer days.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that this year's event in many ways exceeded my expectations."

Thank you to all of the OMB Tour of Homes™ sponsors: Title Sponsor West Coast Bank; Silver Sponsors Lumbermens and Mutual Materials; and Media Sponsors Mixx 96 FM and The Olympian. 

Twin Harbors Tour of Homes™

The Twin Harbors Tour of Homes™ featured nine homes. According to Tour Chair, Dori Lambert of Levee Lumber, "The weather was perfect for the tour and the homes featured offered a great variety for home buyers. Our builder members have really benefited from the exposure the Tour has provided to them. On Sunday many builders reported that they had repeat visitors bringing spouses or other family back to view the homes."

One of the judges for the tour was Tim Dickey, OMB Vice President who said, "I enjoyed the experience and thought it was interesting to see the quality and diversity of the homes."  Winners will be announced at the awards banquet to be held on September 4 at the Quinault Beach Resort and Casino.

Each year, attendance gets better. It was a perfect opportunity to spend the weekend touring homes and enjoying the beach. A special thank you to all the sponsors of the Twin Harbors Tour of Homes™ including: Title Sponsor Anchor Bank; Gold Sponsors Levee Lumber, McFarland Cascade; Silver Sponsor CentainTeed Windows; Bronze Sponsors Coast Title & Escrow, Inc., Rockey's Universal Construction, Schumacher Electric and Jodesha Broadcasting.