Denim & Diamonds

Friday night, January 10^th Destination Homes joined homebuilders from across the Wasatch Front at Rio Tinto Stadium to take part in the Home Builders of Excellence Awards, ‘Denim & Diamonds’. As the theme title suggests, these were Denim and Diamonds a plenty in attendance.

The pre-dinner mingle allowed guests to visit and enjoy some delicious cheeses and breads from the hors d’oeuvres table while seeing builders’ work on display easels and television monitors in all sorts of categories ranging from home features to advertising campaigns.

While enjoying a delicious buffet-style dinner, the program commenced for the evening. New HBA officers were introduced and former officers were honored.  Kennecott Land’s Ty McCutcheon was sworn in as the new Utah HBA president. Andrew Wittenberg took control of the microphone soon there after to address the awards we were all curious to find out about, but only after flashing some of his own EMMY’s.

The evening was a great opportunity to see many of our peers be recognized for quality home building.  We were thrilled to be a part of this elite group when they announced ‘Destination Homes’ to receive four awards:

• Best Overall Advertising Campaign – “Hill Farms Grand Opening Community Launch”
• Best of State – Custom Kitchen Design “The Iron Chef”
• Best Television or Radio Commercial – “Hill Farms Pandora Ad"
• Marketing Director of the Year – “Ryan Snarr”

What a wonderful way to begin 2014; by bringing home some awards recognizing our teams’ hard work in 2013!

Don't Look Down!

During this weeks company huddle Kam Petersen discussed safety while working with scaffolding during the building of our homes.  Scaffolding is any temporary platform, either supported from below or suspended from above, on which workers sit or stand when performing tasks at heights above the ground.  Unfortunately, injuries happen on job sites and 9.9% of those fatal injuries are related to falls.   Due to the increased danger of injury scaffolding must be inspected every single day, especially after heavy rains or if the scaffolding has been struck.

Scaffolding requires a base plate or mud sill to protect the scaffolding from sinking into the ground.  Other safety elements that are required when using scaffolding are a toe board which prevents items from falling down to the ground and hurting someone below, an overhang of 6 – 12 inches, fully planked, squared, guard rails and even mid rails are all needed to protect the safety of the workers.  As you can see, working from such heights can be extremely dangerous, which is why Destination Homes reviews the safety regulations for working at such heights with everyone in the company. 

It's Electric!

When was the last time you influenced a moment of choice?  Whether it is reminding someone to buckle their seat belt, put on a bike helmet, or to use safety gear at high heights, when was the last time you spoke up?  What did you learn?  What would you do differently next time?

Safety is something that we, at Destination Homes, believe is of the utmost importance.  Kam Peterson is our Director of Construction; during our last company huddle he reviewed with us the importance of safety, particularly electrical safety.  We promise to spare you the graphic pictures of people who were being unsafe during such electrical situations. 

Kam explained to all of us that a GFCI (Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter) is not a substitute for grounding and will still trip at 5 mA (milliamperes).  The little double squares on your tools and construction cords mean that it is double insulated, which is approved by OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration), making that your safest choice.  Other safety concerns that Kam brought to our attention were:

• Keeping your walkways clear: this will keep your cords from becoming accidently unplugged and avoid any unnecessary wear and tear to a minimum.
• Protect your cords by avoiding sharp metal corners and edges.
• The bottom prong on a 3-prong plug is meant to ground you and keep you safe.  In other words don’t cut it off.
•  Circuit breakers must be properly identified.
•  Stay clear of any exposed wires
•  Always use a professional   

The result of being unsafe and in electrical situations can cause serious damage such as, shock, burns, hearing damage and even fatal if the electrical path passes through your heart. 

Thank you Kam for sharing with us how to be safe and aware of any electrical hazards that we might run into.  Be safe out there!        

Summertime Fun!

The sun came out, flowers have bloomed and the grass has turned from brown to a rich green, spring is finally here and summer is nipping at its heels.  We have been cooped up for so long, due to winter, that when we finally stepped out into the sunshine all we want to do is run and play in its warmth.  It’s common to run through the sprinklers, go for bike rides and play tag, but what are some other things that we can do this summer to make it a little more special?  There are several fun ideas out there available on Pinterest and here are some of our favorite summertime fun activities!



Although running through the sprinklers is a time honored tradition but what about rolling around on your own outdoor waterbed?  This waterbed will offer fun for all throughout the day; the water inside the bed will slowly start to leak, making it a delightful cool activity on a hot summer day and the best part, it won’t cost an arm and a leg.  All that is needed is duct tape and a large plastic drop cloth, both of which you can purchase for under $10.  To learn more about this fun activity and get the full directions go to Utah County Mom 




If you are looking for something to do on those lazy warm summer nights, remove the labels on empty water or soda pop bottles, fill them up with water and add a little food coloring to each bottle for a variety of color.  The last step, break some glow sticks and place inside of each bottle for glow in the dark bowling that everyone can take part in. If you are looking for something to do on those lazy warm summer nights, remove the labels on empty water or soda pop bottles, fill them up with water and add a little food coloring to each bottle for a variety of color.  The last step, break some glow sticks and place inside of each bottle for glow in the dark bowling that everyone can take part in. 

When you are sitting on the back porch gazing up at the stars after the day has settled down.  You can still enjoy your beautiful summer plants and flowers by painting with this easy nighttime lighting trick, just paint the outside of your flower pots in glow-in-the-dark paint.  This is a simple and quick way to add a little extra to your summer nights.

Happier Trails...

We all love walking paths and trails that twist and turn with our neighborhood.  We ask for them, we will even move to certain communities to find them.  A walking path is meant to connect communities and residents in a safe environment, but what happens when that path doesn’t appear to be a safe place to go?  Have you ever thought about where that path is placed?  Is it next to a home, is it in front or back?  Hidden under a large canopy of trees or behind a tall fence, like the picture above? 

If the walking path is placed in any of these areas: hidden under trees, behind fences and homes, does it encourage the safety that we are all hoping for?  How safe would you feel, to be isolated, walking along a dark path, behind large fences and homes?  Instead, most of us would choose to walk along the sidewalk, which is next to the street, but visible from the front of our neighbors’ homes to feel safe and secure.

Wouldn’t you prefer to walk from neighborhood to neighborhood using a path that is out in the open, visible, and safe?  A trail that is not next to the street with vehicles passing by?  Or walk along a path that loops around creating miles of walking trails?  A path where you can stroll outside with your family, friends, and pets, ride your bike and met your neighbors along the way?  Rather than creating a system of paths and trails as an afterthought, these walk ways will add to the connectivity, safety and overall community feel of our new Master Planned Community “Hill Farms”, which will be making its debut this Fall 2013.