FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact:
Nona Raybern, Public Relations & Media Manager
Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties
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Master Builders Association Announces 2020 Award Winners

BELLEVUE, Wash.—December 18, 2020—The Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties (MBAKS) announced its 2020 winners at their annual end of year awards gala on Thursday, December 17. This year’s gala was held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic, featuring skits, year-end retrospectives, and an awards show.

Each year, MBAKS recognizes members in eight different categories: Spirit of Service, Emerging Leader, Built Green Moving the Market, Associate of the Year, Remodeler of the Year, Builder of the Year, Exceptional Service, and the MBAKS Hall of Fame Award. Winners are decided through an open member nomination and awards committee process.

Here are 2020’s winners:

Joe Reed, Home Run Solutions, Mill Creek, WA

Spirit of Service Award

The Spirit of Service award exemplifies members who go above and beyond to give back to the communities where they do business.

Joe Reed dedicated extra time and effort in our 2019 Rampathon event to find solutions for a mobility ramp that faced extra permitting challenges. Thanks to his efforts, a family now has the ramp they need and solved a critical mobility concern.

Leann McNabb, CW Title and Escrow, Bellevue, WA

Emerging Leader Award

The Emerging Leader award is dedicated to those in the housing industry who are forward thinkers and a demonstrate a willingness to be involved at a higher level.

Leann McNabb served as 2019 chair of the MBAKS Professional Women in Building chapter and continues to dedicate her time to the uplifting of women in the housing community. She is one of the youngest women to serve as PWB Chair in MBAKS’ history.

Ted Clifton, TC Legend Homes, Bellingham, WA

Built Green Moving the Market Award

TC Legend Homes was granted the 20,000th certification of Built Green, the MBAKS green building program. For this reason, Ted Clifton and TC Legend Homes have won the Moving the Market award.

Their progressive work in green building, including making their IP public for other builders, makes them well deserving of this prestigious distinction.

Clay White, LDC Inc., Woodinville, WA

2020 Associate of the Year

The Associate of the Year award is dedicated to non-builder MBAKS members who have made an impact on the association and its work.

Clay White has served as an MBAKS board member for the last two years, currently serves on the MBAKS Housing Policy Committee, and actively dedicates time to MBAKS Hill Day, where our members and staff meet with legislators to advance housing legislation in the Puget Sound. In 2017, he was a key presenter at our Housing Summit and spoke on addressing the housing crisis in our region.

Ron Palmer, Palmer Residential, Seattle, WA

2020 Remodeler of the Year

The Remodeler of the Year award is presented to leaders in the remodeling industry, who display an exemplary talent in their work.

A long-standing Remodelers Excellence (REX) winner, Ron Palmer shows an exemplary ability for creating new spaces and incorporating progressive design elements. Founded in 2007, his company’s core values include pride in the connections their build with clients, communication, and craftsmanship. Not only dedicated to delivering an exceptional project for their clients, he is also passionate about advocating for the building industry through his support of the Affordable Housing Council.

Trevor Johnson, Blackwood Builders, Lynnwood, WA

2020 Builder of the Year

The Builder of the Year award doesn’t just go to members with exceptional building capabilities, but to those members who go beyond and are leaders within the industry.

Trevor Johnson dedicates time throughout the association and its many facets, exemplifying our core mission and values, from chairing the Affordable Housing Council in 2020, advocating with elected officials to create much-needed housing in our region, and his extensive participation in community stewardship projects with WELD Seattle, New Beginnings, Seattle Children’s Hospital, Dwellings, and more.

Erich Armbruster, Ashworth Homes, Shoreline, WA

Exceptional Service Award

The Exceptional Service award is the highest recognition award for members and staff for their many years of professional leadership and/or exemplary service to MBAKS.

Erich Armbruster is an exquisitely experienced leader in the housing industry and the association. His achievements are long—years of service on the MBAKS board of directors, including as President in 2018, as well as serving in the Building Industry Association of Washington (BIAW). He has been a consistent voice for engaging with our regional partners to provide a better future for our region’s residents, ushering in an era at MBAKS that saw a higher engagement with pro-housing legislators. He is an irreplaceable asset for the building community in Washington state and beyond.

Joe Reed, Home Run Solutions, Mill Creek, WA

MBAKS Hall of Fame

The purpose of the MBAKS Hall of Fame award is to honor people who have made significant and lasting contributions to our association.

Over the course of his impressive career, Gary Young has made a significant impact on the local homebuilding industry. His commitment not only to the industry, but also to the people that make up this industry, is unmatched. He has been a member of the Affordable Housing Council since 2000, served as a trustee for Rainier Scholars, a nonprofit that offers a pathway to college for low-income students of color by providing access to transformative educational opportunities, played a key role in condo reform in Washington state, and has a strong focus in sustainable building efforts through Built Green.

For more information on this release or for higher resolution photos, contact Nona Raybern at pr@mbaks.com

About MBAKS

Founded in 1909 and headquartered in Bellevue, Washington, the Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties (MBAKS) is the nation’s oldest and largest local homebuilders association. Like our founders, our members continue to take a leading role in all facets of homebuilding and support the planning for a growing region. From new technology to advances in sustainability, from collaborative public policy efforts to investing in our communities, our commitment to a thriving, inclusive, and well-planned region never wavers. We are the professional homebuilders, architects, remodelers, tradespeople (carpenters, framers, roofers, plumbers, electricians), planners and engineers, suppliers, manufacturers, and sales and marketing professionals in your community who believe everyone deserves access to a healthy and productive place to call home.

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Reports Highlight Flaws in Mandatory Affordable Housing Fees

by MBAKS Government Affairs

Two new reports from ECOnorthwest shed light on key shortcomings in inclusionary zoning policies and the nexus studies often used to justify mandatory affordable housing requirements on new market-rate development.

MBAKS commissioned ECOnorthwest, an independent third-party public policy research firm, to prepare these reports in support of more informed local dialogue around affordable housing strategies.

The first report, Mandatory Affordable Housing Fees Carry Unintended Consequences, examines the real-world impacts of imposing affordable housing fees without corresponding incentives. It finds that mandatory affordable housing fees, though well-intentioned, disproportionately affect middle housing projects, often tipping them from risky to infeasible and preventing them from being built altogether. 

The second, How Nexus Studies Misunderstand the Affordable Housing Challenge, highlights a core flaw in the logic underpinning many nexus studies: the assumption that new market-rate housing is the primary driver of demand for affordable housing. The report describes several issues with this assumption, arguing that the framework used to justify mandatory inclusionary requirements misrepresents the true dynamics of housing markets. It does so by ignoring the broader supply shortage and the filtering process through which new housing helps ease pressure on lower-cost homes. By attributing the affordability crisis to new development rather than to structural undersupply, nexus studies risk reinforcing policies that further constrain housing production—ultimately exacerbating the very problem they aim to solve.

The ECOnorthwest reports reinforce the need to continue advancing solutions that increase supply at all levels. MBAKS is committed to being a collaborative partner in addressing the region’s housing shortage so our communities can be more affordable and inclusive for all.

This week, Shannon speaks about events at the MBA with our new Events Manager, Gina Tucci.

View upcoming MBA Events