Innovative Construction’s founders, Pedro and Lourdes Vargas, along with their son, Jonathan, are veteran energy efficient builders. The company was honored last year as a Leading Energy Efficient Builder and won the Rio Grande Valley Builders Association’s “Most Energy Efficient Award” for their entry in the 2017 Parade of Homes. That Parade entry also won several other awards for excellence in construction, including the most prestigious award—“Best of Show.” In both the 2018 & 2019 Parade of Homes competitions, the company was again recognized for their excellent craftsmanship with the “Best Model” award in the Over $400K category (2018) and in the $351K to $400K category (2019).
In the short period since its formation, Waldo Homes has earned a reputation for building some of the finest homes in the Rio Grande Valley. Over the years, this family-owned company has been recognized by their peers in the industry with awards for excellence in construction with their entries in the Rio Grande Valley Builders Association’s annual Parade of Homes.
Villanueva Construction is proud of its 30+ year history of helping people achieve their dream of owning a home—and not just any home, but a home they can be proud of. Since its founding in 1985 by Martin Villanueva, this family-owned business has earned a reputation for building extraordinary homes with an outstanding value. With lots starting in the $25K range and homes in the $140’s, home ownership is within reach for most buyers.
Luis Rangel, owner of RanMar Construction, is a relatively new builder who, from the beginning, adopted high-performance home building as a standard of construction. While many companies build homes only to minimum code, RanMar Construction is not among those. Especially since in many Valley cities, city minimum code requirements do not comply with the State’s mandatory compliance to the 2015 International Energy Conservation Code.
Founded in 2013 by Emigdio Villanueva, Jr. and his sons Emigdio Villanueva, III and David Villanueva, Villa Homes has quickly distinguished itself as a company that constructs fine quality homes with features and details that other companies consider as upgrades.
Divine Custom Homes, established in 2008 by Olga Treviño, has been an ENERGY STAR® Partner since 2009 and a BUILT TO SAVE™ member since the program’s inception. Over the years, Olga and her team have consistently received special recognition from two utility companies: Magic Valley Electric Cooperative and AEP Texas, for their loyal commitment to exclusively building high-performance homes.
This year, Waldo Homes was honored by their peers in the industry with six awards—the most of any builder in the area—including the coveted grand award: “Best of Show.”
Some of the area’s finest builders presented 31 homes in a variety of sizes and architectural styles throughout the upper #RGV. These were the top winners of the 2019 #ParadeOfHomes competition.
Monica Berry has been in the building-related industry for many years, including the 15 years since she and her husband, Lonnie Berry, founded Berry Homes in 2003. Operating mostly in the Mid-Valley area, Berry Homes is an established construction company, recognized as much for the owners’ integrity as for the detailed quality of their homes.
Waldo Homes was founded in 2004. This family owned company is exclusively owned and managed by the Waldo Homes team: Mr. Luis Waldo and Mrs. Teresa Waldo, along with their son Danny and their daughter Karen. Everyone has a significant role in the day-to-day operations, and their skills complement their duties—especially those of the women.
Stephanie Villanueva is proud to be part of the Villanueva Construction legacy of building beautiful homes for over 30 years. The company rallies around its slogan, “The Valley’s Original Builder” for good reason. Its long history in business predates many new start-ups and is a testament to its enduring reputation as a quality builder.
Since its founding in 2013 by Emigdio Villanueva Jr. and his sons, Emigdio Villanueva III and David Villanueva, Villa Homes has achieved a remarkable reputation as a builder of some of the Valley’s finest custom homes. The Villa Homes team includes Emigdio Villanueva Jr.’s spouse, Cynthia, and his two daughters-in-law, Brianna and Erica Villanueva.
Marisol Treviño works side-by-side with her husband, Mario Treviño, both, as owners of Treviño Construction sharing the same passion for building homes that stand out from the ordinary. This family-owned company has distinguished itself by building award-winning homes that are as unique as the customers who buy them. It is with good reason that Treviño Construction’s company slogan is, “Luxury One-Of-A-Kind Homes For Life.”
Sandra Brown is a builder. What makes her different is that she is a “woman” builder. The love for what she does is evident in her work. And her work involves a lot. In fact, it covers everything from the design and concept of the home to its finishing details. As the owner of Sorrento Fine Homes, Sandra has built a great reputation as both an architectural designer and a master builder. She is currently certified as a “Master Builder” by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), a designation she first earned in 2010. The “Master Builder” designation is one of NAHB’s highest designations given only to experienced veteran builders. Sandra is the only one that has been given the Master Builder designation in South Texas.
Our feature on the 2018 Distinguished Women in Construction would not be complete without honoring a group of women working for Proyecto Azteca, a non-profit organization based in San Juan, Texas, that provides a grassroots approach to affordable housing for the area’s poor in the rural “colonias” of the Rio Grande Valley. The women have been with Proyecto Azteca for many years, and together with other members in the organization, they work as one cohesive family towards the goal of improving the quality of life for under-privileged families in the Valley.
Lourdes Vargas started her career in construction in California, helping her husband, Pedro Vargas, who was doing remodeling. Customers were so impressed with the remodeling work by the Vargas family that word quickly spread of their detailed, quality work. It wasn’t long before the couple expanded into full-time custom home building. Today, after moving from California to South Texas, Lourdes works side-by-side with her husband and their son, Jonathan, in one of the Rio Grande Valley’s finest custom homebuilding companies—Innovative Construction.
Divine Custom Homes is one of the Rio Grande Valley’s few construction companies that is run by a woman builder who is actually a “hands-on builder.” What that means is that its owner, Olga Treviño, is the builder. Olga is personally involved in every project, from the design, to the construction, and to the finishing touches—and she would not have it any other way.
Mary Ramirez is the founder of Chris Ryan Homes & Investments, LLC. She is also the builder, personally involved in a “hands-on” capacity since the company’s beginning in 1995. With over 23 years of construction experience, Mary Ramirez truly embodies the definition of a “woman builder.”
The home building industry has long been considered to be dominated by men. In the Rio Grande Valley, however, there is a select group of women in construction who have distinguished themselves—not just because they are women—but because of the incredible contributions, they have made to the industry in the face of many challenges.
The Rio Grande Valley’s only 100% ENERGY STAR® Partner that includes airPlus, BUILT TO SAVE™, and GreenBuilt RGV certifications on every home they build.
Meet the builders who have stepped up to a leadership role in the construction of energy efficient, high-performance homes in the Rio Grande Valley—superior in every way to code-built homes.
Divine Custom Homes is the only builder in the Rio Grande Valley that builds 100% of their homes as qualified ENERGY STAR® homes; this automatically certifies the homes as BUILT TO SAVE™, as well. Even more, the company demonstrates concern for the environment by adding the EPA’s Indoor airPLUS label to their ENERGY STAR® qualified homes and “green building” through certifying their homes as “GreenBuilt RGV.”
The visual beauty of Innovative Construction’s homes, both exteriors and interiors, is impressive, and the company is consistently winning awards for their design and craftsmanship. Yet what is under all that beauty is even more impressive because Innovative Construction is a builder member of the BUILT TO SAVE™ program. This means the company has their homes inspected during construction and tested upon completion to make sure they meet the strict energy efficiency requirements of the program.