Neely Roth, Design Manager with Excel Homes, says she has always liked houses and the way they look. “Since I was young, I’ve always had an interest in looking at houses and looking through show homes,” says Neely. Her interest in houses developed over the years and Neely went on to graduate from SAIT’s Architectural Technologies program. “Four to five months after I graduated, in Fall of 1999, I started with Excel Homes as a Junior Drafter,” says Neely. “I drafted production plans and such, and three and a half years later I was given the opportunity to become the Drafting Manager.” Later, Excel Homes split the department in half so that production and design received more individual attention, and for the past two years Neely has been the Design Manager. “I’ve been with Excel since the beginning of my career,” says Neely “

And I really enjoy it here.”

One of Neely’s recent designs is the Sierra. This two-storey front-attached garage home is now one of Excel’s more popular models, and was designed to fit on a 30 foot lot. “Most of these types of homes are usually designed to fit larger lots,” says Neely. “Because this design fits on the smaller lot, it is definitely more affordable.” However, just because this home fits on a smaller lot doesn’t mean that the Sierra is lacking in space.

On the contrary, this 1,598 square foot home includes three bedrooms, two and a half bathrooms and a double garage. “I like this floor plan because it still features a bonus room, and with it being quite separate from the rest of the house and sitting over the garage, it has great home theatre possibilities,” says Neely. “Also, the nice thing about this particular design is that there are various options to the floor plan that allow buyers to customize the home to their needs and budget.” Also on the second floor, the spacious master bedroom includes a wall-long walk-in closet and an attractive ensuite, and in addition, there is another full bathroom down the hall from the secondary bedrooms. The Sierra includes an open-concept main floor with a sizeable kitchen, nook and great room with fireplace, and a convenient main floor laundry and mudroom coming off the garage.

Neely says that since the creation of the Sierra last January, 16 of them have been sold, and all of the Sierra’s buyers have bought the home strictly off the plans; sight-unseen. The Sierra’s Silverado show home only opened on December 9th and so buyers had to go by the floor plans alone. “It’s been quite popular.” says Neely. However, the designer not only put a lot of herself into the Sierra; she moved into it as well. “Mine was the first house completed and moved into,” says the proud designer who moved into her new home the first week in December. There’s probably not a better testimonial to the Sierra’s popularity than having the designer move in to her own creation.  NL

If you are interested in seeing the Sierra for yourself, you can visit the Silverado show home at 111 Silverado Drive SW, or you can check out Excel’s website at http://www.excelhomes.net.