As business activity in the housing market slowed almost to a halt within the past 18 months, custom home designers and builders refused to sacrifice on quality. This year’s crop of award-winning homes that have been named winners of the Residential Design & Build 2009 Design Excellence Awards reflects the high level of skill used by those who designed and built them.

The group of expert judges who served on this year’s panel (pictured below) chose 20 entries as award winners. Judges included: John Anstad, AIA, principal architect, Anthony Perry Designs & Builds; Craig Ciaglia, general manager, Homes by Pinnacle; Tracy Holmes, president, Studio H Designs; Mark Perlman, president, Empeco Custom Builders; and William Styczynski, architect/president, Styczynski Walker & Associates. Judges are pictured at right.

Take a look now at this year’s star projects.

• Custom Home less than 3,000 s.f.
• Custom Home 3,000 to 3,999 s.f.
• Custom Home 4,000 to 4,999 s.f.
• Custom Home 5,000 to 5,999 s.f.
• Custom Home 5,000 to 5,999 s.f.
• Custom Home 6,000 to 6,999 s.f.
• Custom Home more than 7,000 s.f.
• Custom Home more than 7,000 s.f.
• Green Home
• Vacation Home
• Spec/Model
• Outdoor Living
• Detached Structure
• Architecture Feature
• Bathroom
• Kitchen
• Media Room
• Use of Technology
• Lower Level
• Challenging Lot