Construction Renovating and Giving Back

Last week I got to do something incredible that I highly recommend.  Blueprint Ministries www.blueprintministry.com is a San Antonio-based ministry that has the goal of making as many homes in San Antonio "warm, safe & dry" as they possibly can..  They do this through volunteer efforts, and have an incredible facility located on South Presa downtown near I-37& Loop 410.  You have a team leader and a representative from Blueprint who lines out the work for the day at the home for your group.  All materials are provided and you get to show up, meet the families and be a witness of faith through your trying to help improve their lives.  There were many highlights, but my favorite was bonding with the family, bonding with the other team members and sharing Christ as best I could.  We actually stayed at the Blueprint facility which was awesome because we could free ourselves from distraction and focus on the family.  If you have a free day or are looking for some way to give back and enjoy working on houses regardless of skill level, please contact them for more information and a life-changing experience.

Swish, Me & Family having dinner

Outside of home

Reid & Mason demo-ing wall



Summit Awards for San Antonio Builders 2012

Some of M&F Staff and Spouses

Still humbled from the 2012 Summit Awards Ceremonies held at the Omni Hotel last Saturday evening.  Mattern & FitzGerald won a company record 9 Eagles for outstanding builder achievement.  We are so blessed to have such an incredible team of people, as well as support from our better halves.  Special thanks goes out to the Greater San Antonio Builder's Association, the staff and our families.

Creating an Eye Popping Entry

Liquid Dazzle Floors

When you first walk into someone's home, you can't help but stop for a moment and take in your surroundings. Being a home builder and welcoming thousands of people into our homes, I must admit I'm always trying to gauge the reaction if people have a strong first impression or not. You can consider some things when thinking about an eye popping entry. Ideas might be a medallion of some sort, a cool lighting effect or beautiful flower arrangement that hopefully the kids and dog won't destroy. This picture features a product on the floor I wanted to show you. It's called Liquid Dazzle. The picture does not do it justice. This is normally a commercial product epoxy that we brought in from California. You hand trowel it down and it creates this deep, granite type of look that is truly remarkable. It's about $8/sf installed and comes in 5 gallon buckets. It does reveal fine scratches, but to me they pale to the overall effect.