Mat-Su builders recognized: custom homes earn Pevan, Wirtanen awards.

• Author: White, Rindi
• Position: BUILDING ALASKA SPECIAL SECTION - Mat-Su Home Builders Association

Building homes in the Valley is a big industry. With the Mat-Su Borough reporting nearly 90,000 residents and 26,216 homes, it's no wonder builders are keeping busy despite a national industry slow-down.

Among those builders are a few that stand out. Bob Pevan, owner of Tru Built Construction and current president of the Mat-Su Home Builders, a trade organization with more than 100 members, was recently selected as 2010 Builder of the Year in part for work he has done to build a much-needed home for a disabled Wasilla man.

Also catching notice is Steven Wirtanen, who runs Wirtanen Inc., a company building custom homes on a budget. Wirtanen won a Golden Spike award for a home his company built near Wasilla that was valued at just more than $500,000. That's a high-end home but the company is making itself known for making custom homes available on a budget.

GENERAL CONTRACTING WITH A HEART

Pevan was humble about receiving the Builder of the Year award.

"I don't know how I got it," he said. "I voted for Jess Hall."

Hall is a prominent Valley builder and has received multiple Builder of the Year awards from Alaska State Home Builders and Mat-Su Home Builders.

But Pevan won the award, due in part to his efforts to make life better for another Valley family.

Last year the Mat-Su Home Builders board took on a project aimed at giving a Wasilla man a new home. Jim White, a former school bus driver, had developed peripheral degenerative vascular disease and lost his legs in January 2008.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Israel Nelson, a former pastor and current board member of Habitat for Humanity, asked the Home Builders board to help build White a home. Pevan, then vice president of the board, agreed to serve as general contractor.

Nelson said White had been saving money to build a home before his illness. A "fascinating man," Nelson said, White has retrofitted his vehicle and his current home so he can get around. But the home, a dilapidated pair of mobile home trailers more than 50 years old, is fast wearing out, Nelson said.

"They leak terribly, are filled with mold and are about to fall in," he said. "We were worried they wouldn't make it through the winter. Because of the mold, everybody in the family has been sick this winter ... including Jim."

Pevan said it's been a pleasure and a challenge to work on the White project.

"It's been a tough go of it to get money because times are tough," he said. "If we'd had more money, the project would have been...