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The North Carolina Home Builders Association presented prestigious STARS awards at the annual STARS Awards Gala at the Embassy Suites by Hilton in Concord, NC. The STARS Awards program honors the achievements of home building industry professionals from across North Carolina. Winners receive recognition in areas such as marketing and advertising, web design, sales/information center, landscape design, interior merchandising, architecture/floor plan, remodeling/renovation and special projects.

The Château Le Mont is a custom-built home for a couple in Northern Orange County that defines curb appeal. Veneered with oversized brick, appointed with eye-catching copper gutters, downspouts, topped with copper finials, weathervanes and cupulas, this home has all the feel of a true chateau!

Its design was inspired by the traditional architecture popular throughout the 1990s in Atlanta Georgia but with modern touches to meet today’s market expectations like open kitchen, separate garages, and 10-foot ceiling heights. The boxes are all checked on this one; owners suite down with a full guest suite on the first floor paired with a chef’s kitchen, all overlooking the 10 plus acreage of the chateau’s estate.

Chateau Le Mont was built on a previous homestead after an ailing 1930s house was razed to make away for this beautiful new estate style home. The property has a fair amount of road frontage, so we were challenged with the creative responsibility of building a beautiful home loaded with curb appeal for all to enjoy. We accomplished this by positioning the home to allow for maximum views from all angels. The exterior lighting at night is stunning.

Building a Chateau in today’s time requires relevant innovation practices like aging in place features. We incorporated zero entry doors, zero step showers, wider doorways, level handle style door handles and maximized the use of space to be adaptable. Hardwood flooring and wide tile bathrooms afford any user to avoid tripping hazards at transitions.

Building Green has now become common practice for most builders and the market now expects it. Since 2010 100% of our homes have met the stringent guidelines to be certified green. This home has now become the benchmark at our company for high performance featuring state of the art retracting shades, an energy recover ventilator and solar ready – all operating through fiber optic high speed Wi-Fi.

A Colonial style entranceway flanked by a formal living room and a oversized formal dining room offers a herringbone inlay in the hardwood flooring, a steel door imported from France (in true chateau style), and a custom welded wrought iron railing overlooking the balcony.

The floorplan boasts a fully accessible owner suite on the first floor, a spacious family room open to the screened porch overlooking the rear courtyard pool. All accessible regardless of any visitor’s limitation. Upstairs, offers three bedrooms with their own respective bathrooms, a full gym over the garage complete with rubber flooring, workout equipment, TV’s, ceiling fans and mirrored walls. Just reading about the home gym burns calories.

The rear wrought iron fence surrounds a fully accessible courtyard. Accenting the custom pool, the pavers pleasantly guide you around the garden plants to relax by the natural gas fueled fire pit where you can sit and enjoy the best aging/ accessible chateau in North Carolina.

To view more photos click here.

Chad & Emilee Collins

Chad Collins is an Unlimited Licensed General Contractor, Licensed Home Inspector, and award-winning custom home builder based in Hillsborough, North Carolina. As the founder of Collins Design-Build, Chad has earned a reputation for creating luxury, timeless custom homes throughout Orange County, Chapel Hill, Hillsborough, and the surrounding Triangle region. His projects are known for exceptional craftsmanship, high-performance construction, universal design, and premium client experience.

Recognized as one of the Triangle Business Journal’s top custom home builders, Chad blends extensive construction expertise with thoughtful design to build homes that are beautiful, durable, healthy, and highly energy efficient. His credentials include Accredited Master Builder, Master Certified Green Professional, and Certified Aging-in-Place Specialist—distinctions held by only a select group of builders statewide.

Chad’s 30 plus year career began in building materials, retail, and field operations, quickly earning him leadership roles with local, regional, and national home builders. His ability to streamline operations, lead high-performing teams, and deliver luxury homes with exceptional quality helped him close more than $6 million in custom home projects in a single year and win the 2001 Builder of the Year award.

As the founder of Collins Design-Build, Chad has earned numerous industry honors, including National Certified Green Professional Builder of the Year, Home Builder of the Year for Durham, Orange & Chatham Counties, MAME Building Company of the Year, multiple STARS Awards, Parade of Homes Gold Awards, and multiple Best Green Built Home recognitions. His firm also builds certified green homes and ENERGY STAR homes as a standard—not an upgrade.

Chad is widely respected as a leader in North Carolina’s building community. He has served as President of the Home Builders Association of Durham, Orange & Chatham Counties, Regional Vice President for the North Carolina Home Builders Association, and President of the Hillsborough/Orange County Chamber of Commerce. In 2018, he was appointed by the Governor to the North Carolina Home Inspectors Licensing Board.

In addition to building award-winning custom homes, Chad is a residential construction expert witness, assisting attorneys, homeowners, and insurers in cases involving construction defects, building standards, and accessibility issues. His professional background and extensive field experience make him a trusted authority in courtroom, arbitration, and litigation support.

Chad is also an approved Continuing Education Instructor for the NC Licensing Board for General Contractors and a recognized speaker for the National Association of Home Builders. He has written and taught courses on green building, construction management, and aging-in-place for contractors and university programs, including Duke University’s OLLI Continuing Education Program.

Categorized in: Awards, Collins Design Build News

This post was written by Collins Design Build