Published on April 8th, 2017.
Demand for Archadeck custom designed and built decks, porches and patios has never been higher here in the Des Moines area. And of late, we’ve had various opportunities to showcase and promote our passion for outdoor living beyond the backyards of the Des Moines area. So, all the good intention I had last November to keep my blogging momentum after relocating our blog here…by the wayside, but for many good reasons. Here’s a recap of our whirlwind first quarter…and my attempt to restart the momentum…
We participated in two home shows before Spring officially arrived. In February, we participated in our 14th consecutive Home+Garden Show (and 6 years prior as Archadeck of Des Moines). We followed that up in March with our second appearance at the 2nd annual Home+Outdoor Living Show. For the Outdoor Living Show, I was given the opportunity to talk about “Outdoor Living Trends and Values” on the Imagination Stage on each of the three days of the show. 
I didn’t draw the same crowds as the Property Brothers did at last year’s show, but…after word gets around, I’m sure I will next year! Seriously, I enjoyed the opportunity to share insight on whats driving the excitement over outdoor living spaces with folks who attended the show…both on stage and at our booth. Thank you to the Marketplace Events team for inviting me to do that; until you get Paul Lafrance there, I’m always available! For those of you who missed these presentations (OK…all of you), I did coerce my wife to record the Saturday night presentation and I’ll have that up on our YouTube video channel soon; stay tuned for the link to this.
The day before the Home+Outdoor Living Show, I joined Ryan Smith of the Better Business Bureau serving Greater Iowa, Quad Cities, and Siouxland Region on KCWI’s CW Iowa Live morning TV show. 
Always fun to talk about the better business aspects of decks, patios and porches…and Cadillacs…with Lou and Jackie at 7:30 in the morning! Better building by design, by Archadeck, on live TV. The fastest 7 minutes I’ve ever experienced.
Before all those appearances, though, our biggest news of the quarter came at our national, annual franchise meeting back in late January. There, an Archadeck of Central Iowa deck project we did for a client east of Des Moines last summer was awarded the Grand Prize in our annual Design Excellence competition for 2016. We are humbly honored to receive this award because it comes from our peers in the Archadeck system…a system that designed and built over 2000 of the best outdoor living spaces and rooms across North America last year. And they voted ours the best of the best. Wow. Of course, none of that is possible without clients like Marlis and Jim. Marlis had great ideas for the deck space – using Trex decking and railing products – and Jim had already created the pond, island and beach that serves as the backdrop for this sprawling, curved, multi-level, outdoor living space. Learn more about our award and the low-maintenance Trex deck project at the links here. And if you watch the KCWI CW Live video, you’ll note this project caught Lou’s eye during our segment, too.
With that Design Excellence Award has come some other publicity for us…along with the work and time it takes to be so “public.” But, we’ll take our 15 minutes of Andy Warhol fame anytime its good! Our award-winning project is now featured in our annual Design Guide for 2017; available as a complimentary download at this link (check us out on the cover and inside on pages 12 and 13). Photos of our project will also be in good company on our national web site’s Award Winning Designs gallery of photos. We’ve also put up a gallery on our local, Central Iowa web site featuring information and photos of our Design Excellence – 2016 – Grand Prize Winning project. Look for galleries featuring this project on our Houzz and Facebook sites as well.
Lastly, Sherry Failor’s local Home Productions, LLC company publishes two local magazines and she has been kind enough to feature us in both magazines recently. Her Build Des Moines magazine is a digital-only publication targeted to the building and remodeling industry in the Des Moines area. Archadeck of Central Iowa and our Design Excellence Award were featured in the April 2017 issue – just out this past week. 
Welcome Home Des Moines is Sherry’s other magazine (hardcopy and digital) and is more homeowner-focused. We’ve had various deck, porch and patio project features in Welcome Home Des Moines over the years and we were honored once again to be featured in the February/March 2017 edition for a (perfect) porch project we did for Ken and Mary Jo in late 2015.
From our peers, our clients, our various business relationships…it truly does take a village to support Archadeck of Central Iowa (any business, for that matter) and the support is greatly appreciated. Its what drives us in the midst of the whirlwhind.
Go Outside and Play!
