A Las Vegas father-and-son building company was among those honored last week at the International Builders Show and Kitchen & Bath Industry Show.
Luxury builder Christopher Homes received the distinction of the Gold Award as part of the Best in American Living Awards handed out by the National Home Builders Association.
The shows brought a conference record 124,000 to the city.
Seneca at Southern Highlands won a Gold Award for best single-family community for rent. The project was designed by KTGY. DesignTec was the interior designer, and Nuvis was the landscape architect.
Christopher Homes also won two Silver Awards for SkyVu in MacDonald Highlands in Henderson. One award was for best single-family community, and the other was best for a detached home of 3,501 square feet to 4,500 square feet.
Erika Geiser, Christopher Home’s vice president of marketing, said they were honored to be recognized.
Seneca is a division of Christopher Homes that builds homes for rent, and the Southern Highlands project is Seneca’s first. Rents average $5,000 to $6,000 a month.
Seneca has 50 single-family homes in a gated community that has a pool, spa, sauna, garden and dog park. The project was completed in January.
The focus of Seneca is sustainability and offers a maintenance-free, tech-enabled lifestyle. It features Tesla solar panels and near net-zero carbon emissions. That along with the amenities is why it won for best community for rent during the year, Geiser said.
“It’s nestled against the mountains,” Geiser said. “You can see the Strip, but it’s worlds away from it. It’s serene and quiet.”
Michael Stuhmer, the son of Chris Stuhmer, the CEO and owner of Christopher Homes, heads the Seneca division, which was launched in 2023.
“It’s a new product type being built across the nation, but there’s no luxury build like this in Las Vegas,” Geiser said. “We saw a void in the market. There’s buyers looking for this opportunity.”
SkyVu is a luxury community, high on the mountainside with panoramic Strip views. Its homes are one-story and two-story homes that range from 4,000 square feet to more than 6,300 square feet. Prices start at the upper $2 million range to more than $6 million. Of the 102 lots, 50 homes have been sold.
“We’re honored to be recognized by our peers, and Chris couldn’t be more honored to accept the award alongside his son,” Geiser said. “To have two generations of builders win two best community awards in the same year is such an honor. Chris’ (late) father (Jack) also built homes in Las Vegas in the 1960s. It’s three generations of builders.”
Other builders to get recognition during the International Builders Show was Toll Brothers for best interior merchandising of a model priced between $1 million and $1.5 million for its Vinci model in Bella Strada in Lake Las Vegas. Savannah Design Group was associated with the project.
Shea Homes was recognized for its attached home for the 55-plus buyer for its vertical triplex at Crescendo in Las Vegas. Woodley Architectural Group was associated with the project.
IBS returns to Las Vegas in 2027
The show, which returns to Orlando, Florida, in 2026 before permanently coming back to Las Vegas in 2027, served as a backdrop for Western regional homebuilder groups such as the Southern Nevada Home Builders Association to meet colleagues in neighboring states to discuss concerns in their industry. Besides Nevada, it included Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.
“One of the issues that’s common for the states we work with is with land,” said Tina Frias, CEO of the Southern Nevada Home Builders Association. “Attainable housing is a big topic. We probably have some of the most concerning issues because it’s so profound in our state because of the (lack of developable) land. While other states have land issues, our state has the most amount of land owned by the federal government. They’ve been interested in some of the work we’re doing here in terms of advocacy.”
Frias said these states are looking to get behind Nevada’s lobbying efforts in Congress to expand the amount of federal land made available for development with Las Vegas-area builders facing a shortfall of land by the end of the decade and early 2030s.
The SNHB had representation from several of its builder members who attended the International Builders Show to learn about the latest innovations in the industry, especially as that helps with attainable housing, Frias said. It’s about best practices and products and learning ways to maximize the amount of land available to builders, including the way technology plays into building as a way to increase efficiency, design and functionality, she said. That includes continuing to look at the multigenerational home concept to accommodate adult children and parents.
“Those types of ideas and designs are important, and that helps our builders get more creative with those features,” Frias said. “With any industry, it’s important to come together to talk about best practices so we don’t have to re-create the wheel. We can learn from each other and get better. The Southern Nevada Home Builders Association is very invested in evolving our innovation and getting better because we want to get Nevadans into homes.”
Las Vegas builders and Frias were among those who visited the New American Home in Ascaya in Henderson, the luxury home that serves as a show home for the International Builders Show, where the latest products and construction techniques are deployed. Thousands of builders, architects and others from around the world toured the home built by Sun West Custom Homes during the show.
“They did a good job,” Frias said. “When there’s a home of that size, it’s hard to give that warm feel, but they did a good job with the design. There were a lot of unique products for builders to get ideas and products that could be used on (other homes). We’re still focused on attainable versus luxury, but the things that are the benefit are energy-efficiency lighting and energy-efficiency HVAC systems.”
The SNHBA is excited that Las Vegas will be the permanent home of the show, Frias said. There’s no better place than the city to host conventions and for builders it’s a great opportunity to bring many of their employees to the event.
“The construction industry is such an integral part of our community and what better place to have it than here,” Frias said. “Homebuilding is so important to our economic growth and attracting more people to this market, which all plays into bettering our economy.”
The SNHBA is predicting an “insignificant dip” in permits taken out by its builder members in 2025. Builders are expecting about 11,500 permits in 2025, or 40 fewer permits a month, down from just under 11,988 in 2024. There were 11,225 permits taken in 2022 and 11,262 in 2023.
Frias said that’s unrelated to demand, which remains strong, but instead correlated with the time in which builders bought land. After the pandemic, builders were cautious in purchasing land, and that has an impact down the road in having more lots available today. That’s expected to alleviate in 2026, when the number of permits should bounce back up to 12,000 when more lots are available, Frias said.
“We’re seeing a lot of interest in first-time homebuyers and people making moves for changes in life, and this town continues to be attractive as a place to call home,” Frias said. “Why wouldn’t you want to live here?”
Elevated mortgage rates in the upper 6 percent range continue to make it a challenge for people to afford to buy a home given the median income in Southern Nevada, Frias said. That’s why the SNHBA is continuing to partner with lawmakers to see what can be done to help more people get into homes.
“Builders have been doing a lot with interest-rate buy-downs and with sustainability to help first-time homebuyers bring their utility bills down by hundreds of dollars,” Frias said. “The biggest impact we could have is getting more land, and we’ve been partnering with the National Home Builders Association and with our congressional delegation on federal legislation. The governor’s office has been a major advocate in working to bring more land to the state.”