Favorite thing about Charlottesville? Everything!!! The people are so friendly and there are so many ways to enjoy Charlottesville. The town offers great dining, outdoor activities and an abundance of American history.
Favorite way to spend the weekend? Gardening and spending time with family, friends, our 10 dogs and 2 donkeys.
Favorite thing about Southern Development? Southern Development is more than a company, it is a tight knit team that works collectively to deliver a personalized home! The most enjoyable time we spend together is when the entire company lends a hand to build a Habitat for Humanity home. It gives all of us great reward as well teaching us more about construction. I have been very lucky to become friends with a number of our home owners and it really makes my day when they come to the model to say hello. In addition, my boss, Frank is one of the funniest people I have ever met. I am truly blessed to be part of a team that has fun together and takes great pride in what we do.
What is your favorite floor plan? The Savannah II is my favorite floor plan, it is open and spacious with great flow and easy access.
What is the most exotic place you’ve ever been? An African photographic safari in Kenya. The sights were breathtaking and to have the opportunity to see wild animals in their true environment gave me much greater respect for preserving their natural habitat.
The most unexpected event was at a reserve park when an elephant tried to get my camera film out of my back pocket. This was an elephant that had been orphaned and would not leave the reserve. The rangers would take him miles away only to find him back at the reserve by dinner time. He was very sweet but determined to get my film. It was rather a surprise to see an African elephant acting like a huge puppy… Guess who won? He did!
Meet Ken Gill, Estimator for Southern Development Homes.
Favorite thing about Charlottesville? I love in an area where I can walk to about a hundred restaurants from my house, and can drive for 10
Best way to spend a weekend? Sailing with friends
Favorite event or thing to do around this time of year? Getting up early on the weekends and visiting the Farmer’s Market before the sun shines to brightly.
Favorite thing about home construction? We are building people’s dreams. In my own small way, I get to figure out how to deliver the most we can for our customers.
Favorite Southern Development Floor Plan I really like the design of the kitchen in our Magnolia floor plan. It isn’t a large kitchen but provides a lot of counter space and connection to living spaces.
Most exotic place you’ve ever traveled? I spent a week in Russia visiting Moscow and St Petersburg. I studied Russia in college, and aside from being overwhelmed by the Hermitage and the Kremlin, being there gave me a new and better understanding.
Positive customer interaction that stands out to you? When talking to the home inspector when I bought my home in Charlottesville, he talked about how pleasant it was for him to inspect one of our homes. He talked specially about the details Southern Development uses to connect the deck to the home, and other details that most people can’t see that make for a better built home.
Meet Melissa Ballif! Melissa oversees accounting and IT for Southern Development.
Favorite place to eat? Even with all the wonderful restaurants in Charlottesville, my favorite place to eat is my parent’s house with all of my family. My mom & grandmother are wonderful cooks and nothing beats home cooking.
Favorite Sports Team?
Any UVA team. Go Hoos! The kids got tired of me taking the remote to watch UVA basketball this past season. Spring is great weather to sit outside and watch a baseball game at Davenport Field.
Best way to spend a weekend? Spending time with my girls. A fun outing this spring was visiting NanoDays at UVA Engineering School, eating lunch at Bodo’s Bagels and stocking up our home library at JMRL’s Friends of the Library Book Sale. There are so many family friendly events to pick from year round in Charlottesville.
Favorite thing about your home?
That it is a Southern Development home! This time of year, it is hard to beat sitting on the screen porch and enjoying the beautiful weather and the mountain view.
Mark Collins is Southern Development Homes’ Customer Service Manager. Since 2013 he has been handling all of our customers’ warranty issues, concerns and questions.
Favorite place to eat in Charlottesville? Outback Steakhouse
Favorite thing about Charlottesville/Albemarle? It’s my hometown.
Best way to spend a weekend? With my Family.
Favorite event or thing to do around this time of year? Playing golf.
Favorite thing about home construction/Sales? I love seeing a new home completed.
Favorite Southern Development Floor Plan? The Keswick
Favorite thing about your home? The main level living and 2 story great room.
Best Trip you’ve ever taken?
A Mediterranean Cruise.
Tell us something about your background that most people would not know?
I played Semi-Pro Baseball for 13 years.
Positive customer interaction that stands out to you? Nothing is better than the thanks you get from them.
What do you like best about working for Southern Development?
It feels like family!
Southern Development Homes Named Single Family Builder of the Year
EarthCraft Virginia Honors Southern Development Homes as Sustainable Leadership Award Winner
[Charlottesville, Virginia] – March 31, 2015– Southern Development Homes has won the Single Family Builder of the Year award as part of EarthCraft Virginia’s 6th Annual Sustainable Leadership Awards, the organization’s yearly awards presentation to recognize Virginia leaders in the adoption of green, sustainable housing. Southern Development Homes was honored on Thursday evening at a ceremony in downtown Richmond which brought together over 100 individuals representing home builders, non-profit and for-profit housing providers and developers, affordable housing advocates and those interested in creating green housing opportunities in Virginia. Awards were presented in a variety of categories to cover new construction, renovation, single family homes, multifamily housing and more.
As a leader in the local homebuilding community since 1999, founder Frank Ballif knew that when it came to sustainable building, Southern Development Homes had a larger responsibility to its clients and community. Each EarthCraft Home built by Southern Development Homes follows such strict standards that they provide owners 30-40% more efficient living expense than the typical new home built today.
“Our annual Sustainable Leadership Awards recognize the best initiatives in sustainable housing in Virginia over the past year,” says EarthCraft Virginia Executive Director, K.C. Bleile. “Now in its sixth year, we feel privileged to honor the dedicated individuals who continue to amaze us with their passion for high performance home building. This year’s nominees and winners have all gone above and beyond standard building expectations to become the leaders in transforming Virginia’s housing market.”
“Winning this award for the second year in a row is a wonderful honor. We take great pride in building high quality homes that are healthier, more comfortable, and cost way less to operate than other new homes,” said Southern Development Homes President Frank Ballif. “The dedication and attention to detail from our construction team and our trade and vendor partners is extraordinary. We share this award with all of them.”
Southern Development Homes is a local business with strong ties to the Charlottesville and greater Central Virginia community. Southern Development was founded by Frank Ballif in 1999, and today is the largest local homebuilder in the area, thanks to integrity that translates into superior construction quality and customer service. https://southern-development.com.
About EarthCraft Virginia
EarthCraft Virginia, a 501c3 non-profit, was established in 2006 in partnership with the Home Builders Association of Virginia and Southface Energy Institute with assistance from the Virginia Community Development Corporation. The EarthCraft program, originally founded in 1999 by non-profit Southface and the Greater Atlanta Home Builders Association, serves as a blueprint for energy and resource efficient homes built in the Southeast. Throughout the Southeast, the program has certified over 8,000 homes and 25,000 multifamily dwelling units (with 13,500 of these multifamily units in Virginia alone). For more information on EarthCraft or EarthCraft Virginia, please visit www.earthcraftvirginia.org.
EarthCraft Virginia’s partners include Southface Energy Institute, the Home Builders Association of Virginia, Habitat for Humanity of Virginia, and Virginia Housing Development Authority.
Meet Gwen Moore, our newest Sales Consultant at Pavilions at Pantops!
What is the Best Trip you’ve ever taken?
One of the Best Trips I have ever taken was staying at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville NC. The Vanderbilt home is located here.
Tell us about your most memorable prior work experience? One of the most memorable times working with a prior employer was when they built a home for St. Jude Children’s Hospital, in the neighborhood I was selling, donated from a raffle 635,000, gave the home away to a VERY LUCKY winner, and sent me on a trip to St. Jude.
Best way to spend a weekend? The best way to spend a weekend is just being with my husband, the love of my life.
Favorite event or thing to do around this time of year? The thing I like to do most around this time of year is being in my yard. I love flowers, flowers, flowers, then sitting out on the patio looking at them.
Meet Jeremy Soles, Southern Development Homes Assistant Project Manager.
Favorite place to eat in Charlottesville? I am new to the area but up to this point it would probably be Guadalajara near pantops.
Favorite thing about Charlottesville? I like the idea of the downtown mall and how you’re close to UVA for athletics but can also get away from the college atmosphere if you wanted.
Best way to spend a weekend? Any activities outside with my dog.
Favorite event or thing to do around this time of year? Going to UNC basketball games. I am a pretty big UNC fan.
Favorite thing about construction? I like how everything changes rapidly and there is no downtime. Its rewarding to see the construction of a home from beginning to end and be able to say that you had a hand in that process.
Best trip? Going to Colorado to see Notre Dame vs Air Force and a Denver Broncos game in one weekend.
Something about my background? During college and right after I worked on a family owned blueberry farm picking blue berries.
What do you like best about working for Southern? I like the family atmosphere. We work hard and everyone helps out whenever and whereever they can, even if it’s not in their job title.
Meet Shannon Hughes, Southern Development Homes’ Architectural Designer
Favorite place to eat in Charlottesville?
There are so many delicious restaurants here that this is like picking a favorite child, but I would have to say Bang! is one of my absolute favorites. How can you not enjoy choosing from a million Asian tapas and martinis? Though The Local and MAS are definitely in the running as well.
Best way to spend a weekend?
I’m going to make an assumption here that the weather is a little milder. I would go to Fridays after Five for free live music and great food and beer trucks. Or perhaps First Fridays and check out all of the art galleries and museums downtown for free. There is a definite “free” theme. The rest of the weekend would have to include getting out of town to go to a winery or brewery and take in some of the beautiful scenery of the area.
Favorite Southern Development Floor Plan? Well I am definitely a little biased on this question, but I love The Belleview. When you walk in, you will have an amazing clear view from the front to back of the house. Everything you need is on the first floor, so if you don’t want a basement or second floor, you don’t have to add one! Stairs are the enemy! It is the epitome of spacious, one-level living. It also happens to be one that I have designed from the very beginning to end, and I can’t wait to see it realized!
Best Trip you’ve ever taken? In college, I was fortunate enough to participate in a Europe Travel Program with the School of Architecture. We visited Germany, France, Spain, Italy, and Portugal, just to name a few. We walked around the cities and took photographs, sketched, and discussed the architecture and urban environment around us. I’ve never seen so many beautiful things in such a condensed amount of time. I think that is why I love the downtown mall so much, it has a very European vibe.
What do you like best about working for Southern Development?
I love how relaxed and fun everyone is, but at the same time being really, really good at their jobs. I have learned so much in the past year working here. There is a wealth of knowledge about every aspect of the process. If you buy a house from Southern, you are in great hands!
Favorite Place to eat: My current favorite place to eat is Travinia in The Shops at Stonefield.
Favorite thing about C’ville/Albemarle: The mountains are my favorite thing about this area. The Blue Ridge Mountains are always beautiful, uplifting, and elevating to me. I never take them for granted and I enjoy seeing them every day.
Favorite Southern Development Floor Plan: I live in a Linden so of course I am partial to them. My favorite Single Family house is the Savannah II.
Favorite Thing to do around the Holidays: My favorite thing to do at Christmas is to decorate my tree. No matter where I live I have my ornament collection that dates back to 1909 when my grandmother had her first tree. There is nothing precious financially about my collection but it contains 4 generations of love and memories. Besides my grandmother’s ornaments, some of my favorites are toys cut off of my children’s mobiles, Fisher Price key rings, and the ribbons from my granddaughter’s baby shower. My Christmas tree is a place to share the stories of my families lives.
Favorite thing about my home: Frank built it! I’ve had the good fortune to buy a Southern Development Home, then to work for the company and get to know everyone who actually built it. Because I have seen the dedication and commitment of everyone who I work with I love it even more.
Favorite thing about home construction/Sales: Home building is an opportunity to see and experience people moving toward their futures. Although it’s informative to be surrounded by the history of Charlottesville/Albemarle County it’s nice to be around people moving, planning, and building their futures with a new home. I enjoy talking to people about this process in their lives and to figure out if I can help them get what they need to make it happen.
Best thing about working for Southern Development Homes: Everyone who is part of Southern Development is hard working and fun to be around. I feel the co-worker relationships are obvious in the ultimate product of the finished home.
Favorite thing about Charlottesville?
