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Charlie Braun has been involved in the building trade as a carpenter since 1976. He general contracted his first home in 1982 and has since then completed approximately 400 new home building or remodeling projects. He built his first universally designed home in 1991 for a close friend who had developed multiple sclerosis. That first universally designed home showed Charlie the impact that type of home can have on someone’s life. Shortly thereafter Equal Access Homes Inc was started and since then has completed more than 150 accessible or universally designed projects. Now he has teamed up with one of his own former clients, Dave Guzzi. Under the name Universal Home Designers Inc they will offer their help as designers, consultants & educators working alongside other builders, realtors, architects and the general public.
• Charlie built his first universally designed home in 1991 .
• Equal Access Homes Inc was formed in the spring of 1991 with Charlie as its president.
• In the summer of 1991, Equal Access built its first universally designed home thru the Disabled Veterans Grant Program. Eleven additional disabled veteran building projects have been completed since then.
• In 1993, two former clients of Equal Access Homes and Charlie appeared on public television’s Home Time program which featured two of Equal Access’s universally designed homes.
• In 1994, Equal Access Homes received an award for an accessible/universally designed home that was in the Builders Association of the Twin Cities, “Parade of Homes” promotion.
• Again in 1996 Equal Access Homes received another award for an accessible/universally designed home in the Builders Association of the Twin Cities, “Parade of Homes” promotion.
• Over the years Charlie has participated in numerous educational speaking engagements related to universal design.
• Charlie was invited by the Builders Association to sit on a panel with members of the National Association of Home Builders to have a local round table discussion about accessibility in the building industry.
• Since 1991 Equal Access Homes Inc has completed over 150 universally designed home projects with approximately seventy five of those projects being new single family homes built from the ground up. Three of these projects were group homes (Or assisted living facility) that included designing and building from the ground up. The other projects range from additions to remodels.
Charlie and Dave promote universal designed housing whenever possible. With the recent emergence of the awareness for the need of this type of housing and the lack of experience in this area, Charlie and Dave feel that they can help even more people by working alongside those Builders, Realtors and Architects who would like to take advantage of their experience and be able to provide the best possible service in their next universally designed home project.
“The last eighteen years has brought me much experience in this specialized field but has brought me even more gratification from the people I’ve worked with. Now I hope we can help even more people with this new venture.
Thank You
Charlie Braun
Contact Info:
Charles P. Braun
Office: 651-249-7753
Email: charlie@uhdcentral.com
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Mailing Address:
Universal Home Designers Inc
P.O. Box 2424
Inver Grove Hts ,MN. 55076 |
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