The Durango Home & Ranch Show brought out regional entrepreneurs and vendors hawking the latest in home projects and technology Saturday.
The 22nd annual show at the La Plata County Fairgrounds will run through Sunday and features 110 vendors.
A small sawmill ripping through logs in the parking lot drew an interested crowd Saturday despite windy weather.
The sawmill saved Rick Kremen $10,000 on his barn. He was able to use timber on his land in the construction.
“I liked the mill so much I became a dealer,” Kremen said. His Mancos-based business Rocky Mountain Building Products has been operating for about two years and it ships mills across the western U.S. The sawmills arrive in a kit that has to be assembled, but for builders with a steady supply of logs, it can pay off.
“You never have to go to a lumber yard again,” he said.
For techies, Next Level Home Audio and Video set up a home theater on the second floor of the fairgrounds building to show automation and entertainment systems.
Home security, lighting, entertainment, heating and cooling systems can all be integrated and controlled from a phone or tablet computer, said Cory Eddy, a sales representative with Next Level.
“We make them all work in harmony,” he said.
Home automation systems are a growing trend for people building custom homes. It’s much easier to install the systems during new construction rather than to retrofit.
Next Level is a Farmington-based company, but it is looking to open a Durango location because of high demand for systems in the area, Eddy said.
Gardeners thinking about extending their growing season also had the chance to consider the latest local option in greenhouses.
NV Gardenhouse, a Bayfield startup, launched at the show and hopes to offer an alternative to greenhouse kits like hoop houses and geodesic domes, said owner Vivian Shawcroft, who is launching the business with her husband, Nate. For now, it’s not their full-time focus.
“We do this as a hobby because we love gardening,” she said.
They have already gotten positive feedback on their design that features a peaked roof, red cedar and transparent polycarbonate walls. The garden houses also generally fit into homeowner associations’ regulations, she said.
Durango Home & Ranch Show is put on by Four Corners Expo, a division of Ballantine Communications Inc. BCI is the parent company of The Durango Herald.
mshinn@durangoherald.com
