PNE prize home local roots

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A local company is supplying the 2015 Pacific National Exhibition prize home in Vancouver. 

Karoleena Homes, a designer prefabricated home builder based in Okanagan Falls, began the bidding process about a year ago. They completed the home at Hastings Park at the beginning of April. 

It's the high tech part of a $2.1 million prize that includes a plot of land in Naramata that one lucky winner will enjoy in September. 

"We're just a small company and really we've been working on it for about a year," said James Rosowsky, CEO of Karoleena Homes. "We build all of our houses pre-fabricated. If you came to the shop you would see modules, basically big lego blocks, 12 to 16 feet wide and we put them together to make a house." 

Karoleena, formerly from Calgary, has been in Ok Falls for about two years. They employ 25 people and hope this exposure will help them continue to grow.   

"For us to have an opportunity to have the prize home, its amazing," Rosowsky said. "We're going to be marketing to 4 million people in Vancouver and into Seattle, plus about 120,000 people that will walk through the house." 

Tickets are on sale already and at the end of August or beginning of September, someone wins the house and the lot. 

The 3,000 square foot house has three bedrooms and is built to a gold LEED certification. 

"It's the way we build all of our houses. Every house Karoleena builds would hit a LEED cert level depending on what level the customer wants," Rosowsky said.  

"We have a factory where people are welcome to come see what we're doing. We're just a small company looking to meet new people."