Delaware Builder Is First Woman to Receive NAHB’s Custom Builder of the Year Award

Marnie Oursler, president of Marnie Custom Homes, became the first female to receive the National Association of Home Builders' Custom Builder of the Year Award at the 2023 International Builders' Show. Oursler's company was the first in Delaware to build a LEED-certified home, and it was also one of the first in the country to build a home with 95% of products made in the U.S., NAHB reports.

The Custom Builder of the Year Award is the highest honor awarded within the custom home building industry and is presented annually to professionals exemplifying exceptional leadership, innovation, and creativity in the custom home market.

“When we were young, my dad [a builder and developer] would drop my brother and me off at the beginning of a new development. And with a broom and a drywall bucket we would sweep out houses,” Oursler said. “That’s how I started, and I didn’t grow up thinking I was any different because I was a female. I was out in the field, picking up trash, building decks and forming up concrete.”

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