KEITH HAMM
REAL ESTATE SCOOP
24
INDEPENDENT REAL ESTATE
AUGUST 9, 2018
realestate.independent.com
Bruce Giffin (left) and J.W. “Bill” Adkins
The Santa Barbara Association of REALTORS® Young Professionals Network (YPN) collaborated with Habitat for Humanity on Saturday, July 28, to construct playhouses for nonprofit organizations and families in a Playhouse Build-a-Thon. The day began with a multitude of unfinished wood pieces sprawled out on the lawn of St Joseph’s Church in Carpinteria. YPN volunteers pieced their playhouse together, erecting the walls, painting the trim, assembling the roof and perfecting the finishing touches. As they focused on the kid-sized, tiny home that they would be donating, YPN members also lent a helping hand to their neighboring volunteer groups. Committee chairperson Brianna Johnson stated, “It was a great day of fun and creativity resulting in numerous new playhouses that local children will enjoy.” YPN Committee Members that participated in the Playhouse Build-a-Thon are Brianna Johnson, Brittany Lough, Arielle Gulje, Jordan Robinson, Jessie Sessions, David Magid, Gabriel Carter, Stephen MacFarlane, and Jeff Chavolla. SBAOR Young Professionals Network members strive to demonstrate a high level of REALTOR® professionalism, and volunteer for causes they feel passionate about. For more information, contact Brianna Johnson at brianna@villagesite.com or 805-450-6078.
Realtors: Share your industry info in “REAL ESTATE SCOOP” Email sarah@independent.com for details
Let It Flow: Honoring Builder
and Artist Bill Adkins
H
ome builders stand on the shoulders of the builders who taught them the trades. Skills pass through, and as each generation gathers new layers of knowledge — of design, materials, and building codes as told to Keith Hamm —the end result, especially in the case of a custom home, is a safer and more efficient, comfortable, and beautiful space got my contractor’s license.” Adkins took to be in. on residential projects along the South Back and forth across the States in his Coast, with occasional jobs in Santa Ynez pickup truck early on, Giffin & Crane and Ventura County, building on knowlcofounder Bruce Giffin cut his teeth in edge he learned from his grandfather construction under many established — also a builder — who raised him in builders, including J.W. “Bill” Adkins. his native Lompoc, and from his stint in Between jobs in 1979, Bruce was driving the U.S. Navy at Port Hueneme, where through downtown he learned to operate Santa Barbara when heavy machinery with he noticed Adkins’s United States Naval shop. He pulled over Construction Battaland asked for work, ions, better known as remembering, “I the Seabees. think I was looking Adkins transitioned — Bruce Giffin for a father figure, to commercial building as his patience wore and he was looking for a laborer.” They worked together thin with discerning homeowners—“One for about a year, but the lessons learned time I argued for four hours over a 1/16th would last a lifetime. of an inch!”—and in 1983 cofounded with “Bill taught me to think outside the his wife, Martha, a downtown shop called box,” Giffin remembers. “And who says the Hardwood Mill, where they sold the box has to be square?” exotic hardwood and did custom millGiffin only got fired once in his life, ing. Bill retired from construction in the and that was immediately after laughing late ’80s, and they retired the mill shop at Adkins — known for processing jobsite in 2001 after gradually transforming it frustrations via bursts of screaming rage into an eclectic and compelling creative — when he blew a hydraulic hose on his atelier where Adkins makes what he calls old tractor after a tough day of digging. A “junk art” and Martha commands a hobby few years later, Adkins hired Giffin again, space of sewing machines and tall shelves adding another layer of knowledge to the loaded with fabrics. They call it The Loft (jwadkins.com). It’s filled with Adkins’s young builder’s skill set. By then, Adkins had established his sculptures, which he brainstorms late at own construction company after 12 years night and tinkers together with woodof swinging a hammer for contractor E.M. working, welding, and metal-fabrication Clark. “He fired me,” remembers Adkins. equipment. “I’m fascinated with imagination and “It was the best thing he ever did for me. I came home and felt sorry for myself for all that crap,” Adkins says. “Why not just about 16 seconds and then went out and let it flow?”
Heart of the Home
with Giffin & Crane
Bill taught me to think outside the box. And who says the box has to be square?
Giffin & Crane General Contractors, Inc. has been building custom homes in Santa Barbara since 1986.