BILD Lethbridge crowns BILDer grand champion

By Justin Seward - Lethbridge Herald on April 5, 2022.

Herald photo by Justin Seward Keegan Fleming and Joel Spanos were named BILDer Grand Champion of the inaugural "WHO BILDs it Best" competition.

BILD Lethbridge crowned Keegan Fleming and Joel Spanos as BILDer Grand Champion of the inaugural “WHO BILDs it Best” building competition at the Southern Alberta Home and Garden Show on the weekend at Exhibition Park.
The winning design was a wooden cooler made out of pallets and a stencil logo painted on the lid from the duo.
“It feels pretty good,” said Fleming, who owns Kegan the Finisher.
“It was hard work. It was a little bit stressful, but in the end we had good craftsmanship and team work and it feels really good to win. I think we had really good competitors, so I think that adds to the good feeling. There was some stiff competition.”
Competitors had to draw out a design in 50 minutes before embarking on building a project out of pallets and paint in 80 minutes.
“It was important for us to focus on a project that we felt we could really complete, do good quality work and we learned from yesterday that we ran out of time. We just really wanted to focus on something that we could handle and complete.”
Fleming added on why they chose the cooler, “We wanted to build something that we would want in our backyard.”
“It was stressful,” said Spanos, a Stranville Living construction manager.
“You only got so much time. You think you’ve got more time when you start but that time runs out quick. I think next time, I’ll maybe plan something a little more simple. It was really fun and really good. (I’m) happy to have participated.”
“They’re inspirational,” said Bridget Mearns, executive officer of BILD Lethbridge, on the winners.
“But you can tell that they all put their heart and souls into their projects. But there’s a real quality to what they built and that was important to them and it showed.”
The team of Samantha McDonald and Corey Erdos placed second with their bar and the Team College of second-year carpentry students Andrew Neels and Taren Perry placed third with bench and patio table concept.
BILD Lethbridge and CAREERS put together an event that put skills on display from both residential and pros in the construction industry during the duration of the Home and Garden Show.