Year in Review: Projects from 2025
A year in review of our projects in 2025. A look back at eight featured design-build projects that reflect our craftsmanship, collaboration, and residential design.
Builder’s Notes
Protecting Your Home from Catastrophic Water Damage
At Loren Wood Builders, we’re committed to helping our clients care for their homes long after construction is complete. One area that has moved to the top of our priority list in recent years is water protection. Water is one of the most common and costly sources of damage in residential construction. Whether it’s a…
Collaboration Delivers the Best Custom Homes
When it comes to custom residential construction, there are several ways to structure the relationship between the homeowner, builder, and design team. Over the years, we’ve successfully worked within each of the models outlined below. But time and time again, we’ve seen one approach consistently yield the most thoughtful, well-executed outcomes: a collaborative team structure…
Progress at Our Indianapolis Office
We’re excited to share the latest developments from our Indianapolis office project! At our new office, in the historic Jungclaus-Campbell building on Massachusetts Avenue, our team has been diligently working to create a space that blends functionality with a modern aesthetic. (It’s important to note that while this marks our second office location, Bloomington will…
Our Service Areas Have Grown
As our team has grown, so has our capacity and desire to serve areas outside of what has historically been our core Monroe County home. In recent years, this growth has taken us to Columbus, Indianapolis, and the surrounding areas, and this growth feels like the next logical step in the evolution of our company and our team.
To this end, we recently signed a lease for a shared property in the Jungclaus-Campbell building, situated on the vibrant Massachusetts Ave. in Indianapolis. We are thrilled to be carving out a spot for ourselves in such a dynamic and historic area.
ADU’s in Bloomington
In the past few years, as Bloomington has started allowing ADUs by right, we have seen an increase in inquiries and requests for these projects. We have had the opportunity to take part in a couple of ADU projects. One was designing and renovating the original (but distressed) limestone garage that existed on our client’s property and turning it into an ADU. The project consisted of taking what was a very small and very rough garage and repurposing it as a small overflow space for the home. Also, we are currently building ADUs on a few lots in our Bloomington Cohousing neighborhood. Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) are an emerging trend in the housing landscape in Bloomington and across the rest of the country. ADUs, also known as granny flats, in-law suites, or backyard cottages, are small, self-contained residential units built on the same property as an existing home.
Introducing our Client-Centric Design Studio
We recently acquired our neighboring building which was formerly a travel agency to expand our office workspace. This client-centric space, now known as the Design Studio, serves as an extension of our creative team’s domain and plays an integral part in our overall design process.
The design studio provides designers and clients with a resource for comprehensive support throughout the entire design process – from schematic design all the way to construction. Our well-stocked studio allows us to show clients design and style options in a timely manner. This allows us to maintain our strong commitment to the aesthetics of the project and provide a highly positive client experience.
Brushing Up with LWB Paint Expert Dan Knipstine
At LWB we have an extraordinary in-house paint team that is a vital part of our new construction and remodeling projects. There is a lot of talent on this team and they continually deliver the high level of craftsmanship you’ve come to expect from LWB. This team holds almost 75 years of collective painting experience and comprises Dan Knipstine (38 years), Jon McCoy (15 years), Evan Knipstine (15 years), Austin Lucas (3 years), Eric Swanson (2 years), and Caleb Samland (2 years). We wanted to share a little bit of the history of our paint crew lead, Dan Knipstine, and also talk about the service this crew provides to our clients.
Birdhouses for Bluebirds
We are continuously inspired by Sycamore Land Trust and its efforts to help restore native bird populations to the Midwest. After seeing a post from Sycamore Land Trust about birdhouses that they had put up, we contacted Chris Fox, the Land Stewardship Director, and he provided us with multiple birdhouse plans for building our own.
The First Update on our New Shop
We’re excited to give you an update about work at our new shop at 900 S. Walnut. While we closed on the space last spring, we didn’t have time to start working on the improvements until well into fall.
