Marnie Oursler, president, Marnie Custom Homes, Bethany Beach, was named the 2022 Custom Builder of the Year Award, presented by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB).
Each year, NAHB honors outstanding individual achievements within the custom home building industry at an annual event known as “The Nationals.
Click here for past stories on Marnie Oursler
NAHB’s Custom Builder of the Year is the highest honor awarded within the custom home building industry, with Oursler being the first female recipient and the first Delaware-based builder to receive the award.
“My Dad [a builder and developer] would drop my brother and me off at the beginning of a new neighborhood,” says Oursler. “And with a broom and a drywall bucket we would sweep out houses — that’s how I started, Oursler said. “I did not 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.”
From the beginning, Marnie started using energy-efficient practices, building the first LEED-certified home in Delaware. She then began using reclaimed and recycled material to add character to make her clients’ homes unique, later building one of the first American-made homes in the country, using 95% of the products Made in the USA.
As of 2022, Marnie Custom Homes had 14 employees and builds on average 10 custom homes per year, with 130 built to date, throughout the Delaware beach region.
Oursler was also featured in a home show that ran for two seasons on the DIY cable network.
“I love building homes,” says Oursler. “But my best build is my team at Marnie Custom Homes—building this has been the most gratifying. We have a lot of talent, and together we can do amazing things.”
