Home & Design

An addition connects an addition to the original structure via a silo.

Custom cabinetry transformed the original kitchen; it extends into a newly constructed beverage area.

DBG remodeled a Vienna home, outfitting the kitchen with a furniture-like island.

Custom millwork enhances the living room.

A light-filled bay in the dining room overlooks the garden.

In an Arlington renovation, a two-story great room boasts reclaimed beams and a precast-concrete fireplace.

Creative Legacy

Distinctive Building Group’s Matt Trunnell merges passion, workmanship and a lifetime in the industry

Growing up with his mother, Alice Busch—founder of the award-winning design firm Great Falls Distinctive Interiors—Matt Trunnell cut his teeth on all things design-related. He worked alongside Busch as she built her successful business, and by his father’s side as he ran the family’s electrical supplies company. “That’s how my passion for construction was born,” Trunnell relates. “I observed both my parents’ tenacious work ethic, connection to customers and exceptional attention to detail. I absorbed those attributes, and they have helped set my company apart.”

While Busch retired her firm a few years ago, Trunnell Electric is still in business—and Matt Trunnell has been working in the building industry since 2000. He began as a superintendent for a large production firm, then launched his first company, Distinctive Renovations, with both residential and commercial divisions, in 2007. In 2015, he founded Distinctive Building Group, which boasts a portfolio emphasizing detailed residential work—though light commercial projects remain part of the mix. “I found a niche market working with interior designers, who I got to know originally through my mother,” Trunnell says. “A lot of my business still comes from their referrals.”

With help from a stable of subcontractors with whom he’s developed trusted, longtime relationships, Trunnell and his project manager tackle 25 to 35 projects a year throughout DC, Maryland and Virginia, working on five to nine jobs at a time. Projects range in size from small commissions for repeat clients to whole-house renovations. At press time, Distinctive Building Group had just completed its first custom home, a 10,000-square-foot residence in Silver Spring. “We jumped into the deep end,” Trunnell laughs. “It’s a very creative process and it was a great experience. We hope to do two to four custom homes a year in the future.”

Trunnell, who has LEED accreditation, can build in any style. “We do a lot of high-end traditional homes,” he notes, “but I am enjoying the modern-farmhouse trend. I like to work with reclaimed lumber; it’s imperfect by nature and I like that.”

He continues, “My favorite aspect of the job is getting to the finished product and sharing it with the client. I like seeing people happy. I am a people-pleaser.”

Distinctive Building Group LLC
15186 Loyalty Road, Waterford, Virginia 20197 • 703-898-8508; youaredistinctive.com

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HOME&DESIGN, published bi-monthly by Homestyles Media Inc., is the premier magazine of architecture and fine interiors for the Washington, DC, Maryland and Virginia region.

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