Calgary-based Logel Homes and Renova Homes and Renovations both earned a prestigious Builder of the Year Grand Award for their multi-family building prowess at the 2024 Building Industry and Land Development Association Calgary Region (BILDCR) Awards, held April 5 at the BMO Centre.
For the fifth consecutive year, Logel Homes was awarded Large Volume Multi-Family Builder of the Year, while Renova Homes and Renovations took Small Volume Multi-Family Builder of the Year for its third time in five years. They chalk their success up to several factors, with thoughtful and beautiful design, functional floor plans and customer experience as top requirements.
“Ultimately, our success comes down to design of the actual units themselves,” says Justin Mauro, president of Renova Homes and Renovations.
“We are building homes that are 1,200 to 1,400 square feet, but that feel larger than they are. That comes with being thoughtful about things like sightlines, about where rooms are located, the size of rooms, as well as the features — we try to fit in as many as we can,” says Mauro, who took over the company from his cousin five years ago.
Excellent examples of Renova’s design prowess are two of its multi-family projects located in the Cochrane community of Riversong — the Freestone Townhome project, a collection of 71 townhomes, and River Pointe Villas, a collection of luxury bungalow villas adjacent to the Bow River.
Its Freestone B home plan picked up the award for Best Townhome or Villa up to $450,999, while both floor plans in the River Pointe Villas project, the Bridgeland and the Montgomery, earned finalist nods for their design — Best Townhome or Villa $731,000 and Over, as did the Freestone A for Best Townhome or Villa $451,000 to $550,999.
Mauro is no stranger to residential home building; he grew up in the industry. His parents owned Albi Homes, a high-end luxury home building company (it was sold to Brookfield Residential in 2015), where Mauro spent his summers learning the ropes.
After achieving an MBA, he parlayed his experience into land development, working with La Vita Land as director of land development, before he set out on his own to build his own brand with Renova.
Although Renova focuses on three arms of home building — renovations, single-family and multi-family, building 75 projects per year, half of which are multi-family, Mauro says that going forward, multi-family will take the focus.
“Multi-family is going to be a huge part of Calgary — with the amount of people moving here, with the push towards greater density and with the price points — a townhome is now the new starter home,” he says.
The team at Logel Homes is also strong on multi-family — it’s the company’s sole focus and has been since its inception in the late 1990s with its first project, a collection of townhomes in Canmore.
Founded by Tim Logel, who also is no stranger to the residential building industry — he has more than four decades of experience — Logel Homes has been a consistent winner both at building industry awards programs and also with its customers.
This year at the BILDCR Awards, in addition to earning the Large Volume Multi-Family Builder of the Year crown, the company also picked up 20 finalist nods and collected eight wins in categories spanning Sales Team of the Year to Best Interior Decorating Multi-Family (it took the top three spots).
“Our company’s and our team’s approach to continuous improvement in all aspects of home building has really allowed us to excel in that customer experience piece. And, I think that has been a real difference maker, not just at the awards, but also for us in the growth of the company,” says Brayden Logel, Tim’s son and president of Logel Homes.
Brayden took over the reins from his father last year, while Tim moved into the role of chairman and CEO. Tim’s brother Brad Logel is also involved with the company as area sales manager for Sage Walk, and Tim’s son, Kevin, is the construction manager for Logel Homes.
Together, the Logel family and team (Tim refers to all of his 90 employees as family) really prides itself on creating projects that enhance living — it chooses what Brayden calls “A+ locations” for its projects, which translates to walkability to amenities and to nature.
“We are always looking at the value of the acquisition and the enjoyment that the customer will get from it,” says Tim Logel, noting that the company is focused on people that want to live in the homes, rather than investors. “It’s a key factor in creating that pride of ownership.”
A prime example is the company’s Waterside at Mahogany project, which is located steps from Lake Mahogany, a private dock and beach and a quick jaunt from restaurants, coffee shops and amenities in Calgary’s southeast community of Mahogany. It’s a highly walkable community brimming with parks and pathways.
“It’s perfect because people can leave their vehicles behind and go exploring on foot or on their bikes,” says Tim. Floor plans within the Waterside at Mahagony project are also turning heads, with two winning spots for home design and decoration at the 2024 BILDCR Awards — Best New Home Design up to 650 sq. ft. for its Richler 2 model and Best New Multi-Family Home Design 1,051 to 1,250 sq. ft. for its Cohen 4XL model.
Within the project, seven new show homes will soon be opening, with two being dedicated to illustrating the Logel difference from the inside out, like the project’s unique wall and floor system, which reduces sound, resulting in a quieter home.
“We have close to 18 different floor plans that buyers can choose from and they are exceptional. They’re the result of that continuous improvement process that we go through to get customer feedback.
As a team, we spend a lot of time reviewing floor plans, even at the framing stage to ensure that they are making the best use of space and are top of class,” says Brayden, adding that it is exciting to bring three new projects to market this year — Altitude, a collection of 228 condominiums in Canmore; Livingston Central, 379 apartment-style condominiums spread across five buildings and Seton Meridian, which is comprised of just under 800 homes located adjacent to a water feature and within walking distance of Seton’s High Street and the South Calgary Health Campus.
Renova also builds in communities with high value in terms of walkability and access to nature and amenities. It’s particularly pumped on the Cochrane market, where it builds in Precedence in Riversong, Riversong, Willows West and Greystone.
“It’s so picturesque; it’s a beautiful town for active people and it’s so close to the mountains,” says Mauro.
New projects for Renova include the Pope Avenue Townhomes, a 21-unit boutique two-storey townhome project in downtown Cochrane, with attached double-car garages, three bedrooms and 2½ bathrooms and a 63-unit townhome project on the south side of Cochrane.
