‘New home customers deserve the best you can give,’ says Ron Tyslau, winner of the Industry Ambassador Award.
Alberta home builders know how to punch above their weight when it comes to customer satisfaction.
Their might was on full display at the 15th annual Home Owner Mark of Excellence (H.O.M.E.) awards, which recognize excellence in customer experience among residential builders.
Of the 30 categories awarded at a luncheon in Calgary on Oct. 22, 16 trophies are staying in the province. What makes these accolades even more impressive is that there are no judges in sight. The 24 Best Customer Experience awards, which are divided by geographic area and number of homes built, are decided solely on customer reviews at one month and 13 months after possession.
A minimum of 70 per cent customer satisfaction is required to be named a finalist, with the ultimate winner having the best score overall. CustomerInsight, a customer survey provider for the residential construction industry and subsidiary of Constellation HomeBuilder Systems, conducts and manages the surveys used to determine who takes the crown in each category.
Calgary area builders competed for five Best Customer Experience awards. Homes By Us won in the single-family category (five to 99 homes), while Daytona Homes Calgary emerged on top in the 100 to 299 single-family homes bracket. Jayman Built took trophies in both single-family (over 300 homes) and multi-family (up to 249 homes). Logel Homes won multi-family (250-plus homes).
After five years as a finalist, Daytona Homes Calgary’s first Best Customer Experience is a direct result of the attitude employees take towards each new build, says vice-president Craig Bieber.
“Everybody cares and treats it like their own home. It sounds cheesy, but it’s actually true . . . If it’s not good enough for them, it’s not good enough for the customer,” said Bieber.
“We don’t do it for the scores. We try to do it for the happy customers. But, when the scores follow and an award, that gives everyone here the feeling that their work is standing for something.”
Amongst Edmonton finalists in Best Customer Experience, Justin Gray Homes (single family 5-49 homes), Zetsen Homes (single family 50-149 homes), Cantiro Homes (single family 150-plus homes) and Averton (multi-family) won their respective categories.
Colbray Homes of Red Deer captured Best Customer Experience for Central Alberta, reclaiming its title from 2021 and 2022. Best Customer Experience for Southern Alberta went to Stranville Living of Lethbridge, which previously won in 2023.
Alberta again showed its dominance in the Builder of Choice categories, taking three of four awards. Calgary builders McKee Homes, Cedarglen Homes and Cedarglen Living all took to the stage, respectively winning in single-family homes (up to 150 builds), single-family (300-plus homes) and multi-family.
Builder of Choice awards go a step beyond customer satisfaction by also accounting for a company’s feedback from its trading partners and its own employees.
“Those annual surveys of employees and trade partners certainly tell the tale that a company is well rounded and not just pleasing customers, but pleasing everyone. It really is an outstanding achievement to win a Builder of Choice award,” said Donna Moore, customer experience manager at Constellation HomeBuilder Systems.
Moore credits the competitiveness of the Alberta residential development industry for the success of the province’s builders.
“Our builders have had a long history of being very concerned about customer experience and . . . have continued to bring some of the highest scores that we’ve seen in the competition back to Alberta,” she said.
Cedarglen Homes’ Builder of Choice award is its ninth in a row and that’s on top of five Best Customer Experience awards.
“Each year is a little bit different based on whatever external pressures hit you, whether it’s COVID or a super hot market or a challenging market. What persists is the culture of the company and how we work with all our stakeholders,” said Howard Tse, president of Cedarglen Homes.
“To win an award this year, we consider it the pinnacle of a balanced approach to everyone that’s involved in the process.”
The Best Trade Partner Award is decided by residential builders’ ratings of trades partners on workmanship, quality, warranty and customer service. Edmonton’s Premier Built Garages took a consecutive win here, repeating its performance from 2024.
The Industry Ambassador Award also stayed in Alberta, going to Ron Tyslau, customer experience manager at Avonlea Homes in Lethbridge. This award is the only one to recognize an individual, rather than an entire company, and is based on outstanding contributions to the home building industry.
“It’s not just about building a house, taking the money and disappearing. We don’t disappear. If something’s wrong, we’re going to be there. I’ve been in a house a year after their warranty to help them fix something because it’s the right thing to do,” said Tyslau.
Tyslau was previously recognized as Industry Ambassador in 2021, and Avonlea Homes has claimed numerous Customer Experience awards in recent years.
“I just found that it’s such a great feeling to see new homeowners who have spent so much money on a house and they deserve the best you can give,” said Tyslau.
