AND THE AWARD GOES TO…
B.C.’s best enjoy the spotlight at this year’s Georgies
A Surrey custom home builder and renovator has topped the list by winning five Georgie Awards at the recently held annual gala honouring excellence in B.C.’s residential construction and renovation industry.
More than 20 staff members — almost half of the workforce from My House Design/Build/ Team Ltd. — led by company head Graeme Huguet excitedly crowded on to the stage at the gala dinner of the Canadian Home Builders’ Association of British Columbia to accept, for the fourth consecutive year, the prestigious Grand Georgie Award for Residential Renovator of the Year.
It is one of 46 awards bestowed annually by the 2,000-member association, which represents more than 158,000 jobs and $23.1 billion in investment value, making it one of the province’s largest employment generators.
“We have a great process with great people,” Huguet said, later explaining his firm’s success in repeat wins for the residential renovator Grand Georgie. “We have received over 30 Georgie Awards and another 100 industry-related awards over a 20-year span.
“Our process isn’t four years old — it’s 20-plus years old. It’s something that we have continued to hone.”
Huguet also said the firm succeeds because it adapts to the changing marketplace by adopting new technologies, staying well ahead of building code demands and adjusting to Metro Vancouver’s constantly growing multicultural community.
“We have five different languages spoken in our office, including Mandarin, Spanish, French, German and Punjabi, in addition to English,” he said. “But it’s not just adapting and translating, but also understanding the cultural differences and how people do business in their country of origin.”
Huguet’s firm, which he started as a small kitchen and bathroom renovation business 25 years ago, also won four other honours: Best Residential Renovation under $100,000 for a Delta home; Best Residential Renovation $800,000 and Over for a Vancouver home, Best Kitchen Renovation over $125,000 for a Vancouver home and Best Certified Whole House Renovation for a project in Port Moody.
Other multiple award winners recognized at the March 10 gala, with three awards each, were Bercum Builders of Vernon and Adera Development Corp. of Vancouver.
Bercum, a 30-year-old construction firm with 12 staff, won the Grand Georgie for Custom Builder of the Year for a modern design waterfront home overlooking an Okanagan Valley lake. The concrete and steel construction home, which includes floor-to-ceiling windows and four distinct living areas, also garnered awards for Best Outdoor Living Space and Best Master Bedroom.
“We also won awards for this at the regional Tommie Awards in January,” corporate affairs officer Corinne Remple said proudly, adding this is the first time a Central Okanagan builder has won Grand Georgie for Custom Builder.
“It’s a jaw-dropping home.” Eric Andreasen, Adera’s vice-president of marketing and sales, said the company was “tickled pink” to win two Grand Georgies for Multi-Family Home Builder of the Year and Residential Community of the Year.
Cited in the awards was the 50-year-old firm’s project, South Ridge Club – Greenway in South Surrey, which was also named Best Multi-Family Townhouse Development (Production).
“The competition is stiff out there and one of those things that is built into our DNA is awards,” he said. “There is nothing that makes people feel more proud about where they live than to live in an award-winning community or home.
“It also helps our people out because they’re proud of the hard work they put in, the skills and trades that they apply to the construction of the homes.”
Other Grand Georgie Award winners include Miracon Development for Single Family Production Home Builder of the Year; Bellamy Homes Inc. of Kelowna for Customer Satisfaction – Custom Home Builder; RDC Fine Homes Inc. (Whistler) for Customer Satisfaction – Renovator.
Association CEO Neil Moody says entries received this year and the attendance at the gala dinner were the highest in 10 years, a testament to the fact that the construction industry is booming with lots of projects in the marketplace.
“A lot of new builders are coming into the awards program from all over British Columbia because they are recognizing the value of the Georgie Awards and are putting in their projects,” he said. “They are not intimidated by the larger household name builders.
“We are seeing a lot of collaboration and a lot of interest in the Georgie Awards which is very good for consumers because then they see a great selection of builders and it offers them a lot of choice when they are shopping for builders.”
For a complete list of winners, visit georgieawards.ca
This story was produced for Content Works as a result of Canadian Home Builders’ Association of B.C.’s interest in this topic. Canadian Home Builders’ Association of B.C. was not given the opportunity to put restrictions on the content or review it prior to publication.