As part of our latest blog series, we are talking to some of our favourite people in the building community in Saskatoon about their processes, their goals, and things they’ve learned along the way.
We’ve been working alongside Hometown Homes and have always admired their work ethic, along with their gorgeous homes, of course. This husband and wife team tackle the majority of their builds themselves, with the help of trade-specific subcontractors. Here’s our 10 questions with Rodelle Genoway of Hometown Homes.
1. How did you get into the building industry?
My husband Kurt has his electrical business, Hometown Electric, but he’s always done more than that. He started doing renos and other projects for friends and family. A couple years ago, we decided we wanted to flip a house, but were having a hard time finding one that worked for us. We ended up finding a lot on Cairns Avenue, and demoed the existing house and built two new ones. We immediately loved the process, the challenges, and finding the clients after. We knew we had something great when the product we built sold quickly, and the second one sold before we were finished.
2. What services does Hometown Homes offer?
Of course we offer electrical contracting, along with home design. We are involved from the moment you decide you want to build; we have a program that we design our homes with and do all the changes, construction, project management, styling, and take our homes from idea to live-in ready dream homes.
3. What is your home building process like?
We do both spec homes and custom builds for clients, so the process can vary slightly. When we work with a client, we start with a meeting where we get to know them and figure out their needs and wants lists and understand their likes and dislikes. From there we do a preliminary drawing, revise as needed and develop a design board. We can really get a feel for the house with a 3D rendering of the house and every room, as well as making product selections and pricing things out. Our building process is all mapped through BuilderTrend, so our clients can be as involved as they want, schedule as many site visits as they want, and stay connected with their build. Typically, we spend a few months up front developing the plan, and then 6 months to build.
4. What sets you apart from other builders?
Our personality and communication style definitely set us apart. Quality is another big one. We are starting to have people who can tell when it’s a Hometown Homes build. Clients might not know the difference between quality upfront, but good communication and experience makes a huge difference.
5. What is your inspiration for your layouts and designs?
A bit of Pinterest, but Kurt and I play off of each other and build ideas up. Kurt is the initial ideas guy and then once we have our idea or theme, I run with it.
6. What is your biggest accomplishment in your career?
When our trades tell us how organized we are and how good we are to work with!
7. What have been your learning lessons along the way?
All the little things along the way have made me very process involved. I track everything, writing any little thing down, and feed it into the bigger picture. Always looking for ways to improve!
8. Do you have any advice for new people in the industry?
Figure out what your values are, what your leadership philosophy is, and who you want to be.
9. What are your favourite design features or trends?
We always do lots of tile! It’s so hard to choose, we also love focusing on beautiful cabinetry, open-concept plans, lots of great lighting since Kurt is an electrician, and open railings on our staircases.
10. What makes your partnership with Local Flooring Group successful?
We’re all easygoing, you guys know our style and budget, and let us take as many samples as needed!
