4 days ago
Successful renos are based on good relationships
When it comes to home renovations there is no one-size fits-all formula or approach. Just ask Todd Stringer and Michelle Lytle of Crafted Edge Homes, a boutique renovation and home building company based in Calgary.
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'We're really finding that clients are wanting to break the barrier a bit, they're trying different things outside of the norm, like adding in a golf simulator room or pushing the boundaries with cool cabinet colours,' says Michelle Lytle, who co-founded the company 15 years ago with Stringer, who is a framer by trade and runs the project management side of the company.
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Crafted Edge Homes recently picked up the award for 2024 Renovator of the Year at the Building Industry and Land Development Association Calgary Region (BILDCR) Awards, for the second year running. And, as if eight finalist nods weren't enough, it also won in three categories — Best Home Renovation (Without Addition); and two awards for Best Kitchen Renovation (Up to $70,999 and $71,000-$130,999).
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The duo began in the residential homebuilding industry working for one of the big builders (that's where they met) and when that company was sold, they decided to start up on their own, first as custom new home builders and then, as the market shifted, as boutique renovators. Lytle says that Crafted Edge Homes completes only 10 to 15 projects per year, as they don't want to take on more than they can comfortably manage.
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'Todd visits the sites daily, so we are quite particular,' she says, adding that over the past year or two Calgary has exploded with its demand for renovations and that clients are really looking for that 'right fit' with their renovator.
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'Our clients are really looking for a good relationship,' says Lytle. She says that they are looking for things like strong communication and previous projects that they resonate with. 'And the clients are asking themselves, would I enjoy working with these people.'
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Kristy and Jerrid Brown would definitely agree. The couple brought on Crafted Edge Homes to assist them with a full renovation on two levels of their four-level-split home in Lake Bonavista. The renovation won in the category of Best Kitchen Renovation Up to $70,999, but entailed so much more than that.
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'It was quite a struggle trying to find a general contractor to do the work,' says Jerrid, noting that the couple initially met with half a dozen companies. The goal was to find a company that shared the couple's vision. 'We'd never done a renovation before. We were pretty darn green. We had always built new,' says Kristy, adding that the couple moved into the Lake Bonavista home in February 2023, from a home that they had built from scratch in Lake Mahogany, in order to be within walking distance of schools for their two kids, ages 11 and 13.
