Every day beautiful houses are designed and built to eventually be called home, but usually the new owners never meet the teams or indi­viduals responsible for creating these personal havens. Often designers or architects remain behind the scenes, and in some cases, are hired by the builder and never make contact with buyers. Perhaps even more rarely, the people who ink the floor plan are also those who craft the home. Such is the case with Chris Karagiannis and Darren Garvey, co-owners of TechStar Homes Ltd.

Chris Karagiannis says he and brother-in-law Darren were both computer science majors, but grew tired of working office cubicles. “We became involved in miscellaneous construction jobs, kind of like handymen,” says Chris. “We built decks, did some framing, and over time we realized that we could do it all.” Seven years ago the intrepid duo started TechStar Homes Ltd. and began designing and building homes. Their first house was the Georgia, the majority of which they built personally. “Knowing many people in the trades combined with our hard work and dedication made the transition a lot easier,” notes Chris.

Word of mouth ensured TechStar Homes stayed busy, and over time the partners realized they were getting access to larger lots, prompting them to design homes to better maximize grander footprints.

Working from their Anastasia design, the two built the Savannah, a beautiful 3,140-square-foot home located in the southwest community of Elmont Estates. “One of the reasons we designed the Savannah was that we needed a larger floor plan that would be perfect for a pie lot,” says Chris. “In designing the Savannah, one of our biggest concerns was to create large rooms by using the available space as efficiently as possible.”

This three-bedroom home offers some terrific features such as its 24-foot wide double front-attached garage, a large kitchen island with ample storage space, walkout grade basement and rear decks on both the first and second storeys. Inside, one of the more stunning features is a two-storey two-way gas fireplace adjacent to the nook and family room. Set in cultured stone with a custom-built maple shaker-style mantel, two towering pillars soar from the fireplace to the second-floor ceiling, creating an amazing focal point both from the main floor and from the upper-railed level.

Other unique features of the Savannah are the series of small box windows lining the back and side of the home and the abundance of large windows and transoms to allow maximum light to filter throughout the home. These well-placed box windows offer even more daytime illumination without sacrificing any of the homeowners’ privacy, in the end only adding to the attractiveness of the home.

Chris says he and Darren won’t sell a home they, themselves, wouldn’t be happy living in, and to ensure this level of quality is  consistent, they also limit construction volume to only two homes a year. This also helps facilitate a focus on maintaining quality in every aspect of the houses they create.

“Every single home we build is constructed to the highest of standards,” says Chris. While he and Darren design and participate in the construc­tion of every home, they also say they want every completed home to be a very upgraded product. This means enlisting the expertise of other experts—such as having all cabinets throughout the home crafted with care by Impulse Custom Kitchens—and ensuring all materials used, finishing touches, and hardware are always top-notch quality.

With their innovative plans and quality con­struction, it looks like TechStar Homes Ltd. will continue to offer custom homes in Calgary for many years to come.  NL