It’s a mantra that has served the 19-year-old family business well and not one the Carstairs, Alberta builder will abandon any time soon—especially given their success in the Calgary Region Home Builders Association (CRHBA)’s SAM  Awards, earning the coveted Customer Choice nod for a small-volume builder. “We were in the Top Five builders for the Customer Choice (award) last year as well; it was a total shock this year to win,” says Murray Pound, vice-president of operations for Gold Seal Master Builder.

His father Brian, now semi-retired and taking care of the land development side of the business, founded Gold Seal, with the junior Pound taking over operations in 2001. Having grown up and lived his life in Carstairs, the decision to helm the business—which now and into the foreseeable future crafts about 20 homes annually—was a no-brainer, he says.

“A lot of people asked us when we won the Customer Choice award if we would expand our business into Calgary or start building more homes and I said ‘absolutely not. Why would I want to?’ It seems we are at the point now where we are doing well and I don’t think we could keep that level of consistency.”

Consistency is a mandate for Pound, and a factor he attributes to the builder’s growing consumer confidence. He tries to handle as much of the process with customers as possible, and prides himself on the number of tradespeople who have remained faithful. “Many of our trades have been here for a long period of time. We seek out the best trades in the area and they like it, too, because they know what to expect from us,” says Pound.

The payoff has been not only in netting kudos from building peers in the SAMs, but also in referrals by happy customers—who determine the Customer Choice winners through surveys—which are poised to keep business booming well into next year. “Our customers seek us out because of our reputation, and our not taking shortcuts. One of the things we have mandated is we’ve made it our policy to deliver homes with five or less deficiency items,” notes Pound.

While this attention to detail might make the site superintendent’s job harder (his bonus depends on it), having no less than 275 checklist items at pre-possession walkthrough has built up a long list of happy homeowners dotting the Carstairs landscape.

“It’s the little things, like making sure the screws are all lined up in light switches, and making sure we have left behind three furnace filters,” to last a year of changes for new Gold Seal homeowners, he says. Another personal touch enjoyed by all buyers is amalgamating all manuals for the home and clipping them neatly into a single binder.

Now building in just one area in Carstairs, Stonebridge Glen, Gold Seal has acquired considerable traffic from people looking to make the move from Calgary or Airdrie eyeing a slower lifestyle. “The majority of our buyers are from Calgary and Airdrie. Many are finding Airdrie is getting big—it’s not a small town any more.”

Driving around the handsome golf course community 35 minutes from Calgary it’s difficult to tell every home and villa was the work of the same builder. “We never build the same home twice. Have you ever met two people who are exactly the same? We ask a lot of questions in the beginning about lifestyle and try to suit everyone’s needs,” explains Pound.

What may put a grin on the faces of some energy-conscious customers is all Gold Seal homes crafted in 2006 forward carry the Built Green™ label. “It was just another thing we could add to the toolbox,” says Pound.

While for many having a more environmentally-responsibly crafted address matters little in their decision to build, Pound says no one as ever declined “green” features. “We tell customers that we do these energy-efficient things and they may not be to concerned about it, but they are very happy their energy bills will be less. The Built Green™ elements are just built into our specs now.”

Pound’s involvement as a fire prevention officer has led to even more features being incorporated into a home’s construction; the result of fire calls to older homes not easily accessed in emergencies. “Now in all of our homes we oversize hallways,” says Pound, who adds that a type of fireproof drywall tape is also in Gold Seal’s specs.

The company got its start as a custom builder, but has built up an inventory of plans as a starting point for the 20 homes per year bearing the Gold Seal name. That number will likely not increase much, despite demand for homes well beyond that inventory.

“If we started building 50 homes a year there just aren’t enough hours in the day to give customers the kind of attention we want to,” says Pound.

Having lived in the community of 2,800 his entire life and maintaining a high profile as both business owner and captain of the fire department, delivering a high level of service is personal for Pound. “When I go to the store or the restaurant I want my customers to stop and talk to me with a smile on their faces.” NL

For more information about Gold Seal Master Builder, visit http://www.goldsealhomes.com