There are many ongoing residential developers in and around Edmonton, and one name in particular continues to impress. Launched in 1989, Kimberley Homes, under the direction of owner Steve Ruggiero, not only has several active communities in the city, they have also made an impressive entrance into the Okanagan market by leveraging a digital platform backed by a solid reputation.
“Every home buyer’s story is different. Our passion is building solutions for each individual or family,” says Ruggiero. “Focusing on solving our client’s problems with the purchase of a Kimberley Home underpins everything we strive to achieve.”
Ruggiero came to Kimberley Homes as a young 22 year old and quickly fell in love with the process of, as he explains, “taking a piece of land and several months later having the privilege of turning it into a home where families will make their most cherished memories.” Since joining Kimberley in 2002, Ruggiero became president and managing partner in 2010 and assumed full ownership in 2020.
“While we are known for our high-quality custom builds, our purpose – and our passion – is to provide a great customer experience. We do that via building truly unique and special living spaces that will be enjoyed by our clients and their families for many years into the future,” he continues.
Lauren Hochhausen, Sales Experience Manager, adds, “Kimberley is an extremely reputable custom home builder known for quality, but our entire team is dedicated to the idea that we are a client-experience business first and foremost. We are always going to innovate beautiful homes, but we are driven by what clients need to improve their lives through our homes. The buyers’ stories drive everything.”
Ruggiero elaborates, “Our customer service starts with us asking, ‘How can we improve your life by you choosing to build your home with us? What is not working or has changed in your life recently that we can help you with?’ It is our focus on each client’s story that sets us apart from other builders. We are proud of the homes we build, and they are very beautiful homes! But what makes them special is that every completed living space is a unique reflection of a vision that all started with a conversation about what the buyer needed to improve their life.”
The range of solutions is highly customized per homeowner, but it starts from an impressive range of options. Kimberley Homes is involved in several communities in the Edmonton and surrounding area that include executive single family and bungalow duplex homes. These communities are typically semi-estate or estate properties in desirable areas with an abundance of amenities from creek ravines to swimmable lakes.
But that’s not all. Kimberley Homes is also active in the infill and acreage market and offers a Build Where You Want program unlike any other builder in the market.
Build Where You Want provides homeowners with the flexibility to choose their new home’s location, outside of Kimberley’s show home communities. The company collaborates with developer partners and realtors, including a dedicated realtor partner to help secure the ideal homesite for the homeowner. Then, the Kimberley team provides in-house drafting and design services to enhance the chosen homesite’s features. The pricing is accurate and respects the homeowners’ budgets. This program is suitable for any size and type of lot, including infill and acreage, and for any type of home, including ones with secondary suites.
In 2020, Kimberley Homes embarked on their most ambitious project to date – building in the Okanagan.
The thought of asking buyers to choose a homebuilder they perhaps had never heard of and without the benefit of seeing a show home seems unthinkable, but Kimberley’s reputation and futurist vision along with a dedicated online homebuyer engagement process, prove that with unmatched service, much of the homebuyer’s journey could be managed virtually.
Hochhausen explains, “We identified a gap in the Okanagan market that we felt aligned perfectly with our passion, our vision and mission and we believed we could leverage our online sales platform to cultivate early successes. At the start, we were not physically located there, so we marketed, networked and ultimately sold virtually to buyers that had not seen our finished product in real life. We were able to tailor a successful home shopping and buying experience remotely, with care and ease. During the pandemic, I felt our team was miles ahead in the ability to sell virtually because we already had that experience.”
From the start, the entry as a digital presence into the Okanagan was a success.
“To have homeowners willing to go on a journey with Kimberley without having set foot in a show home is a testament to how our team builds trust and focuses on relationships with clients,” Hochhausen smiles.
Ruggiero adds, “Expanding into the Okanagan has been a labour of love over the past four years. Because we believe so strongly that all homebuyers start their journey digitally first, we have been very successful in the Okanagan at helping buyers that are out of town or often out of province design and build a home of their dreams.”
In both provinces where Kimberley Homes operates, housing can be a hot, and often contentious, topic. Ruggiero doesn’t shy away from this.
“All major centres are differently priced. Even compared to a city as close as Calgary, the cost of owning a home in Edmonton is lower than any other major metropolis in Canada (and beyond). Edmontonians that don’t currently own need to see that there are still viable paths to ownership, and it is one of the best investments one can make. When you look back at any point in time, owning a home in the future is more expensive than ownership now. So, instead of asking, ‘Is now a good time to buy?’ think instead that ‘there is always a reason not to buy.’
Interest rates, escalating markets, etc., are not going away. Work through those challenges to make the investment of home ownership. A home will always be good investment. Always. Be aware of the new products that help subsidize the opportunity, such as legal suites and carriage homes. Take advantage of those.”
Building community means more to Kimberley Homes than building physical homes. It also means social outreach. Every year since 2010, Kimberley has provided the grand prize home for the Alberta Cancer Foundation’s Cash and Cars Lottery. Last year Kimberley Homes was the title sponsor for the annual Barley & Smoke event, which raises funds for Kids Cancer Care. Among other charitable pursuits, the home builder is also completing a five-year commitment to the University of Alberta Hospital’s Division of Gastroenterology.
Kimberley Homes’ futurist vision, absolute passion for the customer experience, quality homes and community giving have not gone unnoticed. For eight consecutive years, Kimberley Homes has been a finalist in the Best Customer Experience category in the Homeowner Mark of Excellence Awards, and is proud of having won that award three times.
Ruggiero says, “We have won Builder of the Year seven times, which is a huge honour in the industry but ultimately not an award that is based solely on the voice of the new home buyer. In 2019, we chose to move away from that and focus on customer experience and the Homeowner Mark of Excellence Awards. As that award is solely based on third party customer satisfaction surveys from our actual clients, when I step back and look at the nominations and wins, I know we are doing the right things to focus on what matters most.”
Housing in Alberta and British Columbia will always be a hot topic as the interest rates and the market wax and wane. However, when you choose a builder that puts people first, that bases their values on customer experience and is just as passionate about giving back to the community, the path to home ownership becomes clear.
“There is no shortage of builders to choose from, Hochhausen says. “There are a lot that build very nice homes. At the end of the day, we would recommend to any home buyer, to choose a builder that understands why your current home doesn’t work for you, how a new home can improve your life, and who cares about the experience of getting you there.”
Ruggiero concludes, “When we choose to surround ourselves with the best people, great things happen. The past years have been challenging in different ways. We have all learned new things about ourselves. I would thank our buyers; supply partners; and team members, past, present and future for being a part of the incredible journey that we live and breathe every day.
“Right now, Kimberley Homes has the best possible people in the roles where their talents shine and can be fully utilized. We are excited to have adjusted in a way that they will best serve our organization and our buyers going forward and we are all pumped for 2024 and to get back to doing what we do best.” When asked about what the what is coming next for Kimberley Homes, Ruggiero simply says… “Stay tuned!”
Learn more at
www.buildwithkimberley.ca (Edmonton) and
www.kimberleyokgn.com (Okanagan).