Vancouver Sun & The Province

The Vancouver Sun | Michael Bernard, Published on May 12, 2018

The Province | Michael Bernard, published on May 13, 2018

Adera Development Corporation emerged as the top winner at this year’s Ovation Awards, the annual award program that honours excellence in new-home construction, renovation and design in Metro Vancouver.

Adera, which has built more than 10,000 detached homes, condos and townhomes over the last 45 years, walked away with four awards, including the Grand Ovation Award, Multi-Family Home Builder of the Year, at the sold-out event April 28 in Vancouver. The Ovations are an undertaking of the Greater Vancouver Home Builders’ Association

Adera’s other awards were for Best Townhouse/Rowhome Development (Production) in the categories, Less than and Greater than 1,500 sq. ft. for its Willsbrook and Greenway phases at its South Ridge Club project in Vancouver. Greenway also won Best Outdoor Living Space: Single Family Production or Multi-Family.

“We won four awards and were finalists in six,” said Eric Andreasen, Adera’s vice-presideny sales and marketing.  “We were really proud of the Multi-Family Home Builder for the third year in a row. The (Multi-Family) win for any year is a very significant accolade and it’s even more amazing given the fact that we have such incredible competition around us.”

Andreasen says the success comes from all Adera employees being empowered to do the very best they can.

“They understand that awards are very important for our customers because it validates their choice of our product. But for our employees it also validates their efforts. Our whole company is geared toward customer experience, and their experience of our products, and so everyone puts their heart and soul into this.”

Naikoon Contracting Ltd., whose owner Joe Geluch started in the business at the age of six working for his dad, Terry, on Haida Gwaii, won three awards, including Custom Builder of the Year and Best Custom Home $1 million to $1.5 million for its House of Hope project in North Vancouver. Naikoon also won Excellence in Innovation and Sustainability in New Residential Construction, also for House of Hope.

‘The awards all hold different levels of fondness for us, but the Grand Ovation award for best Custom Builder of the Year for Greater Vancouver really felt good,” Geluch said.

“It allows customers past, current and future to know that we are doing a good job and that job is being recognized through panels of industry judges who validate that for any homeowner.”

The winning custom-built project used repurposed material from an older house to qualify as Built Green and Energy Star-certified. It also used 100 LED lighting fixtures, triple glazed windows, an insulated Concrete Forms (ICF) foundation and high efficiency mechanical equipment among other features.

Marino General Contracting was given three awards, including Residential Renovator of the Year, Best Renovated Room and Best Bathroom Renovation, $35,000 and over, in its Shaughnessy Sanctuary project.

“The first year that we submitted for awards was last year and we were finalists but this is the first year we have won, so it’s very exciting,” said marketing manager Meredith Yuen, who started work at the 30-year-old company last year.

“We were finalists for the Georgies for Renovator of the Year, and we won Whole House Renovation over $1 million for the CHBA (Canadian Home Builders’ Association) national awards for our Shaughnessy project,” she said.

“We took a spec house and we gave it a soul where a family will be able to create memories, “ she said. “We took all the really poor finishes out and the finishes we put in and the design were just incredible.”

For its Poetry and Poetry — Coach project in North Vancouver, Shakespeare Homes and Renovations Inc. was also  awarded three Ovations, including Best Small-Scale Home Under 1,000 sq. ft., Excellence in Building Science in Residential Construction, and the FortisBC Award for Excellence in Energy Efficiency in New Residential Construction.

Surrey-based Miracon Development Inc. was named Single-Family Home Builder of the Year, after winning the award for Best Single-Family Detached Home (Production) in the 2,400 sq. ft. and over (more than six units) category in recognition of its Southside home plans in South Surrey.

 Ryan O’Shea, vice-president of marketing and sales, says the company owes its success to teamwork and a meticulous walk-through process which ensures the new homes are deficiency-free and its senior staff collect as much feedback from the new homeowner as they can.

The complete list of winners and project photos can be viewed at http://ovationawards.ca/gvhb-ovation-awards-winners/