This year, Lexis Homes will approach their 100th completed home. Launched in 2009, the Saskatoon-based business is a Mike Holmes approved home builder. The Holmes Group analyzed the builders in the Saskatoon market and then sourced Lexis Homes to work with them. “It’s a great partnership,” says Lexis CEO, Cam Skoropat. “They provide comprehensive inspections in all our homes and also provide technical support for us.” We recently chatted with Cam to learn more about Lexis—one of Sarilia’s suggested home builders.
A Vereco Home built by Lexis
Who are your clients?
Our clients are typically “move up” home buyers. They are already homeowners, but want to upgrade to a home that better suits their needs. This could mean a larger home or a better location (neighbourhood/lot).
Are you witnessing any trends in the home building industry lately?
Higher energy efficiency seems to be top of mind. There also seems to a desire for larger garages.
What kinds of green technology or innovation are homeowners looking for these days?
I would say insulation under the basement slab is a key area for efficiency without high costs. Upgrading wall insulation and attic insulation are also popular.
How has demand for either environmentally friendly features and materials changed throughout your time in the industry?
In the last 3-4 years energy efficiency has been top of mind for many people. When we first started building, higher energy efficiency wasn’t on the radar for home buyers.
What home building practices would you like to see more of in your industry?
I still think we could use more professionalism in the industry. There are over 200 home builders in the Saskatoon area and there is a vast range of quality and professionalism in the range of builders. There is very little in the form of regulation or licensing of homebuilders so the “buyer beware” mantra is very true in our market.
Lexis has recently partnered with Vereco Homes. Can you tell us what your collaboration is about?
Sure! We have similar mindsets in that we want to see more high quality homes in Saskatoon and area. Our focus was on quality of construction and Vereco was focused on the energy quality. It was a natural fit to combine the two. Vereco designs ultra-energy-efficient homes for their clients and we work together with them to turn the designs into reality.
We also spoke with Ronn Lepage, the founder of Vereco Homes, to get his take on working with Lexis.
We understand Vereco’s mission is to help Canadians build green homes and that you use Vereco Licensed Builders (VLB) for home construction. Vereco has a very stringent process for selecting VLBs. Why did you select Lexis?
We select our VLBs based on competitive pricing, quality, reputation and risk minimization. Lexis is a well-known brand in Saskatoon and anyone that owns a Lexis home will tell you about the quality of their homes. Many of their trades had worked with us on other Vereco homes so Lexis had no issues learning the unique features related to building our homes. They are a stable company that has consistently been growing over the last 7-8 years. As a VLB, Lexis has to compete against at least two other VLBs to win each contract so our process ensures that they are competitive.
What are the unique features of Vereco Homes?
Our homes are designed for energy efficiency, comfort, and durability.
A home uses energy for space heating, domestic hot water, lights and appliances. The key technologies used to reduce energy consumption for space heating are passive solar design (using the sun to heat the home), additional insulation (lots of additional insulation in walls, attic and foundation), better windows and ultra-efficient mechanical equipment.
For domestic hot water, our energy efficiency strategies are focused on reduction in the amount of hot water consumed but we also use some neat technologies such as drain water heat recovery.
To reduce energy used for lights in appliances, our primary strategy is using energy efficient lighting, but we are also finding very good results from phantom energy circuits and whole-house monitoring systems.
We’ve found that many people are more interested in comfort than they are in energy savings. We design comfort into our homes with five perspectives: air quality, lighting, temperature, acoustics and safety.
More and more people are starting to consider the durability of their homes. We design our homes to last at least 100 years with a focus on materials, interior and exterior moisture management and flexibility. We design open-concept homes with flex rooms (for example, an office that can become a bedroom). Wherever possible, we position rear entrances in a way to allow the future development of a granny or rental suite. All our homes are designed to accommodate future solar panels, electric vehicle chargers and grey water recycling.