Gibson Custom Homes

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“Our goal is to create homes that are built to the most exacting standards with constant communication and transparency, resulting in aesthetically striking, functional homes that suit our clients,” Darcy says.

“At Gibson we see every project as an opportunity to create a new standard for collaboration, innovation and efficiency. Our approach is to not redefine the construction experience, but rather build a new standard.”

Darcy’s quest to build a new standard in the construction industry goes back almost 25 years, to when he started in the industry as a framer. Eight years after that, he decided that building custom homes was his calling and he incorporated ‘Gibson Framing Ltd.’, which was at first framing company. After earning a few years’ experience as a company owner, he began taking on full custom home projects and hired his first office staff in 2013.  From there, he transitioned the company to ‘Gibson Contracting’. Following that transition, he was able to expand his office and site team and the company began building approximately 15 custom homes per year.

Fast forward to 2023, and the company has rebranded once again to ‘Gibson Custom Homes,’ in order to more closely align with their product offering. Along with that rebrand, the company also adopted a new logo, which Darcy says “symbolizes our evolution while maintaining the values and principles that have made us successful over the years.”

Today, Gibson Custom Homes’ office is located in central Kelowna on Glenmore Road, and they operate a show home which is located in Lakestone. They are also building a North Okanagan show home located in Coldstream at Morningview on Middleton, which is slated to open spring 2024.

Currently, the company has projects spanning from Coldstream, Lake Country, Kelowna, West Kelowna and all the way to the South Okanagan in Keremeos. As a custom home builder, they don’t specialize in any one style of home. Instead, they customize their offering based on their clients and their clients’ dream home inspirations. Occasionally, they will also do tenant improvements and commercial construction – their most recent commercial project is a cidery in Keremeos which they are expecting to complete in 2024.

According to Darcy, the company’s steady growth in recent years is a credit to the commitment and dedication of their team. He describes the culture at Gibson Custom Homes as being characterized by “accountability, teamwork, respect and collaboration.”

“These values instil a sense of responsibility and ownership among our employees, promoting a collaborative environment where individuals work together towards common goals,” Darcy explains. “Respect is a fundamental value, ensuring a positive and inclusive workplace culture.”

“This company culture contributes significantly to the success of Gibson Custom Homes,” he adds. “Our core values create a positive work environment which puts our company in a position to deliver homes that not only meet our high standards, but also reflect our dedication to client satisfaction.”

By abiding by their core values, Gibson Custom Homes has also been able to forge strong relationships with their extended team of subcontractors and suppliers. According to Darcy, establishing and maintaining trust with those partners is one of Gibson’s “top priorities and integral to the company’s success. “

“Trustworthy subcontractors and suppliers contribute to the reliability and consistency of project timelines, ensuring timely delivery of materials and services.  The commitment to high-quality workmanship and materials from trusted partners enhances the overall quality of the homes we build.”

“Maintaining open communication and understanding with subcontractors and suppliers aids in identifying and addressing potential risks early in the project, mitigating the likelihood of disputes,” he adds. “These relationships also foster collaboration, promoting efficiency in project management and adaptability to changes.”

“Ultimately, the trust built with subcontractors and supplier positively influences our reputation, attracting clients and contributing to the company’s overall success in this competitive industry.”

Another factor that’s contributed to the company’s ongoing success, Darcy believes, is their willingness to innovative and to adopt new materials and technologies. For example, they recently partnered with BarrierTek, a supplier of advanced fire resistant wood products.

“For decades, the Okanagan Valley has been concerned with wildfires each year due to a combination of environmental and climatic factors,” Darcy says. “Just this year, we were devastated by a wildfire in West Kelowna that unfortunately was able to jump the lake into Kelowna and Lake Country.

“With so many people affected by this devastation, we needed to find a solution that started with the construction of a home. Now, we have partnered with BarrierTek to offer clients the option to build their home with fire resistant lumber.  We are building our first home with this product in West Kelowna. You will soon be able to see it from Okanagan Lake – it will be the bright green house in early 2024!”

“We welcome anyone who is considering building a home in the Okanagan to reach out to us and ask us about the product and how we can incorporate the benefits into their new home project.”

Industry recognized

Over the past few years, Gibson Custom Homes’ high standard of construction excellence has not only been recognized by clients, but also by industry bodies. Since 2017, the company has been featured in several prestigious industry publications, they have received several ‘Best of Houzz’ awards for their service, and they have won or been nominated in numerous categories at the CHBA Central Okanagan Housing Excellence (OHAE) Awards – to date, they have won at least 11 Gold Awards, including Builder of the Year in 2019 and 2021.

“That’s huge for us,” Darcy says of that recognition. “We are grateful to have been considered for many awards over the years. But our favourite time of year is always attending the Okanagan Housing Awards. Those are well known awards in the industry and the community. Whenever you win one it’s a great accomplishment and it speaks volumes of your team and how well you work together.”

Last year, at the 2023 OHAE Awards, Gibson Custom Homes was awarded Gold for ‘Excellence in Show Home $750,000 & Over’ as well as ‘Excellence in Decorating + Style under $75,000.’ The award-winning project was the company’s ‘Beacon Hill Showhome,’ which Darcy says included a lot of features and design elements that the company had never implemented before.

“We always like to take the opportunity to try new and different things on show homes,” he says. “We give ourselves a budget that we want to stick within, but within that budget we like to step outside of our comfort zone and do some things we’ve never done before.”

“We’ve done multiple show homes that way and we’ve had multiple award winners in different categories,” he adds. “So it seems to work. We haven’t changed our approach and we’re not going to.”

In the case of Beacon Hill, the home was designed with a “modern edge,” as the company has found that’s the direction a lot of customers have been moving in. Special features included a floating staircase, interior steelwork, and interior concrete walls.

“Those are things we typically don’t do unless a customer requests them, which doesn’t happen very frequently,” Darcy explains.

Obviously, the finished product was received well by the company’s peers in the industry, but Darcy says the home has also received some extremely positive feedback from the customers who have toured it. He says a lot of the company’s customers have seen it and been inspired by the design elements, and they have used some of the ideas in their own homes. He also believes that a number of customers made their final decision to build with Gibson Custom Homes after visiting that home and seeing the quality on display there.

Darcy is also personally very proud of how that home turned out:

“I think it’s amazing,” he says. “It’s a very entertaining house. I would live there in a heartbeat.”

Currently, Gibson Custom Homes is working on their next show home, which will be located on Morningview Drive in Coldstream. There, they are building within more of an “entry-level community,” so the home they are building won’t have quite the same level of finishing as Beacon Hill, but Darcy says it “will still be very desirable.”

Moving forward, Darcy says his vision is to continue building those desirable custom homes, as that’s what he and his team are most passionate about. He says the company will continue to offer tenant improvement and commercial building services, but he expects to stay active on the custom home side, as it’s a busy time in the Okanagan with “a lot of nice homes being built.”

“We want to be a part of that,” Darcy concludes. “We want to keep building really high quality homes and we want to maintain our customer service.  That’s what is important to us. We’re interested in growing at a moderate pace, but we’re never going to grow so fast that we lose sight of the quality and service. We’re going to stay focused.”

For more on Gibson Custom Homes, their process, their past projects, and the communities in which they work – and to get in touch with Darcy and his team today – visit www.gibsoncustomhomes.com/