The Construction Source

JULY 2020 of homebuilding, from pre-construction to sale. They learn first-hand skills from a spectrum of pro- fessionals, they gain job insight for post-secondary schooling, and they potentially make connections for future apprenticeship opportunities. “All the students involved leave with experience in teamwork, carpentry, problem solving, and a huge sense of accomplishment in building an ac- tual house,” Craig says. “It can be life-changing for them.” Craig and Kingsmith give back in other ways, as well. Since COVID-19 hit Alberta, for example, the com- pany has been delivering groceries to house-bound residents of Cochrane every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. During the first two months of the pan- demic, when construction was slowed, they were making six deliveries a week. Moving forward, Kingsmith Builders will continue to give back – Craig expects to keep the food deliv- ery going as long as there is need – and continue to look for other ways to better their community. That has always been part of the company’s mis- sion, and Craig says it always will be, even as the company grows – which they are looking to do, but purposefully and never just for the sake of growth. “We’re not looking to become a large company ever,” Craig says. “I always want to have a hand in every project. I want to have a personal relation- ship with every one of our customers, and I want to be there when we hand over their project. That’s never going to change.” “So we’re going to grow, but we’re not talking about doubling or tripling,” he concludes. “We would nev- er give up our identity to become a large corpora- tion. We love the personal relationships we build too much.”