The Construction Source

MAY 2021 journeyman carpenter and small business owner. He joined the Lincolnberg team in 2013 as a superintendent when Don was the construction manager. Having known each other for 20 years, they share the same passion for the industry. In particular, Don and John share a passion for Edmonton’s mature neighbourhoods. When they worked together at Lincolnberg, they often talked about “doing something different than building in suburbia,” Don says. John, forhispart,hasalwayslived in a mature neighbourhood. He recalls leaving that neighbourhood every day to go work in the suburbs – “and that didn’t sit right with me,” he says. He wanted to instead shape Edmonton’s mature neighbourhoods, because he saw so much potential. “We have an amazing city,” he explains, “but we were continuing to build out and out, and making the city less accessible. If you live in suburbia and want to go anywhere, it’s a 45 minute drive. Meanwhile, there are so many houses that were built in the 1940s and 1950s that needed to come down and be replaced. We thought ‘Why not put brand new houses there? Wouldn’t that create a healthier city?’” “We wanted to revitalize our city from the inside out,” Don sums it up. “But we didn’t know what that would look like, because there were not very many people doing it. It was just a dream at first.” Eventually, the pair decided to make the dream a reality. With the approval of Keith Jansen and Lincolnberg Group, they independently purchased a lot in the city so they could attempt an infill build. The home they built quickly sold, which proved to them that there was a market for what they wanted to do. A year later, with the help of the Lincolnberg Group as equity partners, they decided to form Timber Haus Developments. “We owe Lincolnberg a debt of gratitude for having faith in us,” Don says, “especially Keith Jansen, who is my biggest mentor in the homebuilding industry. He gave us the freedom to build that house on our own, and he deserves a lot of credit for getting us where we are now.”