Crawford Homes – Regina, Saskatchewan

May 1, 2023

Crawford Homes

the best of both worlds for the Regina homebuyer

Leading the Regina housing market, Crawford Homes craft beautiful designs while housing Regina’s best realtors to facilitate new or resale purchases

The housing shortage remains a real issue across North America. While buyers are faced with limited inventory to choose from and as housing prices continue to escalate across the continent, home builders are kept busy. There remains a push to provide attractive housing options at competitive price points in areas that are undersupplied with available housing options.

While the pandemic helped to expedite the sharp increase in home prices throughout North America, the overall lack of housing choices has sealed the need for new construction to continue. For those companies that are poised to meet this increasing demand, the sky’s the limit.

One such home builder has proven to be an industry leader and has the design portfolio to bridge the housing gap while offering options that are aesthetically pleasing for buyers.

Based in Regina, Saskatchewan, Crawford Homes has earned its stamp of approval from its loyal client base and continues to dominate the local market with its unique approach to representing the Regina housing sector.

Crafting beautiful houses that are designed to the specifics of the Regina market is at the heart of Crawford Homes’ business model. The Regina-based home builder has made a name for itself since 1978. Offering the very best in design and functionality, while tailoring its varied floor plans to meet the individual preference of its customers, Crawford Homes leads the real estate sector.

With 45 years of experience to draw on, it is no wonder that home buyers have trusted the Crawford Homes brand when embarking on their new home or resale buying journey.

Going one step further and offering an unparalleled real estate experience, Crawford Homes offers an element that most homebuilding companies have not thought to incorporate into their real estate offerings; a real estate division represented by Regina’s best and brightest realtors ready to help homebuyers buy into Crawford Homes developments or buy an existing resale property.

For Kaitlin Bashutski, Crawford Homes Creative Director, offering both a new home construction option crafted by its leading design team, as well as providing in-house real estate services for home buyers, provides the best of both worlds.

Providing potential buyers with a full-service new construction and realty company also helped Crawford Homes navigate through the pandemic with so many fluctuations in the housing market during that time.

“It has been an interesting few years,” Bashutski admits. “I have to say that coming out of the pandemic, we had no idea which way things were going to go, just as when the pandemic began.”

“People did become home-oriented and home-focused as they could do very little else. As a result, people tended to refocus their home space and they put their home plans into fast action and wanted their homes now, and we have gone [as a result] into a building boom over the last couple of years,” Bashutski determines.

When asked about economic spinoffs of the prolonged pandemic including supply chain disruptions and the cost of labor, Bashutski offers her perspective.

“We have established new supply routes and products, because products and materials that we traditionally have had available to us and always there, have either not been available or have been backed up for months,” she explains.

“For instance, garage doors took close to a year to arrive once they were ordered, lumber prices have been an issue, as well as price increases on almost everything with factories not producing the materials or competing with such a high demand for the products.”

Despite other economic impacts home builders are facing, led by increasing interest rates, Bashutski is very optimistic about housing sales continuing to be favourable, backed in large part by the housing crunch that persists.

“We are seeing quite a bit of traffic in our showhomes,” she points out.

Crawford Homes are perfectly positioned to take advantage of continued buyer interest with its unique business model. The company’s home builder division, Crawford Homes maintain a strong foothold in the new homes Regina housing market, while its realty division, HomeLife Crawford Realty allows for a seamless buying experience of its home designs, as well as resale properties throughout Regina.

Going one step further, Bashutski highlights Crawford Homes Guaranteed Sales Program.
“It has been hugely successful for us. You can come in and we will assess your existing home. We can build you a new home giving you a guaranteed price on your existing home if for whatever reason your home hasn’t sold.”

“If your listed home has not sold by the time your new home is ready to move into, we will buy your home for you for that guaranteed sale price,” she adds.

Bashutski points out the obvious advantages of such a program for homebuyers.

“It removes the stress of how to maneuver selling your old home and while moving into your new home. We are very customer-focused, and we are a custom-builder. One of the original custom builders in Regina and we remain the best.”

“Buyers do not have to worry about carrying two mortgages at the same time. It has been a great program for us and something that we have been doing for almost 40 years here,” she elaborates.

Crawford Homes - Regina, Saskatchewan Part of the reason for Crawford Homes continued success in the local market also stems from the constant and unwavering leadership of its founder, Al Bashutski.

“Al is an extraordinarily clever man. He started this company with a builder group in 1978. They wanted to offer a different builder experience to include custom building and that wasn’t a market standard at the time. They forged their way along, and over the years we have gone through market ups and downs while he stayed at the helm to this day.”

“He remains an innovative and out-of-the-box thinker and he wants the best options to work for our clients,” she elaborates.

When asked about Crawford Homes’ marketing approach, Bashutski is quick to answer.

“The lines of communication are always open. We have several brilliant salespeople and new home consultants at our office, and they are personally guiding each customer along the way and updating them on everything.”

“We are moving ahead and building new homes and we are sourcing alternative products to get around the supply chain shortages. It is important to evolve continually,” Bashutski says.

“By far the best method of marketing for us has been by word of mouth,” she states.

“We have people that have built with us multiple times over the years. We did a commercial last year where we sought out clients of ours from the 70s and 80s, some are still in their existing homes and some have built with us two, three, even four times. We are seeing these family lines of people that are built with us throughout their lives.”

For upcoming building projects, Bashutski draws attention to an enhanced direction that includes changing its specifications to provide greener building solutions.

“We are building all our homes to be solar and EV Ready. We are working with our trades and a few local solar companies to ensure that when our clients are ready to make the move towards solar or an electric car, our homes will have the necessary components for an easy setup. The trusses are built with a certain payload, and we are running the wires and conduits to make sure that everything is ready to be hooked up.”

“We are also adding 200-amp panels as a standard to every single home,” she elaborates.

Crawford Homes, like many home builders, has formed strong partnerships over the years. Bashutski points out a few key ones.

“Our trades and suppliers have been amazing.”

“Powerhouse Electric has been great for us, and Superior Cabinets has been wonderful. Luxury Granite has been a great company to work with as well, and we have had a great partnership with Parkland Carpet One, Town & Country Plumbing & Heating, Richardson’s Lighting, and so many more local suppliers and trades over the years too.”

Looking to the future, Bashutski is more than optimistic.

“We are very confident in our business model,” she notes.

“We want to continue building homes and growing our city. We are always ready for whatever the market has in store for us, and we will keep moving ahead.”