Business View Magazine Feb 2023

69 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 10, ISSUE 2 SPRUCE HOMES really do love it and want to be part of the entire process. Most people are kind of in the middle.” Spruce Homes’ process and quality are widely recognized, with the company being honored three years in a row with the Saskatoon and Region Home Builders Association Award for Housing Excellence for both whole home and interior design. And while Blair says he doesn’t put much stock into awards, he does recognize that achieving them is a nod to the quality of work his team is doing. “Those awards really speak to everybody on staff, our sub-trades, everybody, so I do expect that we will get more in the future,” he says. “My expectation is that we build amazing houses and we do it well. So my expectation is there will be more to come and that only speaks to the quality that we expect from all of our people and what they provide.” While Blair has high standards for his team, he prides himself on creating a positive working atmosphere for all of his staff and subcontractors by being flexible, but also demanding respect on-site. “If people are difficult to deal with, they don’t stay on staff, or if it’s a sub-trade, they just don’t get any work from us,” he says. “When you step on site, I don’t care if you’re a sub-trade or on our staff, I want you to come to work and I want you to do a good job. I don’t want you to be working around people you don’t want to be around so you’re just hurrying through things. That’s how things get missed and quality gets sacrificed.” Spruce Homes also maintains its high quality through good old-fashioned loyalty. Blair uses the same vendors, suppliers, and sub-trades over and over on all of the company’s projects. He relies on the services of places like Flow Tech Mechanical for plumbing and mechanical work, Warman Home Centre for building materials, Flooring Superstore for flooring and tile, and Mirage Woodworks for cabinetry. That loyalty paid off for Spruce Homes when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March 2020. Building supplies that were once readily available were now taking weeks, if not months to arrive. But