Inspire Homes: The First 10 Years

Ten years is a significant milestone for any business, and reaching it has caused us to pause and reflect on how Inspire Homes has grown and changed over the last decade.

 

It was 10 years ago that we opened our doors for business. Thinking back to when we started the company, the intention was to be a new home builder, not a design/build renovation company. When the vision for Inspire Homes was laid out, we wanted to put out a superior product - one that exceeded what we saw on the market. Too many home builders were building cheap homes, and we thought home owners deserved better and believed there was a market for building a better home. That was the mission of Inspire Homes and that's what we started out doing.

 

As we went along building custom homes, we got several referral calls from people looking for us to do small renovation projects, which we took on and enjoyed doing.

 

The turning point came about two years into business when we got a call for a house addition. Home additions weren't something that we wanted to do because they are the most difficult type of project to undertake.

 

With additions, the contractor needs to combine the old structure with the new, and often the old structure doesn't meet current building codes, which means the old structure also has to be updated. Furthermore, from an aesthetic point of view, because you are tying in a new structure with the existing one, you have to design it to look seamless and appealing.

 

Frankly, because of all of those aspects, in those early years of business, we had no desires for Inspire Homes to get into the home addition market.

 

However, one came our way, and for a number of reasons, we decided to take it on. Then another one came our way ... and so on. That shifted the focus of our business significantly. Now we are known for house additions, as it has turned out to be the majority of our work.

 

Another big aspect of our business is design/build.  We didn't set out to become a design/build contractor, but again, we wanted to provide better service to our customers than what we were seeing. Other builders were sending homeowners here and there to get their homes designed, and that wasn't the experience we wanted to give our clients.  Inspire Homes was going to be the start-to-finish resource for homeowners - to lessen the stress of construction.

 

Interestingly, we got into design/build without knowing that's what it was called. We just started doing it and then realized that we are delivering a product known as design/build, which is now one of the qualities we are best known for.

 

Today, we are thankful for the customers, word-of-mouth-referrals and projects that have made up these last 10 years. We've been blessed to receive two Best Renovations Awards - one for this Craftsman House Addition in 2009 and most recently in 2012 for this Toronto House Addition.

 

We started the business with the intent of building a superior product and taking care of our customers the way we thought they deserved. It is our promise that we will continue to create a superior product and deliver an experience that homeowners are happy with and one that they will want to share with others.