In the late 1970s, Cal Wenzel sat down for a quarterly meeting with his boss, Jimmy Pattison, with some unwelcome news to share about their mobile-home business. While the market was growing, profit margins were shrinking. Cal, vice president of sales and marketing, crunched the numbers and came to a blunt conclusion: the business should shut down.
“He talked himself out of a job,” says Shane Wenzel, Cal’s son and CEO/president of Shane Homes. “Jimmy Pattison had already determined that it should close, and he just needed somebody to confirm it. Cal was the only one who gave him that honesty.”
Honesty earned Cal a larger severance cheque, and this allowed him and his friend and sales manager, Barry Balsillie, to combine their severance to launch a new venture in 1979: Shane Homes.
Cal and Barry did as much of the hands-on construction as they could during the day and tackled administrative work at night. Their first customer was Cal’s wife, Edith, who bought a duplex in Edgemont as a revenue property to help get the company off the ground. The duo built six homes that first year, all the while establishing a reputation for integrity, quality, service and family values.
“There are a number of prominent builders today that grew out of the ashes of the 1980s, and we are one of them,” says Shane. “It created a lot of great friendships with competitors along the way, and we’re still friends with the other founders and families today.”
From those modest roots, Shane Homes evolved into the Shane Home Group of Companies, with 182 full-time employees producing around 600 single-family homes per year, up to 350 multifamily units, 100 lots for development and a growing U.S. presence. The scale has changed dramatically from those early days, but the company’s basic philosophy has not.
Cal built the company around a people-first mentality and a strong focus on customer experience, and this focus has carried through to the subsequent generations. Homebuilding itself is relatively standardized across the industry, so for Shane Homes, their difference lies in what happens before and after the build. The company’s organizational chart places customers at the top, and Shane’s Signature 10 program ensures the team continues to prioritize the customer experience.
“We put that emphasis on customer experience because our base has changed so much over the years. We’re tailoring the experience to them, whether that’s adding on a little more time for certain customers who don’t understand the process as well, or who want to spend more time doing upgrades to their homes. It’s how you respond to people. It’s how you take care of them throughout the entire process,” he says. “We have a customer experience department that focuses on that ever-changing experience, and it’s become part of the culture of the company.”
Signature 10 is less a scripted checklist than a philosophy for caring for customers. In it, there are no chatbots or overseas call centres. The online sales advisor promises to respond within 24 hours but often does so within minutes, answering questions and connecting customers with the right person.
The approach recognizes that every buyer needs something different. Some move through the process with little guidance while others need more help understanding the decisions involved in building a home. That can be particularly challenging for new Canadians, so the company brings in interpreters who can explain the various stages of the homebuying process in a customer’s native language. The customer support program spans from the initial contract through upgrades and design fixtures to moving services, documentation and maintenance after possession to make the experience as easy and enjoyable as possible.
“We’ve been around for 47 years so I guess you could say we’re not here for the short term,” Shane says. “We’re trying to create a lasting impression with people.”
The strategy has created a remarkable kind of loyalty. Customers who bought from Shane Homes in the 1990s are now returning for their third or fourth home as their lives change. Many also refer their children to the builder when their kids are ready to buy their first home. It’s a true family affair, both for customers and within the business.
When Cal was building the company, he brought qualified family members into key roles. Shane remembers when walking the halls was like a family reunion; he worked alongside his aunt, two sisters, both parents and two brothers-in-law. Many of that first generation have since retired and the second is beginning to slow down as the third generation, Shane’s son, Sebastian, learns the business.
That transition is different from the one Shane experienced when he took over. Shane Homes is no longer simply a homebuilder. It is a larger organization involved in land development and multifamily construction, with operations extending beyond Calgary. For the past few years, Shane’s brother-in-law, Dave Rickett, has been setting up the U.S. operation in Dallas, opening their first showhome there last September. Qualico Group of Companies is active in the area and helped Shane Homes navigate the market to purchase half of a developer’s subdivision lots. While the market is different, the strategy is familiar; they bring the Shane Homes approach to a new city while adapting to local buyers, labour and business practices.
“For now, we’re just going to focus on the housing volumes and if land opportunities arise and we have the people there for it, then we’ll probably pick up a few sections and start developing it. It’s a different world down there,” says Shane.
Dallas is an important part of Shane’s goal to double the size of the business over the next 10 years. Closer to home, multifamily projects and purpose-built rental housing will also contribute to that ambitious growth plan. The company’s first rental townhome project is underway in Legacy, with 59 units expected to be ready next summer. Multifamily already represents about 40 per cent of the product in new subdivisions, reflecting both changing buyer preferences and the growing need for affordable housing.
Whether the organization is developing an entire community like Esker Park, building single-family homes in Dallas or constructing multifamily projects across Calgary, Shane Homes continues to cater to changing housing markets and customer expectations while preserving what made the company successful in the first place.
Key to that is Edith and Cal’s values, which extend beyond the business itself. Through the Shane Homes Group of Companies and the Cal Wenzel Family Foundation, the family supports organizations focused on health, wellness and education, and their hands-on philanthropic approach ensures maximum impact for the people being served. Cal summed up the philosophy that has become part of the family’s way of doing business: “We cannot derive an income from the community without giving back to it.” It’s a philosophy that connects the company’s past with its future.
Shane Homes began with two friends, a few severance cheques and six houses. Nearly five decades later, the family business has a much bigger footprint and an even longer view. For Cal, Shane and the generations that follow, the goal of Shane Homes remains simple enough: to build a business and product people can trust, and build it to last generations.
In the late 1970s, Cal Wenzel sat down for a quarterly meeting with his boss, Jimmy Pattison, with some unwelcome news to share about their mobile-home business. While the market was growing, profit margins were shrinking. Cal, vice president of sales and marketing, crunched the numbers and came to a blunt conclusion: the business should shut down.
“He talked himself out of a job,” says Shane Wenzel, Cal’s son and CEO/president of Shane Homes. “Jimmy Pattison had already determined that it should close, and he just needed somebody to confirm it. Cal was the only one who gave him that honesty.”
Honesty earned Cal a larger severance cheque, and this allowed him and his friend and sales manager, Barry Balsillie, to combine their severance to launch a new venture in 1979: Shane Homes.
Cal and Barry did as much of the hands-on construction as they could during the day and tackled administrative work at night. Their first customer was Cal’s wife, Edith, who bought a duplex in Edgemont as a revenue property to help get the company off the ground. The duo built six homes that first year, all the while establishing a reputation for integrity, quality, service and family values.
“There are a number of prominent builders today that grew out of the ashes of the 1980s, and we are one of them,” says Shane. “It created a lot of great friendships with competitors along the way, and we’re still friends with the other founders and families today.”
From those modest roots, Shane Homes evolved into the Shane Home Group of Companies, with 182 full-time employees producing around 600 single-family homes per year, up to 350 multifamily units, 100 lots for development and a growing U.S. presence. The scale has changed dramatically from those early days, but the company’s basic philosophy has not.
Cal built the company around a people-first mentality and a strong focus on customer experience, and this focus has carried through to the subsequent generations. Homebuilding itself is relatively standardized across the industry, so for Shane Homes, their difference lies in what happens before and after the build. The company’s organizational chart places customers at the top, and Shane’s Signature 10 program ensures the team continues to prioritize the customer experience.
“We put that emphasis on customer experience because our base has changed so much over the years. We’re tailoring the experience to them, whether that’s adding on a little more time for certain customers who don’t understand the process as well, or who want to spend more time doing upgrades to their homes. It’s how you respond to people. It’s how you take care of them throughout the entire process,” he says. “We have a customer experience department that focuses on that ever-changing experience, and it’s become part of the culture of the company.”
Signature 10 is less a scripted checklist than a philosophy for caring for customers. In it, there are no chatbots or overseas call centres. The online sales advisor promises to respond within 24 hours but often does so within minutes, answering questions and connecting customers with the right person.
The approach recognizes that every buyer needs something different. Some move through the process with little guidance while others need more help understanding the decisions involved in building a home. That can be particularly challenging for new Canadians, so the company brings in interpreters who can explain the various stages of the homebuying process in a customer’s native language. The customer support program spans from the initial contract through upgrades and design fixtures to moving services, documentation and maintenance after possession to make the experience as easy and enjoyable as possible.
“We’ve been around for 47 years so I guess you could say we’re not here for the short term,” Shane says. “We’re trying to create a lasting impression with people.”
The strategy has created a remarkable kind of loyalty. Customers who bought from Shane Homes in the 1990s are now returning for their third or fourth home as their lives change. Many also refer their children to the builder when their kids are ready to buy their first home. It’s a true family affair, both for customers and within the business.
When Cal was building the company, he brought qualified family members into key roles. Shane remembers when walking the halls was like a family reunion; he worked alongside his aunt, two sisters, both parents and two brothers-in-law. Many of that first generation have since retired and the second is beginning to slow down as the third generation, Shane’s son, Sebastian, learns the business.
That transition is different from the one Shane experienced when he took over. Shane Homes is no longer simply a homebuilder. It is a larger organization involved in land development and multifamily construction, with operations extending beyond Calgary. For the past few years, Shane’s brother-in-law, Dave Rickett, has been setting up the U.S. operation in Dallas, opening their first showhome there last September. Qualico Group of Companies is active in the area and helped Shane Homes navigate the market to purchase half of a developer’s subdivision lots. While the market is different, the strategy is familiar; they bring the Shane Homes approach to a new city while adapting to local buyers, labour and business practices.
“For now, we’re just going to focus on the housing volumes and if land opportunities arise and we have the people there for it, then we’ll probably pick up a few sections and start developing it. It’s a different world down there,” says Shane.
Dallas is an important part of Shane’s goal to double the size of the business over the next 10 years. Closer to home, multifamily projects and purpose-built rental housing will also contribute to that ambitious growth plan. The company’s first rental townhome project is underway in Legacy, with 59 units expected to be ready next summer. Multifamily already represents about 40 per cent of the product in new subdivisions, reflecting both changing buyer preferences and the growing need for affordable housing.
Whether the organization is developing an entire community like Esker Park, building single-family homes in Dallas or constructing multifamily projects across Calgary, Shane Homes continues to cater to changing housing markets and customer expectations while preserving what made the company successful in the first place.
Key to that is Edith and Cal’s values, which extend beyond the business itself. Through the Shane Homes Group of Companies and the Cal Wenzel Family Foundation, the family supports organizations focused on health, wellness and education, and their hands-on philanthropic approach ensures maximum impact for the people being served. Cal summed up the philosophy that has become part of the family’s way of doing business: “We cannot derive an income from the community without giving back to it.” It’s a philosophy that connects the company’s past with its future.
Shane Homes began with two friends, a few severance cheques and six houses. Nearly five decades later, the family business has a much bigger footprint and an even longer view. For Cal, Shane and the generations that follow, the goal of Shane Homes remains simple enough: to build a business and product people can trust, and build it to last generations.