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The 45-Year Legacy of Shane Homes

The 45-Year Legacy of Shane Homes

Published By Evelyn Dehner

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Over the past 45 years, Shane Homes has changed in many ways while not really changing in ways that truly matter. In the early days, founder Cal Wenzel and Barry Balsillie, his business partner, conducted business in a creative way in order to get a foothold in Calgary’s new-home market. 

“I’ve taken a herd of cattle as a down payment. I’ve taken an airplane, motorhomes and trailers, and antique cars. We had to be uniquely different,” says Cal Wenzel, founder and chairman of Shane Homes.

While he can’t be quite as creative now, the focus on accommodating the customer remains. Cal and his team continue to deliver a positive experience to every home buyer who comes through the door. The size of the company and scope of projects have grown exponentially since 1979. The original two-person operation now supports a dedicated team of 147 staff and nearly 2,000 contractors, making it one of the largest home builders in the city. Through all that growth, the team has maintained the same core values of service, quality, integrity and family on which the company was built. 

Strong values were pretty much all Cal and Barry had when they hung out their first shingle. After the mobile home, modular and RV division they worked for with the Pattison Group was shuttered and they found themselves unemployed, the duo viewed it as an opportunity to do something as a team. They wore many hats to get their company off the ground. During the day they did everything they could onsite and spent evenings taking care of accounting and marketing to grow the business. 

“We worked on the exteriors of our houses on Saturdays and Sundays because if people were driving around, they would stop and ask us who was building the home, and we would say ‘we are’. We were the salespeople. We were everything!”

Cal made friends in the industry who helped him access land to build on, and slowly Shane Homes began showing up in subdivisions across the city. They built five homes their first year, with Cal’s wife, Edith, purchasing the first duplex as an investment property. Cal’s son, Shane, had a front-row seat to the company’s growth and started working on job sites during weekends and school breaks as a teenager. After graduating, he joined the company full-time in sales and marketing, and started learning the business from the inside out. Barry retired after 20 years and Shane took on more responsibility, becoming president in 2010 and adding CEO to his title in 2022. While the company shares his name, it was Shane’s work ethic and leadership that landed him the top job, not his lineage. He has proven that he is up to the task of evolving and growing the company in an everchanging and challenging market. 

Shane Homes has a long resumé of excellence in a variety of home types at a range of price points and enjoys a well-deserved reputation for integrity, honesty and quality in the industry. Customer service is key. With such value-adds as a design studio with talented interior designers who help bring customers’ vision to life and Virtuo, the full-service concierge that guides customers through the process from construction to move-in, the Shane Homes team strives to make it as stress-free and enjoyable as possible.

“We believe in a strong customer experience. We’ll always put customers at the top of our organizational chart, and we want people to have a unique experience with us,” says Shane.

Homebuyers know that when they build with Shane Homes, they will get high-quality construction, impeccable service and customizable floorplans that turn a house into their home. It’s no wonder that the award-winning company has multi-generational loyal customers who won’t settle for less than a Shane Home. 

Over the decades, the team has served approximately 16,000 happy homebuyers and growing; the company builds more than 600 single-family homes with plans for 150 multifamily units annually in the most coveted areas of Calgary and Airdrie. The company has recently expanded south of the border through a partnership with Qualico Communities in Dallas, Texas, that will see a showhome opening June 2025. As a long-time player in the industry, Cal’s solid relationships with many developers presented opportunities to also move into land development. Today, Shane Homes owns a portion of several developments in the city and the entirety of others.

“Moving forward, what we’re looking at is purchasing more land for a true Shane community,” says Shane. “Esker Park in NW Calgary is ours exclusively. We have 216 acres there, so roughly 2,000 homes, and in Stage 2 there will be multifamily so the density will go up.”

Shane Communities, which is Shane Homes’ land development division, is currently developing in Aspen Spring Estates in Calgary’s southwest and Midtown in Airdrie.

Shane Homes continues to grow, and the Wenzel family is grateful they had an opportunity to be a part of so many wonderful Calgary communities. People have supported their business for decades and it has always been important for the company to give back. Over the years, to say ‘thank you’ Shane Homes has given generously to countless initiatives that promote health, wellness and education among other causes. But this year is special; the company is celebrating its 45th anniversary by donating $4.5 million to various programs across the city, with an average contribution of $100,000 to each.

“There are a lot of good causes. I think we will be able to support about 30, as some will get more than $100,000. It is quite likely we will give away more than that in the end,” says Cal. 

The Company has helped out a variety of organizations during this campaign, supporting such programs such as Kids Cancer Care’s Camp Kindle renovation, Not In My City to fight human trafficking, an expansion into junior and senior high school by Renfrew Educational Services, a number of cancer charities and the Foothills Hospital’s Psychiatry Department initiative to better understand mental issues and addictions.

It is an incredible way to celebrate 45 years in business by a company that has built up communities as well as the people living in them since day one. Despite the successes it has enjoyed, there is always room to grow and improve, and Shane Homes continues to evolve with the second generation at the helm.

“Shane has taken over the day-to-day operations and hopefully grandson, Sebastian, will one day take over from Shane,” says Cal Wenzel. “We plan on being around for another 45.”

5661 7th Street N.E. 
403-536-2200
info@shanehomes.com
www.shanehomes.com

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