working here, you feel that.” Also, Kyla says, the company has multiple branches and is constantly growing, and that presents employees with opportunities to advance and develop professionally. “Everyone has the opportunity to grow with the company,” she says. “They can learn new skills; they can use their skills in different ways. I think that’s appreciated. I think that’s why people stay.” Homes by Avi also enjoys longstanding relationships with their network of suppliers and subcontractors. Their large pool of employees means they can self-perform a lot of work, which has various advantages, but they still rely on a key group of extended partners. For example, they work closely with Gypsum Drywall (Southern) Ltd, a full-service drywall company that has been servicing Alberta since 1984. Over their history, they have constructed over 60,000 units across Western Canada, and they have become known for their commitment to safety, their integrity-based service, and their ability to problemsolve. According to Victor, Homes by Avi is drawn to partners like Gypsum, who have similar longevity in the market and similar reputations for quality. He says their relationships with those kinds of partners can go back a long time: “Some of our subcontractors go as far back as the time that Homes by Avi started operating,” he says. “Some we’ve been working with for over 40 years.” In some cases, ACMI will start talking to their trades and suppliers long before finalizing a design. That’s one of the advantages of that kind of loyalty and longevity. Victor cites a job they are working on right now as an example. They just went into construction, but they have been in communication with the client for over two years: “Duringthedesignphase,during pre-construction, we provided some value engineering advice to them,” Victor explains. “That advice didn’t just come from inhouse. We went to our trades. We got their feedback on how to optimize the design. If we didn’t have the right kind of a relationship, it would be difficult to provide that feedback. That we were able to do that so effectively speaks volumes to the relationships we have, to the network we’ve built in Calgary and Edmonton.” JULY 2021
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