approach, doing all the framing, concrete, and finishing in the green homes he built. His commitment to quality and fairness caught on, and Dueck Homes grew quickly in terms of both size and renown. The company ended up building the first privately built LEEDcertified house in Manitoba, and Cal personally contributed to various green building boards. Then in 2016, Cal’s nephew Josh Friesen came aboard, and the company rebranded to Dueck Builders. Josh, meanwhile, is a Red Seal carpenter who previously won the Level 4 Manitoba Skills Competition at Red River College. Over the course of his career in construction, he’s personally done a little bit of everything, “from framing, to roofing, to siding, to insulation, the whole gamut,” he says. He now does a lot of design work, and he has found that handson background to be extremely valuable – “because I actually know how to build what I’m designing.” Dueck Builders started out doing smaller and simpler green homes and over the years has progressed into doing larger and more complex ones – this year, Cal says, they are doing some homes valued at $1.5 to $2 million. He says that the clients who are interested in building sustainably in that price range tend to seek out Dueck Builders, and he believes they ultimately choose Dueck Builders because of their focus on relationships. “Relationships are really important to us,” Cal says. “The human-to-environment relationship is obviously important, but so are the humanto-human relationships. We’re keen on making homebuilding AUGUST 2023
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