In the quiet countryside west of Olds, Alberta, Brian Gardner has been building homes for almost all his life. Fresh out of high school, hammer in hand, he framed homes for a local company – a trade learned in part from his grandfather. Those early days taught him precision, patience and the value of a solid reputation – qualities he has carried into nearly four decades of custom homebuilding. Today, Brian Gardner Custom Homes operates as a lean, hands-on enterprise. Brian oversees every phase of each project, from initial client meetings through the final coat of paint. At the beginning of the process, he typically partners with a Didsburybased architect, who sits down with the client with him and conducts an interview in order to ascertain their wants and needs. From there, the architect draws up the plans and Brian takes care of bringing them to fruition. “We start from scratch,” Brian says. “The architect interviews the clients with me, draws the plans, and then I take it from the basement all the way to a finished home.” These days, Brian works almost exclusively on rural acreage builds for retiring Calgarians, managing projects with budgets ranging from $500,000 to $1 million. He only takes on two-tothree homes per year and he tends to be selective about his clients. Because he’s so hands-on and in such close contact with all his clients, he says it’s important to work with people he gets along with. On the other side of the coin, Brian believes clients like working with him because of how much he cares about quality. Again, he says that being so personally hands-on helps him to ensure that quality. He also says that having strong relationships with local suppliers and trusted subcontractors plays a key role. JUNE 2025
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