Borren Builders is a custom homebuilding company based in Lacombe, Alberta. Founder and owner Dennis Borren was born and raised in the region and has been working in construction all his life. Throughout junior high, high school, and college, he competed in carpentry competitions with SkillsCanada, where he won provincial awards in Alberta and British Columbia and received silver at the national level. When he started his own company in 2018, it was with the goal of bringing that level of excellence to every build, and the vision of providing clients with “the best outcomes and the best experience possible.” Today, that founding vision still guides everything Borren Builders does, though the company’s focus has evolved. In recent years, for example, Dennis has embraced building science and started shifting more and more towards sustainable and high-performance home building. To that end, he and his team are currently working on a home that will be both certified Passive and certified Net Zero. Once complete, it will be one of the few certified Passive builds in all of Alberta. Dennis’ interest in high-performance building traces back to when he was doing his apprenticeship and attending what was then Red Deer College. At the time, a Scott Subaru dealership in Red Deer was being constructed as a certified Passive House, and his employer was supplying insulation for the project. He remembers being surprised by the sheer volume of material going into the build. Then a guest speaker came to the college to explain the science behind it, and something clicked – Dennis began to look at construction in a whole new way. “I realized construction is not just about putting up four walls and calling it a building,” Dennis recalls. “It’s about how every element works together to APRIL 2026
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTYzNTg=