Crystal Creek Homes - Celebrating 20 years

Building Dreams

One Luxury Home at a Time

Written by Rennay Craats

Sometimes one well-timed request is enough to change a person’s future. Michelle and Justin Bobier were renovating and building homes for themselves while Justin, a cabinet installer by trade, wrestled with what he wanted to do with his life. Then a family member asked him to build a home, and this request launched Michelle and Justin onto a whole new path.

“We thought we’d better make this official if we’re going to do it for someone else, so we incorporated on January 20, 2004,” says Michelle Bobier, executive advisor/owner of Crystal Creek Homes.

Justin Bobier. Photo by Riverwood Photography.

The duo hit the ground running, bringing together Justin’s construction experience with Michelle’s legal, accounting and administrative strengths to create a solid foundation on which to build their custom home building business. Their success with the family member’s home got the word out about the new company, and Crystal Creek built several more homes in the area as it continued to grow.

Within three years, they had their first showhome in MonTerra on Cochrane Lakes, an endeavour that earned the builder its first SAM Award for Best Estate Home in Alberta. What started as a team of two grew to 60 hardworking employees that have been an integral part of the company’s success.

And they’ve had plenty of successes. Crystal Creek has been a 41-time finalist and 23-time winner for Best Home at the regional, provincial and national levels and was named small-volume Builder of the Year for the Calgary region and Pinnacle Builder of the Year for Alberta. Even more important to the team are its Avid Gold Awards for highest customer rating, which is an honour that comes with the responsibility of continuing to provide the value clients have come to associate with Crystal Creek Homes.

With such success in Calgary, the business partners always kept expansion in the back of their minds and when Greenboro Homes was forced into creditor protection in 2012, Justin and Michelle saw an opportunity to expand their brand while at the same time resuscitating Greenboro’s abandoned builds. Crystal Creek implemented its plan to take Greenboro’s Edmonton entity out of receivership and in 2013 it launched the new branch.

“If we really wanted to grow the company, we needed to take a step like that. I had reached a place in the Calgary operation where I’d become comfortable and I welcomed a change,” says Trevor Scott, executive vice president running the Edmonton office. “It’s great to have that good reputation behind us so we can build a product that we’re proud of.”

Michelle Bobier. Photo by Riverwood Photography.

The Holden showhome in Watermark.

Building a better future

Crystal Creek Homes quickly became a favourite home builder across the region, and the Edmonton team followed the flagship location’s proven formula: building quality homes in the most coveted areas. In the past five years they have transitioned away from fully custom homes and now, as they build more than 120 homes in Calgary and another 100 in Edmonton each year, they can provide an exceptional product with the volume discounts that come with a personalized production format.

Congrats to Crystal Creek Homes on 20 years of success.

The Waterford, Hospital Home Lottery Grand Prize Showhome.

The Waterford, Hospital Home Lottery Grand Prize Showhome.

“We still build beautiful luxury estate-style homes but more from model plans and prescribed options, and we don’t really go outside the boundaries of that,” says Justin Bobier, owner of Crystal Creek Homes. “We stick to our awardwinning plans that are tried and true and tested but still build a product that anybody would be happy to call home.”

The company’s tag line, ‘a Reflection of You’, is still something they take to heart. Each community offers a variety of available floor plans that complement every lifestyle. The builder has a presence across Calgary, with luxury estate homes in Artesia south of town, Watermark in Bearspaw in the northwest and Belvedere to the east, all of which appeal to different clients looking for their perfect fit. It has also been a long-time estate home builder in the popular Aspen Woods community and is entering the multi-family space in the exciting University District this spring.

Crystal Creek also has a range of home styles and plans in Edmonton in the vibrant community of Elan just outside of Edmonton, Prescott in Spruce

Grove and the amenity-rich enclave community of Maple Crest. Whether clients have growing families, are looking to downsize or are younger professionals buying their first home, Crystal Creek has a luxury experience for every stage.

“Because we are a broad-based builder, we will appeal to different segments of the market no matter where you are,” says Justin. “We are full spectrum. We’re able to build a luxury product that encompasses economies of scale in terms of value. That’s really consistent, no matter the market segment we’re working in.”

Since the beginning, Crystal Creek has prided itself on providing quality homes and a positive experience for its clients and partners, but in a different way than the competition. That’s not surprising seeing as Justin, a former tradesperson now heading a thriving luxury home builder, definitely broke the mold. This entrepreneurial story of a cabinet installer and his no-longer-small company has inspired the industry and pushes Crystal Creek’s long-time trade partners to reach for new levels of excellence and service. As an underdog, Justin has never taken his foot off the throttle and continues to approach his business differently on all fronts.

As home building is capital intensive, Crystal Creek Homes met these demands in an innovative way. The CCH Real Estate Mutual Fund Trust was created which allows people to invest registered money, be it RRSPs or TFSAs, into Crystal Creek projects. The nearly 400 investors love that they are supporting something local and tangible, and they enjoy the profits of the projects alongside the builder.

“We’ve really laid out a capital foundation for the company to go forward into the next 20

Photo by Riverwood Photography.

years and our employees have ownership thinking because they are all participating in the mutual fund trust,” says Justin. “As the fund grows, we will grow as a company.”

Highfield

Crystal Creek is also leaning on technology to facilitate growth. While the act of building houses has changed little over the years, the business of it

Photo by Riverwood Photography.

has, and Crystal Creek has introduced cutting-edge technology that has the entire team buzzing. The organization is leading the industry in technology adoption, moving towards a fully integrated Microsoft product that will streamline the process of building and selling homes to increase efficiencies across the board.

“We’re like the Tesla of home builders. That’s where we’re going in terms of integrating technology, creating a cool product that people want and is considered luxury no matter what market you’re in,” says Justin.

Crystal Creek is about a year away from clients being able to build their homes on their website, right down to fixture selections, and clients can already conveniently access photographs and documents and download an app to handle after-care service and warranty. The system ensures customers are seeing real-time costs by integrating website pricing with its ERP system so there are no surprises or discrepancies. The goal from the start was to be trendsetters in the industry, produce the best product and experience for clients and support the communities they serve at the same time.

myuniversitydistrict.ca

Terminator Run Turns Ten and we’re going all out!

Let’s celebrate a decade of strength, support and community. Together, we’ve come far, and there’s still so much more to achieve. As we embark on our first major milestone, your support becomes even more instrumental in fuelling our mission, and amplifying the impact we can make together.

Registration opens March 1st, so mark your calendars for September 14, 2024, and be prepared to join us in making history.

You are invited to the 10th Annual Terminator Run for Youth Addiction Awareness!

The Somerton, former Aspen showhome.

Last year, the builder and its extended team partnered with Calgary Health Foundation and built the grand prize showhome for the Hospital Home Lottery, and they previously came together to build a new scoring tower for Springbank High School. Outside of construction, Crystal Creek is the title sponsor of the Terminator Foundation’s Terminator Run in support of youth addiction and mental health awareness, and is a proud sponsor of the Crystal Creek Homes Class Act Award and Scholarship given to a graduating Calgary Academy student that performed well at school and is pursuing a passion outside academics. And as their trade partners rally behind their own various causes, Crystal Creek is happy to support them, too.

It comes back to the core values that the entire Crystal Creek Homes team lives by: Commitment to Results Through Teamwork, Continuous Improvement and Have Ownership Thinking. Over the past 20 years, applying these values has facilitated the company’s goal of becoming a builder with a significant footprint in the Alberta market, boasting more than 1,000 happy homeowners and more than $800 million in revenues since inception. With current land positions, strong development partners and a solid reputation in the industry, the company is expected to double its revenue in the next five years. While eyes are set firmly on Crystal Creek’s bright future, Michelle and Justin Bobier, now as business partners, are taking just a minute to look back at all that has been accomplished.

“We’re very proud of this milestone, but we couldn’t have done all of this alone. There wouldn’t be a Crystal Creek without homes, but there wouldn’t be homes without our devoted staff or our incredible professional associates, industry partners, trades and suppliers. And of course, we have immense gratitude for our many valued customers over the last 20 years,” says Michelle.

Congratulations to Crystal Creek Homes on 20 great years.

SVR Lawyers is proud to have worked with you since 2007.

With the promise of a home that’s ‘a reflection of you,’ it’s clear that Alberta homebuyers like what they see at Crystal Creek Homes.