Better Building Through Experience

Better Building Through Experience

Established in 2011, Alberta’s Premier Building Solutions is a general contractor in the hospitality and senior markets. Since its inception, the company has become a leader in Alberta and continues to grow.

 

The company was founded as a partnership between Chuck Roberts and Ron Gehring. Combined, the duo had more than 80 years of experience in the commercial and hotel construction markets.

 

Tragedy struck in June of 2013, though, as Ron Gehring passed away. While this was a difficult time for the company, it’s continued to provide the high-quality construction services it always has.

 

“He was a strong part of our implementation, his experience with hotels and seniors projects was instrumental in getting us started and going,” Roberts said. “Our desire is to continue on in that vein.”

 

The Experience Advantage

 

Even though Premier Building Solutions is a relatively new company, Roberts and Gehring were able to hit the ground running. “The 80 years of experience seemed to bode well for us, picking up where the customer wanted us to go,” Roberts said.

 

Premier aims to become the “go-to” contractor for senior and hospitality projects in Alberta, and only 3 years in, it’s well on its way.  “We pride ourselves on the ability to work with designers and builders to build what the customer needs, look for cost saving measures, and manage the projects for the appropriate budget,” Roberts said.

 

Premier gets a large amount of business from word-of-mouth clients, though their repeat business is very high because of the quality of their work.  “Once you establish a relationship with a partnership group, the expectations of what’s going to be required becomes easier,” Roberts said. “Everybody understands their role and the expectations, making it easier to deliver based on that expectation. Project to project, the owner expectation doesn’t really change much even though the project does. You’ve still got that level of accountability and service to provide, so there’s an expectation there that we continue to strive to meet and exceed.”  Roberts stresses the importance of sub trade partnerships and how these positive relationships have played a huge role in the company’s success.

 

Premier Building Solutions is also working to ensure that these standards are passed down to the next generation of employees. Promotions are generally from within the company’s current roster of employees, which allows for holders of future management positions to know what’s expected.

 

“When you come up through the ranks, you have a pretty good idea of what our ideals are and what our level of quality is,” Roberts explained. “We hold ourselves accountable to the owner and that starts at the laborer. All the way through the system there’s a high level of accountability and we’re very open-book and transparent in how we do our work.”

 

Premier also capitalizes on its many years of experience in mixing its younger talent with veteran staffers. While the younger employees are eager to learn, the vets are invested in ensuring the company is in good hands for years to come.  


A Commitment to Alberta

 

The vast quantities of experience present at Premier Building Solutions are helping them complete projects across Alberta.  Premier has a number of ongoing projects, ranging from various hotels to senior living facilities.

 

The company has broken ground on a five-story, 140-room Wyndham Gardens hotel at the Calgary Airport, as well as a similarly sized assisted living facility in Red Deer, about an hour and a half north. Also in Red Deer is a 100-room Microtel, a subsidiary of Wyndham, which recently crossed the halfway mark in terms of completion.

 

The company recently completed an 83-room Super 8 motel in Lloydminster, as well as a 92-room TownePlace Suites, a subsidiary of Marriot, in Red Deer. Both projects also involved aquatic components, including pools and spa construction.

 

Not all of Premier’s projects are larger scale, however.  “We’ve done some community projects in Caroline for the Caroline Ag-Society and Clearwater County,” Roberts noted.

 

Always Planning Ahead

 

With so many projects underway, it’s important to always be looking to the future. Luckily, Premier manages its business by managing in both the short and long term. This is exemplified through its commitment to sustainability.

 

“I think we try to be a little bit visionary on the upcoming building codes,” Roberts said. “We’re cognizant of present code, but we try to be proactive in seeing where the code’s going. We try to build those kinds of contingencies into the projects so the end-user won’t be saddled with costs to either maintain a new code requirement or provide labor for a future code requirements. We try to be visionary in the way we build, so we build in some of the code requirements we see coming down the pipe.”

 

With its strong delivery of a solid end product at a reasonable cost, Premier is soon to be a much-sought after partner for a growing number of projects. In the short term, the company hopes to maintain its strong customer base by providing its top-quality project delivery, all while fostering growth within the company and in its customer base.

 

Premier Building Solutions is always looking for ways to improve on the time honored tried-and-true methods of construction by finding and implementing new and improved products.

 

Currently, Premier is working on some administrative upgrades.  Roberts said the company is “continuing to implement advanced software to make accounting and budgeting even more accurate.”

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