The Construction Source America

THE CONSTRUCTION SOURCE AMERICA of their single-family homes are valued in the millions and generally inaccessible to first- time homebuyers and young professionals – with their multi-family projects, those are the demographics they are targeting. “Our goal is to still deliver those premium finishes, but in a smaller package,” Sergey says. “We want to make them accessible to first time buyers – to people who are spending less than $400,000, or even less than $300,000 in some cases.” In the multi-family sector, Royal Oak also aims to deliver the same calibre of workmanship and quality. They achieve that through multiple layers of quality control, through the use of technology – the founders come from a technology background, after all – and through hands-on supervision. “Yona and I are very close to the grassroots of every project,” Sergey says. “We’re very much involved. We make regular site visits. We’re there multiple times a week. We invest a lot of our own time in each project to make sure everything meets our standards.” They also invest in high quality subcontractors and trades, as they believe a project is only as good as the people working on it. Over the years, they have gone through “many, many” trades in their search to find a team they trust, but now that they have found that team, they no longer shop around. They use the same high-quality people on every project, no matter the size or scope. “The same people that are working onmillion dollar homes for us are also working on our smaller footprint condominium projects,” Sergey says. “So the level of quality and attention to detail is very much the same.” In the early years, when Sergey and Yona were narrowing down the trades that they trusted, Sergey explains that they weren’t just looking for high quality workmanship. Workmanship was important, of course, but just as important was the level of accountability. “In the construction space, no matter your level of professionalism or level of experience, at some point you will make a mistake,” he says. “Mistakes happen. The human element is always there. Obviously, the fewer mistakes the better, but what’s important is how you handle it when things go wrong.” “The reason that we work with the people that we do is that when there’s a problem, they come back and fix it,” he adds. “Our subcontractors stand behind their work and their product. If there’s an issue, they’ll address it in a timely matter.”