Creating high-quality homes with skill and integrity has been the bedrock of Bercum Builders’ successful 40-year business. Founded in 1983 in British Columbia’s beautiful Okanagan Valley, this award-winning home builder builds distinctive custom homes and renovations courtesy of employees dedicated to creating the best products, resulting in the Bercum model of always prioritizing quality above quantity.
“One of the things we’ve kept consistent through the different ownerships of Bercum, and even more so for us now, is quality over quantity,” says owner Bruce Young, who, after serving as both Site Supervisor and Construction Manager, purchased the company in 2022. “We’re not a high-volume builder; we’re very particular about our quality, and we attract clients looking for high-quality projects.”
Building a team with an impressive skill set to handle high-quality materials is vital for this approach and has proven invaluable. “We’ve been in business for so many years because of keeping the attention to detail,” says Young.
Allowing clients their privacy is imperative but can be challenging when it comes to advertising finished products, he adds. But it’s not about the Bercum brand; it’s about building for clients, such as NHL players relocating or retiring to the Okanagan; lawyers, doctors, business owners, and executives, some of whom are building second and third homes; or retirees moving into the Okanagan from different parts of Canada or the world.
“The Okanagan is quite a playground for those who like to be outdoors in the winter when we have good snow, mountain biking, hiking, or visiting wineries,” says Young.
When asked about the company’s advertising model, he says he doesn’t really have one, and that word of mouth has created a loyal customer base that gives Bercum what it needs to thrive exactly where it is. “We’re doing four houses every two to three years, and some renovations in between. But for the most part, we’re not looking to expand. Our clients expect a certain level of service. It’s very difficult to provide that service on a high-volume production building.”
At the moment, Bercum comprises Young and his wife, who own the company, and a staff of nine. “We work together, it’s manageable, and I can still have a life,” he shares.
Working with leading professionals, consultants, envelope engineers, and structural engineers has created a collaborative approach that also enhances education, especially as building codes continually change in Canada. “I’ve learned over the years that we’re continual learners,” says Young. “We look to improve on every project. One of our mottos is we’re never satisfied. We learn something on every project, and then we implement that into upcoming projects.”
Sustainability is another point of pride for the company, particularly when building amidst nature. As Bercum is often working on lakefront properties, the team takes great care to protect the water.
“Almost everybody on the team either mountain bikes or skis or likes to be out in nature,” Young says. “We build a lot of lakefront properties or mountain properties, and we are invested in them enduring for generations.”
This means providing, whenever possible, renewable energy—with the easiest being solar panels—but also harvesting rainwater and greywater out of the house, recycling it, and using it for irrigation and fire suppression. “Fire has always been an issue for us out here,” says Young. One particular project involved burying two large cisterns to collect water year-round and store it for use in both outdoor irrigation and supplemental city water to fight potential fires.
The company is also a net-zero builder and strives to provide those qualities whenever possible. “Our biggest attribute is we try to build really efficient homes,” Young says. Even in non-certified net-zero homes, there are still excellent insulation values.
“We love to be sustainable, but one of the things that gets a bit lost is that we can build a really efficient home now more than ever, and it doesn’t need to be done with renewable resources per se. If we use fewer resources, like less gas and less electricity, it’s actually much better for the environment.”
Bringing in employees who feel just as passionately about these attributes is a mainstay for Bercum, and one that has kept the company flourishing. “We’ve really tried to adopt a culture where people feel valued, and we’ve been able to retain our staff after we bought the company.”
Maintaining a positive culture includes getting together outside of work for ski days, mountain bike days, or winery days, along with a “pretty fabulous” Christmas party every year. “We really value our staff,” stresses Young. “We all live in the Okanagan because we want to live here, and we enjoy it. We value family time, so we don’t work weekends, and that’s non-negotiable with our clients.”
For Young, having a healthy staff and a healthy life is more valuable than being solely driven by the dollar, which only serves to burn people out. It’s an approach that calls for supporting staff as much as possible, whether that’s providing parental leave, supporting career growth, or encouraging clubs and teams; it’s all about creating a place where people want to be. “Work is hard enough, and I think this creates a sense of community,” he says. “I’m really proud of that. I was a cabinet maker, I’ve worked in the industry my whole life, and I’ve worked for some challenging people. I expect a lot of our staff, but I don’t do it in a way that’s demeaning. I always want to bring them up to the best of their ability.”
On every project that reaches the rough-in stage, all of Bercum’s staff participate in a walkthrough to share their thoughts and observations, fostering ideas from different perspectives and helping to create an ongoing collaborative environment.
Bercum is also fully committed to building to the client’s wishes. With homes ranging in size from 3,500 square feet to 11,000 square feet, there is certainly a wide variety, but most have a view of either mountains or lakes. Everybody wants large windows or sliding wall panels, and making those homes efficient is a unique challenge that Bercum is always up for.
“We’re legitimately a custom home builder,” Young says. “Our client comes to us with drawings already done, or with no drawings and we help them find an architect or house designer. For us, it really doesn’t matter what the design is; we don’t have a preference. We enjoy building all styles.”
Some of the biggest challenges the company has faced recently include building and coordinating complex homes with multiple challenges; working on building sites with steep slopes and bedrock; making expansive homes, with many large windows and sliding doors, as energy-efficient as possible; working with out-of-town clients; changing codes and requirements for home building in BC; building homes with unique elements such as rammed earth and gabion basket exterior walls with unique cladding materials; and the development of green roof systems within the workable parameters of the envelope. “We build a lot of lakefront properties that are on steep slopes, so we’re dealing with bedrock and challenging sites. We are working with a product called rammed earth, a natural building material made by mixing soil and cement powder and using a pneumatic rammer to compact the materials; this has been invaluable in the building process.”
As Bercum looks to the future, the company aims to continue doing what it does best, which means meeting and exceeding clients’ expectations; streamlining its process from the initial client meeting to the occupancy and turnover of clients’ homes; deepening relationships with trade partners; continuing to improve the culture; and developing strategies to ensure clear project parameters for each stakeholder from tender through to completion.
“What’s really important to me is continuing to meet and exceed our clients’ expectations,” Young stresses. “That’s a mainstay of the Bercum model. Our clients often ask us to do challenging things, so we take the time to figure it out.” Clear lines of communication from the office to the site to the client are made possible by Bercum’s taking on only a few projects at a time, affording the opportunity to provide every client with the care and attention they deserve.
Bercum’s clients hold the company to a high standard, and 99 percent of the time, their expectations are met. Young says it’s about doing your part, reading people quickly, and understanding what they want. “We’re the facilitator of building our clients’ dreams, but it’s our trades and suppliers that really do the heavy lifting of the project,” says Young. “It’s collaborative.”
It’s not all about Bercum, he adds; it’s about meeting clients’ expectations and ensuring the finished product is ideal, all while maintaining a company culture that matches the Bercum model. “That’s really important to me. Work takes up a lot of your life. We all have bad days, but if every day is a bad day, you should find something else to do.”
