Sean and Dennis

They say you should never do business with family or friends. With this in mind we went shopping for a builder. Following the rule was quite easy, since nobody in our family or circle of friends was a builder. This allowed us the luxury of not lying to them, which they seemed to appreciate.

Armed with my lovely and extremely detailed drawings on stock graph paper and a list of building specs that were slightly smaller the MTS Yellow Pages, we hit the show homes looking for a Custom Builder. We soon found that every Builder in Winnipeg considers themselves to be a Custom Builder.

Out come the drawings and specs and in 2 weeks to 3 months, you realize this Builder’s idea of a custom build is to give you a choice of carpet or hardwood, paint or paper and a coloured stucco from their approved list. If you are really nice and pay a premium, they could scan a mirror image of the plans and do the house in reverse.

As to the Building Specs? Yeah well, we really don’t follow the building code to the letter, because we find if you do, the house will be too expensive and people won’t buy it. We just follow the code in the places the inspector will look. You’re gonna move again in 5 years anyway, so what does it matter? Say “What?”

It was about this time, I stumbled onto Dennis and Sean Checkley’s Show Home in Royalwood. Out comes the package and Sean starts reading, Dennis keeps me chatting about the Show Home’s features. After a few minutes, I realize Sean is laughing and it is getting louder. Finally I say, “Okay. What stupid spec did I write in that is so damn funny?” Sean between laughs says, “It’s not funny. I just want to know when you got a copy of our building specs?” Of course I denied ever having seen his specs, so Sean asked Dennis to give me a copy. As I read through them, I had to ask, “Where did you guys get a copy of my building Specs?” I had finally found the right Builders.

We had our eye on a nice forested corner lot, The Boys explained the problems with building on a forested lot and asked if we had seen their lot on the lake, it’s the same price as the corner lot you like? We being very wise in the area’s layout said, “There’s a lake?” Off we went around the corner and there was this huge lake, fountain and castle like structure. We stood on the huge lot with our mouths hanging open and said, “Who likes stupid trees any way? They just throw a bunch of leaves on the ground in the fall.”

Over the next few months, real plans were drawn and tweaked. Soon construction started and Sean encouraged us to do a site inspection every day. If we saw something in question, he wanted to know that night so it could be corrected or verified the next day.

Over the months, we spent a lot of time together, inspecting, laughing and observing the interaction between Sean, Dennis and the Trades People. Whenever we did a site visit where the trades were still on site, Sean and the Trades took great pains to tease each other about something and even when they seemed really mad when together, both sides would be laughing at how they really got the other ones goat after they parted. I knew for sure we had the right builder then.

Sean treats every build as if it is his own home that was going up. He wants it to be the best possible. The Trades People appreciate that Sean and Dennis expect a quality job, and they strive to prove that they can produce the results Hallmark expects.

It says an awful lot when you can enter a business deal with 2 strangers, work together for many months and then share a drink at the end of the project with 2 friends.

Over 13 years later, we still try to visit Sean at every new Show Home, we might even walk past his house a few times, even though it is way across the lake in that newer snooty area. Dennis on the other hand, is way more accessible since he is just around the corner from us, and I think we may even have shared a glass or two of sparkling water.

Hallmark builds more than houses. Hallmark builds dreams into reality, and strangers into friends.

We can’t thank you enough, for all you’ve done and continue to do for us.

Great House. Great Friends. Your turn to buy the wine and sparkling water, we’ll supply the deck chairs and view.

Thanks,

- Greg & Calla Lofvendahl

P. S. Was that good enough to get our house picture on the web site now?

The Hallmark Experience

It’s very difficult to briefly summarize our building experience with Hallmark because we have so many positive things to say. Deciding to custom build your home can be a very overwhelming experience especially when you are not construction savvy (or handy to say the least). And there are plenty of opportunities for builders to take advantage of this lack of knowledge by cutting corners and not drawing attention to the consequences of some of your decisions in terms of long term quality of your home.

The following represent my top 10 reasons to build with Hallmark (in my head there are actually about 50):

1. You will never have to deal with a middle man; there are no sales agents involved. Sean will help you design your home, answer all questions throughout the process, monitor the on-going construction of your home and address any concerns personally after you’ve taken possession of your home.

2. Sean will never sacrifice quality. In these times where building a home in Winnipeg is at an all-time high, someone on a budget may have to sacrifice some ‘eye candy’ (as I call it) to afford the high level of quality construction that Sean insists on providing. Trust me, it is worth it. In a few years I’ll tile the bathroom floor, but my steel beams and 9 foot ceilings in my basement are irreplaceable.

3. He’s honest. Sean will never mislead you as to what your house budget can afford in terms of house and its amenities. He will work within your budget and you will not get blind sided by a page of ‘upgrades’ that you had no idea cost more.

4. He’s accessible. Anyone who knows someone who’s built a home has heard stories about not hearing back from their builder for weeks on end. This will NEVER be the case with Hallmark.

5. They meet their deadlines. Sean puts great effort into coordinating his trades’ people to keep the building of your house running smoothly. I dare say our house was ready early!

6. His trades’ people are top notch. As I mentioned, building a Hallmark home may cost more. This is because a) he pays his staff more to enable them to perform those extra steps that add quality to your home and b) he pays them to be safe at work.

7. He’s a perfectionist. Ask Sean about the time our decorator stated a light fixture was not perfectly centered to the wall. I’ll let him finish this one.

8. A Hallmark Home has good use of space. Sean has the amazing ability to maximize your square footage to make your house even bigger than the number suggests. And the wide hallways and stairwells are a bonus.

9. He’s innovative and versatile. Sean continues to develop his skills to ensure he is keeping up with what enhances quality of construction in our environment as well as design trends for today’s families. He can build for empty nester as well as the growing family.

10. You will have a blast. Most people report their home building experience to be exciting at first, but over time becomes incredibly stressful and frustrating; most likely ending with a desire for it “to finally be over”. Our experience from beginning to end was so much fun, we were sad when the house was done, because it meant our need to interact with Sean would be over. Thankfully as previously stated we are not handy people and over the past few years some questions have come up and guess what…..Sean is still happy to answer them for us!

- Carol & Anthony Davis

We had a great experience designing and building our home with Sean and Hallmark Homes and have been extremely pleased with the results.

- Paul & Kiran Claire

We built a new modest bungalow with Hallmark Homes in the year 2000. Since day one, we have been very pleased with Hallmark. Our relationship with Sean and Dennis has been very easy going and quite comforting over the years. Hallmark's dedication to quality, service, and satisfaction is the best in the business. I often hear horror stories from friends and acquaintances about their newly built homes that were built by 'other' home builders, and I am always humbled about how well we were taken care of. I will always be very grateful to Hallmark Homes with respect to how well we were treated from the first time we were introduced to present day.

- Jay and Michelle Allard

Sean,

Just a note to express our thanks for making the home building experience more bearable. Our Hallmark home was the third home we have had built and, by comparison, it was a pleasure dealing with you. Most of all, thanks for the great “after sales service”. This is a rare thing to encounter nowadays with any purchase. If we ever decide to take the plunge again, Hallmark Homes will be our first choice.

- Cyndy and Jim Erickson
/ Cyndy Erickson of Sutton Group-Kilkenny Real Estate

P. S. As a realtor, Hallmark Homes is the first builder that I recommend to any clients

We built our first home with Hallmark Homes in 1994. We would recommend Hallmark Homes to anyone looking to build their home. Sean was attentive to every detail in building our home. His after service is just as impressive as when he was building our home. With such a personal and financial investment at stake, we did it all over again with our parents home .. 10 years later!

Our parents refer to Sean as their “angel”!

Thanks for everything Sean/Hallmark!

- Karen/Terry & Family