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W hen the owner of Haven Builders opens his box of tools, there is no cookie cutter to be found. The idea of building two of the same house is a foreign concept to Nathan Stobbe. Haven Builders’ clients are typically people who value their individuality and want their home to express their unique interests and sense of style. That suits Stobbe, who started the company three years ago with the premise that a builder who paid attention to individual needs and high quality was sorely needed in Saskatoon. His team thrives on the creativity involved in each new project. “We’ve never built the same house twice, and each one has custom-tailored cabinetry and features that are unique to it,” says Stobbe. “Even if a customer starts with one of our concept plans, it will get modified extensively and we custom design it for them.” When Stobbe formed the company, he took all the things that he didn’t like about his own experiences working with other builders and tried to address them with Haven Builders. The demand the team is experiencing is a testament to his vision. “People are pretty excited to find someone who is interested in who they are and how they’re feeling and works to incorporate their needs into the house instead of just banging out a template house,” says Stobbe. “Haven DOES YOUR HOME HAVE PERSONALITY? BY PAUL SINKEWICZ PHOTOS HEATHER FRITZ ABOVE L–R Tasha Baier, Donna Senterre, Dallas Stobbe, Lyle Richards, Nathan Stobbe

Fine Homes Summer 2013 Article

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Page 1: Fine Homes Summer 2013 Article

When the owner of Haven Builders opens his box of tools, there is no cookie

cutter to be found. The idea of building two of the same house is a foreign concept to Nathan Stobbe.

Haven Builders’ clients are typically people who value their individuality and want their home to express their unique interests and sense of style. That suits Stobbe, who started the company three

years ago with the premise that a builder who paid attention to individual needs and high quality was sorely needed in Saskatoon. His team thrives on the creativity involved in each new project. “We’ve never built the same house twice, and each one has custom-tailored cabinetry and features that are unique to it,” says Stobbe. “Even if a customer starts with one of our concept plans, it will get modified extensively and we custom design it for them.”

When Stobbe formed the company, he took all the things that he didn’t like about his own experiences working with other builders and tried to address them with Haven Builders. The demand the team is experiencing is a testament to his vision. “People are pretty excited to find someone who is interested in who they are and how they’re feeling and works to incorporate their needs into the house instead of just banging out a template house,” says Stobbe. “Haven

DOES YOUR HOME HAVE PERSONALITY?

BY PAUL SINKEWICZ PHOTOS HEATHER FRITZ

ABOVE L–R Tasha Baier, Donna Senterre, Dallas Stobbe, Lyle Richards, Nathan Stobbe

Page 2: Fine Homes Summer 2013 Article
Page 3: Fine Homes Summer 2013 Article

customers are people who don’t want to live in the same house as someone else.”

As an example, Stobbe points to the unique features of his latest project at 206 Werschner Crescent in Rosewood. Priced at $869,000, you won’t find another one like it in Saskatoon and it is filled with custom finishes. The clean, modern lines of the striking exterior allude to the carefully considered design elements that pervade the home. It is highly functional, but also exudes liveability. “The heart of our company, and the houses that we build, is a real focus on kitchens and master suites. Every house is different, but we try to create master suites that people really want to spend time in.”

A dressing room on one side, and a gorgeous ensuite bathroom on the other bracket the open and bright master bedroom in the Werschner home. The double doors to the dressing room open to show off custom cabinets with a built-in dresser and a changing area. There is LED mood lighting above the cabinets and the opportunity to use the home’s eight-zone audio-visual system, so many pleasant hours can be passed mixing and matching outfits.

The master bedroom includes two zones of AV on the home automation system. Both zones of the master bedroom can be playing different music or video streams simultaneously, which means a relaxing bubble bath in the soaker tub can be accompanied by soothing music, while a Blue Jays game is in progress in the bedroom or indie rock blares in the closet during a raid on mom’s shoe collection.

The two secondary bedrooms in the home also have walk-in closets, and each has unique design elements like 9-and-a-half-foot ceilings or huge windows. There is the potential for more bedrooms in the unfinished basement, and it, too, has 9-foot-tall ceilings to create an open, liveable feeling.

For practicality, off the main entrance is a sunny office space that shares a two-way fireplace with the living room. At the

Page 4: Fine Homes Summer 2013 Article

Haven Builders829 46th Street West

[email protected]

www.havenbuilders.ca

garage entrance, a large mudroom offers a bench, hooks and ample closet space, eliminating the entryway mess that is the bane of so many homeowners.

One of the most notable features of the home is the variety of possibilities it offers for entertaining. The living area features a handsome fireplace with a floor-to-ceiling custom painted designer glass surround by Castle Designer Glass. It is all part of the open main floor area and is adjacent to the dining area and kitchen. Warm cork flooring connects the three areas, with the iPad station that controls the house AV system situated at the central hub.

A patio door leads out to the 650-square-foot deck with views looking out both to the neighbourhood in the front and the park in the back. Natural gas hook-ups are in place for patio heating or a barbecue, and of course the ubiquitous high-end AV system is at your disposal.

The kitchen is an entertaining marvel by itself. The focal point is a horseshoe-shaped island with a built-in sink and induction cooktop. “Like most of this house, the kitchen is really built around entertaining guests,” says Stobbe. “The island allows you to have people sitting on two sides and it’s also ideal for prepping and cooking while entertaining guests. It’s very functional.”

More LED lighting above and below the custom cabinets helps create the perfect ambience. Stobbe is especially proud of the cabinets throughout the house. He researched cabinetmakers when he began Haven Builders and found the quality and service available wanting. He couldn’t find a company able to fulfill the creativity and performance he wanted, so the solution was to set up his own shop with a dedicated team of craftsmen. They only build for Haven’s custom-built houses and renovations.

The attention to detail in Haven homes sets it apart. Each house the firm builds boasts custom-designed solid core interior doors. Aside from doing all the

cabinetry in-house, Haven Builders has its own finishing staff to make sure the finishing carpentry is done correctly and looks great.

Signature Service

As a master custom-home building company, Haven Builders relies on great service to earn its clients. It offers its “Signature Service” at no extra cost to ensure its clients get what they want. “Our customers are looking for something that is different from all the houses going up in the neighbourhood,” says Stobbe. “We do that for them. And we also want to make sure this experience is one they love.”

Aside from cabinetmakers and finishing carpenters, Haven Builders has a gifted designer, Donna Senterre, on staff to work with clients on the design of the house to ensure it is perfect for them. There will be time spent together shopping for the right colours and materials, doing price

comparisons, and lots of collaboration on the final design. “First and foremost, we focused on creating a unique service model for our customers,” says Stobbe. “Our feeling is that most people building a home like their house at the end, but they don’t like the process. We want them to be able to love the process because we think they will be able to love their house that much more.”

If you would like to learn more about this and other houses available by Haven Builders, or would like to learn more about the unique experience of building a custom home with Haven Builders, please contact Tasha Baier at 306.382.3667 or [email protected] FHS

ABOVE L–R Tasha Baier, Donna Senterre