The Construction Source Feature!

Why Norseman Are Leaders In Renovation

December 2022 Feature

Norseman Construction is a GTA builder that specializes in performing the full spectrum of home improvement projects, from renovations and additions to new homes and everything in between. Since forming in 2005, they have grown steadily in both size and reputation, largely on the back of their full-service offering and their embrace of technology. According to Kris Potts, President, they handle “every step of the project, from ideation to completion” – everything from the planning, to the design, to the build, all the way to the delivery. At each stage, they use state-of-the-art software and technology to keep clients informed, to keep the project on time and on budget, and to ensure the highest standard of quality.

Norseman uses their specialised and informative six- step process to help clients to fully understand what they are getting into. They recognize that for most clients, “this is the biggest investment of their lives,” Kris says.

“We want them to understand how things work and help them to put their money in the right places and show them what they are actually spending their money on. We want our clients to trust our process and feel comfortable with their choice to work with us.”

We at Norseman are dedicated to changing the construction industry to continually strive to maximize the innovations which will result in the competitive advantages for our customers. We strive to efficiently demonstrate through transparency and inspirational cultural organization, guided leadership to promote trust and credibility within the construction industry."

“Our vision is to help builders become better builders and builds to become better built. We want to help customers to a unique way of experiencing their renovations from a company that they can trust no matter where they live.”

“Before starting up Norseman Construction, I served as a private military contractor,” explains Kris. “My trade was underwater engineering and demolition and, as you can imagine, the training was intense and the job was, by its very nature, stressful. To ensure mission success, I quickly learned the importance of planning and having adequate controls in place to support each operation.”

After returning from overseas in 2005, Kris focused his efforts on launching and growing a new deficiency repairs company that specialized in providing warranty repairs for large development projects in the Toronto area. The company covered an extensive area and as the number of development sites the company served increased, Kris relied on the organizational lessons he learned working with various military units to manage the sizable workload.

His investment in building the critical processes to guide the company’s growth certainly paid off and the company continued to advance at an accelerated pace.

Despite this success, Kris was already thinking of how he could take the company beyond just doing repair work and how he could have greater control over the company’s future; it was at this point that he decided the time was right to make the move to residential renovations and construction.

Determined to bring the same disciplined approach to custom building as he did with warranty repairs, Kris’ first step was to develop the corporate framework that he knew would be necessary to support his ambitious growth plans. “Customers might be a little surprised to discover the number of construction firms that continue to manage their businesses using spreadsheets and other self-made workarounds,” he notes. “In our case, we chose to go with a computer program designed specifically for our industry that provides core project and resource management tools, and we insisted that all team members – including our trades contractors – use the program.”

By having everyone managing their tasks in the program, specific project updates are always accessible in real time. Other features, including automated scheduling and inventory tracking, improve overall efficiency and because the program also runs on mobile devices, no matter where the job site may be located, everyone can easily keep in touch.

“We wanted to make sure that our tradespeople felt that their personal and professional interests were aligned with Norseman’s, and we’ve tried to encourage this by creating a contact that sets the terms

of our relationship with them for a full year. This includes more than just guaranteeing prices; it also provides for training opportunities to help each person build their skills. In addition, we ask our tradespeople to attend regular project meetings where, as a group, we discuss current projects as well as upcoming work and raise any other operational concerns. We are a team and without proper cohesiveness our projects would not be so successful.”

“Our trades are our backbone,” says Kris. “It’s through mutual respect and trust with each other that makes Norseman’s team so successful.”

Kris adheres to the idea that to be successful, you need to have specific objectives and while it may sound like the slogan from a recruiting poster, he firmly believes that without a clear goal, individuals can never reach their full potential. The fact that more than one junior tradesperson has gone on to become a Norseman supervisor demonstrates the effectiveness of these contracts.

“Developing an infrastructure to support and manage operations and ensuring that everyone on the team understands how they contribute has been key to how we’ve leveraged the skills of our people.”

Within a year of forming, Norseman Construction had grown in staff from one person – Kris himself – to 30 people. They started doing deficiency reparations for other development firms and property owners. They quickly built a strong reputation in that field, but they weren’t satisfied with the tools they had available to them. That’s when Kris started investing in innovation.

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