When Harnek Matharoo, the owner and founder of Royal West Homes, decided to launch the company in 1999, he brought a wealth of education and experience to the busi-

ness. A diploma in engineering with a degree in business administra-tion plus 21 years in the construction industry gave him the tools he needed to start a successful company. He also had something that is not taught in university nor purchased through any retailer: passion.

“The intention was always to be my own boss,” Matharoo ex-plains with a warm smile. “After working in the public and private sector, I took a three-year break to work on some family obliga-tions and think about the future, then I opened Royal West Homes. With now over 35 years in the construction industry, I am just as comfortable with the technical side of things as I am with arranging millions of dollars for our projects.”

With his long-range goal setting and vision of what an outstand-ing homebuilding company can be, it is no surprise that his clients love the high-quality, modern, trendy houses Royal West Homes provide. “In 15 years we have never missed a possession deadline,” says Matharoo. “When we mail out a letter to the customer saying ‘your house will be ready on this date,’ it will be ready on that date. I still take pride in walking though each house we build to ascertain that it is done to our high standards.”

Those high standards start from the earliest stages of each project. Matharoo explains, “My philosophy is to spend more time at the plan-ning stages and address any issues before the construction starts. If you make mistakes during construction, you are not going to make money.

Avoid making mistakes. Do it once and do it right.” This exceptional level of detail continues through each progressive phase. “We are so confident about our work that we encourage all our customers to bring in their own professional home inspectors during the walk-through inspection,” says Matharoo. “We even cover some of the costs of these inspections.”

“Our subtrades have to know their work,” he says firmly. “They have to have the experience and the knowledge of their respective trades. We have companies that have worked with us for many years and we have new companies that we give opportunities to, but regardless of being an emerging or established company, the key person must have the knowledge and experience. We work with them and help them grow as we grow.”

“Most subtrades don’t want to leave us,” Matharoo continues. “They want to stick with us because we treat them fairly, and we pay on time. In 15 years we have never had a single incident where someone’s payment could not be issued on time. At the same time, we expect our subtrades to do their work on time and on the sched-ule that we jointly develop. We make sure every contractor fully understands the scope of their work and they provide a price they can live with. If we sense a contractor has underbid by too big of a margin, we will have them take a second or third look at their numbers before awarding them the contract. It helps no one when you are well underway into the project and the contractor finds out they made a mistake and they can’t do the work they promised. I’d rather deal with those issues beforehand.”

Royal West Homes | 15th Anniversary | 1

Royal West Homes: Building on Passionby Nerissa McNaughton

ROYAL WEST HOMES

Congratulations on15 YEARS of quality

home building!

13030 - 146 StEdmonton, AB T5L 2H7

P: 780.413.2260 F: 780.455.6107

Royal West Homes | 15th Anniversary | 2 Royal West Homes | 15th Anniversary | 3

Royal West Homes is currently working on their most ambitious project to date. Altitude is a 61-unit townhouse complex featuring four different models ranging from 1,170 square feet to 1,380 square feet. Thirty-three of the units have double-car garages (the remainder have single-car garages) and the owners get to customize their space by choosing from sev-eral high-quality finishing options.

“This product has been very well re-ceived by the customers,” Matharoo con-firms. “We opened the show home 15 months ago and now there are only a cou-ple of units left. By the end of December of this year we expect to complete and hand-over the last few units.”

Air Harbour is another project in progress. Designed as an adult bungalow community, Air Harbour is popular with empty nesters looking to downsize. This 32-unit complex broke ground in 2012 and is nearly sold out; just five units remain. Additionally, the company has built hun-dreds of single-family houses and duplexes over the years.

Although Royal West Homes builds residences all over Edmon-ton, there was a time when they took a short detour from home-building – and for a very good reason. “In 2007 when the economy went down it was time for us to move onto something that would be different and would keep us going for a couple of years,” Mathar-oo reflects. “The housing industry slowed down for about two years because of over-construction, high interest rates and a number of other reasons. People just stopped buying. At that time we had sold out most of our previous houses and an opportunity came up to build a 30,000 square-foot steel and concrete office building with an underground parkade.” Always ready to recognize a good op-portunity, Matharoo and his team decided to build the structure. The result is the impressive Summerside Business Centre located in Edmonton’s south side.

Whether Royal West Homes is building for residents or tenants, environmental pro-tection and sustainability is a top priority. “We want to do our part in making sure what and how we build, the products we use, and the way those things are designed and manu-factured, have the smallest possible negative impact on the environment. We use energy efficient doors and windows, faucets and fix-tures, up to 40 per cent recycled materials in attic insulations, low-volatile organic com-pound paint and programmable thermostats so residents can program their heating and cooling needs. We use high-efficiency fur-naces and hot water tanks,” Matharoo ex-plains just some of Royal West’s many eco-friendly initiatives.

The green initiatives don’t stop at the con-struction stage. Matharoo and his team pro-vide the means for each customer to carry the process further. “It is important for the cus-

tomer to know how we build our houses and what products we use in them so they can see that buying from us contributes to a positive impact on the environment. We go through an orientation before they take possession so if they have to change or replace things down the road, they are buying the right sustainable products.”

The hard work, passion and dedication Royal West Homes puts into each project has not gone unnoticed by the building commu-nity. Recently, Royal West was an award finalist in the Canadian Home Builders’ Association’s Edmonton chapter; but for Matharoo, it’s not the praise of the industry that provides his greatest satisfac-tion. “To me, the biggest appreciation comes from the customers when they walk into their new house and see what we have done. Then they come out and meet me and shake hands and say thank you for doing such a good job.”

Matharoo’s passion for building quality homes has not waned in over three decades. He is still excited about slipping out of his suit

Harnek Matharoo, president and founder of Royal West Homes

jacket and into a hard hat to check on Royal West’s construction projects. He feels it is his duty as the head of the company to per-sonally greet as many owners as possible and quickly address any concerns on their possession day. Through it all he still finds time to give charitably to humanitarian causes; train, educate and inspire his staff; and plan Royal West’s future.

“We have three new projects in the preliminary stages,” he in-forms. “One is a six-storey building with 224 units. We are also considering a 60-unit townhouse complex and a 40-unit apartment building. We are still working on the details of these projects. In addition, we are also looking for opportunities to get into a number of new subdivisions in the city.”

“I am really pleased to have the team I have on staff,” Matharoo concludes. “I am grateful to all of the stakeholders: the investors, the bankers, the land developers, the architects, our suppliers, sub-trades, staff and to an old friend, Joe Higgins, who helped this com-pany in its early years.”

Matharoo gives that trademark warm smile again as he thinks of the company’s future. “We are ready to expand further. We are aiming for close to $18 million in revenue this year, and in the next five years we expect to double that.”

With his passion for building and his active role in all aspects of the company, there is no reason to doubt that Royal West Homes will meet and exceed their goals while continuing to please each and every customer for many years to come.

Royal West Homes | 15th Anniversary | 2 Royal West Homes | 15th Anniversary | 3

CONGRATULATIONS ROYAL WEST HOMES!

WE ARE HONORED TO HAVE ASSISTED YOU IN REACHING THIS MILESTONE.

1004 Bell Tower, 10104 - 103rd Ave. Telephone: 780 428 1731 • Fax: 780 420 6290

www.oshryco.com

www.brzarchitecture.ca | 403.532.5980

Congratulations to Royal West Homes on your

15th Anniversary!We wish you continued success and look

forward to ongoing partnerships on future projects.

9810-62 AVE. EDMONTON, AB T6E 0E3P: 780.438.0331 • F: 780.435.0436

WWW.JAYSONGLOBAL.COM

R O O F I N G A N D E X T E R I O R S F O R O V E R 3 0 Y E A R S

CONGRATULATIONS ROYAL WEST HOMES ON 15 YEARS!

31, 450 McConachie WayPhone: 780.466.4099

Fax: 780.466.4069info@royalwesthomes.comwww.royalwesthomes.com

Congratulations Royal West Homes

on 15 years!

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CELEBRATING 50 YEARS!By Nerissa McNaughton

Royal West Homes | 15th Anniversary | 4

Congratulations to Royal West Homes

on 15 years in business. Your hard work

and commitment embodies all that

makes Western Canada a great place

to live, work and play. We look forward

to helping you reach even loftier heights

in the years to come.

The best success stories are the ones written right here

Edmonton Main branch

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Congratulations Royal West Homeson your 15th Anniversary!

Congratulations on 15 years of success!

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Congratulations! We are proud to be part of the

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Congratulations Royal West Homes on 15 years!

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Proud to support Royal West homes on their 15th Anniversary.

We wish you many years of

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