Ben Gulbrandsen, right, of Viking Group Properties receives the Multi-Family Condominium Award of Excellence for Pacific Trilogy 3 from Pip Dhaliwal of Freedom Capital
VICTORIA – Viking Group Properties is committed to their CRAFT as they build award winning projects based on tradition.
CRAFT is a modern acrostic interpretation of traditional Nordic Viking Laws: Courageous, Resourceful, Accountable, Focused and Team oriented, and represents the values which the double-family business has operated under since forming three decades ago.
“The Skadberg and Gulbrandsen families have had a 50-50 partnership for 30 years and it’s still going strong,” says President Ben Gulbrandsen. “That’s because we’ve had good communication and like-minded goals.”
Director of Sales Jesse Forrest, a Skadberg in-law, adds: “We try to get everyone on board so we’re focused on the same page, and we’ve been successful doing that.”
The company was named the 2022 Construction Company of the Year in the Capital Region Commercial Building Awards, and is currently working on their largest project ever, a 68-unit building in Langford. This is their fourth such project in the past six years – the others being 31, 45 and 46 units.
“We did a three phase project and that was very successful, and we recently started our next three phase project with a total of 245 units,” says Gulbrandsen.
Pacific Trilogy 2 is another Viking Group Properties project
Their first three-phase build took four years, in which they managed to build all three buildings on the same street, one after another, using the same trades.
“ For our next three-phase project, we’ll be putting a crane right in the middle of the property that can be used on all the buildings,” he explains. “The one crane will be up for four and a half years. It will be very efficient, and the name of the game is to do as much as possible once instead of three times.”
That’s a by-product of the company adhering to its 1,000-year-old Viking values to lead the company.
“That’s why the Vikings were so successful,” Ben observes. “Before they went out on their ships, they planned so that everything was in proper order. They kept their weapons sharp, so we keep our tools sharp. We make sure we use top quality tools and focus on prioritizing doing first things first.”
Viking Group Properties has continued to add employees to the company over the years
Pacific Coast Land was the original company name, which changed to Viking Group Properties in 2019. Now with 20 full-time employees, the firm has doubled its crew size in the past six years.
“It’s very manageable growth,” notes Ben. “We visit the job sites every day, as everything we’re building is a five minute walk from our office in downtown Langford.
“I love working in the Langford core, and because we sell condos it’s important for us to inform our customers why it’s great to live in Langford, too,” he adds. “We’re ambassadors for Langford.”
They are indeed, as the company is a staunch supporter of local sports clubs, including the Western Lacrosse Association’s Victoria Shamrocks, the BC Hockey League’s Victoria Grizzlies, and the BC Junior Football League’s Victoria Rebels, amongst others.
That commitment mirrors the teamwork they demonstrate on the job, and the company holds quarterly team building events.
“That’s why we do so much with sports teams,” explains Jesse “They’re all teams, but we have the same dynamic here. The site superintendent is basically the team captain.
When a captain is Courageous, Resourceful, Accountable, Focused and Team oriented (CRAFT), good things happen!”
