Award-Winning Nanaimo-based Construction Firm Enters New Phase Of Building
Pheasant Hill Homes ownership team, from left: Jamie Kuhn, founder Ken Connolly, Morrison Barr and Dan McNary © 2021 HA Photography
NANAIMO – Award-winning Pheasant Hill Homes is entering a new phase of building.
Building, as in the company itself, as founder Ken Connolly has added three partners to the construction firm: Jamie Kuhn, Morrison Barr and Dan McNary.
Connolly started the company 20 years ago. Kuhn has been with the company for eight years, Barr for five and McNary joined the firm last year.
“We have been discussing this for awhile, and we now own a small percentage of the company over the next few years we’ll complete the buy-out,” he says. “Ken’s not leaving. He’s very much involved in a mentorship role for us to take over the whole company in the future.”
Pheasant Hill Homes has 25 employees, and typically completes between 25-30 projects per year, between new homes and renovations.
“It’s definitely an excellent opportunity for all three of us,” Kuhn states. “We are young and ambitious and we want to see the company grow, and keep the same values that are being passed on to us by Ken.
“Ken recognized that we all had qualities to take over different parts of the company.
A Pheasant Hill Homes home on Orchard Park Drive
Morrison is project manager and looks after human resources and finance. Dan is the construction manager and a certified passive house consultant, and I am a project consultant and look after sales, marketing and business development.”
Pheasant Hill Homes has a number of long-term employees. For example, site and project manager Ryan Shew started with the company as an apprentice, and has now been with Pheasant Hill Homes for 15 years.
Custom homes are a hallmark of Pheasant Hill Homes, and Kuhn says the company’s design team, which he manages, is an integral reason for that. The team includes interior designer and draftsman Serena Nichol and project coordinator Bailey Schmidt.
Project Coordinator Bailey Schmidt
“The projects we now do for home buyers also include designers outside of the company,” Kuhn states, adding team members look after technical aspects of a home build, including permitting and engineering.”
Pheasant Hill Homes entries regularly win Vancouver Island Building Excellence Awards.
“We specialize in energy-efficient buildings, passive houses and net zero homes.”
Pheasant Hill Homes recognizes that each house is a system, and building and operating that ‘system’ impacts the environment.
Jamie Kuhn of Pheasant Hill Homes
“There is much we can do to lessen the negative effects that standard construction methods and lifestyle patterns have on our environment,” Connolly notes. “The benefit to owners and occupants of these better homes will be operating costs and improved personal comfort and health.”
Net zero and passive homes, once a rarity, are becoming more the norm, and in the future, communities are expecting that most new home construction meet new, stricter environmental standards. By 2030, the province wants all new homes to be built to Step 5, or passive home, standards.
Pheasant Hill Homes is currently building a net zero home in Nanaimo, a Step 4 house in Parksville, and working a passive home renovation in Nanoose Bay.
“These houses are much more efficient than a typical home,” McNary states. “They are designed to use body heat, solar heat gains and incidental heat from appliances and electrical devices. A minimal heating system is all that is required to fulfill the rest of the need for heat.”