Avenue Magazine Calgary

Purpose Calgary’s largest land developer, with residential  development in several North American cities.

Size 250 full-time employees.

Vicki Patricio is the poster employee for Carma Developers LP. Not only has she worked there for 29 years, her three daughters also have jobs at Calgary’s largest residential land developer.

Between the four of them, they share 44 years with the company. “I’ve loved everything I’ve done here,” says Patricio, who over the years has been executive assistant to two company presidents and is now the receptionist. “Every president that we’ve had here, they all make you feel like you’re wanted and needed, like a somebody, not just a number.”

Before Alberta’s nasty recession in the early 1980s, Carma was a diversified international company, owning shopping malls, hotels, car dealerships and a life insurance company.

Now, the Calgary-based company focuses solely on land development, and has built several neighbourhoods, including Aspen Hills, Cranston, McKenzie Towne, New Brighton, The Terraces of Springbank Hill, Tuscany and Valleyview
Estates. With branch offices in Toronto, Edmonton and Victoria, Carma is currently building Lake Summerside in Edmonton, a 3,000-home community surrounding a 32-hectare freshwater lake and a multi-use community clubhouse.

Kevin McCubbin, a site manager who oversees multi-family residential projects at Carma, says he appreciates the company for its high ethical standards.

“It doesn’t have some of the ethical shortcomings that are typical of some of the other businesses in the industry,” he says. “I’ve worked for other builders in the past where, as a superintendent, you need to pay for extra services that are above the contract, you write a purchase order in the field, only to have main office not honour it.”

Carma managers bend backwards to ensure that doesn’t happen, McCubbin says. Superintendents have the ability to give approvals in the field when unexpected costs crop up. McCubbin adds the company’s honourable principles ensures skillful contract tradesmen continue to work happily for the company.

The company seems to have also found a balance between employee independence and teamwork. In planning its new Calgary headquarters (the company moved in May), employees were invited to contribute design ideas and were able to select from a list of design options and materials for their own workspaces.

McCubbin says the company provides great leadership with long-term vision, and it treats employees with respect, providing a variety of benefits and support, which includes training and employee tuition assistance.

“And people are interested in having mentor relationships with those coming up the ladder,” says McCubbin. “It’s not about guarding your territory; they care about people moving ahead.”

carma.ca

Key Employee Benefits
Several flex days and personal days off; workshops and training sessions; employee tuition assistance.

Why it’s the Best Place to Work
The company’s leadership is ethical and honourable and supportive of the staff.

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