Company Report: Mason Homes
Committed Community Builders Family-owned and operated, this central Ontario contractor delivers unmatched quality in every home.

Mason Homes

Mason Homes was named Green Builder of the Year by Building

Mason Homes maximizes material use and minimizes waste

Building a home is no easy task. Just ask Sean Mason of Mason Homes, an Ontario builder whose commitment to quality requires a really, really long checklist and a different frame of mind

“In every house we check 2,200 individual things, all of them on our completion slips,” says Mason. “That means you have a better quality house.”

Mason Homes was founded in 1961 by Gord Mason, a second-generation builder who is company President. The company has built homes in communities all over Central Ontario, including Barrie, Niagara, Toronto, and Peterborough. Today, Mason Homes continues as a family business: vice-presidents Sean and Ashley are the third generation of Mason’s involved in the home-building industry. Sean joined the company after a career in finance, and now works as the vice-president for sales and marketing. He believes the secret to Mason Homes’ success lies in their commitment to customer care.

“There’s no point in building houses if people don’t want them, so we like to create an environment that enhances people’s lives,” he says. “By changing the way we develop our communities, the way we plan, and the way we build, we can really affect the way somebody enjoys a house. That’s had a big effect on our market share, and it’s been a big focus of ours for the past decade.”

PERSONALLY & SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE
Sean also makes a point of personally phoning every new homeowner. Keeping up good relations with their customers is just one aspect of Mason Homes’ success, however, and it’s the company’s environmentally friendly initiatives that really set it apart. Mason Homes received the Energy Star Industry Leader award in 2006 for being the first builder in the Greater Toronto Area to build all of its homes to the Energy Star environmental standards. They were also the first company in Canada to do so. The company also received the inaugural Green Builder of the Year award from the Building Industry and Land Development Association, a Toronto-based society of developers.

“Being green is another part of our customer focus, because of the benefits: better indoor air quality, lower energy and water bills, better neighbourhoods for walking,” says Sean. “Being a green builder is part of our culture, part of our beliefs, part of our marketing; it’s a part of everything we do.”

The company’s push for greener building began in the middle of the decade, and Sean Mason says that their pioneering environmental policy is a big part of their recent success. As well, he credits an unlikely figure with jump-starting his own environmental sensibilities.

“Well, my mom had us recycling when we were little, and we always thought it was the right thing to do,” he explains. “When everybody started going green about four or five years ago, we thought that if we got out in front we would get all the headaches—regulations are changing, standards are changing—but we would also get the competitive advantage. If you’re the tenth company in the green race, you’re not going to get any of the fanfare. If you’re number one, you’ll get the headaches but you’ll also get the benefits.”

Mason Homes’ environmental policies are earth-friendly and economically sound. By maximizing material use and minimizing waste during the building process, Mason Homes can cut costs and improve its carbon footprint. Homebuyers also receive benefits, as the upgrades and efficiencies that are part of the Energy Star system can save them hundreds of dollars per year in water and energy bills. 

“It was a conscious decision to change our strategic business logic,” says Sean. “It has definitely increased our market share.”

COMMITTED COMMUNITY PARTNER
Mason is quick to point out that more than their environmental policy has made Mason Homes a success. 

“Everybody latches onto the green [projects],” he says. “But a lot of the other things we’ve done in the past couple of years have been as important if not more important for our success. We have more staff so we can deal with customers. They’re a part of our family, so we do a lot of community events such as Christmas parties and spring barbecues prior to people moving in we’re having parties for the customers so they get to know each other and get to know us. We’re outside of the greater Toronto area, and all the big builders in the GTA do this. We’re just bringing that to the smaller towns.”

NEGATIVE BECOMES POSITIVE
The economic downturn in late 2008 greatly affected the housing market, but Mason Homes didn’t let the economic conditions determine their business plan. Other builders scaled back on projects and laid off workers to deal with the recession, but Sean explains how his company saw it as an opportunity.

“We pushed harder than ever,” he says. “We spent more money, we were more aggressive, we went back to basics and did everything with a finer level of detail. We did not lay off  during the recession, which is amazing for our industry in ’09 and  “our market share went up,” he says.

This aggressive policy has helped Mason Homes succeed in the  down market.  Says Sean, “As our competitors pulled back, they left a big vacuum for us to walk into.”

According to Sean, Mason Homes doesn’t just build houses — they build communities. Through assertive growth and a commitment to leading the way on environmental compliance, the firm has carved a unique niche in the Ontario homebuilders market. Their success shows that saving the planet isn’t just a good idea; it’s good business, too. 

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