An increasingly popular request is for ‘barndominium’ living
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It all began in 2007 when Steve Schouten started to build fences and decks; he must have completed jobs to everyone’s satisfaction as he was soon able to employ crews, purchase equipment and take on bigger jobs.
Today he acts as CEO of his own company, Remuda Building and Supplies, which he formed in 2014 and is now known across the Prairies for the quality of its post-frame buildings. Much of his business is with the agricultural sector, which helped choose the name Remuda, a term used for a group of saddle horses from which ranch hands select the best mounts for the day.
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Joined by Peter Vanderzwaag, who helped establish the company, Schouten chose to locate his office and yard in Rocky View County, east of Chestermere at Highway 9 toward Langdon.
The office is home to a staff that includes in-house designers and engineers, as well as the usual administrative and marketing departments. A new 16,000-square-foot plant on an adjoining property manufactures posts, and within a couple of months an expansion will be completed and new equipment installed to manufacture trusses for a wide variety of customers — contractors, homebuilders and commercial construction.
The company, currently with a staff of 40, has grown to offer a broad range of post-frame buildings, from homes to massive structures that can cover spaces up to 120 feet wide and 500 feet long.
Schouten says most of the business is in the Calgary region building for rural acreage owners, farmers, business owners and for small towns, but his customer base is growing in southern Alberta and into B.C. and Saskatchewan.
His portfolio of completed projects shows a variety of attractive and functional spaces, custom-designed by in-house designers and engineers to satisfy all building code requirements.
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Remuda has built a large number of buildings for our equestrian industry. Shelters, hay storage, workshops, barns and some quite magnificent post-frame riding arenas offering year-round riding — equipped with heated shop areas, tack rooms and offices. One real showpiece includes a 180-degree revolving door from arena to tack room that allows for complete cleanliness and short carrying distance.
An increasingly popular request is for “barndominium” living. A portmanteau of the words “barn” and “condominium,” they are sought after by people who want to live in a rural setting with home and workshop or storage space under one roof, making it easy to have a dedicated workspace at home or to engage in hobbies such as woodworking or car restoration. They are also well-suited for multi-generational living, allowing families to enjoy the benefits of living on the same property, yet still have their own space and privacy.
Remuda’s cost-effective post-frame buildings have satisfied customers with aircraft hangars, warehousing, offices and large facilities that can be erected almost anywhere, and in a variety of shapes and sizes. A good example is a post-free building for the Siksika Nation that was divided into a trading post, gas station and coffee shop.
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With a “we can do anything you want us to do” attitude, Schouten has built up a broad range of services for the construction industry that includes the purchase in 2020 of Strathmore Building Supply, since renamed to Remuda Supplies and relocated along the Trans-Canada Highway 15 kilometres west of Strathmore.
And he is excited to soon be able to offer more to his customers when production starts in his new manufacturing plant.
Notes:
Groundbreaking will take place this month on the first home to be built in the new Brewster’s Kananaskis Ranch community, comprising 24 single-family homes. Technically, it must be the second home on the legacy property, as the first was built by Missy Bagley Brewster, who launched the ranch in 1922 along the Bow River, five minutes north of what is now the Trans-Canada Highway close to the base of Mount Yamnuska. “The history of the location is as incredible as its beauty,” says Janet Brewster Stanton, a fifth-generation Brewster. “With this year-round visitor accommodation, the Brewster family’s tradition of sharing the grandeur of this extraordinary place continues.”
David Parker appears regularly in the Herald. Read his columns online at calgaryherald.com/business. He can be reached at 403-830-4622.
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