Sarasota History
Welcome to our website, thank you for visiting. We begin our tour with a brief look through our history, which unfolds to our guiding principles and unique selling features and will conclude with some of our devoted customers giving you their unvarnished opinion on their experience with Sarasota Homes.
Foundation
Janet Acheson has been selling homes in the St. Albert market for twenty years, in that time she’s witnessed many changes, none the least of which was our growth from a small suburb to a City. Through the years her sphere of influence has grown as well, building a solid reputation as one of St. Albert’s most trusted real estate professionals, garnering awards and accolades from the industry. Her comprehensive and thorough knowledge of this market, is simply unparalleled.
Just over ten years ago her husband Gary was looking for a new challenge outside of his accounting career. Together they paved a way to new home construction, blending Janet’s breath of knowledge with Gary’s depth of experience in all things financial – together building Sarasota Homes. Inside the first year (1997) they built and sold 4 new homes with Gary coming out from behind the big desk, doing a fair amount of the hands-on work himself “You could say he put the ‘sweat’ in sweat equity”, smiles Janet.
Growing up in the Sarasota family business motivated their daughters Michelle and Kristin, to complete their business degrees at U of A and become active participants in the continued prosperity of their parents endeavor.
Customized Planning
Utilizing ground breaking three-dimensional technology we ensure everything is met to your specific needs, wants and desires
Bringing your new home to life. “Using our Soft Plan program, we create a tailored three dimensional colour representation of our clients new home from the ground up. Starting with the basic framework adding or subtracting square footage where needed – want additional south facing windows? No problem!” Changes can be as simple as adding additional electrical outlets or as complex as super-sizing the garage space. Sarasota prides itself on working with you, leaving no stone unturned and thus developing a very unique working relationship with their clients. “After some in-depth one-on-one time we send them home with a customized USB memory port of their plans so they can study the template at home and make note of any necessary changes. We can also place scaled symbols on the plans to show clients how the plan accommodates their furniture, we’re very flexible,” reports Stef. Sarasota doesn’t want to create an approximate; they want to build exactly what the client wants!
“Generally once the client has decided on their foundational requirements and floor plans, we graduate to the exterior façade appearance. Once the plans are finalized, we then get to the exciting part of selecting finishing materials and colours! What type of cabinetry, flooring, paint would they like? Door style? Faucets? Backsplash? Just to name a few! Sarasota has the sample materials in-house, so the client’s get a feel for the colour, texture and ambiance they’d like to create in their new home. “Ultimately we want people to be happy and having samples readily available means you don’t spend countless hours running to suppliers to look for yourself. At our office, is a dizzying array of all interior and exterior material samples, surely something for every taste. “We even send our clients home with a customized 3D image of the exterior of their home and a picture of their just chosen colour pallette on their USB. This allows our clients to ‘electronically’ move in and get a visual representation of their future dream home!” All a part of Sarasota’s mission to create the singularly, most positive home buying experience available today.
Business Pillars
Whenever possible buy local.
Most of Sarasota’s hand selected suppliers and trades people come from the immediate surrounding areas. “We believe that by hiring local, you’ll engage folks with an inherent investment in our community to do their best work; we are after all the people they will run into at minor baseball, in a local restaurant or out doing the grocery shopping”, reports Janet. Further, “If something were to need fixing it won’t be weeks until they’re on this end of the City – we shop local and we buy local”. While most of the trades people work on new home construction, “If there is an issue with one of our resale homes – typically a well ‘loved’ room needs a fresh coat of paint to make it pop –they’ll gladly come out and give us a hand with that as well”. That’s what good neighbours do.
Dependable Framework
Develop a team of professionals engaged in a Client-Centered Model for success in Buying and Selling Homes
Sarasota Homes defines the way to a beautiful home by investing in the best materials and finishing techniques, making for not only a beautiful presentation but a fully functional new home as well. “We present the finished home to the new homeowner the same way we would want it if we were moving in”, states Janet. Sarasota Homes guarantees the finishing quality of their custom homes to be the same, if not exceed, the finishing quality of all of their show homes. “We have the same trades and suppliers for all of our homes, so we’ve developed a strong reciprocal relationship with each and every one of the men and women work with on a daily basis”, states Janet.
Radical new thinking is de rigueur in these days of limited resources and tight budgets and to that end Sarasota has implemented the ‘team’ approach to selling. Each staff member has their own unique skill set, that when working in concert, the team will ultimately benefit the client. For example, our show home sales personell is made up of our designers and realtors, giving you the home building knowledge and experience, like none other in the field.
Breaking New Ground
Sarasota Homes & Realty Company has a new home in Campbell Business Park at 25 Carleton Drive (behind Servus Place). Constructed by our loyal trades and suppliers, and designed by our in-house design team, green technology and energy efficient upgrades were put into play. A built-in play care center is great for clients who have little ones, who can be entertained while our clients meet on their new home design. Leaving no question unanswered, Sarasota will exceed the newest generation in the months & years to come.
Pinnacles
Awards
2008 Winner of the Innovation & Technology Award from the St. Albert Chamber of Commerce Small Business Awards of Distinction
2011-2012 Awarded The New Home Buyers’ Choice Award from the Alberta New Home Warranty Program
St. Albert’s Leading Home Builder: 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009,2010,2011
Accolades from Industry Peers
