Purpose Construction

Over

$17,407,593.00

IN SUCCESSFUL
CONTRACTS COMPLETED

406

people
employed

For every $1 You spent

$4.29

Is returned in
positive social impact

INSTAGRAM

@purpose_construction

purpose_construction

Cabinets and baseboards and doors, oh my! The inte

Cabinets and baseboards and doors, oh my! The interior of the house is really taking shape. You can come by and see for yourself tomorrow (Sunday, Jan 15) from 1:30-2:30. Pop by 351 Magnus to see the inside (and outside) of the house, chat with staff, have a coffee and doughnut, and pick up an application.
#purposehomes

Here’s another staff throwback to greener times,

Here’s another staff throwback to greener times, this time with Justice. These two pictures are pretty solid representations of Justice and her sunny personality. She’s been with Purpose for a year and a bit and has been enjoying learning new things. Her favourite thing to do on a job site is rolling out (painting the walls) and her least favourite thing to do is sanding. When she’s not at work, Justice loves all things manga.

Here’s to all the little moments that make up th

Here’s to all the little moments that make up the big things that happened this year. Thanks to all who’ve followed along as we built our first home, continued on with our MB Housing work, started a siding division, saw employees move into management roles, grew as a company and as people. It’s a wild and tough world out there, but we’re happy to be in to together, and with you. From our wonky heart photo collage to you, here’s to 2023.

We could all use the serotonin boost a smiling fac

We could all use the serotonin boost a smiling face in a lush, green setting brings. We snapped these pics of Greg outside a unit back in August and saved them for a cold day like today.

Greg’s been with us for around five years. He brings a lot of skills, having worked for another construction company before coming to Purpose. Greg’s favourite part of the job is painting, specifically the finished product, and he’s proud of his cutting in skills. He says “when I first started my cutting skills were kind of off but now I have a steadier hand and I think it looks really professional.” He likes having a really good plan and having everything he needs to make it run smoothly. When he’s not at work Greg likes riding his bike, reading the bible, and doing puzzles. Greg’s soft spoken, calm demeanour is a joy to be around and we’re so thankful he’s part of our team.

Our first Purpose Home is almost ready for a famil

Our first Purpose Home is almost ready for a family to move in! We’re hosting a series of open houses so folks can come by to see it and get an application form. We’re looking for a family with a household income at/under $84,600; who have dependents, and are first-time home buyers. If this is you or someone you know, come on down! Open houses are from 1:30-2:30 pm on Sunday, December 17 and Sunday, January 8, 15, and 22. Application deadline is Jan 31, 2023.
#purposehomes

One of the goals of the Purpose Homes build is to

One of the goals of the Purpose Homes build is to be a post-incarceration employer. Manitoba has the highest rate of incarceration in Canada, and a sad stat is that one in three men will be back in jail less than three years after he is released. When people are released from jail they often have no job prospects, and things like criminal record checks are a further barrier to employment.

Like many of our folks, Ken learned about us through word of mouth. Having just been released from jail, he was looking for meaningful employment. Someone he knew while he was incarcerated had recently started working on the Purpose Home so he decided to come check it out. Ken had taken Introduction to Residential Construction while he was in Rockwood and was looking to put those skills to use. After meeting and chatting with the project manager, he was hired and has been a great addition to the team! We benefit from his construction knowledge and calm presence, and Ken’s getting on the job skills that will benefit him wherever he decides to go in the construction industry.

Ken says that having a job, somewhere to go each day, where he’s able to think critically, be physically active, and work in a team is great for his mental and physical health. The sense of purpose he has in helping to build this home is something he hasn’t had in a job before, and it shows in his work. We’re happy Ken found his way to us and we’re looking forward more home builds with him as part of our team.
#purposehomes

It’s been a while since we’ve shared an update

It’s been a while since we’ve shared an update, but that doesn’t mean nothing’s been happening on Magnus. We talked about beehive mode before, well now we say we’re in underdone cake mode. That’s when it looks pretty much done on the outside but the inside still has a way to go.

The siding is done (and was done by our siding division!), electrical and venting is in, insulation is in and now we’re working on framing and drywall. Soon the inside will match the outside and we can’t wait to provide more updates.
#purposehomes

What’s great about building a house is that it’s a project with many parts that provide real world learning opportunities.

We started our siding division at the same time we started building our Purpose Home. Now that our siding folks have the skills, they’re putting them to use on our new home build. It’s a cool time in the building process because everyone working on the house is a Purpose Homes/Purpose Construction employee.
#purposehomes

Time for another look back in time. We have some t

Time for another look back in time. We have some tidbits about Magnus Ave and some of the streets around it!

Magnus Avenue was once the centre of the Magnus Brown estate, which belonged to Magnus Brown and his wife. They immigrated from Scotland and worked for the Hudson’s Bay Company as a trader for several years. In 1874, when Winnipeg became a city, the Browns started to sell their land, making considerable wealth through real estate investments.

Alfred Burrows, the chief clerk of the local Dominion Land Office, purchased the Brown land, subdivided it, and marketed those lots after quitting his job. It was likely Burrows who named current Winnipeg roadways: Magnus, Brown, Alfred, Burrows, Salter, Powers, Andrews, McGregor, McKenzie, Parr, Jemima, and Sinclair.

Here are some historical photos showing the neighbourhood around 351 Magnus. Thanks again to Christian Cassidy of “West End Dumplings,” for the great information.

Our pals at @raisingtheroofcanada are hosting a gr

Our pals at @raisingtheroofcanada are hosting a great event in Winnipeg next week, and you can win tickets!

We're going to be celebrating the launch of the Toque Campaign with Raising the Roof on Oct 27th at Deer Meadow Farms and we can't wait!

Do you want to come too? Share & Like the original post for a chance to win 2 tickets! Draw will be next week! Share fast!

https://raisingtheroof.org/toquelaunchwinnipeg/

#winnipegevent #homelessness #halloween #winnipeg #outandaboutwinnipeg #winnipeglocal #fallevents #autumn #cornmaze

Been a minute. Inside work continues with electric

Been a minute. Inside work continues with electrical and heating/cooling ducting. Outside, the house has been wrapped! Next up is insulation and siding. What’s cool about this is the folks from our siding division are going to take care of that part. This is just another way this home build is providing training and jobs.
#purposehomes

A solid project begins with a strong foundation, b

A solid project begins with a strong foundation, both literally and figuratively. Purpose Homes has been fortunate to have the support of Bockstael Construction, specifically crew foreman Cody Doswell, for the foundation portion of our first Purpose Home.

As a Journeyman Carpenter and the site foreman, it’s Cody’s job to coordinate site activities, give the crew tasks, and generally make sure the site is running smoothly and safely. But if you ask him, it’s the people side of things that really makes his job special.

“You need to coach up the apprentices and that's one of the things that I enjoy doing pretty much above anything else: passing on the knowledge that I've gained over the years to guys that don't have it.”

That attitude has been a perfect fit for this project, where we’re using a new home build as a training opportunity. Cody said the Purpose Homes folks are eager and want to learn, that they show up on time, and listen well.

It’s important to us to partner with companies and organizations that get what we’re doing; that we’re building a house but that we’re doing so much more. In Bockstael, and in Cody, we’re fortunate to have a partner who gets it.

“Working for an employer like Bockstael, they love giving back to the community. It's not new to me. They do it all the time, it's very important to them. It's important to everyone look around the city these days. We need this.”

Purpose Homes and this first home build has been in the works for a long time and sometimes we can’t believe it’s actually happening. It’s folks like Cody and partners like Bockstael who are helping to make it a reality and we can’t wait to see the finished house. Even though Cody’s been in the industry for 15 years, he’s not sick of seeing things come together.

“I think my favorite thing other than mentoring guys is turning around at the end of the day and being able to see a difference, physical difference than what you walked into in the morning. I still find that rewarding and I hope I always will.”
#purposehomes

We’ve been focusing on our Purpose Home build so

We’ve been focusing on our Purpose Home build so much that we haven’t shared much from our awesome Purpose Construction folks. Let’s fix that. Meet Areguy!

Areguy’s been working with Purpose for six’ish years and in that time one of the biggest things he’s learned is the social skills on how to work with different kinds people.

His favourite thing to do is carpentry (framing and drywall) and his least favourite thing to do at a job site is cleaning other people's mess. In his spare time he listens to gospel songs and bible audio.

Areguy is one of our trusted crew leads and it’s been a joy to see him learn and grow.

We’ve shared the progress of our Purpose Home bu

We’ve shared the progress of our Purpose Home build but today we’re sharing a bit of the history of the address.

The building at 351 Magnus Avenue was first seen in street directories in 1904. The two-storey building was a home with a store on the main floor. The first owner of this building was Calof Maier; their family lived above the store in the early 1900s. Over the years it passed through many owners but still remained as a mixed-use place for decades, mostly as a retail store with people also living in it. It wasn’t until 1989 that the building was converted into a home without any storefront.

Around 2010 the building was empty and in need of major repairs. None were made by the owner, so after 2 years the city moved to take ownership of the building and the land was put up for sale in 2018. Purpose purchased the land in 2021 and now we're building the first Purpose Home on this site.

Special thanks to Christian Cassidy, the blogger of “West End Dumplings,” who found all these valuable historical pieces and shared them with us. Please stay tuned for a bit of the history of the neighbourhood!

Things are moving fast over at our first Purpose H

Things are moving fast over at our first Purpose Home. Plumbing, HVAC, and electrical are in progress (thanks to our friends at Plimcor Plumbing and SWK Mechanical), our team has been working at framing the interior walls, and windows should be in any day now.

In other news, we received our first green ticket from the city, meaning we cleared inspection! We’re happy to be creating a safe space a family can call home for years to come. #purposehomes

September 19-25 is the International Week of Deaf

September 19-25 is the International Week of Deaf People. This year’s theme is “Building Inclusive Communities for All,” and we didn’t want to pass up the opportunity for Barret, our crew lead on our Purpose Home build, to give an update on the house. Barret is deaf and he says he hears from folks in his community that they think there’s not a place for them in the trades. We’re here to say that’s not the case and like this year’s theme, Purpose is all about building communities for all.

The home is entering beehive mode. That’s when i

The home is entering beehive mode. That’s when it doesn’t look like much is happening from the outside but there’s a whole lot going on inside.

All the walls are up. The roof is up. Now we’re moving on to bracing and what you might call the guts of the home. Heating and cooling systems, electrical, all that good stuff.

It seems like this has happened both so quickly and so slowly, if that makes sense. Each week we’re closer to a completed house for a family to make their home.
#purposehomes

Along with our construction partners, there are co

Along with our construction partners, there are community organizations that have played a role in the Purpose Homes vision, and we’d like to introduce them.

End Homelessness Winnipeg is a non-profit organization with the goal of preventing and ending homelessness in our city. They collaborate with community organizations and government sectors across Winnipeg to find solutions to homelessness that are informed by lived experience.

In spring of 2019, End Homelessness Winnipeg partnered with the Winnipeg Boldness Project to run the North End Housing Lab. The goal was to understand the barriers preventing folks from accessing housing in Winnipeg’s North End community. One of the identified barriers was a lack of government funding to develop new low-income housing. Purpose Homes addresses this barrier by using a shared equity mortgage model to sell the homes we build. This innovative model lowers monthly mortgage payments and removes the barrier of a down payment, providing home ownership opportunities for low-income Indigenous and Newcomer Canadian families.

End Homelessness Winnipeg’s work goes far beyond what we can fit into an Instagram caption, so feel free to visit their website if you’d like to learn more: www.endhomelessnesswinnipeg.ca

We have walls! It’s amazing how quickly things t

We have walls! It’s amazing how quickly things take shape once the walls go up. This was a busy week with the first floor and walls going up and the joists for the second floor going in. We’re working with some new folks from a partner org we’ll hopefully share more about soon.
Next week: second floor!
#purposehomes

Thinking about our staff bbq last Thursday on this

Thinking about our staff bbq last Thursday on this gloomy Monday.

It was the first time in a couple of years we were able to organize something like this and oh boy did we miss it.

The bbq was a chance for us to share a meal, take stock of what we’ve accomplished (getting through these past two’ish years relatively unscathed is an accomplishment), and to look to the future and what it means for us as a company. Oh yeah, it was also a chance for our divisions to show no mercy to each other in tug-o-war.

Each of us is busy getting the job done, but getting everyone together as a group reaffirms that we’ve got the best team and we’re fortunate to be working together.

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