By Natasha Rombough, Director of Marketing and Communications, CHBA

Rodelle Genoway, CEO of Hometown Homes, and her co-founder husband, Kurt, accidentally ventured into the homebuilding industry slightly more than five years ago. Since then, the young company has been making waves, bringing an innovative approach to their clients and winning awards for their projects. From their farm kid beginnings to successful entrepreneurs, their inspiring story provides insight into the next generation of driven builders. We spoke to Rodelle about how they got here, and what big goals the company has for the future.

An accidental start

Rodelle and her husband Kurt, both from small towns in Saskatchewan, never imagined they would become home builders. Rodelle grew up on a farm, where entrepreneurship and integrity were engrained into her at a young age. Her husband Kurt spent his childhood on a dairy farm, putting in long days and discovering his knack for building things and troubleshooting. He went on to become a successful electrician, while Rodelle’s path had a few more twists.

“I was an average student, but I’m very logical and street smart,” Rodelle says. She may be underselling herself a little: Rodelle left for Saskatoon to pursue a degree in commerce, and managed not only to double-major in management and human resources, she later went on to do her MBA and was even asked to teach at the university, which she did while working full time as a senior HR leader in the manufacturing industry. Her entrepreneurial chops really came out when she started an HR consulting business, which took off.

Around this time, given Kurt’s electrical business and knowledge of the industry and Rodelle’s business background, the Genoways decided to find a house to flip. But the business case wasn’t adding up, and their real estate agent suggested buying an old teardown on a large lot and build two homes. Without overthinking it, they put in an offer and were surprised to learn they got the property.

“I still remember Kurt and I were sitting at the table that evening when we got the text from our real estate agent. We had no idea how to build a house at that time, and were literally googling to find out what the next steps were in the permitting process,” Rodelle laughs.

Their initial foray into homebuilding went smoothly, and the first home sold quickly within 12 days, the second soon after. “That’s how the industry hooks you in. We learned later it was beginner’s luck and business is not usually that easy,” Rodelle says, “but we fell in love with the homebuilding process. I’m very structured and all about processes and systems, and my mission was to figure out how to make this business a well-oiled machine.”

Committing to homebuilding

After their positive first experience, the Genoways purchased two more lots, intending to keep learning the homebuilding business as a side-hustle. They had two young children at home, Rodelle had taken on a demanding vice-president position with a manufacturing company, and Kurt was still running his electrical company. The balls were all still in the air, but they knew something had to give. In fall 2021, Rodelle committed to being a full-time builder.

“It was so hard to make the decision to leave a stable, good paying job with a pension and benefits. But I loved homebuilding and the entrepreneur side of things: Building a brand, a reputation and a team, and setting up processes and efficiencies. I had this vision for Hometown Homes and how it could provide a really good client experience,” Rodelle says. “But giving up that steady safety net and becoming a builder full time is the scariest, yet best thing I’ve ever done.”

Launching to success

Hometown Homes started out building on spec, which Rodelle says was a challenge. “I really wanted to create a good product and didn’t want cookie-cutter houses, but I understood that’s the only way you can build at scale and still have a good profit margin. At the same time, though, we were growing our portfolio with the goal of getting into custom homes, and I wanted to show people what we could do.”

They invested in the long haul, building 13 spec homes in all different styles to show that they could be a custom builder and bring clients’ visions to life. As they made the decision to officially transition into a design-build firm in 2022, Rodelle’s next hire was a designer. “It was one of those ‘chicken or the egg’ situations; do you add a designer to payroll first and hope you can get the work in order to pay them, or do you secure the work and hope you can find someone to hire?”

Worried about keeping this role busy, Rodelle took the risk and hired a designer first. Now, with a backlog of clients who want to design and build with Hometown Homes, Rodelle is currently hiring for another role that will add to the design team.

In a move that might illustrate one of the differences with a very young company, the next big hire was a content/video creator. “It felt like a risky role to hire for because it was straight up overhead,” Rodelle explains, “but it was taking up a lot of my time, and we’d just been awarded the contract to design and build the hospital home lottery show home, and I knew we needed to capitalize on the opportunity and make sure we’re capturing the journey.”

As CEO of the small company, like many builders Rodelle still wears many of the hats: Project management, finance, accounting, marketing, human resources and all the things in between. Her favourite aspect of the job is still operations, and she thrives on streamlining the company’s processes so that their business, and the clients’ experience, is as seamless as possible.

Association involvement

Having worked for an industry association in the past, Rodelle says that joining the Saskatoon and Region Home Builders’ Association (SRHBA) was a logical step after deciding to jump into the business wholeheartedly. “Having worked with industry associations, I value and understand all the work that goes into those organizations and what they want to do for their members, so it was always in the back of my mind to join in order to play a role in the homebuilding community and because it’s the right thing to do.” Hometown Homes soon became an active member, and Rodelle participated in builder meetings each quarter.

After a few years, she was asked to join the SRHBA board of directors, which Rodelle says has been a really good experience. She just wrapped up her first two-year term on the board, and has signed on for more, including participating on their Governance Committee and Complaints Committee.

Recently, Rodelle also became an inaugural member of CHBA’s Women in Residential Construction Council, representing Saskatoon at the national Council’s first meeting in Victoria in May, which had more than 200 members observing in a great show of support. The new Council’s top priority is to support local and provincial HBAs in developing, growing, and sustaining their own women in residential construction activities, promoting careers in residential construction amongst young women through various mediums, and using the Council as a forum to help break down barriers for women in the industry and support them throughout their careers.

Upping the client experience

Hometown Homes has worked hard to get to the place where they can offer their clients a fixed-price contract, with all the design done in-house and everything finalized before construction. It means once the design is done, clients are provided with 3D visuals, floorplans, renderings and all the specifications so that everyone can truly see what the space will be. Their homeowners don’t need to make any further decisions past the design stage, helping to reduce stress for all.

Rodelle’s mindset of doing things the right way the first time has the company paying more attention to energy efficiency, as well. “To me, it’s just the smart way to build: Investing in better building envelopes for homes that are going to last,” she says. “You’re building a structure that needs to be safe, but also stand the test of time and last for generations.”

The future of Hometown Homes

Rodelle believes that Hometown Homes has a lot of opportunity to set high standards for professionalism and transparency within the industry. She believes there’s a lot that can be done to help educate the market about homebuilding. “The general public doesn’t realize how intricate and professional homebuilding should be. We’re working on writing more blogs to educate people about the process and the importance of systemized operations,” Rodelle says. Their educational approach helps clients understand the value of working with a professional homebuilder and sets Hometown Homes apart in the industry.

The company is now solely focused on custom homes, with the odd large-scale renovation thrown in. It’s clearly something they’re also good at: Hometown Homes walked away from the 2025 CHBA National Awards for Housing Excellence with a win in the “Best Whole Home Renovation $300,001 – $500,000” category. The project was a stunning log home revival, and the company is adding it to its growing list of award accolades in both Saskatoon and nationally.

Outside of work, Rodelle and Kurt are building their dream home on a 162-acre property, enjoying the peaceful surroundings and stunning lake views. Despite the challenges of balancing work and family life, Rodelle remains passionate about her business and committed to its success. The systems and efficiencies Hometown Homes has in place gives the Genoways a little bit more time to breath – when they’re not shuttling their active kids to activities every day.

Rodelle’s journey of leading Hometown Homes from an accidental side-hustle to an award-winning business is a testament to her tenacity and innovation, and the future of Hometown Homes certainly looks bright.

Fast Facts

Company Name: Hometown Homes
Head Office: Saskatoon
Employees: 5
Approx. Gross Revenue: $7M
Projects per year: 10

Coming CHBA Events

Fall 2025
Call for entries for the 2026 CHBA National Awards for Housing Excellence

Oct. 20-24, 2025
CHBA National Meetings, Ottawa

May 4-8, 2026
CHBA Home Building Week, Québec City