Meet Merv and Mona Giles
Their background
Merv grew up west of Airdrie and worked on the family farm into his 30’s, in the early 1990’s he left the farm and started a trucking company with 1 truck hauling round bales for local farmers, over the next decade he grew his company to having 12 units hauling different commodities throughout Western Canada and the Western United States, Mona is a Saskatchewan girl who moved to Alberta and eventually the two met and married in 1986, She worked for the City of Airdrie for many years and eventually chose to stay at home to help on the farm and raise the family, in the late 90’s she started and ran a successful print and copy shop in Airdrie which she sold in 2007. She is a self-taught Graphic Designer and as a hobby she is a self-taught finishing carpenter. She is a very creative women who is not scared to take on anything from finishing carpentry to picking up a shovel, whatever needs doing.
Our words
We met and fell in Love over 30 years ago and built our first home in 1995, we are both hands on and particular people and have a lot of attention to detail so when we decided to go ahead with our first home it was never an option to hire a general contractor, we would do it ourselves!!!!
In 2005 we decided we would like to have a weekend place somewhere near a lake and a Golf course and that is when we found Pine Lake. We bought and moved a park model onto our new lot in the Fairways (Phase 3) at Whispering Pines. It didn’t take long for us to fall in love again only this time instead of each other we fell in love with the community at Whispering Pines.
Since then, we both embraced the community and it embraced us back, we have both volunteered and founded different events but most dear to our heart is the annual “Driving Light Golf Event” which has raised close to a Quarter Million Dollars for a couple of Charities Stars Air Ambulance and the Center for Suicide Prevention. This is something we are both very proud of. Pine Lake felt so much like home we soon realized that someday we would make “The Lake’ our permanent residence.
In 2011 we purchased lot 5031 in Phase 5 and over the winter designed a very unique home. The following spring, we were under construction once again and built a home on the 6th fairway. We no longer own but it’s a home we are still very proud of today.
At the time of building this home garages were not allowed at Whispering Pines but in the years to follow this changed. We loved our home but really wanted a garage so the idea to build a carriage house across the street with a garage on the bottom level and living area of 1 ½ stories above was hatched and we were at it again.
In 2020 we decided we would like another change and so we decided to build again. This time we would purchase a lot outside the gated community that we loved so much but not far outside, we bought a lot at the end of the road to Sandy Cove just a 9 Iron from the phase 4 gate, this was a much different build, we decided to go with a fairly large home with a sizeable, attached garage/shop, this home is a slab on grade construction, so it has no basement. In all our homes we have come up with unique custom designs that no other homes to our knowledge have such as the family antique wagon situated on the second floor.
During the construction of this home is where the idea of Lakeside Signature Homes was born, we had hired a friend and neighbor (Brad Kirschenman) to help us during our build. During the build his wife Karen joined us from time to time to help as well, we realized that we worked well together. Brad has extensive construction experience and one evening while having a refreshment after work we asked Brad if he would be interested in joining us in starting a new venture building houses at Pine Lake. He instantly said yes and though it didn't have a name, Lakeside Signature Homes took its first breath.
If you Choose to build with us, you will get not 1 but 4 dedicated people that from Design to finish will put their shoulders and hearts into it and build you a home as if it was their own.
Meet Brad and Karen Kirschenman
Their story..........
Our story had a late start after meeting first in 1993 through a mutual friend. We were both single with 5 kids combined, enjoyed the same sports, loved to travel and we were both looking for a fresh start. We fell in love and were married in 1998 and bought our first home together that same year in Beaumont Alberta. This home was a beautiful show home with a great bi-level floor plan but with our large family we found the formal dinning room was never used and everyone congregated in the kitchen. Before we knew it, we were renovating by taking out the dining room wall and making a huge open concept space which we did ourselves and loved it. Once the kids started moving and we didn’t have the need for 3 bedrooms up we renovated once more by making our bedroom and ensuite larger by using one of the bedrooms. Again, everything turned out just the way we wanted and updated the space to become more functionable for us. Brad is a journeyman carpenter and is very capable of doing renovations or virtually anything we want to build or change.
Brad grew up in Lethbridge Ab and worked with his father who was a general contractor. They built homes, 4 story walkup apartments and had numerous renovation jobs in the 1970’s and 80’s. Brad was then framing houses in Beaumont in the 90’s and then his career took him up north. Part of his job was to teach the indigenous people home building skills on a native reserve at John D’Or Prairie in the Peace River area. Brad went on to become the superintendent and estimator of a small family run construction company that specialized in schools, churches and mostly commercial renovations. When the owners retired their business Brad started with Fancy Doors and Mouldings where he was a commercial and residential sales rep for 9 years dealing with the major hotels and high-rise developers suppling doors, hardware and finishing products. Brad left there in June of 2020. Brad is currently working for Mtech Locks where he has the Southern Alberta zone. He sells door locks systems with the tap cards for hotels and motels. With the carpentry skills Brad has he always found himself volunteering for odd jobs with the kids’ sports groups as well as ours building whatever was needed.
Karen grew up partly in Manitoba then moved to Alberta in 1970 for her father’s job in the oil field. Karen is a bookkeeper with her own business and worked for the family drill bit business for 40 years that her father began in 1979 in the oil and gas industry in Nisku. That family business closed in May 2020. Throughout the years of the kids’ sports clubs and different activities Karen almost always found herself in the volunteer position of Treasurer of many clubs throughout the years. Adult sports groups were always in need of the “money girl”. Karen is still active in bookkeeping being able to work with most of her clients from the lake. Her years of business experience will be an asset for this new company.
In September of 2014 we came out to Whispering Pines for a golf play and stay for the long weekend and absolutely fell in love with WP. A few weekends later came back out again and took the tour of WP and bought Lot # 5025. For the next 5 summers we were weekenders. We really enjoyed our time here and this community is like no other where you meet people that will be your friends for life after only knowing them a short time. Like minded, kindhearted people and a very giving community. We knew that 5 years down the road we would build our lake home on what we think is one of the most beautiful lots here. The view from our deck is breathtaking. Oh, did we mention we live on a golf course, stunning!
Our home construction started in October 2019. We took over the house at the drywalled/primed stage in March and continued to finish our home ourselves. Our good friends Merv and Mona had their park model available for rent, so we were able to come out in the cooler months to work on the house. You can see photos in our gallery of our home and the finishes we did to make this home unique and ours. We absolutely love this lake house.
Merv and Mona Giles had built many homes here at WP and on their last build they hired Brad and I to assist where needed. During that time together they started discussions about the possibility of home building for others here at the lake and then “Lakeside Signature Homes Ltd” was launched.
With the knowledge and experience of the four of us, Merv, Mona, Brad and Karen you will not be disappointed in choosing Lakeside as the builder for your future home. This home will be “Uniquely Built for You”.
LAKESIDE SIGNATURE HOMES LTD.
Pine Lake, Red Deer County, Alberta, Canada
Brad Kirschenman 780-220-5625
Copyright © 2024 LAKESIDE SIGNATURE HOMES LTD. - All Rights Reserved.
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