“Driven to be the Best”

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be at the starting gate of a World Cup downhill at Val d’Isère or Kitzbühel challenging the world’s best downhillers for your country? 

While it is a dream for many, for Doug Kerr, it was his life for four years.  He was a member of Canada’s national ski team back in the heyday of the Crazy Canucks, training with the likes of Ken Read, Steve Podborski and Dave Murray.  

“It was a tremendous experience for a young man,” says Doug.  “The thing that I got out of that whole area of life is that it’s fun to be completely engaged in something.  I never worked harder or more physically in my life than when I was on the ski team.  But none of it seemed like work.  It was all enjoyable because it was goal-oriented and had lots of action.  This drive to pursue a goal to professional standards was so strong that it carried forward into my business life.”

After the ski racing, Doug found himself in construction in Vancouver.  

“It wasn’t a grand plan of mine to get into the construction business,” he says.  “But once I did, the goal was to become the best at it. That had become my whole attitude toward life after the ski team — how do you become the best at something?” 

So he started his own construction company thirty-five years ago.  But there were challenges to overcome, and what do you become the best at — the quality of work, customer service, or business efficiency?
 
“I had to learn construction technology and realized that proper and fully fleshed-out design was the most important part of the process.  I had to learn how to run the business with proper project management and quality control,” he explains.

“But to be the best, we needed good people.  It took a while to form a team with the same goals of customer service and quality of workmanship.  We needed people that had the desire to deliver an exceptional product while taking pleasure in working with others and being happy with what they were doing.”

With that team in place, Kerr Design Build, formerly Kerr Construction & Design, gained a reputation for world-class custom homes and renovations over the last 35 years.  The company has completed some 7,000 renovation projects in the Lower Mainland and has become locally and internationally recognized for its work, with over 40 awards.  

In 2021, the company received the Guildmaster with Highest Distinction Award for demonstrating exceptional customer service in North America’s residential construction industry.  It also received the “Best High-End Home Renovation Specialists – Vancouver – Award for Innovation in Residential Design 2021” from the UK construction magazine BUILD.

Doug and his partner Elton Donald have been profiled in Vancouver Boulevard Magazine and one of the company’s projects was featured in Westcoast Homes & Design.

But for Doug, it is not just about work or being the best.  It is about helping family and others while enjoying life.  He has a wonderful wife with three grown children and now six grandkids.

“At the company, we pride ourselves on hiring and training people just getting into the construction business.  We’re a company that really trains our guys.  There’s pleasure in bringing somebody up to a professional level in carpentry and then turning them into a project manager.  It’s just fun to see guys grow like that.  We’re like a big family.”

“On a personal level, one of the things I enjoy most is my property in Langley.  I love coming home from work and getting on my tractor or excavator to work on the property.  I’m always upgrading and always building.  Our place is full of life with horses, a donkey, highland cows, bee hives, a hazelnut orchard and a huge garden.  Not to mention all the grandkids.  We love to share the property with friends and family, who enjoy it as much as we do, and have even had a couple of weddings there all the time and even get requests for weddings on the property.” 

The company has recently rebranded as Kerr Design Build.  

As Doug says, “The name change communicates the simplicity of what we do.  Design comes first.  Then Build.  There is nothing more satisfying than helping a client design and build a home that improves the quality of their life.”