A long-time Fredericton area construction company is the winner of the Best new Hoe for 2007 award, chosen by the Canadian Home Builders Association New Brunswick.

A second-generation company, Star-Lite Construction, now owned and operated by Fred Herkert Jr., has been a respected builder of quality homes in the Greater Fredericton area for over three decades.  

Our homes are all R2000 certified and EnerGuide rated; that is our minimum standard.

The company sells land/home packages in both of it's two Hanwell subdivision developments - Star-Lite Village and Eaglewood Village, as well as doing residential construction in the Greater Fredericton area.

"Our homes are all R2000 certified and EnerGuide rated; that is our minimum standard.  Certainly energy efficiency and conservation is the way things are headed in the future," Herkert says.

He realizes that keeping up with building trends is important, including the new and upcoming home heating methods and technological demands of the future.  That is why they do all of their own foundations using ICF (insulated concrete forms).

"We're staying on top of the future of technology and automation, which will definitely be exploding in the years to come," he notes.

With the current demands of a flourishing home construction market, he expects to be kept busy this year building new homes.  Trained as a civil engineering technologist, with a major in building construction, Herkert makes a point to continually upgrade his qualifications each year, which helps keep him up-to-date with construction standards and homebuilding trends.

"My dad began building homes in 1967 and I'd worked with him for years before taking over the company.  Although we do some home renovations as well, our main focus is primarily new home construction.  We offer land/home packages in our developments in Star-Lite Village and Eagewood Village.  We're also working on another sub-division which will be opening this summer; Eagle Ridge, just off Eaglewood Village,: Herkert notes.

Star-Lite Construction employs less than ten full-time employees including carpenters and heavy equipment operators.  They contract out work to the sub-trades such as plumbing, mechanical, electrical and drywall, but do the main construction themselves, he explains, adding that with Star-Lite Construction customers get support from project's start to finish.

"I like to make it as easy as I can for my customers.  We sit down and discuss the process and details before any construction is started.  I understand that a person's time is valuable so so to save any delays we make sure that most all of the decisions are made at the outset to minimize any holdups during construction.  It's a very personalized process, and we offer our customers the whole system - service and consideration from start to finish," Herkert admits.

A member of the Canadian Home Builders Association New Brunswick for the past 35 years, Herkert believes that the information and support gained from being part of a large network of homebuilders is invaluable to his work.

"It's great to have the input of so many good businesspeople," he says.

He admits to being very excited about having one of his homes named as Home of the Year for 2007, noting that the stiff competition for the award makes it even more of an honour.

"At Star-Lite Construction we work hard to build the very best homes possible for our customers and this award recognizes the quality work we do.  We're very proud that our efforts have been recognized," Herkert says.