20 years have brought lots of milestones to the Gilbert + Burke team, but they’ve also brought challenges.

While these last 20 years have been wonderful to us business-wise, it would be remiss of us to say that they haven’t been without their challenges. As we’ve built, designed and remodeled homes, we’ve also faced massive and significant barriers that reach far beyond laying foundations. However, each challenge has led to a new milestone along the way, teaching us lessons with each step (and misstep).

Like many business owners across the country (and the world), the 2008-2010 recession was tough to get through. However, we made it through and continued to work to get a great team together. While it wasn’t always easy, we now have a team that feels more like a family than an actual workplace. We were also challenged by the rebranding process, which was a lot of work but helped us to reach a new and wider market in new areas. Along with the acquisition of Peter Groza’s upscale Muskoka firm, it was a lot of work in a short amount of time. We have continued with succession planning as well, which is another challenge in itself. However, we’ve learned so much along the way that it’s all been worth it — and then some.

During our 20 years of business, we’ve worked harder than we thought possible and faced challenges we’d never imagined. But, with each tough step and speed bump along the way, we’ve been able to build and cultivate the strong and effective team that we are today. In fact, we’re even excited for the challenges to come — they show us the way forward, and we can’t wait to keep moving forward with each one of you.