Testimonials from our Clients

Centennial Homes gives our clients more than old-fashioned style - we give personalized, old-fashioned service that makes the building process a joy. Many of our clients tell us that they are delighted by their new homes and surprised by how much they enjoyed the building process.

Owners Andrew and Catherine Knight wrote:

"Our involvement with Centennial Homes Ltd. and Charlie Letourneau took us from concept to design to plans and through construction in the most professional and competent manner we could imagine. It seems everyone has horror stories to tell about their new home construction - but not us. ... Thank-you Charlie: you were right when you said in the beginning 'this project will be an enjoyable experience'."...more

Many of our clients have written detailed endorsements following construction of their new homes. To read their complete letters, click on any of the following entries.

• Martine & Jerry Cavanagh: "What we liked about the building process was Charlie's thoughtfulness and thoroughness." ... more
• Francois & Linda Roy: "We particularly appreciated that he (Charlie) was personally on site most days to ensure that the trades were building according to his expectations." ... more
• Andrew & Catherine Knight: "It seems everyone has horror stories to tell about their new home constuction, but not us." ... more
• Paul & Phyllis Denis: "We noticed the attention to detail, particularly in the finishing work everywhere in the house and especially in the baseboards, window and door mouldings, as well as the nicely finished staircases." ...more
• Dawn Keer: "I was never given the impression that Charlie's time was limited or that any questions were an imposition." ...more
• Denis Vincent: "Being inexperienced in construction I anticipated with trepidation the intimidating undertaking of such a project. To my surprise, the experience turned out to be enjoyable and hassle-free." ...more
• Rick Bowers & Katherine Moore: "When it came time to build, there was no doubt about who would be our builder: Charlie Letourneau, Centennial Homes Ltd." ...more
• Bob & Kit Anderson: "Throughout the design and construction phase, we found Charlie to be highly professional, open to suggestion, and willing to accommodate his building plans to our needs."...more
• Helen Boritch: "Mr. Letourneau clearly has a very special feeling for the homes he builds, which makes them stand out from your 'average' house." ...more
• David and Louise Asquin: "It is hard to believe it’s been eight years since you helped us realize our dream home."...more
• Jelka Lujic & Bernard Thebaud: "It gives us great pleasure to provide this reference letter to Charlie Letourneau who built our dream home."...more

~ Note; Adobe Acrobat Reader is required to open any of the above links. Click here to download a free copy. ~

Cetennial Homes has also received media attention for the company's meticulous creation of historic styles.

• Newspaper columnist John Geiger, the Edmonton Journal: "Centennial Homes is proof that the market itself can produce developers with the sensitivity and imagination needed to ensure that the residential character of Old Strathcona is preserved." ...more

Victorian or Craftsman: What are the Differences?

American Craftsman	Queen Anne Victorian
The American Craftsman style dominated home construction from approximately 1910 until 1925. The Arts and Crafts Movement - which inspired the Craftsman style - was a reaction to industrialized production. Hand-crafted work was preferred over assembly lines and machine-made. The result was a simpler and symetrical style that that tended to use local natural materials in construction. American Craftsman homes are as homey and warm as a Norman Rockwell painting. The outline is broad and horizontal, often with a hipped roof, one or two low gables, and broad corbelled eaves over a wide front porch. Low steps lead to the porch, flanked by tapered columns on stone bases. Other features include visible rafter tails, wooden angles edging the roof, decorative fretwork enclosing the porch, transomed windows with a multi-paned upper sash and single pane lower, and planter boxes. In contrast to the soaring Victorian homes, Craftman homes were often a single story or one-and-a-half stories in height, with a symmetical floor plan Click here to see examples of our reproduction American Craftsman homes.	When most of our clients describe their ideal Victorian homes, they describe the beautifully dramatic Queen Anne style, which was popular from the late 1870's to the early 1900's. LIke other Victorian architectural styles, the Queen Anne homes were bold, ornate and romantic. The growth of industrial manufacturing had dramatically expanded the range of available building materials and Victorian builders utilized everything they could. The resulting homes were highly decorated, dripping with trim and clad with textured shingles. Assymetical design was favoured, so these homes often had irregular floor plans and mutiple, steeply pitched roofs. Medieval motifs were popular, so octagonal or circular towers topped with conical roofs were often a dominent feature of the home. Other popular archtectural embellishments included gingerbread, wide railed porches with decorative gabels, corbelled chimneys, bay windows, exterior framing, rows of textured shingling, decorative windows and entry doors inset with glass panels. Click here to see examples of our reproduction Queen Anne Victorian homes.