NEW IN HOMES

Feminine touch

Attention to detail is key to custom home market, young builder says

BY VALERIE HAUCH
STAFF REPORTER

The builder of King's and Queen's Homes Inc. does not fit the mould.

The builder is young. And the builder is female.

Sula Kogan hesitates a little when she's asked her age during an interview.

She is 26. At an age when many are still taking baby steps in the working world, Kogan has carved out a solid niche in the competitive, infill custom-home market. And while she doesn't feel her age has deterred anyone from buying a home from the company she started in 1998 – she also thinks she "looks older" – Kogan realizes it's unusual for a new-home builder.

Her father-in-law had built homes (he's now retired). And her husband, now a lawyer, grew up helping his dad on construction sites. Kogan helped her husband, so she got an education in what was involved in building new homes. The education became advanced when she took on the job of building their own North Toronto home.

"He said to me, why don't you try it? I'm the type of person that if you ask me to do something, I'll find out everything about how to do it," she said.

The Kogans' new home was just being finished when someone driving by stopped and asked if he could look at the house. She agreed and the man was so impressed he asked if he could bring his wife back — and whether she'd consider selling it. The couple was so bowled over with the house, they presented her with an offer she couldn't refuse.

She chose building over law

While the Kogans didn't get their new home, Sula got some new inspiration for what she wanted to do in life. "I had been planning to go to law school," she says. "But this was so exciting ... I'd proved that I could do it."

Kogan decided to turn this "passion" for construction into a full-time job. She's now involved in her 10th home-building project. All her single-family homes are high-end and have been built on infill sites in North Toronto. In the past couple of years, they've all been pre-sold.

Kogan says she's been lucky with the tradespeople she hires, suggesting they don't have any problems working for a woman because she treats them fairly and with respect.

"I pay on time and I don't lie or scream," she says. "I have the greatest respect for trades." For the odd time when there has been a problem, she's simply not used the person again. She has one tradesman who is multi-talented and "does what five trades would do."

As someone who is still making a name for herself, Kogan admits she tries harder. Her homes, which average in size from 3,200 to 4,000 square feet and cost $850,000 and up, include a lot of special features such as heated floors in all three-piece bathrooms.

Custom-building is the hardest part of the home-construction business, she believes. "So much detail and work go into these homes, and there has to be extensive, ongoing collaboration with clients."

But it's also very satisfying. "There are days when it's tough. But I have to like it or I couldn't do it. You don't get this kind of job satisfaction from being a lawyer," she jokes.

As for the name of her company, it came about for a couple of reasons.

"I have a four-year degree in European history ... and the idea is that you will feel like a king and queen when you buy one of my homes; they're so nice."