Parade of Homes

>> at Gino's homes,the cotroneo clan continues to build on a foundation first formed in a small Italian town. now in its second generation, the family business was built from the ground up by Gino cotroneo. As a boy, Gino worked alongside the local builder in his home- town of San roberto, Italy. An attentive learner, he honed his skills and became a master builder himself. When his fiancée's family moved to canada, Gino trav- elled with them to Winnipeg, with the goal of marrying his sweetheart and returning to Italy. His wife, however, had a different plan, and she convinced him to stay. With an entrepreneurial spirit, Gino teamed up with his brother-in-law Antonio Spezzano to form G&A Homes. Over time, they travelled down separate paths. Antonio started A&S Homes, while Gino launched his own cus- tom home business in 1968. His sons robert and Frank grew up involved in Gino's Homes, which they now run. "We learned a lot from my father and we still continue to learn, not only in new home construction but also in life in general. He's taught us how to balance family and work. He's taught us about relationships and taking care of our customers, all the way up and down the line. If it weren't for him, we wouldn't be where we are," robert says. "As we grew up, our father never pushed us to be involved in the business. He encouraged us to try different things. We continued coming back, wanting to be involved in the com- pany. For my father, he's proud of that, but at the same time, he didn't want that to limit us. He wanted us to go out there and do different things. We continued to come back until we said, 'this is what we're doing.' It's been great ever since." For much of their lives, the cotroneo brothers fine-tuned their expertise at job sites with their dad. "In terms of construction, our father taught us so much. but since we've been more involved in the ownership, what we've brought to the table is the sales and marketing aspect of the company. For many, many years, my father kept the company very small. He kept it down to under 10 homes a year, and we did most of the work ourselves," robert says. All iN THE FAMily brothers build on tradition at Gino's Homes by Jennifer mcfee – photos by darcy finley New Kids oN The BloCK 38 Parade of Homes Fall 2014

• Cover