Griffin Simony’s interest in accessibility started close to home. He grew up in Nova Scotia, but moved to Calgary, where his grandparents lived, in 2017. At the time, his grandparents were facing a difficult but common experience: They could no longer physically navigate their home and were moving into an assisted living facility.

“I was chatting with my aunt [then], who’s an occupational therapist, and she mentioned how there wasn’t really anyone working in the built environment around improving accessibility, especially in the residential side,” Simony says.

Simony had built a career as a construction engineer, mostly focusing on commercial and heavy civil projects, but he was interested in doing more residential work. Around the same time, Josh Peill, a friend who also worked in construction, mentioned that he had been thinking of starting an accessible renovation company.

Peill had done some market research and found a few companies in other provinces that were doing this type of work, but there was no one in Calgary – or anywhere in Alberta for that matter – dedicated to serving people with disabilities.

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