Proudly Local Business: Wetaskiwin’s ACT Home Services

"We don’t give estimates to our customers, we give solid quotes because we do all the hard work before we swing a hammer.” 

 “Home sweet home.” It’s a popular saying for good reason.  From the moment you get the keys to a new house, you start making lifelong memories. The new puppy learns to sit and stay in the entryway. Babies take their wobbly first steps across the living room carpet. First kisses happen in the dim light of the front porch. And while those enduring memories are the heartbeat of a home, time isn’t so kind to the house itself.

Maybe it’s hearing the drip of the leaky bathroom faucet on a lazy Sunday morning. Or staring at the discoloured spot on the stairs where the dog’s been lying every day for three years. The list of fixes can start to feel endless.

But for those in Wetaskiwin who turn to ACT Home Services when those stairs’ days are numbered, getting back to home sweet home is only a phone call away.

ACT Home Services got its start 25 years ago when owner and founder, Shannon Turkington, started flipping houses on the side of his full-time corporate job. But this side hustle soon grew into something larger, inspiring a career change. “I really enjoyed flipping houses and I had many of the sub-trades I needed for renovations,” Shannon says. “I learned as I went and ACT Home Services was born.”



When he first started in the industry, Shannon noticed that a lot of hardworking tradespeople didn’t enjoy the customer service side of the business. But with local residents wanting renovations and not knowing where to look, Shannon made it his mission to fill the gaps in Wetaskiwin. “I started to help the customers get the best tradespeople and help tradespeople get great projects,” he says.

His tight-knit team of two or three tradespeople from his house-flipping days quickly grew. Today, Shannon employs nearly five times the amount of experts in Wetaskiwin and their surrounding service area. “I’m proud to have 15 families relying on me to keep them employed,” he says. “I’m one of the most significant employers in the area now.”

Being a significant employer isn’t the only thing helping Shannon and ACT grow and make a name for themselves in Wetaskiwin. It’s their commitment to customer service and transparency around how they run their projects. “We simply have better planning processes in the beginning before the project starts,” says Shannon. “We don’t give estimates to our customers, we give solid quotes because we do all the hard work before we swing a hammer.” 

Over the years with how much they’ve grown and become a key business in the area, ACT has been able to tackle larger projects. Specializing in residential renovations, both interior and exterior, ACT has carved out a niche in whole-house renovations, major kitchen remodels, bathroom and basement renovations, and full-house exteriors.

The team has also taken their expertise to another level by helping local organizations, like Habitat for Humanity and the Wetaskiwin Theatre Society, with special renovation projects. “The Wetaskiwin Theatre Society’s building is really old and we’ve been able to help them out many, many times to maintain it and keep it up to date,” says Shannon. “We’ve sponsored them for a while now.”

Looking to the future, Shannon hopes that his company’s legacy and dedication to excellence carry on with his sons, whose initials form the company name. “We’d like to do more commercial renovations and start building new houses,” he says. “My boys have been working with me for many years now, they’re probably here to stay and make that happen.”

Nestled in an area with a strong farming community and steady economy, Wetaskiwin provides a solid foundation for ACT Home Services to keep building their business and help homeowners capture and keep that sense of home sweet home.