At Cates Fine Homes, we work with home-dreamers who appreciate individuality, integrity, quality and value. Our homes are distinctly different, and many of them feature details that few builders have the skill to build. Whether your dream home is a right-size nest or a spacious family home, we encourage you to think outside the ordinary tan box.
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IF AN ARCHITECT DRAWS IT, WE CAN BUILD IT.

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We’re an architectural builder
Our highly skilled carpenters and tradesmen are fully capable of building any architectural detail or style—and they love the challenge of building something they’ve never built before.
Quality homes over quantity
Cates approaches home building as a craft, not a production line. We are not a high-volume developer. You’ll never suffer the long-term disappointments of cost-cutting, cookie-cutter building practices.
We build amazing things
Other contractors wouldn’t dream of taking on the challenges that we embrace. If your pie-in-the-sky ideas have already been rejected by another builder, give us a call.
We'd love to build your home. Let's start the conversation today.
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AIA Minnesota – December 2020
Project name: Electric Bungalow
Commendation for Excellence in Design for Energy
Location: St. Paul, Minnesota
Client: Thomas Fisher and Claudia Wielgorecki
Firm of record: Salmela Architect
Project partners: Meyer Borgman Johnson (Structural Engineering); Cates Fine Homes (Contractor)
Photo credit: Corey Gaffer
This is a three-bedroom, solar-powered, aging-in-place, environmentally friendly modern house with enough flexibility of form and fenestration to adapt to any lot. In other words, it aims to model a sustainable future for urban neighborhoods.
The jury highlighted this project’s exemplary job fusing sustainability with design, with a focus on reducing the project’s embodied carbon. They also appreciate the whimsical yet intentional fenestration, and detailing that feels modern yet respects the home’s residential context.