Property Management, Personally Handled

Jolene didn’t choose property management; she was shaped by it. Growing up alongside her father’s brokerage meant understanding the weight of the work before she ever held a file. She saw what it looked like when an owner trusted someone with their asset, and what it cost when that trust was broken. That stayed with her.When she officially stepped in, 2004, first to cover a leave, then to co-found Custom Property Services in 2006, she wasn’t just learning the theory. She was running operations, managing staff, and figuring out why certain systems worked and others didn’t. Her graduate research had actually focused on exactly that question: how small businesses retain great people when large corporations are always circling. It turned out the answer, and the job were the same thing. It made her the kind of operator who doesn’t just read the report, but knows what’s behind the numbers, and knows how to build a team that stays.

That academic foundation, a Master of Arts and a Master of Science in Tourism Management, with a dissertation rooted in human resources and small business leadership, wasn’t a detour from property management. It was preparation for it. People-first thinking, organizational systems, understanding what makes a team function under pressure: that’s the work, whether you’re in a graduate program or managing a commercial portfolio.

In 2015 she rebranded Custom Property Services into Custom Realty Ltd. not to start from scratch, but to build deliberately. The focus was commercial clients, a boutique portfolio, and a team small enough that nothing gets lost, and every client is actually known. Today, with over two decades of experience spanning residential, commercial, and operational leadership, she oversees a team that manages almost 200 residential units and a commercial portfolio across office, retail, industrial, and mixed-use properties throughout BC.

Outside the office, Jolene is active in her communities in life and business, and is the kind of person who shows up the same way everywhere, consistently, with full attention and passion. That’s not a coincidence. It’s how she was raised to operate.

For owners, this means working with someone who has seen property management from every angle, maintenance, operations, finance, brokerage. As well as studied what makes small teams exceptional, and then went and built one.

“I’m just a janitor.”

That’s what Bill Berry has said his entire career. And if you didn’t know better, you might almost believe him, he’s not the type to announce what he knows or remind you how long he’s been doing it. But spend a day with Bill on a property, and you’ll understand why that phrase is equal parts humility and quiet confidence. He’s not downplaying the work. He’s telling you he never considered himself above any of it.

Bill started in building maintenance in 1975, hands-on, ground-level, learning how properties actually function before he ever had a management title. He went on to manage regional shopping centres, apartment buildings, and industrial sites, traveling regularly between Calgary, Toronto, Vancouver, and Victoria as he built a reputation that moved faster than he did. In 1988, he founded his own brokerage and grew it over nearly three decades into a respected commercial portfolio.

In 2015, he joined Custom Realty, the company his daughter leads, and brought every bit of that history with him. He is still here. Still active. Still showing up on-site when it matters, still the first call when something complex needs a steady hand. Fifty years in this industry has a way of making the complicated feel manageable, and Bill has a particular gift for that.

Outside of work, he’s a devoted husband of more than 50 years, a fan of the Seahawks, the Flames, and anyone who curls well under pressure and his greatest joy of all is being in the stands watching his grandkids leave it all on the ice, the field, or in the box. But most people who’ve worked with him will tell you the same thing: the man you meet on a job site and the man you meet at a family dinner are the same person. That kind of consistency doesn’t happen by accident.

For owners, Bill represents something increasingly rare, someone with institutional knowledge of the industry who still shows up in person, who has seen every market cycle, every building issue, and every difficult conversation, and handles all of it without drama.

Maria has lived in Colombia, Virginia, Seattle, and now Vancouver. That kind of path does something to a person. It teaches you to read a room quickly, to meet people where they are, and to communicate across differences that most people don’t even notice are there.

She spent years as an educator before coming into property management and when she discovered that a huge part of this work is actually teaching people, explaining processes, setting expectations, helping someone understand their rights or their responsibilities in plain language, she knew she was exactly where she was supposed to be. The industry just finally caught up with what she’d already been doing her whole career.

What makes Maria exceptional isn’t just her patience, it’s that the patience is genuine. She’ll listen to any concern, regardless of how small, and she approaches every complaint with the same instinct: understand first, solve second, leave the person feeling heard. In a business where people are often stressed before they even pick up the phone, that matters more than almost anything else.

She’s now a licensed property manager, taking on files directly and supporting owners and tenants through the full arc of their experience. Fluent in English and Spanish, and shaped by a large, close family she loves deeply, Maria brings a warmth to this work that you can’t manufacture. It’s just who she is.

For owners and tenants alike, Maria is the person who makes complexity feel manageable, someone who listens before she acts, explains before she assumes, and follows through every single time.

Naleen started his career at KPMG in Sri Lanka, moved through one of the country’s largest conglomerates, rising to Head of Finance Operations  and was eventually seconded to Myanmar to build out a microfinance operation from the ground up. Then he moved to Canada for his MBA and landed at Custom Realty in 2023. That’s not a résumé designed for a boutique property management firm. It’s a résumé that makes you wonder why we got so lucky.

What Naleen brings isn’t just technical skill, it’s the ability to build and maintain financial systems that actually work under pressure, across different markets and regulatory environments. At Custom Realty he oversees the full financial operation: reporting, budgeting, accounts receivable and payable, tax compliance, payroll, and audit coordination across residential, commercial, and strata properties. He works directly with property managers and building owners to make sure the numbers tell a clear story, not a confusing one.

Outside of work, Naleen is a devoted husband and father of two sons. He’s the kind of person for whom that family context isn’t separate from his professional values, the same reliability, long-term thinking, and genuine care shows up in both places. Naleen believes that successful property management is built on strong relationships, clear communication, and financial transparency. He is proud to be part of the Custom Realty team, helping property owners protect and grow the value of their investments.

For building owners, Naleen means the financial side of your property is managed with the kind of precision and transparency that lets you make real decisions, not just receive monthly statements you have to trust blindly.

Diksha came to Canada without knowing a single person here. That detail matters, because the decision to do that, to build something completely from scratch in an unfamiliar city, tells you a lot about who she is before she’s said a word.

She landed in the customer service world (not at Custom Realty) and quickly became the kind of person you noticed in a room. Not because she was loud, but because she was genuinely at ease with people, curious, warm, and completely comfortable starting a conversation with anyone. That’s not a skill you can teach. Jolene noticed it early, watching Diksha work, and knew she’d be a natural fit for the Custom Realty team.

She brought with her a B.Com (Honours) in Business, a Postgraduate Diploma in Global Business Management, and a Diploma in Event Management, a combination that reflects someone who doesn’t stay still and doesn’t stop learning. Her family also has direct experience with property investment, which means she came into this work with an understanding of what’s actually at stake for owners, not just the administrative mechanics of it.

At Custom Realty, Diksha supports the entire office team client coordination, day-to-day operations, market research, and the kind of behind-the-scenes reliability that keeps everything moving. She’s the person who asks “how can I help?” before anyone has to ask her. Right now, family is her first priority she’s the kind of person for whom that’s never a small thing and she brings that same depth of commitment to every team she’s part of.

Outside of work, she dances, cooks, hosts, and travels which is about as clear a picture as you can get of someone who leads with warmth and makes people feel welcome wherever she is.

For the team and the clients Custom Realty serve, Diksha is the connective tissue that keeps the office running smoothly, detail-oriented, people-first, and always a step ahead of what’s needed next.

Pierros has been with Custom Realty since March 2004. That’s not a footnote, that’s the headline. In an industry where turnover is constant and institutional knowledge disappears with every departure, having someone who has been inside these buildings for more than twenty years is something owners don’t always know how to put a dollar figure on. Until they need it.

Originally from Greece, Pierros came to Canada over 30 years ago and started his career in hospital sanitation, work that demands an exacting standard and zero tolerance for shortcuts. That standard transferred directly into property maintenance, and it shows. He knows which buildings have recurring issues before anyone calls. He knows the history of a P-trap that’s been cleared three times. He knows what something costs to fix properly versus what it costs to fix fast, and he’ll tell you the difference plainly.

His hands-on background spans plumbing, general repairs, full residential renovations, and janitorial operations across a diverse portfolio. He’s worked his way from handyman to Maintenance Supervisor, not because he wanted a bigger title, but because he kept doing the work and kept doing it right. Outside of his role at Custom Realty, he’s a father who takes that same quiet steadiness home with him every day.

For owners, Pierros is the person who protects the value of your asset at ground level, methodically, reliably, and with the kind of long-term perspective that only comes from having been here through every season of the portfolio.