One of Howard Sokolowski's early jobs out of university was pretty much to do everything at a real estate project financially backed by his father.

Put in charge to sink or swim, the eventual Toronto builder said he would be at the job at sunrise and go home at sundown, instilling in him a sense of responsibility and hard work. It also taught him a wide array of skills because it was his project, and Sokolowski literally worked every part of it.

That early workplace trial would lay the groundwork for Sokolowski to go on to a long career in real estate, ending up as CEO of Toronto developer Metropia. The acquired skills would also help him during his time as co-owner of the Canadian Football League's Toronto Argonauts from 2003 to 2010.

Sokolowski learned his trade from his father, Henry, a homebuilder who constructed five to 10 houses a year with three other partners after arriving in Canada from Poland.

"He was a Holocaust survivor who came after the war," Sokolowski said of his father in an interview. "He was a tailor because when he landed in Halifax, they asked him, 'What you do,' and he said, 'What you need?' They needed tailors, and he said he was a tailor."

His father got into real estate the classic way, by buying one house, renovating and expanding his business. Sokolowski worked for his father when he got out of school with an idea he would eventually set out on his own.

The opportunity came when a local Toronto school board was selling lots that he would end up converting to 33 homes. Armed with a loan from his father, Sokolowski moved ahead.

"I jumped into the deep end. I had to do the planning; I had to sell. I was the super" and the worker, said Sokolowski, who was 25 at the time. His dad "wrote a cheque and gave me 50% equity. It went well."

Even so, he was grounded by an important lesson from his first job: "Nothing serves you better when you are first starting out than the work ethic, there is no such thing as weekends off," he said.

He then started homebuilder Tribute Communities more than 40 years ago with his good friend Al Libfeld. The pair built 25,000 homes together but parted ways in 2009, with Libfeld staying with Tribute. Sokolowski left that year and launched Metropia, and the firm has since been involved in 15 projects and built 14,000 units.

And now it's his turn to pass along business lessons to his son, Samuel Frum, who stepped into the job as Metropia president in the spring.

Frum is the son of former Canadian Senator Linda Frum, who is married to Sokolowski. His maternal grandfather is well-known developer Murray Frum.

Samuel Frum studied economics at Harvard University and got a job in investment banking in the real estate capital markets group at RBC, but after two years, Sokolowski said it was "time to learn the real business" and join him. Frum came on board as an analyst seven years ago.

"He wanted to do an MBA," said Sokolowski, and Frum agreed, adding that "we got into the biggest fight we maybe ever had. He said go do an MBA and when you come back, you are not working for me."

Sokolowski told Frum if he was serious about learning the real estate business, he would teach him everything he needed to know from a hands-on perspective.

The new president has the real estate DNA in him from his grandfather Murray.

"[Murray] was just incredible. He had been out of the real estate business for a number of years, and now his daughter married a real estate guy, and he was happy, and he would come to our partner's meeting," Sokolowski recalled.

While his father-in-law eventually exited real estate to become an art collector, Sokolowski has no plans to leave the business and is staying on as CEO with full confidence in his new president.

"Sam is my son. Technically, he is my stepson, but we have a close relationship," he said. "But he is more than capable of leading Metropia for the next 15 and hopefully more years."

And that work ethic? Sokolowski said that's also being passed along.

"We start at 8:30 but we are on the phone every morning at 7. I work out at 6. Howard knows my schedule," said Frum jokingly. "I learned a tremendous amount from him. And about integrity. What makes working for him a joy is I can walk into any industry environment, and when I mention I work for Howard, I am instantly embraced because his reputation precedes him."

Sokolowski said that given the current issues facing real estate of rising costs, higher interest rates and presales collapsing, reputation has never been more important.

"The well-financed developers who have this sense of integrity will survive and they will flourish again," said Sokolowski.