BUILDING THE FOUNDATION

of Calgary with Davidson Enman Lumber

by Rennay Craats | Published by Brittany Fouquette

What started with one truck, a tiny office, a staff of four and an abundance of ambition and drive has grown into a multi-generational Calgary success story. Ray Davidson and Bill Enman merged their talents and their names to create Davidson Enman Lumber in 1948, first in Lethbridge and then expanding to Calgary three years later. As their reputation for integrity and quality products grew, their business grew alongside it; by 1959 they had outgrown their Macleod Trail location, so they built their new headquarters on 42 Avenue SE where it sits today.

“This was just about out of the city back in those days. People thought he was crazy to start way out in the sticks, but look at us now,” says Dan Davidson, co-owner of Davidson Enman Lumber.

By 1960, Davidson Enman Lumber (DE) left Lethbridge and focused on serving its growing customer base in Calgary. Ray bought his partner out of the business in 1963 and set out to establish the supplier as the go-to company for contractors and professional home builders. Since then, Ray Davidson passed the company to his sons, Doug and Greg, who continued to grow the company and welcomed the third generation of Davidsons to the ownership core when Greg retired in 2017. Now brothers Jeff and Dan Davidson head up the day-to-day operations of the company with support from their father, Doug, as he nears retirement.

“If you took a time machine back to the late-40s and told our grandfather that in 2023, DE’s not only still around, but it’s thriving under the management of his grandsons, I think he’d be pretty proud of that. And so are we,” says Dan.

There is plenty to be proud of. The full-service supplier offers a complete line of products including Spruce, Fir and treated lumber as well as various sizes of Spruce, Fir and concrete forming and fire rated plywood. DE also has a catalog of building supplies including rebar, fibreglass insulation, poly and bagged concrete. Along the way, the company brought on a selection of finishings like door hardware, mouldings and panels to afford clients the convenience of getting everything they need in one stop.

In the 1980s, Davidson Enman added a truss division located on 44 Street SE that is staffed by talented techs who assist clients with truss and flooring system designs. There is an amazing team in place that runs the division when the management is at the head office, but Jeff and Dan have their eyes on growth and efficiency that could bridge the divide.

“The next five-year plan would be to try to join our truss division and our lumber division together in one location and become a bigger, stronger sales force with more buying power to be able to better supply Calgary in the future,” says Jeff Davidson, co-owner of DE.

After all, the key to Davidson Enman’s 75-year success is the company’s commitment to customer service for its list of long-time clients. The company has established a solid reputation in the industry, earning the repeat business of many of its loyal customers over the course of several decades. Whether the team is supplying products for large construction services firms, general contracting companies, major home builders in the city or a walk-in looking to build their own garage or deck, DE is dedicated to exceeding expectations to ensure that customers leave happy and will return for their next project.

And there have been countless projects. Davidson Enman has been involved in many of Calgary’s iconic building projects, and you’d be hard pressed to find a large development that didn’t have DE’s fingerprints on it somewhere. From sourcing antique moulding and doors to keep the Heritage Park restoration accurate to being involved with building infrastructure to facilitate the 1988 Olympic Games, from helping get the Ring Road built to providing services to get the South Health Campus hospital finished, DE has gone above and beyond to help clients build Calgary into the worldclass city it is.

“We want to continue to make our mark on Calgary even bigger. We helped build the Calgary Tower, the Saddledome, the Stampede grandstand, and we plan to keep being involved in those big projects around the city in the future,” says Jeff.

Whether projects are large or small, the team does everything possible to fulfil and complete customers’ orders quickly and get them out for delivery often within a day or two; they never want to be the reason for a client to be behind schedule. Ray Davidson built the company on service and the generations that followed him have continued to hold customer service as a critical core value.

“What’s got us here is exemplary customer service,” says Dan. “We hang our hat on the service end of it, that personal touch that people really appreciate. I think that’s what has gotten us to 75 years.”

The Davidsons credit their fantastic teams at both locations for maintaining those high service standards. From the management staff to the delivery professionals on the road, the family has taken the time to build great relationships with the stellar team of around 80 employees, which in turn encourages staff to build great relationships with customers. Since Ray started building his company in the 1940s and 1950s, the family has tried to attract like-minded service- oriented people and treat them well to ensure they want to stay. The result is a team of many long-tenured employees who love their jobs and are invested in seeing the company grow and succeed.

There is a great balance between younger staff just launching their careers and more seasoned employees who are happy to pass along the knowledge they’ve acquired over their decades with DE. The Davidsons are grateful for the expertise held by the amazing group of dedicated professionals at the company, and they know it’s the staff’s hard work and dedication that has contributed greatly to the success and longevity of Davidson Enman Lumber.

To show their appreciation for the years of service and dedication to building the company, the Davidsons are hosting a golf tournament in Banff for staff and customers as well as throwing a barbeque bash for staff and their families to celebrate the 75th anniversary.

“Operating for 75 years is a significant amount of time for any business let alone a family business. I think it’s a testament to our strength that we’ve weathered the ups and downs in the market, different economic conditions, successfully navigated through industry changes and a pandemic, too. To last this long and to have key employees stay with us through thick and thin has been incredible,” says Jeff.

To have a locally-owned family business survive and thrive for 75 years is remarkable, but that history is a mere steppingstone not a finish line as the third generation of Davidsons continue to carry on the family legacy at Davidson Enman Lumber.

by Rennay Craats

Everything Wayne Gamester needed to know about success he learned from his parents on their PEI potato farm. They instilled a strong work ethic in their nine children who grew up helping others in their community.

“We didn’t have money growing up, but we had better than that. Our parents instilled good values in us. They told us if you treat people the way you want to be treated, you’ll go places,” says Wayne Gamester, founder of Alberta Fire & Flood. “We grew up learning how to work.”

Armed with little more than those life lessons and the $1,000 he’d saved working for the county, Wayne and a friend headed west in 1981. His friend’s mother contacted a school friend named Lou MacEachern who agreed to hire the boys at his restoration company in Calgary. The day they arrived in Alberta, they started working.

Lou and his partner, Eldon Hardy, mentored Wayne, teaching him every aspect of the restoration business over the next two decades. Wayne was eager to build something of his own so in 2003 he started Alberta Fire & Flood (AFF) in his garage.

“I took a little leap, contacting some people I knew in the industry to see if they’d give me some work and they promised they would. They did! Our customers have been faithful ever since,” he says.

Wayne applied his east coast work ethic to the task of building a company from the ground up. The staff of three worked out of their 600-square-foot garage, and with the support of his wife, Pam, he established himself in the industry. Before long they outgrew the garage and rented their first warehouse and then a larger one, and finally moved into their current 34,000-square-foot office and warehouse on Farrell Road SE in June 2015. With every move, AFF added more staff to accommodate the increased workload and today the company boasts a dedicated team of 36 employees ready to serve their residential and commercial customer base. info@trulinecontracting.ca | 403-465-0137 | www.trulinecontracting.ca

For 20 years, Alberta Fire & Flood has been the first call when emergencies happen, and spaces and contents need to be restored after water, fire or smoke damage. The team is also proficient in treating asbestos and mould, sewage back-ups and storm damage, and is certified to deal with biohazards and forensic clean up at crime scenes and unattended deaths. AFF has a small carpentry shop onsite and minor rebuilds have become a major part of the business.

AFF has a wealth of experience from trained and certified staff that it can draw on and it has become a preferred vendor for insurance companies helping their clients navigate the restoration process after emergencies.

Alberta Fire & Flood is now extending its scope to include offering emergency restoration and treatment of building envelop failures to commercial clients in property management and larger tenant condominium management companies.

While the company is focused on Calgary and the surrounding areas, when major events occur across the province, it’s all hands on deck. Alberta Fire & Flood is proud to mobilize a team and do all they can to help.

“Every disaster that has hit, from the Slave Lake fires in 2011 to the flooding here and in High River in 2013, the fires in Fort McMurray in 2016 and the floods in Fort Vermilion and Fort McMurray in 2020, we’ve gone to them all,” Wayne says.

We are a full service general contracting company that has been working with the restoration industry since our inception. Our services extend through all areas of construction and include all stages of the build process.

We specialize in custom millwork and cabinetry as well as structural repairs. Our ability to be a multifaceted company is what sets us apart from others in our industry and our attention to detail and quality is our foundation.

Main Plant: 402-53 ave SE. Calgary, Alberta

Ph: (403) 262-3791 • Email: info@towercleaners.ca www.towercleaners.ca | crdn.ca

After the wildfires in Fort McMurray, AFF assembled a team of 200 made up of staff and temporary employees, liaised with an oil company to have them create a camp for the restoration team using prefab modular buildings, and then they got to work. They spent about five months in the area treating smoke, soot and fire damage to allow people to move back into their homes.

“We had to split our staff because you still have to run things here in Calgary and look after your clients that look after you here every day,” Wayne says.

The staff does whatever it takes to look after clients on every job. Wayne and Pam Gamester appreciate and value their hard work and look after their employees in return, from providing an onsite gym for staff to offering attractive wages with the option of commission packages for those with more drive. The Gamesters strive to promote from within and many of their project managers started out as frontline staff. This has helped them retain the high experience levels in the company and protect the positive culture they have built over two decades.

While they are working in terrible, challenging circumstances, the team still has fun together on and off the clock. They have regular potlucks and social events, and the senior leadership team checks in at job sites to make sure everyone has what they need or to bring meals to support them and give them one less thing to worry about.

“They are more like family than employees. They are loyal and hardworking people, and we really are a tight knit group,” says Pam Gamester.

Family is what drives the team., The Gamesters’ daughters, Chelsa and Emily, “helped with inventory” as kids and now their husbands work at the company. Restoration is also the Templemans’ family business and Rick’s daughter, Brooke, joined AFF to help her dad grow the company. The owners take care of the community as well as they do their work family. They support Women in Insurance Cancer Crusade (WICC) with an annual Stampede fundraiser that last year netted $21,000 for the cause. They also donate to the Alberta Children’s Hospital and host food and clothing drives for veterans while also supporting their industry through scholarships for insurance programs.

Community, family and integrity are the pillars of AFF, and the Gamesters brought on three like-minded partners over the years in Fletcher Armstrong, David Smith and Gary Wellon to help them build the business. Fletcher and David retired, and the tragic passing of Gary left a void that is being filled by Rick Templeman since bringing his 44 years of experience in the industry to the team in July 2022. Rick is poised to take over the company in the next five years so the Gamesters can retire.

“I’m looking forward to building the business and bringing my family into it – the whole family is in restoration,” says Rick Templeman, general manager of Alberta Fire & Flood.

“I’m excited for the opportunity.”

The Gamesters know he will grow and better the company they poured their hearts into for the past 20 years, and they are sure that Alberta Fire & Flood couldn’t be in better hands.