HOW AN EDMONTON CONSTRUCTION BUSINESS OPENED THEIR DOORS AT THE WORST TIME POSSIBLE IN MODERN HISTORY –AND SUCCEEDED

When starting a new business, the odds are against you at the best of times. Numerous factors, tangible and intangible, must fall in place to make it happen. Shield Foundation Repair, an upstart Edmonton foundation repair company, broke ground at the worst possible time. Economies were on their knees, countless businesses were their shutting doors, and “uncertainty” was the word of the day. Not only was the world in turmoil, but Shield needed to break through in a competitive market with well-known and established competition.

You’d have to be crazy to start a new business in these conditions. Or, just maybe, crazy like a fox. Here’s how they did it.

Start With A Great Idea

Undaunted, the Shield team, driven by President Todd Ivanochko, had a great idea – customers deserve better. Simply put, they would introduce a professional, customer-centric approach to an industry that wasn’t known for professionalism. With a lifetime of experience in the foundation repair business, Ivanochko saw the opportunity and set his sails.

Have A Plan

The plan was to bring together innovation, an experienced, diverse team, and class-leading materials. With this strategy, they could undertake a larger range of projects than competitors. The goal? A customer experience like no other in the business.

Surround Yourself With Great People

The leadership team is chock full of industry specialists at every position who cut their teeth in the foundation repair business and believe to their core that customers deserve better.

Carefully selected new hires undergo rigorous safety and operations training before hitting the field under the watchful eye of supervisors. Ongoing training is comprehensive and adheres to the highest industry and governmental standards.

With an eye to lifetime learning, company principals attend trade shows and international conferences to continuously upgrade their product knowledge and learn the latest technical advancements.

Shield also takes pride in offering opportunities for women and minority groups, historically underrepresented in the construction sector. Speak to company principal and office manager Tammy Ivanochko and she will point to their occupational health and safety officer and field operations manager as prime examples of the value women can bring to the sector. “A person can get a job in construction anywhere. People come here to get a career,” she says.

Commit To Innovation

Technology and innovation are pivotal to the unique Shield customer service experience. While you may not consider foundation repair a technological innovation sector, a quick tour around the Argyll Road head office will quickly change your mind.

An app is used to enable both and customers and project managers to view progress reports, work site images, and timeline updates.

Shield is in the process of designing their own custom CRM software package that will be unique to the construction sector.

The latest dust suppression technology is used on-site to prevent silica and concrete dust particulate hazards on jobsites.

To reduce environmental contamination and environmental damage at sensitive locations, zero-emission electric conveyors transport material to central collection locations.

Use The Best Materials

Shield continually searches for innovative, high-quality products that often exceed most typical job specs. Technical field manager

Tim Willcox isn’t shy when speaking about the quality components that go into what you might think is a normal foundation repair.

He’ll point out that by using best-in-class materials, his customers can have confidence that they’re getting the best the market has to offer, and the company can offer a transferable lifetime warranty on all work completed.

For difficult, below-grade structural repairs, Shield applies a unique blend of bentonite and polymers that expands to form a barrier across the structure’s surface while also sealing small cracks in the concrete and filling voids in the adjacent soil.

A revolutionary advanced thermoset vinyl polymer concrete is used for repair services in high-traffic and/or locations where confined space is a factor or cannot be out of service for the typical periods required by normal concrete cure times.

Bundle Your Service Offering

A typical foundation repair company offers a narrow set of specialties, which often requires the customer to become a sub-contractor when multiple services are required. Since most customers do not have this skillset, it can result in anxiety and frustration while trying to manage multiple contracts. Shield works hard to provide a “one-stop-shop” range of services, allowing their customers to work with one company for all their needs.

Build Your Brand

Being a new player in an established market, the goal was to build awareness and “be found when people are looking”, directing customers desperate for foundation fixes to an informative website, whereby they could contact the company directly with the tap of a finger or a click of a mouse.

To break through and quickly gain an awareness foothold, Shield used radio and TV advertising.

A digital marketing program, on-the-ground tactics such as a fleet of graphic-wrapped service trucks, local TV news features, and outdoor marketing tactics grew awareness fast.

The company conducts in-house demo sessions featuring innovative foundation repair techniques and materials, targeting engineering firms and property management companies.

Solve A Problem To Beat The Odds

Starting a new company is incredibly hard and fraught with risk. To have your best chance at success, you need to begin with a strong idea based on a customer need, or unfulfilled service offering. When you figure this out, you have a far better chance to succeed.

Shield Foundation Repair opened its doors only four years ago. From humble beginnings they have become an industry leader in the Edmonton foundation repair field and a successful, multi-million-dollar organization with a bright future. Was it easy? Absolutely not. Was it exciting? Absolutely.

As Ivanochko proudly says, “We thrive on projects others turn away from”. From building companies to solving customer problems, you can bet he means it. u

From Foundation Repair To House Moving And Everything In Between

• Foundation repair and replacement

• Waterproofing horizontal, vertical, blind side

• Sumps, weeping tile, and drainage

• Concrete work – wet, dry, structural

• Asbestos and mold remediation

• Underpinning

• Jack and slide structu res

• Lifting and leveling buildings, bridges, structures

• Dust suppression

• Demolition

RESIDENTIAL & COMMERCIAL

Protect what matter most.

SHIELD FOUNDATION REPAIR

8625 Argyll Road, Edmonton, Alberta shieldfoundationrepair.ca 780 760 4900

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