CEJFall.11.19.10 by Stone Griffin Media

Executive Journal

Summer Fall 20102009

Construction Edition www.caexecutivejournal.com www.caexecutivejournal.com

Innovating the Diffusion Alloying Industry

Endurance Technologies Inc.

Continuing to Successfully Build Cape Breton, Nova Scotia Brilun Construction Ltd.

Using Natural Resources for More Sustainable and Beautiful Homes Hamill Creek Timber Homes T H E M A G A Z I N E F O R l ea d ing I N D U S T R Y E X E C U T I V E S

Editorial

Letter from the Editor

Our Fall Edition comes out while many are facing their fourth quarters in this tough econmic year. The Fall stories are a testimony to the strength of time-tested business practices and the importance of rock-solid relationships. Here at Canadian Executive Journal, we continue to be encouraged and impressed by the durability of numerous companies from around North America. We are optimistic that our Winter publication will be able to continue with our theme of endurance and optimism in these challenging economic times. For example, companies such as Brilun Construction Ltd. have seen growth in this slow economy. Brilun’s competitive advantage over other companies in its field is “the quality of service and completion of projects on time, especially when there are short turnaround periods. We have a positive track record and a good chunk of our business is from repeat customers,” Brian Lund says. Hamill Creek Timber Homes is also featured in the Fall Edition and they have seen success all over the world and started with humble beginnings. Dwight Smith began dabbling in the timber construction industry in 1980, working as a carpenter. “I was just looking for way to build better homes,” Smith explains of his passion for the industry. In 1989 Smith founded his own timber frame company, Hamill Creek Timber Homes Inc., with his wife, Debbie. They began working out of a small workshop next to their house. The company quickly grew to become an international provider of custom timber frame homes and buildings. “I never thought it would grow this large; to me it simply started as a passion and I was quite happy to be building a house or two per year,” says Smith. Now, Smith serves as the company’s president from Meadow Creek, British Columbia, in the lovely and remote Kootenay region. As executives navigate their way through the rough waters of this economic atmosphere, companies are forging ahead, finding the strategies that not only keep them strong but that will also ensure their survival and even success during these turbulent times. The resilience that has rebounded many industries deserves more than praise during this historic moment for Canada and the ever-globalizing market economy. If your company is surviving, working on exciting projects, and growing during these tough economic times, we want to hear from you. We would like to feature you in our next edition, so please contact us at info@bullrunmedia.com.

— CA Executive Journal

Executive Journal

Published by Bull Run Media LLC

Contents

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On The Cover

Spotlight

Brilun Construction Ltd. Continuing ot Successfully Build Cape Breton, Nova Scotia

Dramis Network Cabling Ltd. Connecting Canada

Brian Lund graduated from CBU with a Construction Technology diploma in 1986. He immediately began working in the construction industry as an estimator, and later formed his own company, Brilun Construction Ltd. in 1993. From its location in Sydney, Nova Scotia, Brilun has been serving Cape Breton Island for 17 years, mostly in the commercial sector. “Pretty much 98 percent of our work is commercial,” says Lund, the company’s president.

Endurance Technologies Inc. Innovating the Diffusion Alloying Industry

Rae Brothers, Ltd. Going Green

Catalyst Power Inc. Sometimes When it's too Good to be True, It's Still True

Ottawa

National Hydronics Group An Old School Company with Cutting-Edge Skills

Mission Group A Green Place to Dwell

Growers Greenhouse Supplies Inc. Providing Constant Innovation to a Traditional Field

Baxtec Mechanical Service Success Created by Quality Customer Service

MCAC

Carvery’s Construction Ltd. Nova Scotia’s Total Construction Service Option

Interior Design Project

Lori Cox Interior Design Big is Not Always Better

(GBC)

Nova Scotia

Ted Handy and Associates Inc. Creating Environmentally Friendly Community Features

Design Workshop Ltd. Designing for Community and Environmental Improvement

Eastwing Products "Saving you Money and Helping the Environment"

Brilun Construction Ltd. Continuing to Successfully Build Cape Breton, Nova Scotia

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Royal Star Foods Ltd. Making Seafood Delicacies Accessible to Everyone

40 X Ontario

R&F Construction Inc. Recreating Life after Disaster Strikes

Martino Contractors Inc. Installing Comfortable and Energy-Efficient Home Products

Kirkor Architects and Planners Housing Distinctive Ideas MGP Architects Engineers Inc. Thinking Big for Small Communities

Amico Canada Inc. Manufacturing Canada’s Catwalks and Stairways

Voortman Cookies Ltd. Modernizing Baking Traditions for Global Infiltration Springer’s Meat Inc. Offering a Prime Family Product Urbacon Ltd. Updating a City’s Historical Buildings Provincial Industrial Roofing and Sheet Metal Co. Ltd. Providing Solid Coverage for Ontario The Newton Group Innovating Traditional Construction Practices

A. Villeneuve Mechanical Ltd. Continuing a Family’s Mechanical Contracting Efforts

Bird Construction Company Maintaining Traditional Principles in Innovative Construction

Elric Contractors of Wallaceburg Ltd. Leading Ontario’s Building and Designing Industry

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VEGFRESH Inc. Producing Made-to-Order Solutions

108

Trinity Communications Services Ltd. A Top Choice for Ontario’s Corporate Communications Support

111

Sunny Crunch Foods Ltd. Creating Canada’s Healthy Food Choices

117

Sardo Foods Ltd. Old World Tastes for New World Palates

120

Tamarack North Holdings, Ltd. Creating a Lifestyle Around Canada’s Original Masterpieces

123

Shore Tilbe Perkins + Will Combining New Resources with Proven Experience

128

Black and Moffatt Architects Inc. Designing Inspiring and Functional Communal Facilities

132

Furlani’s Food Corporation Baking a Batch of Success

Contents British Columbia

Saskatchewan 135

Simpson Seeds Inc. Expanding from a Traditional Farm to an International Distributer

Alberta

150

Hamill Creek Timber Homes Ltd. Using Natural Resources for More Sustainable and Beautiful Homes

156

Paradise Island Foods Inc. Cutting the Cheese

159

Dynamic Concrete Pumping Inc. Leading the Pack in a Concrete Revolution

139

Fresh Direct Foods Ltd. Bringing Innovation and Local Produce to Canada’s Food Retailers

142

Permolex Creating Profit from Grain

162

Vic Van Isle Construction Ltd. Creatively Designed Construction Solutions

144

Stawnichy’s Holdings Ltd. Creating Community through Quality

167

Thompson Valley Erectors Ltd. Offering a Multitude of Supportive Skills

148

Dimax Developments Inc. Combining Industry Expertise for Building Options

170

Flora Manufacturing and Distributing Ltd. Providing the World with Natural Remedies

172

Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership Innovation in British Columbia’s Architecture

175

ARAL Construction Ltd.: Building with Canada’s Natural Aesthetics in Mind

177

Mack Kirk Roofing & Sheet Metal Ltd. Continuing a Long History of Roofing Expertise

180

Nufloors Treading on Solid Ground

183

Rambow Mechanical Ltd. Taking a Full-On Approach to Mechanical Contracting

186

Walter Francl Architecture Helping Design Vancouver’s World-class Community

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Dwight Smith began dabbling in the timber construction industry in 1980, working as a carpenter. “I was just looking for way to build better homes,” Smith explains of his passion for the industry. In 1989 Smith founded his own timber frame company, Hamill Creek Timber Homes Inc., with his wife, Debbie.

CA Executive Journal

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Ottawa

Baxtec Mechanical Services

Success Created by Quality Customer Service Produced by Cathi Sachs & Written by Haylie Swenson Baxtec Mechanical Services was founded in 1983 by Andy Csiffary, a heating and air conditioning technician with over 20 years of experience and a simple goal: to provide the best possible HVAC solutions and superior customer service to the Ottawa area. Although Andy Csiffary has since retired, his son, Mark Csiffary, has assumed leadership as the current president. A mechanical engineer by trade, Csiffary worked for Kraft

Foods for six years before joining Baxtec in 2000. Csiffary feels that his experience coming from a large company gives the company a professional edge. He says, “The products we sell aren’t exclusive to us, so my competitors can sell exactly the same products we can. Really the only thing that’s different about us is the professionalism. With my background coming from a large company, I’ve brought a certain amount of professionalism to Baxtec, which I think sets us apart a little bit.”

In 2001 all of the employees at Baxtec Mechanical Services collaborated in the creation of Baxtec’s vision statement. In its three main pillars the statement lays out the company’s commitment to the highest possible quality and customer service, the safety of the company’s employees, and education and continuous improvement. Csiffary stresses the importance of this vision, explaining that all new employees are trained on the statement. “We expect our staff to act extremely professionally and competently,” Csiffary says. “We set high expectations and our guys deliver.” This commitment to customer service and quality has allowed Baxtec to develop long-term relationships with its clientele base in eastern Ontario. Baxtec currently employs a staff of 45 and garners an annual revenue of just under $10 million from its core business, HVAC service and maintenance in the commercial and government sectors. As of late, that core business has been roughly divided into two equal parts: the first half, Csiffary explains, consists of the maintenance and service of already existing systems; the second half of the business is in construction, including retrofits, boilers, and chillers. The company also works with clients on energy-reducing projects, replacing equipment nearing the end of its lifecycle with solutions that will be more energy efficient and save clients money. “We try to take advantage of rebates that are in place through government and utilities,” says Csiffary. Recently the company has expanded into plumbing. “That’s been an expansion to our line of work,” Csiffary says, going on to say that it has been a successful expansion, bringing a new type of service to existing clientele. Although the bulk of Baxtec’s work is in Ontario, recent projects have showcased the company’s flexibility. “We’ve just completed a project in Afghanistan,” Csiffary says.

Ottawa “That was for the Canadian government; we did work on the embassy in Kabul.” The company has worked in colder climates too, recently installing an air conditioning system at an Arctic facility. When asked why anyone in the Arctic

would need air conditioning, Csiffary explains: “They have computer rooms up there which generate heat year-round. They can’t just open a window because it will break the equipment.” This flexibility is made possible by the company’s ability to perform a wide range of in-house services. These include refrigeration, air conditioning, gas fitting, plumbing, and sheet metal installation. For sub-trade work — such as insulation, electrical work, and welding — the company has close relationships with a trusted group of vendors who share Baxtec’s commitment to customer service. However, Csiffary stresses, the company’s core strength is in its staff. Baxtec has an apprenticeship program for the trades held in-house, and top quality people are attracted to Baxtec by Csiffary’s philosophy towards his staff: “Train them well, treat them well.” Although the econmic downturn has threatened many businesses, Csiffary is optimistic about Baxtec’s future in Ontario. “We’re in a growth phase,” he says. “Our goal is just to expand our current clientele, primarily within Ottawa.” And while Baxtec is not currently looking to expand out beyond region, Csiffary doesn’t rule it out: “We always keep our eyes open for opportunities, even if it’s buying a business or gradually expanding into something.” Whether or not the company chooses to expand, one thing is certain: Baxtec Mechanical Services will remain faithful to the vision of quality and customer service it has embodied for over twenty years. 

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Spotlight

Dramis Network Cabling Ltd. Connecting Canada

Produced by Tameka Marshall & Written by Jarrett Oakley It’s an exciting time to be in telecommunications. In an industry that has seen the evolution of business communication solutions go from monster, room-sized computers to having a large shipping order processed on a smart phone from across the globe, telecommunications is now sink or swim for today’s business leaders.

telecomm industry during his 28 years of professional experience.

“We’re seeing commercial buildings more intelligent—from HVAC to the lighting to security cameras. The biggest thing we’re seeing is the unified communication and collaboration where we’re now able to have everything basically in an IP environment,” explains Murray Simard, President of Dramis Network Cabling Ltd

Founded in 1989 and headquartered in Moncton, New Brunswick, Dramis Network Cabling serves as an all-inclusive destination for communication systems solutions for the entire Atlantic Canada region. Throughout its five locations, Dramis supplies value added services for structured cabling ,including IP Telephony, unified communications, call center services, wireless, and paging and structured cabling solutions. Dramis is a Belden-, Tyco-, Panduit- and Levitonlicensed distributor and cabling installer. Dramis also provides telephony solutions as an authorized Avaya and NEC telephone system distributor.

Dramis Network Cabling Ltd is one of the largest privately owned telecommunications companies in Atlantic Canada. Simard has seen firsthand the dynamic growth of the

Despite the woes of a harsh global economic recession where similar companies have crumbled and faded away, Simard contends it’s the versatility and diversification of Dramis’

Spotlight products and services that has led not only to its survival, but thriving to produce annual estimated revenues of $7 million dollars in 2009.

“Diversification obviously sets us apart. We’re not a company just installing cable. We go beyond — we install the routers, the switches, wireless gear, PBX telephone services, and paging systems. So we tend to be a one-stop shop, a turnkey solution ,whereas a lot of other venders can do only one thing,” says Simard. Another element of Dramis that sets it apart from the rest of the telecommunication companies in cabling is a robust customer service portfolio, solid decision-making principles, and supply chain stability. “Our business is heavily service oriented. So we are the ones that do the truck roles, our feet on the street, and we are the ones with local people that can respond to service requests,” Simard explains He added, “We have a good staff of people who have been here many years that are qualified and knowledgeable.

Proud supplier to Dramis Network Cabling Graybar Canada, an employee-owned company, is a wholesale distributor for leading manufacturers of electrical, communications and data products, and related services. Providing complete solutions to customers and partnering with best-in-class manufacturers such as:

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I have great people who work for me that take care of business.” In terms of managing the company through a recession, Dramis leadership made tough, but needed business decisions. “We were faced with some restructuring and right sizing during that period, but we’ve turned the page on that, and this year I’m happy to say that we’re blessed with lots of growth and activity in every one of our areas of business. We’re back to hiring and growing the business again,” Simard says. Dramis’ supply chain successes are the result of a proven business model that doesn’t necessarily focus entirely on price. “Price is a factor with everyone, but it’s not the only driving factor. Customers have to look at a company’s responsiveness, its stocking, and a proven track record of deliverables,” explains Simard. Combining these elements as innovator and bedrock business acumen, Dramis’ recent projects have ranged from large hospital installations to the fiber optic wiring of the entire communication mainframe of the newly constructed casino in Moncton, New Brunswick. Yet its most wide reaching business venture has been with the Admiral Group. “The Admiral Group is an offshore company in Europe. We’ve had an ongoing project setting up their call centers, supplying phone equipment and switching gear, and cabling services to help them grow,” Simard says. Dramis Network Cabling strives to be the best in the Atlantic Canada region. It provides a full range of business communication systems solutions and structured cabling by dynamically capturing innovation in the telecommunications of today with their customer-oriented business model built from over 21 years of industry leadership. For additional information, please visit Dramis Network Cabling Ltd.’s website at: http://www.dramis.com. 

Spotlight

Endurance Technologies Inc. Innovating the Diffusion Alloying Industry Produced by Mike Armstrong & Written by Molly Cohen During a successful career as a district manager for an American company and a Canadian company — both in the exotic materials and alloys industry — Fred Chinski met a father and son team in the United States who were providing chemical vapor deposition (CVD) coatings, also referred to as diffusion alloying, on a relatively limited basis in the U.S.

”I thought we could form a partnership company in Calgary and establish a market in Canada, and we did. We’ve tried to evolve the technology they were using at the time into something that would lend itself to the oil and gas sector. Holes in production tubing resulting from wear and corrosion was identified as a common problem within the industry. We developed a process to boronize long tubular lengths” says Chinski, “and we can now process parts that are up to 50 feet long and 22 inches in diameter, whereas they were doing small parts only up to a foot long and two or three inches in diameter.”

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Since its founding in 1994, Chinski’s company, Endurance Technologies Inc., began to diversify. “We’re not just dependent on oil and gas. We found other processes that utilize the same infrastructure in terms of our high temperature furnaces and pipe handling equipment. Endurance Technologies acquired another proprietary technology in 2004, recently trademarked as EndurAlizing, which diffuses aluminum into steel as opposed to diffusing boron into steel,” Chinski shares. “After considerable investigation, we found a company that had aluminum processing technology, but it was out of business. We worked out an arrangement to license the technology and paid a royalty for a few years. We approached them to buy it out 100 percent. The EndurAlizing process has opened up new markets, including heat exchanger units for refineries, sulphur recovery facilities, and platformer units.” As founder, President, CEO, and a director of Endurance Technologies, Chinski has nursed the company from its infancy to its current standing as the world leader in the diffusion alloying market. He remembers the most interesting progression of the business as “the development of our technology to process extended length materials. It was between 1996 and 1998 and we had to do it in steps. We went from four feet to six feet to 10 feet then 16 feet, but none of those lengths conform to industry standards. Once we developed the process to handle full length tubulars, which are 9-10 meters, we had to move our shop location to a larger facility and fabricate larger furnaces to handle our longer product.”

Specific Service Areas The company’s products are marketed in specific areas throughout the world. “We expanded into the United Sates in 2004, into Europe in 2006, and into South America in

2008. We have completed several modest projects in the Middle East. Our marketing efforts focus on where we can actually acquire business,” says Chinski. Endurance Technologies’ processing facility is located in Calgary, Alberta, along with its administrative and sales office, and another yard for straightening and painting products. “And we’ve just leased our third shop here in Calgary. We also have a corporate business office in Ontario. We have an agent living in Lloydminster, Saskatchewan, and two full-time representatives working out of Midland, Texas. We recently added agents in Oman, Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Dubai and Saudi Arabia. We’ve also just started to do a little work with a company in the UK,” says Chinski. These capabilities are handled by Endurance Technologies’ current group of around 60 employees. Many of the senior personnel have been with the company for a decade or longer and are highly valued. “At the present time we’re hiring again,” Chinski says, so the company’s staff will be expanding soon. This staff expansion is required to sustain continuing growth in the company’s traditional markets. Endurance Technologies is registered as an ISO 9001:2008 qualified company.

Spotlight Past Successes, Future Goals Even with an ever expanding in-house force and the opportunity for increased revenue, Endurance Technologies faces a number of challenges. “We do have competition coming out on a fairly regular basis. Other entities do get into boronizing on a small-scale basis from time to time and other potentially competitive processes periodically come into the market. What we’re trying to do is develop these alternate technologies ourselves so we can maintain a leadership role in the industry,” Chinski shares. The recession has introduced additional road bumps for the company. “Actually it was fairly dramatic for us. It hit us really hard in 2009 as scheduled projects were deferred, but we have experienced a total comeback and our activity and revenues for 2010 are well in excess of our previous record year of 2008,” Chinski explains. Endurance Technologies uses subcontractors to support its efforts to stay on the industry’s cutting edge. “We outsource a fair amount of specialized services. For some custom jobs we outsource high heat, high temperature furnace requirements, — some within Alberta, but also from other parts of Canada and the United States. A lot of our chemical processing materials are only available from the U.S. and overseas.” To continue its supply chain management, the company retains a strong purchasing division. Chinski explains, “We have very good working relationships with our vendors and subcontractors and we diligently ensure that there are backup suppliers for all critical materials and services.” Often for larger projects, such as refineries, international engineer firms are involved in the design and fabrication of the facility. Endurance works directly with the project engineers to identify specific components of the facility that would benefit from its process. For example, Endurance Technologies completed a large project for a joint venture company in Texas owned by Shell and Aramco out of Saudi Arabia, working through a major international engineering consulting firm. “Our EndurAlizing process is critical to a portion of their refinery. We successfully completed that

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project and were one of few vendors that produced the product on time. That was 2 years ago. The installation is just going forward now as the recession delayed the project, "but it now resurrected it and its going in now,” says Chinski. Now that the recession is starting to turn, Chinski’s main concerns “change from day to day. I guess planning for controlled and sustainable growth would be the main focus,” he says.

He is quite optimistic about the health of the economy and his company’s future. “There are great opportunities for Endurance to broaden its services and products and to geographically expand to other economic areas such as the Middle East and South America. We look for tremendous growth in the future.” And with Chinski’s involvement in innovative technologies and Endurance Technologies’ reputation for top-notch products, the company will continue to be a leader in its industry, discovering new processes and standardizing new equipment. 

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Rae Brothers, Ltd. Going Green

Produced by Cathi Sachs & Written by Deborah Wallace In 2009, Rae Brothers received two large-project awards from the Architectural Woodwork Manufacturers Association of Canada (AWMAC) — one for Excellence of Quality and one for Excellence of Service — for its work on two projects in Toronto. The company was also the feature cover story in the winter 2009 issue of Canadian Builders Quarterly. Rae Brothers Ltd., established in 1994 in Toronto, specializes in base-building renovations and office leasehold improvements in Toronto and Vancouver, British Columbia. The fact that it continues to attract clients such as the Royal Bank of Canada, Cisco Systems and HOK Canada is no fluke. With a total of 85 employees, considered large by Canada’s standards where 70 percent of commercial construction firms have five or fewer employees*, Rae Brothers has managed to build a stellar reputation for its commitment to superior work and unwavering attention to its clients' particular needs and standards. As a 10-year veteran project manager at Rae Brothers explains, “Our goal is to consistently exceed our clients’ expectations by offering them the best construction management services available. That is our focus every day.”

Spotlight

As a member of Canada’s Green Building Council, Rae Brothers is dedicated to sustainable building design and participates in the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification program.

While many businesses profess the value of teamwork, Rae Brothers relies on it for its success. Rather than assuming the more traditional role of general contractor, Rae Brothers provides construction management services through which it coordinates and oversees projects from beginning to end. Working with the client and project consultant, Rae Brothers organizes a construction management team, which

remains intact from pre-construction through completion. Within this structure, Rae Brothers also serves in an advisory capacity to its clients, providing technical and integration services in addition to ongoing controlled site management. Advisory services also include value analysis, scheduling, and budget control. As a member of Canada’s Green Building Council, Rae Brothers is dedicated to sustainable building design and participates in the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification program. LEED, which advocates an integrated approach to sustainability, is the benchmark for the design, construction, and operation of high-performance green buildings in Canada and the U.S. The LEED rating system, developed and administered by the U.S. Green Building Council, offers four levels of certification — Certified, Silver, Gold and Platinum — that correspond to the number of credits earned in five green design categories: sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources, and indoor environmental quality. Two of Rae Brothers recent construction management projects, HOK, a global design firm that specializes in planning, design, and delivery solutions for sustainable buildings and communities, and Allsteel, which designs, builds, and delivers workplace furniture solutions, were awarded a LEED-CI Gold certification. The HOK Canada project was the first project to be awarded a LEED-CI Gold certification in Canada, a testament to Rae Brothers' commitment not only to sustainable building but to doing whatever it takes to be on the cutting edge of construction management. 

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Catalyst Power Inc.

Sometimes When it’s Too Good to be True, it’s Still True Produced by Cathi Sachs & Written by Eric Gundberg If you’ve ever spent time on or near a farm, you know how unpleasant some of the odors can be. In fact, the two most common complaints by people who live near farms are the odor and issues related to surface water pollution. Farmers who spend their winters dreaming up a machine or invention that can clean the air and water can stop dreaming. Chris Bush, President of Catalyst Power Inc. (CPI) in Abbotsford,

has opened Canada’s first bio-methane pipeline facility, which recycles farm waste and creates pipeline quality renewable natural gas. The process, known as anaerobic digestion, is a biological process that produces a gas principally composed of methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2), otherwise known as

Spotlight biogas. These gases are produced from organic wastes, such as livestock manure and food processing waste. Anaerobic processes can occur naturally or in a controlled environment (e.g., a biogas plant). The organic waste is put into an airtight container called a digester. Depending on the waste feedstock and the system design, biogas is typically 55 to 75 percent pure methane. State-of-the-art systems like Bush’s report producing biogas that is more than 95 percent pure methane. Bush isn’t confining himself to just the one facility, “We want to create a partnership with the farmers. We will design, build, own, operate and manage the digesters. The farmers will be doing what they’ve been doing all along, farming. We’ll take on the new work, but we will all benefit together.” Cows produce more methane than the combined output from the world’s transportation sector Odors aside, farms across North America are single-handedly the largest contributor to greenhouse gases. Cows and other ruminants, such as sheep and goats, are walking gas factories that take in fodder and put out methane and nitrous oxide, two greenhouse gases that are far more efficient at trapping heat than carbon dioxide. It isn't just the gas they produce that makes livestock troublesome. A report from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization identified livestock as one of the two or three top contributors to the world's most serious environmental problems, including water pollution and

species loss. All told, livestock are responsible for 18 percent of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide, according to the U.N. Bush understands that threat and relates why his facility is a big deal for Canada. “There are about 9,000 digesters in the world today on a scale like mine, but there are only 125 facilities in the world that produce biogas. The purpose of Catalyst 1 is to be a showcase plant. We’re not just building a digester, we’re building a fully integrated resource recovery park. When we’re fully operational, we will make about 250,000 gigajoules of pipeline quality natural gas per year.” The process isn’t a secret, and Bush is eager to share his knowledge. “I’ve been talking with officials from my local government about setting up a Centre of Excellence here, so we can invite all of the local colleges and universities to come and study. My strategic partners and I have too small of a window to be selfish. We need to share this process knowledge with as many people as possible so that everyone can take it and run with it. The industry and the environment will be so much better off. It just makes sense.” Commercial viability The facility isn’t currently profitable, and Bush points out that British Columbia’s abundance of natural resources is his biggest challenge. “In Europe, energy producers get a very high price, 28 to 32 cents a kilowatt, for their energy. It costs me around 18 cents to make one kilowatt of electricity, and the market price is 5 to 7 cents. So I’ve had to think outside of the box as to how we’re going to make this work, and so far I’ve identified about 14 different revenue streams that I’m pursuing.” The ramifications of a facility that removes manure and waste from farms and converts that waste into clean renewable energy source are huge. Bush explains why he feels biogas facilities should be getting even more publicity. “In Ontario, they have the FIT program (Feed-in Tariff ) that promotes renewable electricity. My argument is that if you promote solar, wind, and run of the river (hydro) and things like that, you just get electricity. Anaerobic digestion for agriculture gives you clean air, clean water, clean fuel, and clean soil. It promotes agriculture and leaves you with a renewable clean energy source.” 

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National Hydronics Group

An Old School Company with CuttingEdge Skills Produced by Mike Armstrong & Written by Molly Cohen National Hydronics Group (NHG) is a mechanical contracting company with an “old school” approach to business, but uses skilled employees and cuttingedge technology. The company was technically founded in the 1960s, but its legally recognized founding was in 1973. The company maintains the family feeling started by its founder, Helmuth Musil, whose son, Rick Musil, is now a partner. In 1990, Mike Vesterback joined the NHG ranks; he is now the company’s president. Vesterback has 24 years in the industry. Before coming to NHG, he worked for other mechanical contractors and receivied his engineering diploma in mechanical systems from the British Columbia Institute of Technology. Self-Sufficient Divisions Vesterback enjoys and is supportive of NHG’s old school atmosphere. “We’re a union company with UA170 Plumbers and Pipefitters,” he shares. “And we’re a small segment in this location where only 20 percent of companies have

Spotlight union anymore. We’re one of few union companies that do residential high-rise. The rest do largely institutional and commercial, which we do as well, but a large part of our work is residential high-rise.” Regardless of the sector, NHG brings its expertise in plumbing, mechanical systems, and sprinklers to each jobsite from its office in Surrey, British Columbia. From there, the company’s 40 to 100 employees work mostly in Vancouver, bringing in annual revenue of $10 million to $20 million. According to Vesterback, NHG keeps much of its work in-house, including all of the typical mechanical work. “We subcontract sheet metal controls and insulation and occasionally fire protection, although we also sometimes keep that in-house. We have a sprinkler division that bids independently, so if they’re low enough they get to work with us. Each division has to be self-sufficient. If they can’t compete, we’re not going to support something that doesn’t have its own legs,” Vesterback says. When choosing a subcontractor, much of NGH’s choice is dependent on the type of work and the location of the project. “We open tender in some areas, but if it’s a select

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tender there are some companies we prefer. We try to stay open for tender, we don’t want to reduce our competitive abilities by narrowing the subtrades to a single list or too small of a group. We leave doors open, but if the opportunity exists there are people we would go to,” Vesterback says. Building through Partnerships NGH made use of its open bid subcontractor process to keep costs low on recent projects, including the new Robert Lee YMCA in Vancouver, “which recently opened two months ago. The old one was built in the 1950s. We worked with Concert Properties, a major player in Alberta, Ontario and British Columbia and Bosa Construction is the builder,” says Vesterback. NHG’s expertise was required in this facility specifically for some key features - like a 25-yard indoor pool, whirlpool, steam rooms, café, 18,000 square feet of lifestyle space, computer lab, community kitchen, rooftop playground, and underground parking facility in addition to the usual mechanical systems found in buildings. Working with Concert Properties is a large part of NHG’s success because that company “uses pensions to support

union builders to continue union construction. They improve the pension fund by making these investments and doing these projects. So the benefit for us is they don’t hire open shop-trades, which gives us the opportunity to get into bigger projects, whereas we might be at disadvantage on open public projects,” Vesterback explains. NHG also worked with Concert Properties on an assisted living facility called Tapestry at Wesbrook Village, near the University of British Columbia. “It has regular condos in combination with a portion of the building that is assisted living for people of an older age that may need more help than average older retired people. It’s not a full health care facility, but its assisted living so they have the option of having their meals catered and recreation facilities in one house. For people who are less mobile, it provides a regular life free of hospitals,” says Vesterback. NHG also did a very large project with Centerville Construction and developer Concord Pacific. “Concord Pacific bought False Creek and built 30 or 40 residential towers. One we completed for them last year was Area 6 and one of the buildings there was the Flagship, so it was an extremely high-end area and design,” Vesterback shares. Some of the building’s distinctive aspects that required NHG’s assistance are gas fireplaces; spa-like bathrooms with soaker tubs, floating vanities and glass sinks; and the indoor pool, whirlpools, steam room, sauna, and movie theater in the Esprit City Club.

While Vesterback waits for the economy to recover, he is making plans to grow the company in the current market. And these growth goals will require updating some of the company’s old school business approaches, like creating a website. “Most of our business is repeat customers so we haven’t done much with advertising overall. As we move forward with our service division, we will open up Web support for service,” Vesterback shares. “One of the partners that was managing field operations decided to move into the office to oversee the service division. It is an area of growth that needs to be developed for our company. We have a lot of experienced people, and if we can’t find new construction then the service side still has growth potential.” Using this opportunity to grow will stabilize the company for now and allow it to really expand once the economy returns. With this goal as a guide for its next few years of business, National Hydronics Group will meet with continued success in its industry. 

As for the company’s commercial work, NHG worked with Bird Construction on Abbotsford’s Regional Health Centre, a local prison built in conjunction with Public Works Canada. This project includes a medical hospital, inmate rooms for 400 men, service buildings, and security features. These projects were all successfully completed, despite challenges from the recent economic downturn. “It has limited our niche market in residential high-rise since a lot of that work has fallen by the wayside and was speculative. We didn’t lose any work, but when there’s less work to go around, there’s more competition,” Vesterback compares. “And being union, the flexibility in wage makes an impact open shops will reduce rates and we don’t have that option, so it makes for a competitive market.” But Vesterback sees the economy changing. “In our market I see upcoming improvement over the next 2 years. It will probably be next winter or spring before we really see it bounce back, it’s a little slow but it’s on its way. It is a slow process to get people to a level where they have comfort with their business and people are under-pricing jobs in fear. But I think they’re getting through that.”

Spotlight

Mission Group

A Green Place to Dwell Produced by Sean Barr & Written by Eric Gundberg

Adapting to a changing market is a necessity if a business wants to be viable in the long term. The principals at Mission Group, the premier construction design firm in the Lower Mainland, saw where the economy was headed and changed their business plan. Gerald Heinrichs, president of Mission Group’s construction division, and one of the original four founding members, explains. “The biggest challenge facing

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Mission Group was the economy, and we’re trying to design a product that will sell. So, we made a shift from condo living to townhouse living; we feel that’s where the real market is, not the speculative market. We’re actively trying to target people that are really looking to buy a home, not just make an investment.”

Waking up to birds singing in the trees The firm, which has been averaging about $25 million in annual revenue over the past 5 years, appears to be on track with one of their newest projects, aptly named Dwell, in Kelowna. The firm describes the project as an ‘urban brownstone’ with an inspired design. The units are in midtown Kelowna, and have easy access to local restaurants and express transit services. Each unit has an individual walk-up entry, and the trees and habitat were specifically designed to attract song birds. The firm designed two different layouts to give prospective buyers the choice of either a two or three bedroom home ranging from 1,158 to 1,513 square feet. An unusual touch for urban design in Kelowna is the addition of a rooftop deck on each of the units. Private two car garages with expansive storage areas make up the ground floor of the three-level units. Social living areas are on the second floor, and bedrooms and bathroom facilities are located on the third floor. More and more families report spending more time socializing in the kitchen, and the professionals at Mission Group didn’t forget any details. Buyers are given the choice of: Chocolate Pear Tree, Cherry, or Oxford White flat panel cabinets. ENERGY STAR dishwashers and 18 cubic foot refrigerators are standard in each unit, a few of the many touches that reflect Mission Group’s dedication to building a “greener” Canada.

of construction experience. Our range of construction techniques has helped create exceptional buildings with integrity, and in a cost-effective manner. “Our services include third-party general contracting, project and construction management, and tenant improvements. Each project undertaken is treated as if it were our own. Engaging our staff in components of quality, cost, and time management adds a benefit to all projects. Our team approach supports interfacing with consultants, suppliers and clients through value engineering, budgeting, cost tendering, operational planning, scheduling, quality control, and customer service.” Looking towards the future, Heinrichs expects the company will continue to grow, “We definitely want to continue to grow and build communities in the Lower Mainland and interior.” He reveals that one of those new projects is a proposed waterfront community situated on 6.25 acres, located in the Cook Road Tourist Commercial Area of Kelowna, again aptly named Aqua. The website describes the project as, “A location which offers sweeping views and inspiring access to the most storied location on the lake. With a mix of public and private amenities, our vision for Aqua is for it to be an asset for all. It is with great humility, care and attention that we take on this challenge.” Based on the company’s detailed attention to customer service and its exciting, green projects, it’s clear to see the firm has become the premier team for construction development in lower B.C. 

Other green touches include: low – flush Wyndham toilets; Low-E, energy-efficient, doubleglazed and thermally broken vinyl windows; environmentally friendly SmartStrand® fiber carpeting by Mohawk; low maintenance fiber cement shingle siding made from 30 percent recycled material; and drought-tolerant landscaping with native plant species for water conservation. Looking towards the firm’s future The firm has grown into one of the largest builders in the Okanagan area with offices in Kelowna and Abbotsford. Its website describes the company as follows: “Whether you’re renovating or constructing residential, commercial, or multiphase projects, by choosing Mission Group, you will have access to years

MCAC

Carvery’s Construction Ltd. Nova Scotia’s Total Construction Service Option Produced by Cathi Sachs & Written by Molly Cohen Glen Carvery began his mechanical company, Carvery’s Construction Ltd., as a sole proprietorship in 1989. It has since evolved into a one-stop shop for the majority of construction services with a special focus on mechanical work. “It’s a business I started from scratch,” Glen says. “We were incorporated in 1990.” This company jump-started Glen’s venture into the construction industry. And as the company heads toward its 20th anniversary, he continues to guide his 36 employees as the company’s president. Carvery’s now has an office and a warehouse located in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, which functions as a nonunion shop.

manner thanks to the company’s reliable fleet of vehicles. Carvery’s offers its clients full construction services based in its range of employee specialties. The company’s craftsmen are skilled carpenters, plumbers, oil burner mechanics, dry wallers, electricians, painters, sheet metal workers and line markers. These employees work mostly in the Halifax Regional Municipality and beyond to its local communities. In these areas, Carvery’s is proficient in repairs, installations, and renovations.

A Multitude of Talents “We have all the forces underneath one domain. So we’re not only a mechanical company, we also do construction, painting, and drywall. We have all the different trades in-house except for air conditioning, refrigeration, and ductwork,” Glen says. To ensure high-quality service, Carvery’s tradesmen are all outfitted with a plethora of cutting-edge tools that match their training and assist in solving any issues or challenges involved in completing a project. Additionally, Carvery’s offers 24-hour emergency service 365 days a year. Emergencies are attended to in an efficient

MCAC According to Glen, “75 percent of our work is in the commercial and institutional or government sector. The other 25 percent is residential, where we work directly with homeowners.” Service Specialization Carvery’s maintains ongoing service work for some of the area’s biggest organizations. For example, it has a continuing contract with the Bedford Institute of Oceanography. It also has service agreements for Canadian Forces’ housing for the country’s military. “And we have done the housing contract on the mechanical side for two-and-a-half years. During this time, Carvery’s serviced approximately 6,800 units. “These are the areas people really know us for,” Glen explains. When it comes to looking for work, “we have a tendency to base our business on the "for-sure work", the work that will be ongoing for two or three years. So if we get a new customer, we try to sew a contract up for at least two or three years. So that’s one of the things I’ve been doing,” Glen shares. “I try to add extra value to the customers by explaining why they need to hire Carvery’s versus anybody else.”

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Glen’s main focal points when discussing Carvery’s are the company’s experience and customer service. “It’s a little bit of both really,” he says. With these two areas of focus propelling the company along, Glen plans to spend the next one to two years “just basically riding out the storm. It’s a tough economy out there — competition is tough. The key is to secure as much work as possible and make sure you keep your employees working. We will ride the storm out a little bit to see what 2011 and 2012 will bring,” he says. With an eye toward the future and a supportive base of multitalented employees, Glen will continue digging a niche in Nova Scotia’s construction industry. As one company offering such an array of services, Carvery’s Construction Ltd. has diversified itself to become a preferred choice for many customer types and project specifications. This diversification will bring continued work to the company’s books and keep its employees active throughout the rest of the recession. 

Nova Scotia

Design Workshop Ltd.

Designing for Community and Environmental Improvement Produced by TaMeka Marshall & Written by Molly Cohen Design Workshop Ltd., an architectural firm located in Moncton, New Brunswick, is licensed in Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Labrador, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick. The firm, a member of the Architects’ Association of New Brunswick, works heavily in commercial and institutional. Robert J. MacDonald, a senior architect at Design Workshop, managed one of the firm’s large recent projects: the $15 million Codiac Transit Facility design for a system that provides public transportation between

Moncton, Dieppe, Riverview and Lakeside. Housing a Transit System Design Workshop began working on the Codiac Transit Facility in 2007. The first step was “feasibility studies and programming for the client, allowing the client to make the decision to implement the project,” says MacDonald.

Nova Scotia From there, Design Workshop developed the concept designs presented in its initial report, which served as tender documents for the tender phase on January 25, 2010. A tentative completion date is projected for October 2010. Design Workshop collaborated with a team of engineering consultants, subcontracting only that portion of the design.

epitomized the sustainability design process, ensuring “the mechanical and electrical systems were designed to be the most energy efficient as possible,” says MacDonald. “But in terms of exterior skin and glazing, we factored in the spirit of LEED design without targeting LEED points for certification.” Sustaining through Industry Changes

The new transit garage maintenance facility design has several components: administrative offices house the dayto-day operations, a maintenance department supplies fleet maintenance, and storage space provides indoor bus storage. These components are not particularly unlike the features of other transit facilities; however, the sustainability aspects of the Codiac Transit Facility stand out.. Although the project was not intended to be LEED certified, Design Workshop was asked “to design within the spirit of LEED and to keep energy efficiency and other LEED initiatives such as local content and recyclables in our thoughts when we were doing our design,” says MacDonald. Design Workshop has experience with the LEED initiative thanks to its in-house LEED Accredited Professional, as well as two other in-house architects currently pursuing the accreditation. Applying their knowledge, these professionals

While these sustainable designs are not common, Design Workshop has experience working on other transit facilities, including the St. John facility in St. John, New Brunswick which opened in October 2009. MacDonald finds working on transit facilities interesting because of how they impact the local community. “From our understanding of transit facilities they’re all designed with the same intent, but are adapted to suit the local neighborhood, building site and user requirements,” he explains. For example, with the Codiac Transit Facility, the origi nal facility had to remain active until the new one was ready to open. “Therefore, we had limited sites to build on and we were facing a challenge with respect to site access,” says MacDonald. Design Workshop’s successful and smooth transition from one facility to the next gave the firm an outstanding reputation in the community, which has resulted in increasing the firm’s workflow. “We get work from word-of-mouth referrals and from responses to proposals,” MacDonald shares. Design Workshop must keep pace with changes in technology and industry standards. The industry has “become more fastpaced in the last 20 years and I think technology is fueling that acceleration of expectation; clients tend to think that with new technology we can do twice the amount of work in half the time, but it doesn’t work out that way,” explains MacDonald. According to MacDonald, computers cannot replace “human involvement” and “intuition,” thus architects still require adequate time to conceive the design process for each project. “I don’t stay up worrying about it, but it adds a different level of complexity,” MacDonald says. “Clients do not ask for unrealistic schedules, but the expectation is we don’t need as much time as we know is required to design and construct a building.” No matter the challenges, Design Workshop clearly produces impressive results, as the firm’s history of spectacular projects demonstrates. Keeping in mind the creative possibilities of its staff, the firm will continue to impress and satisfy clients by expediting projects with sustainable components and time-tested architectural excellence. 

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Eastwing Products

“Saving you Money and Helping the Environment” Produced by TaMeka Marshall & Written by Catalina Lupu

Since 2002, Eastwing Products, Ltd. has exemplified its motto — “saving you money and helping the environment” — for homeowners in the Dartmouth, Nova Scotia area.

Eastwing’s team of designers, technicians, and contractors provide high-quality mechanical, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) service to homes, businesses, and

Nova Scotia

electrical contractor that design, install, and service home comfort systems. Eastwing Products provides infinitely customizable options to create the perfect living environment â&#x20AC;&#x201D; including air source heat pumps, ductless heat pump ventilation systems, in-floor heat, filtration systems, air conditioning units, electric thermal storage, and retro fittings. Eastwing further tailors HVAC systems to homeowners by customizing installations to specific energy requirements and sources, oil, electric, gas, or propane. Since Eastwing including designs, sells, installs, and services home comfort systems, it can support customers by providing limited warranties on products and installations. Eastwing works with the finest manufacturers of HVAC systems in the industry. Its commercial division started in 2005 to expand business with partners Samsung, Nova Scotia Power, and Tempstar. Eastwing works with homeowners and contractors building new homes to provide the best heating and ventilation systems for each individual situation. It has installed heating systems for more than 40 quality home builders to create comfortable and energy-efficient homes. ď §

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Interior Design Project

City Space Kitchens & Interior Design Inc.

Cooking Up New Opportunities Produced by TaMeka Marshall & Written by Molly Cohen As the first quarter of 2007 was coming to a close, Charlene Vaughn, an interior designer in Regina, Saskatchewan, received a surprising offer. Colleagues in the industry offered Vaughn the opportunity to purchase a cabinet and design company they had started four years earlier. After discussing the opportunity with her husband, Rob, they acquired the business, which became City Space Kitchens & Interior Design Inc. Vaughn has been running City Space Kitchens & Interior Design Inc. for almost three years, but she has been in the interior design industry for some time previously. “I did commercial design and facilities management for 15 years, and prior to that had worked with a design firm and furniture company after graduating from university … so it’s been over 20 [years],” she says. Consulting and Selling Jumping from the commercial sector to City Space’s strictly residential sector was no problem for Vaughn, however. She eased right into the firm’s history of working primarily

on renovation projects, and recognized the strength in City Space’s distinctive cabinet sales aspect. “We sell two lines of cabinets, and they’re semi-custom. Our focus is predominantly working in kitchens or bathrooms, but we can create beautiful family rooms, fireplace surrounds, even closets — if it’s built-in cabinetry or woodwork we can likely handle it,” she says of the firm’s flexibility. This approach of offering a product for sale along with professional interior design is what makes City Space different from its competitors, according to Vaughn. “I’m a registered interior designer with a bachelor degree in interior design, and I have a professional accreditation recognized across Canada. Professionally, this means I charge for my design services, something my competitors in this kitchen and bath industry do not; they offer ‘free’ planning services. I believe that means you don’t get charged for the plan if you don’t buy the product, but somewhere along the line someone is paying to keep those staff employed. Like our competitors we operate a showroom, the difference here is it’s on an appointment basis only and not open to the public to wander through,” Vaughn shares.

Interior Design Project Although it’s a budding company, Vaughn has assistance (outside of her husband) to help run the consulting and sales part of the business (including the showroom in Regina). “We have a graduate designer who is preprofessional, working on gaining the work experience needed to write the professional accreditation exam,” says Vaughn. Subcontractors are a large supporting force for the company, as well. We have “a gentleman who contracts for us on installations, and I have a young woman who contracts for me on technical drawings,” Vaughn explains. City Space doesn’t perform the functions of a General Contractor (GC), explains Vaughn. “We’re designers so we work with the GC to complete the project for the customer. If our clients need a recommendation we can assist in helping them find a GC – we’ve worked with some great ones. Alternatively, there are scenarios where the client arrives needing our design expertise but they’ve already selected their GC or builder. In either case, once

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we’re contracted to work for a client, our role is designer and millwork subtrade to the contractor.” Expanding Expertise Matching its three person in-house capabilities with its subcontractors, City Space has been able to take on some new and exciting projects. “We’re doing some interesting things with new cottage development,” Vaughn shares. “We've completed several cottages in the Qu’Appelle Valley, east of Regina, in the last year, and we’re planning and developing two more.” These cottage projects expand City Space’s work in several different ways. First, it opens the firm’s work territory to include areas beyond Regina’s borders. “Saskatchewan has a tremendous land base with rural communities, and people in those rural areas need beautiful interiors and great kitchens, too, so we’ve been doing a number of lovely homes outside the city limits in addition to the cottage areas.”

project work. “I don’t believe the business can be successful without bringing in more people to work together. I haven’t seen a big expansion in 2010, but I definitely see future opportunities to have some shortterm staff, like students, to gain some experience and provide some assistance,” she says. Working with students gives Vaughn a chance to mentor, using her years of experience. She tells people interested in interior design that “it’s a lot different than what is portrayed on television. It’s not just colour and fabrics or room staging and completing the work takes far longer than half-an-hour, which is your typical design show time frame. But, if you love the creative outlet it provides and are prepared to work really hard, it might be a career you can thrive in,” she explains.

Secondly, through these projects City Space shows its strength in working beyond renovations with new home construction. “We’ve just completed a large home here in the city. It’s a brand new build that included all the finish and lighting selections, as well as the cabinetry,” Vaughn gives as an example.

And, based on Vaughn’s love for the industry, obvious talent and ability to dig in and work hard, City Space Kitchens & Interior Design Inc. appears equipped to take advantage of Saskatchewan’s opportunities to flourish as an interior design consultant offering unique cabinetry within stunning interior design solutions. As the company’s motto states, “We Think Unique.” 

Clearly visible through a portfolio that is ever increasing, the recession has not taken a toll on City Space’s work. “We’d been in the business about a year when the economy began to weaken, and then the global economy dropped out of sight, yet, for some reason, Saskatchewan has rallied and bloomed instead of busting. I don’t know what it is, because it’s never happened before — that Saskatchewan remained strong while others faltered. So it’s been extremely positive and we remain really busy,” says Vaughn. “There hasn’t been a lull.” With all of this work, Vaughn recognizes she might need to hire additional employees to handle the

GBC

Ted Handy and Associates Inc. Creating Environmentally Friendly Community Features Produced by Hanim Samara & Written by Molly Cohen The architecture firm Ted Handy and Associates Inc. morphed out of Nesbitt Handy Architect Ltd., a partnership formed in 1987. When Mr. Nesbitt retired in 1990, Ted Handy restructured the Barrie, Ontariobased company to reflect its current title, with Handy as its lead architect and principal. Handy has been in the industry “for most of my life, and I say that quite joyfully. I started practicing in 1976, and I still love every day of it. I feel doubly blessed that every day is a new challenge and opportunity, and that is exciting,” he says. The company offers a full range of architectural services and employs an in-house interior designer. Ted Handy and Associates focuses on central Ontario and the local communities stretching across Simcoe County and beyond. “We do community-type projects like educational facilities, community centres, libraries and churches. The other major component would be office administrative buildings for municipalities, and the third large area of focus would be single-family residential homes,” Handy explains. Designing an Everyday Learning Facility Ted Handy and Associates’ design process uses cost control as a guide to its approach, which is managed and completed with social and environmental responsibility in mind. The firm’s work on Mundy’s Bay Public School in Midland, Ontario, is an example of that effort. This project started in 2006 and was completed and occupied in November 2008. It is now a 50,000-squarefoot elementary school for 450 students in Midland, Ontario. Among sustainability and cost control, the firm also values responsibility and innovative design, creative problem solving, and remaining responsive to the needs of the client and building users. Notable building features of Mundy’s Bay Public School include a central atrium that connects the two floors and creates a sense of community within the school. The atrium also offers “maximum benefit of natural daylight, ventilation, and energy efficiency through

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passive solar gain and geothermal energy using thermal mass as an important strategy for energy use and conservation,â&#x20AC;? Handy explains. The buildingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s energy conservation aspects are what make this school stand out from others like it. The building has occupancy sensors to regulate ventilation in areas that are not being used and increase ventilation in areas that are in use. Similarly, the building also features light sensors to dim or shut off lights when daylight is sufficient. The buildingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s walls and roof are insulated to reduce heat gain or loss. Special windows also assist this goal. Air quality was also a large focus during design and construction. Builders worked to ensure that the indoor air quality was not tainted by pollutants as a result of the construction. Indoor materials had no volatile organic compounds that could increase the air pollutant levels. From its many sustainable

initiatives, the school is now a LEED Gold-certified building. In addition to sustainable aspects, Ted Handy and Associates included design features to turn the building

GBC into a “learning laboratory on how a building functions,” as Handy says, by leaving all the mechanical, electrical and structural systems exposed. The building is also made of very durable and natural materials, with polished concrete floors and ceilings, masonry walls, and few carpets. Design Acknowledgement The Mundy’s Bay Public School is a great example of Ted Handy and Associates’ dedication to sustainable design. Handy reports, “We urge all of our clients to take a serious look at sustainability, and on occasion we’ve refused to work for clients when they did not feel it was an important aspect. We don’t take that road necessarily with all clients, but we attempt to incorporate sustainability in everything we do.” Other examples of this type of work include Ted Handy and Associates’ recently completed administrative centre for the township of Springwater. “This building is currently going through LEED Silver certification,” Handy says. Another sustainable project for the firm is an addition to the Simcoe County Administrative Centre, which is currently under construction. “It is targeting LEED Gold. This project has been a design partnership with Teeple Architects of Toronto, Ontario,” Handy notes. The firm is recognized for its design abilities beyond sustainability. In 2001, Ted Handy and Associates won the Urban Design Award of Excellence for its work on the Barrie Public Library. “It was a joint venture with Shore Tilbe Irwin [now known as Shore Tilbe Perkins + Will], and in the library world and within the community, it has remained a wellfunctioning and attractive building complimenting the surrounding neighbourhood,” says Handy. Similarly, in 2006 Ted Handy and Associates won the Ontario Steel

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Design Awards Honourable Mention for the Emmanuel Baptist church in Barrie. “It’s one of the most successful projects we have ever done and has earned us much praise from the congregation, community groups and audio-video professionals who have used the building for concerts and musical productions,” Handy says.

passion and through teamwork with other architecture firms, Ted Handy and Associates can meet its design goals and further enhance its clients' facilities through high standards for excellence. 

And in the next one to two years, Ted Handy and Associates will complete a project for the Georgian College’s new Centre for Health and Wellness. “That is a team project with architects Tillmann Ruth Mocellin (aTRM) as lead architects, Teeple Architects as design architects, and us as the associate architects,” Handy shares. In the coming future, Handy does not see a large expansion or major changes for his company, which partners conscientiously to benefit its clients’ needs. “As I said, a lot of what we do is community-type projects. We have three churches we’re working on at the moment, and in the next year or two they will go through design and technical document stages. That area is particularly enjoyable for us,” he says. With its loyalty to the green movement guiding the way and its vast experience upgrading community facilities, the firm has a great deal of potential work ahead. With Handy’s

Spotlight

Growers Greenhouse Supplies Inc. Providing Constant Innovation to a Traditional Field Produced by Mike Armstrong & Written by Molly Cohen Growers Greenhouse Supplies Inc. (GGS) has been serving the horticultural industry since 1979. It currently has three whollyowned subsidiaries, all of which help enhance the company’s value and offer clients turnkey services. Located in Vineland Station, Ontario, the company was purchased from its original

oversees JGS Limited, which specializes in greenhouses for research purposes at universities and laboratories, and the day-to-day operations of GGS. But GGS is not the type of place that gets hung up on status. “We don’t really use titles. We’re a family business and so I’ve grown up through the business

founders and owners by Gerry Harrison in 1984. Harrison was the owner of a heavy construction company and decided to get out of that business, but did not want to retire. He continued running GGS in its established reputation until 1990 when “my brother, sister and I purchased it back from Gerry,” says Leigh Coulter, whose family founded the company. “Gerry is now the president of two of our companies and I am president of the rest.”

doing different jobs. We all just kind of do what we need to do here,” Coulter explains.

In a general sense, Coulter runs GGS Structures Inc., a greenhouse building for the horticultural and agricultural industries, and Naigrow Systems Ltd., which creates heating systems for greenhouses. Meanwhile, Harrison basically

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Naigrow and JGS were added to GGS in 2009. “It was a bit of a challenge because we added two companies in 3 months. We picked companies with a strong management base and then we backed that management base up to expand it for future work. JGS Limited specializes in high-end research greenhouses for corporations and governments. They do real architectural stuff,” Coulter shares. “The green roof movement and buying local food movements has inspired people to put greenhouses on top of restaurants and apartment complexes, so this is the best company in the world for that.”

Spotlight

Meanwhile, “Naigrow is a systems provider for the other companies. We used to subcontract to Naigrow and then we purchased them and brought them in-house,” Coulter explains. “But all of the companies operate as completely separate organizations as well."

Growing Internationally With these companies providing a multitude of specifications, GGS is able to focus on creating the products that its customers need. “Currently our third largest product line we made to satisfy our Japanese distributor. It was a line of work we weren’t doing and our Japanese distributor saw a real need so he convinced us to do it,” Coulter shares. “We’ve got a new product modification that is coming out now because our distributor in the Netherlands is requesting it. We also have an energy savings R&D project going on because a commercial grower in Leamington asked us to come up with solution for his problem.” GGS prides itself on its customer service and its ability to partner with its customers. Additionally, GGS stays ahead of its competition thanks to its willingness and preparation “to take projects anywhere in the world. We have no other competitors in North America who do turnkey projects around the world the way we do,” Coulter says. Harrison also attributes the company’s continued success to its broad market base. “We sell to a lot of garden centers, mass merchandisers (Home Depot, Lowes, etc.(. The research division is all public tender and we have a very capable team in that with experienced people and designers,” he says. “And we’re always looking for new products; we manufacture fabric covered structures (Tasco Domes). We’ve been in there for 7 or 8 years.” Diversity is GGS’ niche in the greenhouse industry. “We’re one of the largest manufacturers of commercial greenhouses in North America. We are bar none the most qualified group to do turnkey research facilities in the world. Naigrow specializes in heating systems for greenhouses, energy efficiency and maximization for research,” Coulter explains. “There might be

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only three companies in the world, only one other in North America, that does that work.” All of GGS’ services are available throughout the world. “Currently we sell throughout Canada and the U.S. directly. We also have agents in Japan and Europe,” Harrison shares. According to Coulter, “All manufacturing is done in Vineland and we sell worldwide. We have established distribution in Asia and Europe and we do a little bit in Africa, a little in South America, the Caribbean and one project in the Philippines.” When working overseas, GGS works in conjunction with the local population, whether working with local engineers or finding local labor. “When we go outside the country we tend to limit our exposure to the providing supervision,” Harrison explains. GGS has about 50 full-time employees, and adds more when needed during seasonal peaks. To ensure its employees are prepared for any future projects, GGS does much of its training in-house. “For heating we have to do it in-house because there is nowhere else to go. But we use both in-house and external training systems,” Coulter says. Training is especially important as the industry changes. For example, now that energy conservation is a burgeoning trend, “now we have to look at geothermal options and we’ve worked with solar panel companies to integrate solar panels with our systems,” says Coulter. And she sees these green technologies increasing. “It’s there in ideology at the moment and it’s an area where we see future growth. It has been growing already.” In addition to in-house training, GGS also holds trades in-house, including “engineering, design, procurement of materials, and fabrication of all structures or components that need assembly,” says Harrison. Everything else is subcontracted. “In our industry we don’t have much lead time in having structures completed, so we have to rely on our suppliers bending a little bit and getting materials to us a little quicker. And we tend to stick with people if we get good services,” Harrison says.

building code. We just went through 8 months of rigorous prep for Germany codes,” says Coulter. To overcome these challenges, “we work with local people. For that Japanese project, our engineers worked with Japanese engineers to meet building codes.” GGS also had internal struggles to overcome. “Adding 2 new companies in two months created challenges. And it’s a tough economy right now so we have competition. Everyone is trying to get their piece of a smaller pie,” Coulter says. To overcome these challenges, GGS focused on its team aspect for strength. “We have built a very good management group here. Most employees we inherited already dealt with our main players for years. Everyone kind of knew each other already. That helped because those were good solid relationships. We still had to work out how everyone will relate and what is kept separate and what is put together,” Coulter explained. “What we don’t have in-house we subcontract. We try to know where our strengths are, and where we’re weak, we find someone strong. And if we can bring them in-house like Naigrow, we will.” Other current challenges are more politically centered. “What we’re finding now with the Canadian dollar being equal with the U.S. is that, we get American contractors coming up here. They are successful and winning some of the major contracts with big box stores. When they come they bring people from the U.S. greenhouse industry, which makes it a little more difficult for us,” Harrison shares. To beat the competition, “we try to be more aggressive and look for new markets, and push harder into the U.S.” But these challenges have not kept GGS from completing interesting projects throughout the world. In March of 2010,

Strength in Partnerships Even with such a strong reputation for meeting each client's needs, GGS still faces challenges. “A very big challenge is different building codes for different countries. It’s a major obstacle that has to be overcome. Our engineers in Canada work closely with engineers in other countries we’re designing for. It took 5 years for one product line to be accepted based on the Japanese

Spotlight GGS was involved with a research facility project in Nairobi, Kenya, for the International Livestock Research Institute. This project took an unexpected turn. After GGS prepared its containers of supplies and set a schedule for construction, it shipped the materials from Canada headed to Africa. But, the captain of the ship delayed the journey in Oman while he waited for a larger fleet of ships going in the same direction to avoid any interaction with Somali pirates. “In Canada pirates sound like a Disney movie, but in reality it was a real issue. The whole project was delayed a month and the schedules had to be redone,” says Coulter. Other current projects include a heating system Naigrow is designing for a resort spa. This is the first of this type of project for Naigrow. “But it’s all the same principles; we determined it would be kind of a fun challenge for our people,” Coulter shares. And, “GGS has a patent on a special door. We call it a bifold door; it folds in the center so it can be a very big door. Last year we supplied and installed four of these doors for the Olympic Village. We also supplied those doors to the Massachusetts Aquarium in Boston, which was kind of a fun, new one.” Harrison adds, “we’re doing engineering for a project right now at Dartmouth College and a couple for Public Works Agriculture Canada. We’ve had some Lowes stores. I guess from a growers standpoint, our book is pretty full right now;

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it’s a good time. We delivered some domes to the U.S. army in Germany and recently sold some more domes in Japan. Whether they’re big or small, they’re all interesting because of the people you work with,” Harrison says. With this perspective of its projects, the company hopes to continue growing by “exploring new markets. And we’re going to continue to look for acquisitions that will increase our overall ability. The current economic outlook is a tough one because the stimulus money is running out and the banks are reluctant to flow money as freely as they have in past years. One of our strengths for overcoming the economic downturn has been our diversity,” says Coulter. “Our growth plan is to continue along that line to see where we can use our skills to add value for customers. Our current marketing tagline is ‘we’re building a growing world.' That’s really what we do, we supply the technological know how to provide a complete environmentally controlled facility. Come to us for our expertise because we design, manufacture, and build.” With its passionate and knowledgeable leaders planning the company’s future, Growers Greenhouse Supplies will continue innovating the greenhouse industry and its diverse divisions for many years to come. 

Ontario

R&F Construction Inc.

Recreating Life after Disaster Strikes Produced by Mike Armstrong & Written by Molly Cohen Richard Rimkey has been part of his father’s insurance restoration construction company, R&F Construction Inc., since he was 15 years old. “I started right when I was a kid … that was around 1986. I worked 80 hours per week that whole summer,” he remembers. Experience pays off, however. Rimkey is currently the president of the company. “I always knew what I wanted to do right from the get-go, knew I wanted to be running a business,” he says. R&F had an unusual start. “My dad was in janitorial services in 1961. He did that for many years and had over

40 employees. Then, in the ’70s, he had a car accident and worked with an adjuster. They built a good rapport, and because he was doing the cleaning business at banks and factories the adjuster asked if my dad wanted to get into insurance [restoration work],” Rimkey says. Learning from Experience R&F began establishing this identity in 1972. However, over its tenure in the industry, the company has diversified its services to become a home builder, as well, in order to combat

Ontario on good projects,” Rimkey says. The company now works out of two locations – Orillia and Barrie, Ontario – and between the two sites it employs 65. The R&F team has many years of experience doing insurance restoration for the commercial sector, often dealing with fire or water damage claims. When Toronto flooded in 2005, R&F quickly responded to the situation and saved S&F Foods Inc., a food distributing company, over $1 million in seafood and chocolate. “Usually when a business has fire or water damage, the power is gone. We have to move fast to get power up and running. We’ve done up to $2 million projects for commercial work through insurance claims. And because we’re good at that, why not do the commercial side on government work or whatever other work is out there?” Rimkey says. “So we are diversifying in that area. We also just redeveloped our environmental side and we’re doing a ton of mold remediation work and I just certified some of my guys on asbestos removal and oil remediation.” This diversification in capabilities has changed R&F for the better. “Twelve years ago we were a $2.5 million company. Now we’re going to reach $10 million this year,” says Rimkey. This improvement comes from an overall knowledge of the business. My partner is my brother and he is a master carpenter. I’m also a carpenter by trade; I’ve worked from the ground up doing every job you can think of,” says Rimkey.

tough times in its main vein of work. “Eighty percent of our business has been insurance-related, but most recently in the last four months insurance companies have really tightened up on us and they’ve actually cashed out their insurers. In our company alone we’ve had over $2.5 million in cashouts, which has kind of hurt us,” Rimkey shares. In addition to tighter insurance companies, R&F also faces lowball pricing from its competitors. “You usually get the smaller companies trying to get in to lowball prices. I watch that, I look for who is quoting on jobs and whether I want to quote against them. We pick the projects that we have a good chance of getting instead of wasting our time on ones we know we aren’t going to get,” Rimkey says. “We’re still strong, we do other things as well, and my project managers have been pounding the pavement looking for work. I’ve always told them if you don’t ask you don’t receive.” In an effort to expand operations, Rimkey purchased a new, 54,000-square foot facility in the fall of 2008 and moved the company there the following March. “We developed a whole contents division for hard and soft contents and bought an Esporta [industrial wash system]. We have a 22,000-square foot storage facility for contents. I’m also just finalizing my bonding insurance and I’m looking into corporate commercial work. And we’ve got some good leads right now

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Rimkey is also knowledgeable of the whole industry through his work with various organizations. He is on the board of directors for Disaster Kleenup Canada, an organization of restoration contractors across the country. He keeps his experience in the different company roles in mind during day-to-day proceedings. “A lot of people that are presidents let it get to their heads, but you don’t look down on your employees. You level with them and treat them with respect so you can get it back,” he advises. “They make up your company. The biggest thing you can do is have a strategic plan in place. If you do not have a plan in place and the roadmap to where you’re going, you will not be successful. It doesn’t matter what you do, you have to have that roadmap of how you’re going to get there.” In addition to his company’s strategic planning, Rimkey believes R&F stands out from its competitors because of its care. “Next year will be our 50th anniversary and we’re a family business. We bought my dad out three years ago and I’ve been running the business for 12 years. Our creed is ‘restoring lifestyles is what we do,’ whether it’s a customer or an employee,” Rimkey explains. “If an employee has issues, we help them out. We’re one of the only companies in the area that pays the bill for employees’ psychologists; we send them to help with marriage problems or with kids because our motto is ̒If you’re not happy at home, you’re not happy at my work.̕”

These opportunities are available for all of R&F’s employees. “Our people perform and that’s what sets us apart, we get the job done on-time and on-budget,” Rimkey says. Rebuilding Under Constraints R&F handles drywall, painting, trimming, insulating, demolition and cleaning in-house. The company subs out mechanical, electrical, plumbing and heating tasks. “We have a whole supplier program in-house,” Rimkey shares. “We have deals with different suppliers to get better pricing and because of our warehouse here we can stock supplies in bulk to get a better price. That’s what you have to do in order to make it work.” Having space and resources has helped make easier coordinating the components of recent projects that have required extended timeframes. “We just completed an oil spill outside of Orillia in a trailer park area that had more than $300,000 of damage. Oil went down in the ground, so we had to dig it up. We had to pick the actual house up, move it off, redo the foundation, and put it back on the new foundation once the contaminated soil was removed,” Rimkey summarizes. This project took two months; R&F worked with environmental and structural engineers to complete this project. In March 2010 R&F was working on a large fire loss in Barrie in which over half the roof was destroyed. “We’ve actually replaced the whole roof now and reframed some of the walls and the garage and rebuilt the whole house; it’s a $320,000 job. We’re getting to the drywall stage now. It will be about a two-and-a-half month job,” says Rimkey. One of the most interesting projects R&F completed was a $1.5 million fire damage claim at the Bayview Wildwood Resort in Severn Bridge, Ontario. “We got called in to do the remediation and had a timeline because it happened in November or September and we had to have them up and running before the season started. We worked a lot of hours to get it done. It had an indoor swimming pool, training facility, squash courts, 30 units and we had to do them all. But we got it done a month in advance,” says Rimkey. The other most interesting project Rimkey remembers was a fire damage at the Highwayman Inn in Orillia, three weeks before the area’s huge Perch Festival. People come to Orillia from all over for the festival where they tag the perch and if someone catches a tagged perch it can be from $100 up to $1,000 dollars. “For three weeks we had 70 people in the building day and night and we managed to get their restaurant up and running and reopened for the festival. The first day we went in to scope it out the maintenance guy locked me in! They had chains around the doors and locked me into the restaurant, so I just sat at a table and made my calls until he came back after an hour-and-a-half,” Rimkey

recalls. Looking toward the future of the company, Rimkey plans to turn R&F green. “Part of the reason why is when we deal with contents on a mold claim or fire, most insurance companies itemize the soft contents (clothes) and throw them in a dumpsite. The reason why I bought the Esporta machine is we can save all that; we can make it 100-percent bacteriafree,” he says. “We also bought a Hardline to clean hard contents (dishes and utensils), so we’ll be able to save a lot more contents that would normally be put into a landfill. Investing in advanced technology is our thing right now.” With this in mind, Rimkey hopes to get involved with LEED projects in the near future. As for the rest of his long-term growth plan, he hopes the commercial side takes off. “We’re working on a deal right now with a manufacturer of steel buildings. Definitely going to get into that,” he adds. With its new technology installations and specific plans for the future, R&F has the foundation needed to reach its revenue goals. As the company continues meeting its clients’ needs, R&F Construction will grow its customer base, preparing it for a continuously profitable future. 

Prince Edward Island

Royal Star Foods Ltd.

Making Seafood Delicacies Accessible to Everyone Produced by Sean Barr & Written by Molly Cohen Francis Morrissey began commercial fishing with his father at the age of 16. One year later he was fishing on his own. Still based out of Tignish, Prince Edward Island, Morrissey now continues to support his hometown as president of Tignish Fisheries Cooperative Association Ltd., one of the largest employers in Canada. Founded in 1925, Tignish Fisheries Co-op has more than 130 members. “We’re the oldest fish processing company on Prince Edward Island,” says Morrissey, who has been on the Co-op’s board of directors since 1992. He has served as president since 2008. Morrissey

Fishing Together Royal Star Foods processes herring, mackerel, tuna and ground fish, but it is most known for its lobster processing facilities, which are some of the largest on Prince Edward Island. The company’s products are sold under the brand Star of the Sea, with major exports to the United States, Asia, the United Kingdom and Europe. “It’s been there for 86 years and is recognized worldwide for its quality,” Morrissey says. From its international customers, Royal Star Foods has annual revenue between $30 million and $35 million. It employs between 275 and 300 people. “That’s the mainstay of the small fishing community and the whole surrounding area of Tignish; it’s basically a fishing community and there are three ports that service this company,” Morrissey explains. Royal Star Foods has two separate procession facilities. “All the shellfish processing is done in a new modern plant and the pelagics are done in the plant by the water. The main plant is new, one of the newest ones on the island, only 12 years old, and meets all Canadian Food Inspection Agency standards,” Morrissey touts. And for the most part the Tignish Fisheries Co-op is all Royal Star Foods needs for supplies. “We have enough people in the Co-op to service the company with product. The members own the company; they’re working for themselves. They sell the product to the company and the company produces it and at the end of the year they have a shareholders meeting and the profit is paid back,” Morrissey explains.

has a private fishing fleet on the side that is a member of the Co-op. In addition to his roles at Tignish Fisheries Co-op, “I am chairmen of the lobster advisory board for Prince Edward Island, I’m on the board of the Fishermen’s Association, and I’m also president of the Harbor Authority,” Morrissey shares.

Royal Star Foods also has long relationships with its packagers and suppliers. “We go out to tender and get three or four companies that bid on packaging and you go with the best service at the best price,” Morrissey says.

All of this experience also benefits Royal Star Foods, a Tignish Fisheries Co-op subsidiary, where Morrissey oversees operations. Royal Star Foods processes lobster and pelagic species, and purchases 95 percent of its products from members of the Co-op.

During his tenure with the company, Morrissey has enjoyed working with theses suppliers and packagers, as well as other members of the local community. “We employ in excess of 40 grade-12 or university students each year. The high school students work the night shift, but they’re only

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allowed to work from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. on school nights. They’re allowed to work on the weekends until 1 a.m., and this allows a lot of these students to make $3,000 to $4,000 to help them further their education and we’re proud to offer that,” Morrissey shares. “We also give out scholarships to local high schools for kids graduating and going on to university. It’s a couple thousand dollars each.” These students are recognized at the Tignish Fisheries Coop’s annual meeting along with any retired fishermen or

employees. “They are recognized and given something on behalf of the company. Last year on our 85th year we had a coming together and had two retired fishermen, one was 99 and one was 100, that had been long-time members of the company,” Morrissey remembers. The fishing and processing industry in Canada faces challenges because it can be hard to recruit younger employees, but the Tignish area has been lucky because the catches have been good. “It’s a pretty decent living, so it’s not

Prince Edward Island that hard to get younger people to take it over,” Morrissey shares. “In the processing plant there are a lot of young people who move on to higher education; still, it's not bad here. We have a fairly decent workforce that’s not that old in age and it’s a consistent workforce. The plant runs five- or 10-hour days.” Reinventing the Industry Instead of employee concerns, Royal Star Foods is challenged by the economic downturn in the last two years. “A large portion of product is shipped to the United States and Europe, and the downturn drastically reduced the price that could be paid back to fisherman for the product … sometimes income was cut by 50 percent,” says Morrissey. There was not much Royal Star Foods could do to overcome the economic challenge. However, the company was able to find new markets, diversify, cut costs and “basically do the same as everybody else in the world: try to survive,” says Morrissey. “Luckily we were a financially stable company leading into it and the people who took the biggest hit were the captains of the vessels that fish the product.” But Morrissey found a silver lining in the gray situation. “When the price of lobster went down there were a lot of

people starting to consume it that hadn’t been eating it for a while. This will actually help down the road when people acquire a taste for it again. Sales are up this year and the marketplace has improved,” he says. “Now one of the biggest things facing Atlantic Canada is the exchange rate on the currency between Canada and the United States, since we depend so heavily on the United States.” Royal Star Foods has an interesting relationship with the United States. The company has two fishing seasons. The spring season goes from the first of May to the last day of June, while the fall season runs from August 10 to October 10. “But at that time the U.S. fisheries kick in and what a lot of people don’t recognize is 40 percent of the lobster that gets caught in the U.S. is shipped to Canada, processed in Canada and shipped back to the U.S. to sell to American consumers,” Morrissey explains. “It’s brought in live, cooked and processed, and then reshipped back to the U.S. and Europe. That’s where the supply for Red Lobsters and Outback Steakhouses all come from. There are few lobster processers in the U.S.” Because of the competition with the United States’ lobster market, Royal Star Foods is introducing new products for new markets to maintain profitability. One new product is a microwavable lobster. “A whole frozen lobster can be bought in the store, put into a microwave, and seven minutes later it’s fully cooked. From the recession the industry shifted away from food service and it made some of its packs more consumer friendly to the retail side. We brought packaging down to what the consumer wants and it’s gone over very well,” Morrissey says. “The consumer realizes, ‘I can get enough lobster here for me and my partner to make a lobster roll for under $9.’” Royal Star Foods is also increasing its sustainability. “Some of the measures we’re putting in place include a shorter fishing season by a couple of days and reducing trap limits. Right now it’s 300 per day and we’re reducing it to 270 traps, which will reduce 300 miles of rope to reduce entanglements for whales and mammals,” says Morrissey. “Another thing is putting mechanisms on our traps so if a trap is lost at sea, within 90 days the biodegradable twine will release and anything in the trap will escape. All our boats use biodegradable cleaners so there are no chemicals going into the water.” These new steps add to the high quality and sustainability that sets Royal Star Foods apart. “We’re very proud of the products the company puts out, and that’s why it’s been in business for 86 years and has customers that are very loyal to the brand,” Morrissey summarizes. Relationships firmly in place, Royal Star Foods and the Tignish Fisheries Cooperative Association Ltd. look to have many more opportunities ahead that will benefit both local fishermen and international customers alike. 

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Nova Scotia

Brilun Construction Ltd.

Continuing to Successfully Build Cape Breton, Nova Scotia Produced by Sean Barr & Written by Molly Cohen Brian Lund graduated from CBU with a Construction Technology diploma in 1986. He immediately began working in the construction industry as an estimator, and later formed his own company, Brilun Construction Ltd. in

1993. From its location in Sydney, Nova Scotia, Brilun has been serving Cape Breton Island for 17 years, mostly in the commercial sector. “Pretty much 98 percent of our work is commercial,” says Lund, the company’s president.

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Brilun’s competitive advantage over other companies in its field is “the quality of service and completion of projects on time, especially when there are short turnaround periods. We have a positive track record and a good chunk of our business is from repeat customers,” Lund says. Ranging Services Much of Brilun’s work focuses on “retail renovations and fit-ups, health care facilties, schools, office renovations, new buildings and design-build,” says Lund. “We do not specialize in one division of contracting. In the geographical

area where we’re located, you have to be able to offer a range of construction services. You can’t specialize because the market isn’t there.” As general contractors, Brilun’s own forces include concrete, rough and finished carpentry, steel stud and drywall. It is also known for its construction management and design-build. Brilun also partners with American Buildings Systems, supplier of pre-engineered building systems. It manufactures and delivers metal buildings and roofing systems. Through this partnership, Brilun is able to offer a wide range of products to meet any owners’ requirements. From all of its services Brilun’s annual revenue is between $15 million and $20 million. In addition to the general contracting business, Brilun has two sister organizations. The first, Highland Drywall, specializes in structural and light gauge steel stud framing,

Nova Scotia

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drywall, demountable and moveable partitions, acoustical wall and ceiling panels, texturing, panelized components and exterior insulation finish systems. The other business is Lund Self Storage. Each of Lund Self Storage’s units is typically 10’X20’X10’ high, with some larger units available. The majority of customers are commercial, Lund can offer storage space to customers during construction as required. It has a monthly rate and is secure with a 24-hour camera system. These three companies often overlap projects and work together to successfully complete a job.

Nova Scotia

Despite this preemptive work, Lund is still kept awake at night worrying about the whole business. “Where is the work coming from? Will we get paid on time? These are the types of things I wonder about,” he says.

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Lund’s wife Shelley is the Controller for the three companies. She oversees the office side of these organizations. Their office has a custom computer system to assist with project job costing, estimating, and organizing schedules. This computer system, along with Brilun’s safety record, are two of the company’s high points. Brilun is known for its high scoring provincial safety audits. In 2005 it was acknowledged by receiving The Founders Safety Select Award. Last month, Brilun Construction was recognized through the Sydney & Area Chamber of Commerce. Brilun

Construction received an Excellence in Business Award, for “Construction & Manufacturing” Division. Lund was presented at a gala event with the award.

The market doesn’t have the high peaks like other areas. Expecting to eventually feel the recession, Lund is trying to fine-tune the business. From contract administration, to preparing tenders, to collecting cost information, we

Preparing for the Dip To date, Brilun’s usual target area has not felt the effects of the recession. The company’s competitive bidding and large work force have been important parts of Brilun’s success. “We have not seen a downturn because the market area is smaller here than in Halifax or other parts of Canada.

Established in 1997

, our firm has provided accounting and consulting services to meet the needs of our clients with professionalism and integrity. We focus on providing small to mid-sized owner managed businesses with effective and practical advice to help them grow their companies. We look forward to continuing our relationship with Brilun Construction Limited as trusted business advisors.

100 95 75

John Nash, FCA john@johnnash.ca

Richard Hannem, CA, CFP richard@hannem.ca

282 George Street, Sydney, Nova Scotia B1P LJ6

Chartered Accountants

Nash Hannem 2.0 Thursday, June 17, 2010 10:59:38 AM

Telephone (902) 539-2770 Facsimile (902) 539-4192 contact@nhaca.ca

Nova Scotia are constantly trying to reduce costs and become more efficient. To become more competitive and capture a higher volume of work, Brilun recently moved into a new office

and warehouse building located next to Lund Self Storage in Sydney. Despite this preemptive work, Lund is still kept awake at night worrying about the whole business. “Where is the work coming from? Will we get paid on time? These are the types of things I wonder about,” he says. While business remains strong, Brilun runs 60 to more than 100 employees, depending on the company’s workflow. “The seasons don’t have anything to do with it. Sometimes we’re slower toward the end of summer, and it can be very busy in the middle of winter. There’s a big push in retail in the later part of the year and in the middle of winter because that’s their slow season,” Lund says. “We subcontract out our site work and mechanical, electrical, flooring and painting. We do our own concrete, rough and finished carpentry, and drywall,” Lund explains. Brilun recently put its services to work at the Alderwood Health Care Facility in Baddeck. This new facility is 70,000 square feet and is created for long term health care. “It was comprised of trade packages- we were the major contractor carrying four trades,” Lund explains. In addition, Brilun has spent the last year and a half doing major renovations at Mayflower Mall. This project was a multi-million dollar re-fit completed and included renovating approximately 100,000 square feet to accommodate new tenants, including Future Shop, Eastside Mario’s, Vogue Optical, Peoples Jewellers, Mappins, Bluenotes, a new food court, Sportchek, Lindor, Samuel & Co., Maritime Travel, Ardene and Mark’s Work Warehouse. “Now we’re doing design-build at Mayflower installing new canopy entry systems,” Lund says. “We have a lot going on.” We are in several schools, completing summer interior renovations, and starting a new strip mall and fitness centre. One of the most exciting projects just completed are new Skyboxes located in Centre 200.” Brilun focuses on “getting more work and creating a bigger company,” says Lund. As Brilun grows, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia’s commercial sector will also improve, thanks to Brilun Construction’s unmatched general contracting expertise. 

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Ontario

Martino Contractors Inc.

Installing Comfortable and EnergyEfficient Home Products Produced by Hanim Samara & Written by Molly Cohen In the past 23 years, Martino Contractors Inc. has installed more than 70,000 air conditioning, heating, and air quality units throughout Ontario from its Concord, office. The company was founded in 1987 by Mike Martino and his business partner. Martino continues to serve as the company’s president and builds on his 34 years in the industry. “We’re very much focused on customer needs. We provide quality brand equipment and excellent service. Right now we’ve done the complete shift over to going green. We’re using high efficiency products, we promote them, and if the user wants to use the products we do the installation for them,” Martino explains. Becoming Involved in a Growing Trend As part of the company’s emphasis on green products, Martino Contractors always uses Energy Star- rated products and tools for installation. These products and services are backed by the company’s approximately 70 employees, leading to annual revenue of between $10 million and $15 million. “Right now we have one location from which we manufacture and distribute. It’s situated in Concord, Ontario. Geographically, we will go within a 100-mile radius of our office for any project,” says Martino. Overall, Martino Contractors prides itself on its ability “to provide home comfort solutions that meet

Ontario or exceed customers’ expectations through professional design, installation, service ,and use of environmentally friendly, energy-efficient products,” as Martino says. “I suggest and promote green as much as I can, but if the builder wants to go conventional, then I’ll give him what his specifications are. But, our slogan is about managing your environment." These services are supported by the company’s in-house production facilities. “We manufacture sheet metal ductwork here and we do all the installation of the ductwork. We also service the product, so we install high-efficiency gas furnaces, air conditioning, and indoor air quality products,” says Martino. Innovating the Home Air Industry While dedication to the green movement has been a huge selling point for Martino Contractors, the company’s competitive advantage lies in its top-notch customer

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service. Without giving away trade secrets, Martino explains that “we do other things with our installations compared to our competitors. We give those little extras in what we do.” This customer service has led to a host of recent projects. “We’ve been involved in a number of Energy Star projects for which we used high-efficiency gas products with highefficiency heat pumps for several large custom homes,” Martino shares. Additionally, “there are many other high-end or medium-sized projects that are just as well constructed by excellent builders.”

continue doing what we do, and we want to stay focused and improve that when the builder finishes building the house, the homeowner has one less thing to worry about,” says Martino of the company’s overall strategy. This future expansion goal is definitely feasible for Martino Contractors, considering its reputation in the industry and obvious passion for industry trends, like energy-efficient products. And, with the help of its new product lines, Martino Contractors will continue challenging the competition and increasing its presence in the market. 

While a large focus of the company’s work is in the residential sector, Martino Contractors also works in the commercial and industrial sectors. “We also do retrofits and changeouts,” Martino adds. To increase its position in the market, Martino Contractors recently began branding its own product line under the names Martino Air Guard and Martino Air. “We will start promoting that soon. We’re just beginning to get some of the product out there,” says Martino. With these new products becoming available to the market, Martino Contractors is looking for other expansion opportunities to complement its new venture. “We will

Ontario

Kirkor Architects and Planners Housing Distinctive Ideas

Produced by Hanim Samara & Written by Molly Cohen

Urban living has become quite the viable option in Canada. With that influx comes the demand for increased housing options. Finding new space in a crowded city, however, can be a challenge. Kirkor Architects and Planners, a firm located in Toronto, Ontario, has the abilities and resources to tackle this issue. “We specialize in redeveloping low-rise, greyfield and under-utilized properties by transforming them into mixed-use, high-rise residential developments with a greatly increased number of dwelling units,” says Steven Kirshenblatt, the firm’s senior partner.

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Kirshenblatt and his partner Clifford Korman started the company in 1981. Now, 29 years later, Kirkor has grown significantly in various regards. “We now have five partners,” Kirshenblatt explains. “We’ve introduced a junior partner level 3 years ago to keep the firm fresh, while giving it longevity.” Kirkor’s geographical footprint has experienced growth, as well, and the firm works on projects throughout Canada and the United States. Kirkor’s capabilities have also evolved, integrating the ability to tackle commercial projects ranging from shopping centers to industrial facilities.

SIGMUND SOUDACK & ASSOCIATES INC. CONSULTING STRUCTURAL ENGINEERS

Established 1968 Canadian Consultants involved in over 400 Major Hi‐rises projects and Consisting of over 60,000 units Fields of Specialization include: Structural Design of Hi‐rise Buildings Industrial Buildings Institutional Facilities

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Ontario “We do a lot of master plan redevelopment design work in the Greater Toronto area, as well as work in the city of Toronto, taking low rise or under-utilized sites and redeveloping them into new urban sustainable communities,” says Kirshenblatt. Those regions, located in Toronto, Ontario, have experienced significant growth due in part to Kirkor’s ability to help the local municipalities meet the province’s growth strategies. Growing and Blending Kirkor is currently working in the Avonshire neighborhood of North York, overseeing the redevelopment of three-story walk-up rental apartments into new condominium towers. This project is a joint venture between Toronto-based real estate development companies Tridel and K&G Group. “Three residential towers are currently under construction,” explains Kirshenblatt. “The first tower to be occupied is

a rental apartment building that replaces the rental units that have been demolished. The other two are residential condos. There are another two towers proposed and a group of townhouse buildings. The townhouses are used as a buffer and transition to the existing single-family neighbors. The overall development will result in about 1,100 units.” The site was once owned solely by K&G Group, who built the development in the early 1950s. The area included several low-rise, three-story, walk-up apartment buildings with approximately 330 units. “K&G Group retained us to look at redevelopment of the overall land for higher density,” says Kirshenblatt. “Because of provincial and city policies, the 330 units needed to be preserved, so the plan was to build one new rental high-rise and free up the land for additional highrise condos, and low-rise townhouse development. We took the project through official plan amendment, zoning bylaw amendment, and site plan approval. K&G then partnered with Tridel to develop, market, and construct buildings.” Unique challenges often go hand in hand with projects of this size and scope. “The challenge on this property is getting through the municipal approval process,” Kirshenblatt adds. “The overall uses and densities of the land were really not that much of an issue, but the city was very critical on urban design issues that had to be incorporated into the project.” The completed site plan will extend the high-density neighborhood west of the original Avonshire community. “It creates pleasant streetscapes and a wonderful urban feel. There is a new park being created in our development to enhance the feeling of community,” says Kirshenblatt. The project was originally going to be considered for the new neighborhood certification program as set by Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED). In the end, however, the designers complied with the city of Toronto’s green building design practices instead of LEED. Avonshire’s rental apartment building is expected to be completed in the summer of 2010. The Work of the Future Kirkor uses a unique marketing technique to attract business from across North America (its designs have made it as far south as Nevada and Texas). “My partner, Cliff Korman, has actually done a number of presentations and speaking engagements to the development industry across the continent,” Kirshenblatt explains. “That led to

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a lot of exciting business, especially in the U.S., when the market was stronger. It is a great way to find new prospective clients — at tradeshows and speaking arrangements. He also writes for some publications.” Korman’s proactive marketing efforts have led to easily identifiable results. One of Kirkor’s most interesting projects, in Kirshenblatt’s opinion, was the NY Towers Community. “The firm was involved with the Daniels Corporation and has created a series of high-rise, mixed-use (but predominantly residential) buildings with a variety of built forms and unusual skyline features. The last component is the building we call the Arc. It took a very difficult site and created a very interesting cruise ship form that has received great response from the community,” says Kirshenblatt. The community has six towers and 1,200 condominiums. In 2002, this site won the Community of the Year Award at the Greater Toronto Home Builder Awards. The greater Toronto area real estate market has remained strong. Kirkor is well positioned to contribute its expertise to the development market. Kirkor has no plans to scale back nor to ramp up. “We may grow a little, but the partners are very involved with each project. To keep that hands-on approach, we don’t want to get too big,” Kirshenblatt explains. Kirshenblatt foresees the company’s work becoming more popular in the coming years as its reputation grows (the firm even has designs in competition for projects in China). “The nature of the work we’re doing is the future. Smart growth and sustainable design is really creating a new world for highdensity residential urban development,” he says. “Our firm is well-positioned. We are also looking to take our expertise to other communities.” With the success the company has had throughout Canada, Kirkor will continue to grow and make a name for itself, wherever it may plant its flag. 

Ontario

MGP Architects Engineers Inc. Thinking Big for Small Communities Produced by Hanim Samara & Written by Molly Cohen “Remember those old blueprint machines, the ones with the ammonia? I was hired to run those when I was in high school,” says Henry Pietrzakowski, recalling his first step into the architecture industry. Pietrzakowski didn’t let a few toxic fumes deter him, however. In 1988, Pietrzakowski graduated from University of Manitoba’s Masters Program (where he received the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada medal for the thesis). “I presented my thesis on a Thursday and started working full-time that Monday,” he remembers. Pietrzakowski is now a project architect and partner at MGP Architects Engineers Inc., an in-house architecture, mechanical engineering and electrical engineering firm in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. MGP works all over northern Ontario, which is not as remote as people may think, according to Pietrzakowski. “We’re the oldest firm here with over 50 years of experience. We do a lot of hospital work on the North Shore, and work in the smaller communities,” Pietrzakowski explains. Operating out of a small town, MGP could not subsist on a specialization, as those types of projects could run out. Therefore, MGP has worked on projects ranging from schools to long-term care centers to offices. Because of its location, MGP tries its hand at any project. “I know people are surprised that we have a small office but get so much work. Well, getting work is easy, but you have to put it out there,” Pietrzakowski shares. Creating a Super School Although MGP is small, it gains the respect and appreciation from its clients. Repeat clients are a large part of its work, especially for institutional work like hospitals and long-term care facilities that constantly need

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updating. “Unlike other firms in our area, we probably have the largest professional staff in the area with our three registered architects and a registered engineer,” says Pietrzakowski. “And clients also like that we are the ones that are onsite and don’t just disappear after signing a contract.” It is also important to keep a knowledgeable MGP representative on-site since many of the firm’s projects

“We’re always conscious of outer lying areas, like up north,” says Partner Henry Pietrzakowski, “and I do have a partner who is registered in Michigan, but the problem with working in the U.S. is you always have to partner with another company.”

involve sustainability designs, which can be very specific. MGP is currently putting its sustainability expertise to good use on the Superior Heights Collegiate project. One of the first things that came up for MGP was whether the school would go for a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification. However, the project owner must pay a premium to be formally acknowledged and ranked as a LEED certified, and this project did not have money in the budget for that. “But what we did was parallel LEED requirements so we were conscious of materials, energy efficient fixtures and lighting orientation. We definitely had sustainability in mind throughout this whole project, and if certified the project would easily surpass LEED Silver requirements,” says Pietrzakowski. For this Superior Heights Collegiate project, MGP assisted with the design, though the company’s role was originally as a local liaison between the project’s architecture company (based in Toronto) and the general contractor. However, “as the project developed, we started getting more involved, eventually carrying out design collaboration and assisting with contract document development. At this point we are running the entire job in terms of contract. I know everybody here is fired up,” says Pietrzakowski. Currently all of the steel is up, and masonry and windows are being

Ontario high school and includes grades seven and eight. It also has a late school program for kids who did not finish high school and want to come back and get their high school diploma. Lastly, it has a developmental education component for handicapped students,” Pietrzakowski explains. Redesigning Ontario’s Largest Buildings Large scale community-interested projects, like the 200,000-square foot Superior Heights Collegiate project, are familiar to MGP. “We also just completed the Department of Fisheries and Oceans,” Pietrzakowski says. “The new building has storage maintenance facilities and an entire floor for the existing natural resources building.” installed. With the school enclosed in snow prior, interior work took place over the winter in preparation for a September 2010 door opening. The tricky part of this project is the large amount of people it will accommodate and the complexity of the divisions that will be held in the new facility. Basically, two existing high schools are amalgamating into one new school. “It’s a large

Also on the company’s list of completed projects is the Roberta Bondar Place, on Sault Ste. Marie’s waterfront, plus the largest long-term care center in Ontario and a $10 million invasive species centre in Sault Ste. Marie, “which researchers hope will strengthen the city’s role in biological research,” says Pietrzakowski. Now that MGP has practice working in so many different sectors, the company is looking for new ventures to keep its expertise growing. “We’re always conscious of outer-lying areas, like up north,” says Pietrzakowski, “and I do have a partner who is registered in Michigan, but the problem with working in the U.S. is you always have to partner with another company.” Pietrzakowski explains that, as a partner, “you’re always wondering what’s going on next year. We want to hold on to the staff we have, but to do that we have to give them work,” he says. But MGP has no shortage of upcoming projects. “We were just commissioned by a new school board and won the bid to design a new $10-million elementary school in town,” Pietrzakowski shares. The company is also going to continue concentrating on care centers throughout Northern Ontario and healthcare facilities in smaller communities. Corporate office work is another one of Pietrzakowski’s big pushes in the next couple of months. “It’s funny, I know a lot of the firms down south have a specialty and whenever I think we’re specialized in one area, I remember that we’ve completed a diverse range of project types,” Pietrzakowski reflects. Working in small communities, but exhibiting a wide range of capabilities, MGP Architects has found the formula for its success. By combining its experience, passion and creativity with its commitment to clients and work integrity, MGP has the means to excel in many different sectors and regions. 

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Amico Canada Inc.

Manufacturing Canada’s Catwalks and Stairways Produced by TaMeka Marshall & Written by Molly Cohen Amico Inc. is a subsidiary of Gibraltar Industries, a company in the U.S. that manufactures a wide range of products for the construction and renovation industry. They make everything from structural connectors to mailboxes. Amico Inc. is focused mostly on the industrial construction sector. “In Canada we manufacture and fabricate the widest range of gratings, expanded metal and plank-type gratings in the industry, in a variety of materials: steel, aluminum, stainless steel, and even fiberglass. They are mostly used for catwalks, walkways and stairs,” says Glenn MacKay, national sales manager of Amico Canada Inc. MacKay jumped into the industry after a successful stint in telecommunications. He started in plank grating in 1990 with ISG, a manufacturer founded in the late 1970s, and he continued there after ISG was purchased by Amico in 1995. Manufacturing Coast to Coast Now, Amico Canada has a full range of grating and expanded metal products to be used in all kinds of building

applications, including security applications, catwalks, guarding and many more. “They are the type of products that everyone sees every day but never notices,” remarks MacKay. “We also have a side of our business in building products; we make metal lath and trim for stucco and EIFS systems.” Amico is the largest company in its industry and it manufactures the largest variety of products in that industry. While everything is produced to industry standards, Amico Canada stands out because “we feel we put out the best quality and out-service our competition,” MacKay shares. “It’s the only way to differentiate in this industry. We’re the biggest, but we also have to be the best.” And this variety of products is produced at Amico Canada’s three plant locations: Vancouver, Montreal and Burlington. Between the three locations, the company employs many employees, the number of which fluctuates based on the amount of work running in each plant. “We cover coast to coast, and even north into the Arctic,” MacKay adds.

Ontario Although it has a large service area, Amico Canada does not need to outsource any work. “We have our own people for supply chain, etc., but we do rely on the U.S. head office for some of that, too,” says MacKay. Additionally, Amico Canada might be known in some areas or in certain industries under the Amico- Dramex name after it acquired Dramex, an expanded metal producer. “We bought Dramex four years ago and rolled them into our company. So, in some markets we refer to ourselves as Amico-Dramex so clients recognize the name they used to deal with,” MacKay explains. Forging a New Niche Despite its successful acquisitions and reputation for quality, Amico Canada felt the effects of the economic downturn. “The market dropped drastically last year as construction projects came to a halt. The price of steel dropped significantly from what it had been in ’08, and that impacted us greatly,” MacKay remembers. “Basically, if you try to maintain your margins, what you used to sell for $1 you’re selling for $0.50. It’s hard to make the same amount of money when you’re doing that.” MacKay found there was not one specific way to overcome these challenges. Instead, Amico Canada had to incorporate

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many incremental changes to make a large difference. “We tried to get closer to our customer base. And we did have some layoffs. We did a furlough system where we had our salaried staff working less hours each week, but still coming in five days a week. It ended up being a 10-percent reduction in salary costs,” MacKay shares. “We all shared some of the pain to get through that period successfully.” Amico Canada’s next step was to use less to make more. “We’re trying to become a leaner company, so we are always looking at our processes and how we can streamline them, cut out wastes, cut out costs, and we’re always trying to

reduce time on setups. It’s a constant thing we’re doing to cut costs,” MacKay explains.

the economy gets back to full steam we will be in a stronger position than ever,” says MacKay.

Diversifying the business to infiltrate more sectors was also a major influence on the company’s recent success. “More and more we’re trying to evolve part of our business to architectural instead of just industrial,” says MacKay.

Instead of fretting, MacKay expects slow but steady growth back to where Amico Canada’s sales used to be through taking hold of any opportunities it gets and urges burgeoning salespeople to take the same advice. “No one sets out when they’re young to be a grating salesman. But as opportunities come your way, it’s all about how you meet those head on and what you do with those opportunities that take you where you can go, and determine whether you plateau or continue to move forward,” he says.

Gratings and expanded metal are most popular in places like steel mills, oil refineries and other industrial facilities. “That’s where we make our money, but we’ve been trying to open up new markets, and we’ve sold material in the last few years for going on the outside of buildings as a façade,” says MacKay. One such memorable project for MacKay is Amico Canada’s involvement in the Portland Aerial Tram project. “It was in the U.S., but sold out of our Canadian facilities. They put aluminum expanded metal on the outside as a decorativetype finish,” MacKay remembers. “The effect is amazing.” While this new advancement into the architectural sector has helped, it has not been a sudden growth explosion. “We’re still down quite a bit from where we were in our highs,” says McKay. But this slow period is not a setback for Amico Canada. “We’re growing our business back, and when

Working off this philosophy, Amico Canada will certainly take the move-forward approach, as seen through its venture into the architectural industry. With its reputation for high-quality products and the promise of quality customer service, Amico Canada seems poised to continue its growth pattern, with the ability to surpass its past sales peaks to become the most prominent grating product producer in North America. 

Ontario

Voortman Cookies Ltd.

Modernizing Baking Traditions for Global Infiltration Produced by Sean Barr & Written by Molly Cohen Like many children, Garry Postma grew up with a fondness for cookies. However, Postma’s appreciation for the sweet treat was in part based on his father’s position as a sales manager for Voortman Cookies Ltd. (Voortman) in Burlington, Ontario. “My father would take me and my brother to the bakery on Saturdays, and while he was in the office we would be in the bakery, sampling cookies and sometimes making mischief,” Postma remembers. In 1977, Postma followed in his father’s footsteps, and after graduating from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario,

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Postma joined his father in the Voortman ranks. “I worked with him for 15 years until his retirement.” Postma initially worked in supervisory and sales roles for Voortman, and then moved up to sales management and has been the company’s global sales director since 2005. In March 2010, Postma also became the company’s president. Through this position he has worked with the company’s original founders and namesakes. “Around 1951 Voortman was founded by brothers Bill and Harry Voortman. Their family emigrated from Holland, and they started this

Ontario company here in the Hamilton area. Over time the business expanded, and they relocated the bakery several times. Now the plant is in Burlington,” Postma explains. To this day, Harry Voortman remains involved in the company as its CEO. Postma relates, “He provides longterm direction, but as for daily operations of the company, I fill in more and more. And it’s working out well for both of us.” Healthy Cookies? When Voortman first opened for business, the company made a traditional Dutch-style cookie. That is why Voortman’s logo continues to be a Dutch girl — to show the company’s roots. But Voortman has evolved since then. While it continues to produce traditional cookies, it is now a modern company also focusing on healthier cookie options.. “We have sugar-free cookies, flax seed cookies, and we’re one of the first companies in North America that went to a trans fat-free product. All of our products are trans fat-free as of 2004,” Postma says. “We also sell bulk and regular cookies. The company’s sugar-free flavors include Chocolate Chip, Chocolatey Crème, Chocolate Wafers, Fudge Chocolate Chip, Fudgydelicious, Iced Almonette, Lemon Wafers, Oatmeal, Peanut Butter Wafers, Shortbread Swirl, Strawberry Turnover, Strawberry Wafers, Tea Ring and Vanilla Crème. “This is a strong and growing category for us,” Postma notes. Voortman also offers a number of classic cookies, including Almond Delight, Almond Krunch, Chunky Chip, Soft Oatmeal, Soft Oatmeal Raisin and Windmill. Voortman’s roll packs come in a number of flavors including Almonette, Chunky Chip, Coconut, Fudge Striped Oatmeal, Oatmeal Raisin, Shortbread, Tea Ring and Windmill. Many of the company’s cookies are available internationally. “I’ve really enjoyed my last five years in global sales. Going to all these different countries and starting from scratch, finding people who can represent us and working it out from beginning to end, I really enjoyed that,” Postma reports. And Voortman is just getting started with its global operations. “We have been global for the last five years and want to push for more of that,” Postma says. He also notes that the company has excellent management operations for selling its products in the U.S and Canada., reinforced by a diverse workforce. Postma is pleased with all of the company’s employees, no matter what their location. “In the plant there are around 260 employees, in the office are another 50, and out in the

field we have about 500 distributors, as well as a number of sales managers. They’re not all employees, as the distributors are independent, but altogether we have up to about 1,000 families in total who are dependent on Voortman Cookies,” he explains.

in the plant,” Postma says. “Recently we’ve earned one of the highest accreditation scores for HACCP.”

Just as the company values its relationships with these independent distributors, Voortman maintains long-term relationships with its raw material providers and packagers, who complement the company’s total in-house production. “When it comes to baking, we want consistency in raw material. We can’t have a batch that’s different than the next batch, so we need to have the best quality raw materials that are consistently the same quality,” Postma says. Based on its management and monitoring, Voortman is certified in Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP). HACCP certification ensures quality and safety for the food industry. “So there are high standards

Ontario Constant Improvements

have lots of opportunities in North America, especially the United States, and we need to focus on our sales there and grow our global sales. There are a lot of countries we’re not in yet, and there are lots of opportunities as well. So we’ve got a pretty good future globally.”

Despite its long-term relationships and high“My father would take me and quality standards, Voortman, like many companies, has my brother to the bakery on faced recent challenges. “The Saturday and he would be in economy of course is a big factor, as is the U.S. exchange the office and we would be in rate. Seventy percent of our the bakery making mischief,” business is in the U.S., so fluctuation of the exchange Postma feels Voortman’s says President Garry Postma. rate affects us dramatically,” location in Canada offers a Postma says. “The other beneficial launch pad for the challenge has been to company’s future plans. “I’ve introduce our product further done a lot of traveling, and worldwide. We have overseas looking at opportunities from transportation expenses, a global perspective I see which factors into the cost of the product, as well as duties – [Canada is] in pretty good shape,” Postma says. all costs that are over and above what a local supplier would have to deal with. For this reason it’s been important for us By maintaining both its in-house strength and relationships to find a niche. That’s why the healthier choice has helped with independent distributors, while continuing to innovate to open doors in other countries. Of course, every country on the company’s terrific products, Voortman Cookies has its own regulations with products, and trying to bake Ltd. has established the infrastructure to have many something locally that is applicable for all countries in the opportunities to meet its global market goals.  world has also posed a challenge.” To further set itself apart, Voortman is in a constant state of improvement. “We are always looking for ways to make our products even better,” Postma notes. “Voortman makes excellent turnovers; it’s one of our strongest categories, and we’re always looking for ways to do even better yet with that category.” Voortman’s turnovers are soft cookies with real fruit fillings. The company’s fruit filling flavors include Apple, Blackforest, Blueberry, Date, Raspberry and Strawberry. The rest of the company’s cookie lines include wafers in Vanilla, Strawberry, Chocolate, Lemon and Peanut varieties. Its specialty cookies include Whole Wheat Ginger Snaps in bagged packaging. Voortman also offers a holiday line of Christmas cookies including Assorted Festive, Festive Green, Festive Red, Gingerboy, Iced Almonette and Shortbread Swirl. With his eye toward differentiation, growth and improvement, there are few things that keep Postma awake at night. “What are really important are relationships within the company among the people. It’s really important that everyone is working together. You can get a lot accomplished that way. And we have very good people here, so we’re on a good path,” Postma says. Making use of its high-quality personnel, Voortman will be looking into different growth channels “to expand our reach. But that’s all I can really say right now,” Postma shares. “We

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Springer’s Meat Inc.

Offering a Prime Family Product Produced by Sean Barr & Written by Molly Cohen “I went from playing with Transformers to making sausages,” jokes Walter Mueller Jr. of his transition into the family meat business, Springer’s Meat Inc. The company was originally founded in 1959, but “we purchased it from the Springer family in 1986, and kept the name because it was a well-established company in Hamilton, it was a family-run business, and we wanted to keep going with that,” Mueller says. Mueller is now the Ontario-based company’s director, while his father, Walter Sr., is the president. And Springer’s Meat is still a family business, although it is now the Mueller family. “My sister runs the deli, my brother-in-law is the director of operations and runs the entire plant, my fiancée is here, my uncle is a butcher in the deli, and my mom is in the deli, as well — it’s the whole family,” says Mueller.

it produces. Springer’s Meat’s biggest market is the pizza toppings business and food service. “We have an on-site deli here that serves the public, though we don’t advertise that, it’s just convenience for locals and they have been used to that from the beginning,” Mueller explains. “Now, there are still serious sales being generated there, but our main focus has been servicing larger chains.” The deli remains as a beloved service to the community, and it also has provided an excellent source of publicity. “We’ve had a lot of articles in the local paper and that draws attention. It can be lines out the door. We have schnitzel Thursdays and used to cook maybe 20 schnitzels, and now we have done close to 1,200 on that day. We couldn’t have succeeding without the loyalty of our customers on every level,” Mueller says.

Substantial Growth In 1986, when the Muellers first took over Springer’s Meat, “there were about a dozen employees here in about 6,500 square feet, and now we’re up to 70,000 square feet with 80 employees,” Mueller shares. In that time Springer’s Meat evolved from serving the local areas and establishments to the entirety of Ontario. “In the last couple of years we’ve got federal certifications and we ship across Canada,” Mueller says proudly. Mueller attributes his company’s growth to its solid focus on quality. Mueller recognizes it’s “not the cheapest on the block,” but the company is proud of the superior products

Ontario This perspective reflects how Springer’s Meat has grown so much, but still holds to the concept of a family business. This philosophy is also matched through the company’s expansion plan. Instead of moving to a new facility, the company wants to continue to employ its long-time locals, so it has bought adjacent buildings and properties when they became available. “Right now we’re building a facility on the corner of our lot that’s going up for the storage of products and shipping that will help us service our customers a lot better,” says Mueller. This expansion project has been rather time consuming for Springer’s Meat as the company looks into materials to use in the new space that will be energy efficient and environmentally friendly. “It’s not what it used to be. You don’t whack up a building in no time, there are things you have to consider now and what’s the most efficient way to do it,” Mueller acknowledges. Despite this promising addition to the Springer’s Meat facility, the company faces challenges. It must contend

with ever-changing government regulations from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. “Those are the most difficult, because the government passes something down to us and says, ‘Make it so,’ and we have to constantly be able to adapt. We have to hire coordinators to fill those gaps and make sure everything we do is up to date with every regulation that comes out right away. Food safety is a number one concern here,” Mueller says. In addition to regulation changes, Springer’s Meat faces obstacles in its aim to find more customers. “It’s always difficult trying to gain market access when you’re the small guy and you’re going up against huge, well-established companies,” Mueller says. To overcome this challenge, Springer’s Meat offers “a different flavor profile or a higher-quality product, things like that where we can say give us a shot, try it, you won’t be disappointed. There’s nothing worse than buying something for the first time and thinking, ‘This is terrible.’ With our products hopefully everybody will see it’s a product worth having in your stores,” Mueller shares. Beyond these challenges there are few things that keep Mueller awake at night. He jokes, “Vegetarians keep me awake. Actually now we make veggie hotdogs, so either way we’re safe.” Maintaining Relationships Indeed, Springer’s Meat has new products in the works in order to maintain its market position and gain new clients, but there is nothing specific Mueller is willing to divulge at this point. “We do some cold packs; they will be coming to a supermarket through a midsummer release, and there are Oriental-based items and halal products,” he shares. Rolling out new products is not too stressful for Mueller since all of Springer’s Meat’s products are made in-house. To complement its in-house

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capabilities, Springer’s Meat has long-standing relationships with its raw material suppliers and packaging contractors. “We’re very loyal to the people who have been with us for a long time. Someone might come along and it will be 5 cents cheaper, but we stick with the people, products and items that have always worked well for us regardless of cost,” Mueller explains. “But at the same time when we’re developing new products, so there are avenues for different companies to come in and present.” In choosing the companies it works with, Springer’s Meat relies on personal relationships with external venders, and prefers companies that are globally integrated. “I’ve grown up in this industry, so I’ve known these companies my whole life. If we have a problem, I pick up the phone and the owner of the company is on and we work through things. Things come along fast and you need those kinds of people standing behind you,” Mueller shares. Relationships with vendors and customers are also part of Mueller’s key performance indicators. Springer’s Meat counts customer relations as an important part of the company’s success. “A customer called with a complaint about a product, he didn’t prepare it properly, and we sent him a replacement and told him how to do it. Now he is our biggest fan. He apologized and said ‘I’m glad you took the

time to educate me and show me,’” Mueller shares. “I have all these emails that say ‘Thanks for taking the time’ – I get that email, it doesn’t go to a department. The product speaks for itself. There shouldn’t be hesitation to pick up our products … you won’t be disappointed.” With this customer relations focus in place, Mueller has further plans for distributing Springer’s Meat. “We want to get more into national grocery chains and a greater distribution across Canada. And we recognize we need private labeling to maintain steady business. Right now seasons have a huge impact on business; around holidays we go crazy for two months, then lull for a couple weeks. It would be nice to level that off to ensure we’re running at full steam all the time,” he says. With top-quality products, a lineage of knowledgeable leadership, and its community’s support, Springer’s Meat has the resources to spread its reputation throughout Canada’s meat industry. 

Ontario

Urbacon Ltd.

Updating a City’s Historical Buildings Produced by Hanim Samara & Written by Molly Cohen After 15 years of practicing law and working with large corporations in the real estate development industry, Ron Carinci became the chief operating officer for Urbacon Ltd., where he has worked for the past four years. “My family has been in land development and I’ve been in it since a young age,” he says of his interest in the industry. Founded in 1984, Urbacon is a development company that works throughout the country out of four offices: Vancouver, British Columbia; Calgary, Alberta; Toronto,

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Ontario; and Montreal, Quebec. Each of these locations offers comprehensive services that help clients plan and build commercial buildings and interiors, implement civil infrastructure works, and execute advanced designbuild and maintenance of data centres in an efficient and collaborative manner. “We have various departments – we have a buildings group, an infrastructure group, a data center and critical facilities group and an architecture department,” says Carinci. “We’re a one-stop shop construction company.”

Revamping the Old According to Carinci, Urbacon’s strength lies in its ability to hold to stringent schedules and budgets, while meeting the demands of ambitious building efforts. “We pretty much do it all,” he says. “We have a commercial, industrial and even a custom homes division, so we cover the entire span of construction management, even going into civil works like road works and site services.” Recently, Urbacon put its construction development capabilities to work managing a project located at 222 Jarvis Street, Toronto. 222 Jarvis is actually a retrofit of an older building that was originally constructed in an inverted pyramid style in 1971. It was sold in 2007 to the province and is now managed by Ontario Realty Corporation (ORC), an agency that provides real estate services to the Government of Ontario. “We started working together with the architects and the project managers in the fall of 2009,” says Carinci of the project’s process. Demolition has started on the project as part of its first phase, and tender packages have been submitted to various trades as part of the government procurement processes.

work in, and the building encompasses all the land, leaving little room to maneuver,” says Carinci. “The building is very technically sophisticated. With impressive retrofits like 222 Jarvis and Rogers Communications completed, Urbacon plans to continually evolve its command of effective, efficient building technologies. “We have many departments, and we’re growing those divisions to cover the entire spectrum of the industry,” Carinci shares. As proven through these projects, Urbacon has the experience in numerous areas within the construction industry and has the in-house technical and management capabilities to tailor its services to various types of projects. The company is constantly adapting and evolving to maintain its status as a leader in the construction industry. One thing is clear: Urbacon is well respected throughout Canada for its construction practices and commitment to quality, and will have many more opportunities to continue assisting owners navigate projects to successful completion. 

“The most interesting part of the building is that it has 18 escalators. Currently the escalators are surrounded by walls that will be replaced with glass and a large skylight. It’s quite unique. The other interesting point is we’re seeking a minimum of LEED Silver certification for the project and have included intelligent building design principles and energy-efficient systems,” says Carinci. Despite Carinci’s enthusiasm for the project, he recognizes that there will be certain challenges involved in completing it. “Like any older building, we won’t know until we actually open her up. The biggest challenge we anticipate we will face is the structural modifications required with the removal of supporting walls and the introduction of the glass,” he says. “But upon completion, the building will be a spectacular example of innovative and environmentally friendly design.” Diverse Strengths The 222 Jarvis project has been very exciting for Urbacon, and the company has particularly enjoyed working with ORC, WZMH Architects and CB Richard Ellis. “We enjoy working with the project team. We are also working with ORC on another job located at Keele and 401. This is a very different job, as it involves the construction and installation of site services and roadworks,” Carinci explains. Urbacon recently completed the CityTV broadcast and office building located at Dundas Square for Rogers Communications. This project was another retrofit of an existing old building in the center of Toronto. “It is the Times Square of Toronto, the busiest area you could possibly

Ontario

Provincial Industrial Roofing and Sheet Metal Co. Ltd.

Providing Solid Coverage for Ontario Produced by Mike Armstrong & Written by Molly Cohen Doug Uglow is inspired by his father’s 50-plus years in the roofing industry, and is on his way to match that experience. Uglow joined the roofing industry in 1972, when his father founded Provincial Industrial Roofing and Sheet Metal Co. Ltd. Uglow is now that company’s president. Uglow is

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also involved in the roofing industry through his roles in associations. “I was president of several associations and sat on their boards. Right now I’m the head of the Toronto local union negotiating committee,” Uglow shares.

With 38 years under its tool belt, Provincial is gearing up to celebrate its 40th anniversary in 2012. Located in Concord, Ontario, Provincial serves the industrial, commercial and institutional sectors in southern Ontario, from London to Kingston to Barrie. “We’re a niche roofer; we just try to go around the competition … we don’t compete head on with production workers,” explains Uglow of his company’s approach to the business. “We have to stay with more of our private clients and work with roofing consultants to get our name out there. We’re not looking to be the biggest roofer around, we like our niche market and like to provide the best services to everybody.” Upholding Reputation According to Uglow, the internal strength gained from Provincial’s 60 to 70 employees helps give the company a leg up on the competition. “We’ve been in business for almost 40 years and we’ll be going on another 40 years because of the talent that’s in our company; it’s a very stable workforce of longtime employees with quite a bit of experience, so the talent and experience is there,” Uglow says. “The other thing [that makes Provincial stand out from the competition] is our attitude toward giving our customers the best work at the most reasonable price.” Provincial has experience and is familiar in various types of roofing systems and products. And since it has its own in-house sheet metal fabrication shop, the company is not

Ontario tied to any specific roofing materials. “We’ll suggest what’s best for that building, not sell a certain product,” Uglow explains. “We have a roofing repair maintenance division, separate from the production side, so we make money repairing the roof and will hopefully keep that client for when they want to replace that roof in the future. The idea is that you’re creating the service so they stay around and are long-term clients, and we have a lot of those.” Aiding Provincial’s promise of ongoing services is the fact that it can offer its clients extended warranties, unlike some of its competition. “Several manufacturers only give long-term warranties to certain roofers that have certain standards. We have a great reputation that has allowed us agreements with all the majors, so we can get their longtime warranties,” Uglow shares. With so many added values to offer its customers, Provincial maintains a very stable gross annual revenue between $10 million and $20 million. Despite its stability, Provincial anticipates facing some of the economically related challenges spreading through the industry. “We’re not getting any foreign competition yet, but we’re assuming it will be coming soon. As far as the downturn goes, we just hunkered down, like anybody would,

and began cutting overhead costs as much as we could … and we keep doing the same old thing and the work still comes,” Uglow says. Steady Service To support its work, Provincial relies on only a few subcontractors, like mechanical and structural engineers, while all of the roofing and sheet metal fabrication is completed in-house. “The sub-trades are a pretty minor part of our business; it’s only more important when you get difficult jobs where you become more of a general contractor. We have a couple like that and have good relationships for ad hoc, one-of-a-kind jobs,” says Uglow. As for vendors, Provincial can choose between six major suppliers of roofing products located in Toronto. Choosing which company to work with usually depends on price and service. “Price is important, but not one and only. Sometimes we will pay more because the service is there. We like loyalty, and we like knowing people we can trust when occasionally we need others to help us out to finish a difficult task or within a difficult timeframe,” Uglow admits. These vendors have been helpful throughout the years on some of Provincial’s most interesting projects. Going back about 25 years, Uglow remembers that the logistics of working in Goose Bay Laborador were challenging. And putting the roof on the Saddledome in Calgary stands out as a memorable project in the company’s history. Uglow also remembers the tricky crane work associated with Heritage Copper. In regards to the business, there is one thing that might keep Uglow from a good night’s sleep on occasion. “Right now I’m worried about issues with safety. In the roofing industry we have problems with fire, but we’ve updated our policies here so they bother me less,” he says. In the future, Uglow hopes to keep doing “keep plugging away, business as usual,” he says. “We don’t plan to grow too much. We do well where we’re at, but you can’t be stagnant in any business, we know that. We just want to keep providing the same service and carefully expand.” With its legion of experienced employees, passionate leaders and reputation in the industry, Provincial Industrial Roofing and Sheet Metal has the framing to continue building upon its already sterling reputation. 

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The Newton Group Innovating Traditional Construction Practices

Produced by Cathi Sachs & Written by Molly Cohen The Newton Group, owned and run by president Edwin “Ed” Newton, is comprised of four subsidiaries that share share the same logo, even though they represent different specialties. In 1994, Ed founded KiwiNewton, a proficient construction management company in the industrial, commercial and institutional sectors. Ed purchased Nadeco in 2000, but the company had been operating as a mechanical company for many years before that. In 2007, Ed added Newton Bridge to the group; this company specializes in highly technical bridge replacements and repairs. In 2008, Ed rounded out the group with Newton Parking, a company known for its prefabricated parking structures. Efficient Building Ed has been in the construction industry for over 20 years, since before the New Zealand native came to Canada in 1992. “I was doing part-time building over [in New Zealand] for a couple years, and before that I was doing carpentry in London for four years,” he says. From his diverse history came the idea for prefabricated building structures. Now Ed is just beginning to put his idea to work with Newton Parking. “It specializes in a special building system, which we call Canada Car, and it’s a modular parking system. It’s for parking structures they use for an airport or municipal buildings requiring multilevel parking to maximize space in one location. There are lots of parking structures around, but this is a more durable, longer lasting, different type of building than most of the others out there,”

Ed says. “It’s a proven German technology, so the concrete quality and galvanizing of the steel and the way the building is engineered is highly advanced. There is no cracking in the concrete that would cause corrosion, which is the biggest nightmare for anyone who owns a parking structure. These have a lot less maintenance.” For these types of projects, Newton Parking fabricates most of its own major components, using another company for the steel, then it collects everything and it gets erected onsite. “We do the design of that; it’s all design-build and a turnkey operation. We do use an outside engineering firm to review and stamp our drawings, though,” Ed shares. Ed plans to bring the same idea to Kiwi-Newton. “We have a design for condominium-type buildings,

Ontario multilevelresidential buildings and student housing. We’re putting proposals to that right now to springboard off this technology, making them out of concrete. It’s a totally different design, but it’s still using the same idea of prefabrication and putting everything together in the plant, including windows and wall panels, before we ship them,” he explains. To put this idea to work, Newton Group has a large facility and 40 employees in Guelph, Ontario, for prefabrication. “We’re doing the parking right now and plan to grow the parking business. For Kiwi-Newton it means we have to narrow our focus a bit. To build modular, we can’t do everything for everyone. We’re more focused now on building certain types of buildings,” says Ed. But that is the future of Kiwi-Newton. Right now the company is established in traditional construction management services. “We’re still subbing out most things. We sub out the electrical work, the site work, the roofing and maybe decking and things like that. We’re doing a community centre in Erin, Ontario, right now, and we’re subbing everything out and working as the general contractor,” Ed explains. “But in my future I want to be more into prefab. But we’ll still do this on a smaller contract and for the new, bigger projects we’ll aim for prefab.”

Looking to Expand While prefabrication is its new focus, the Newton Group does more than create building structures. “We look at mechanical design and energy efficiency of the building. Our system design will be more efficient for energy than what is out there right now. We know that’s the case in Europe and we’re modeling after buildings over there where they have much more stringent energy-use requirements,” says Ed. “I’ve got personnel to help figure out the system and the pricing, but we use outside consultants to assist us.” The Newton Group’s innovative and traditional construction has served the company well. “Our operation has been $25 million to $30 million. We hope to, in the future, make that bigger, but I’m more focused nowadays on the bottom line. I think I could have had a lot bigger volume, but I’m looking toward the future,” says Ed. To make these revenue goals, the Newton Group might look to expand beyond its current geographic footprint. “We work west of Toronto and north up to about Bradford. It’s about 100 kilometers from Guelph, where our head office and subplants are,” says Ed. “With Newton Parking we’re looking out in Winnipeg, willing to travel because it’s a prefab product. We plan to ship by rail if necessary and send out a small erection crew to put it up. Geographically, I don’t set strict limits for Newton Parking, but with Kiwi-Newton I try to keep it closer.” In addition to the community center project the Newton Group has in Erin, the company is also working on a parking structure in Markham, Ontario, and also just finished a retirement home in Bradford. “We do a little hospital work in Guelph. We have other little projects here or there. We finished a project in Parry Sound on an expansion for the wastewater control plant,” Ed shares. For now, Ed is not planning to acquire any additional companies to grow the Group. “Now I’m just zeroing in on the right opportunities and finding buildings that best suit us, like prefab and design-build — we’re going to chase projects that are our type of thing,” he says. With this goal in mind and the company’s innovative approach to construction through its prefabricated designbuild structures, the Newton Group has completed the groundwork to spread its brand throughout whatever regions it targets. 

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A. Villeneuve Mechanical Ltd. Continuing a Family’s Mechanical Contracting Efforts Produced by Cathi Sachs & Written by Molly Cohen

Growing up in a family business can lead to more respect and a greater passion for that company. For example, Jeff and Jason Villeneuve spent their formative years helping to develop their family’s mechanical contracting company, A. Villeneuve Mechanical Ltd. “I think we’re second to none in western Ontario,” Jeff says of the company position that he and his brother have helped establish.

our work is commercial (hospitals, seniors homes, hotels, restaurants, government offices, etc.), but we have branched out to both industrial [mining] and residential, and offer 24-hour service and maintenance contracts,” Jeff explains. “We have a very well-trained staff that specializes in their respective areas, and thus we can service all of these areas with the utmost quality.”

Holding Strong

The company has grown for a small workforce of three to five employees in 1985 to a workforce of between 20 and 30 employees at any given time. This number fluctuates a bit based on the season, but “that’s just the way construction is. Sometimes construction is very busy and sometimes it’s not,” Jeff rationalizes.

Founded in 1985, A. Villeneuve Mechanical has worked in the area surrounding the company’s office in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Under Jeff and Jason’s guidance, A. Villeneuve Mechanical works in numerous sectors. “The majority of

Ontario A. Villeneuve Mechanical’s employees are well-trained in a plethora of trades, as the company keeps a large portion of its work in-house. These internal crafts include plumbing, hot water heating, boilers, natural gas and propane, Jeff explains. Beyond these services, A. Villeneuve Mechanical works closely with a number of other mechanical subcontractors [control, fire protection, site services, HVAC, mechanical insulation and testing/ balancing contractors] to offer a complete mechanical package.

Market Flexibility

“This is what we’re comfortable with as far as size, and we do well at the size we’re at. However, we are always at the forefront in looking for new and innovative ideas for our customers,” says Jeff Villeneuve.

With its force of experienced and professional employees, Jeff does not see A. Villeneuve Mechanical’s workflow diminishing in the foreseeable future. “I don’t foresee any slowdown in the next year in Thunder Bay and Northwestern Ontario — there are numerous commercial and mining projects coming out in the next year,” he says. And Jeff plans to be a major force in completing that upcoming work, building on the company’s already large portfolio.

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Recently, A. Villeneuve Mechanical completed several large projects in Northwestern Ontario. One such project required the company to complete all of the mechanical work for Superiorview High School in Thunder Bay. This was a very large job, yet it still had to be finished within a very tight timeframe in order for students and staff to occupy the building. Pulling together, A. Villeneuve Mechanical managed this feat, operating on time without cutting corners.

Along the same lines, A. Villeneuve Mechanical just finished the mechanical work for the Fort Frances Ge-Da-Gi-Binez Youth Centre. This First Nations facility — intended for the area’s aboriginal youth, ages 12 to 17 — assists those facing law-related conflicts reconnect with their traditional heritage to transition back to the community.

Currently, A. Villeneuve Mechanical is using the experiences from these past projects on current and similar jobs in the area. “Right now some of the larger projects we’re working on are Robert Moore School in Fort Frances, a Mine Dry Building for Goldcorp in Balmertown, and a large addition to Confederation College in Thunder Bay,” Jeff gives as examples. “These are good-sized projects for us.” The company is also working on the Isabella Retirement Living Residence in Thunder Bay. This facility has 94 beds, most of which are for independent living, while a smaller portion is for assisted living. While much of A. Villeneuve Mechanical’s work is tendered or is initiated from government funds, the Isabella Retirement Living Residence

Ontario is privately funded. This range of projects truly highlights the company’s variety of specialties, flexibility in sectors, and high level of comfort working for the government, institutions or private owners. With its strong reputation, A. Villeneuve Mechanical has become more and more involved with “design-build” projects. Jess says that “both engineers and owners have come to value their expertise in the mechanical fields, and thus have contracted their services from the early design stages.” Jeff says there are times when the long hours draw on you, but when you see the result of your hard work at the end of the day it makes the long hours worthwhile. Likewise, Jeff has very few concerns with respect to his company’s future, and does not feel the need to initiate a growth or expansion plan. “This is what we’re comfortable with as far as size, and

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we do well at the size we’re at,” he shares. “However, we are always at the forefront in looking for new and innovative ideas for our customers.” With so much confidence in their company’s current performance, employee base and size, Jeff and Jason are upholding the family’s tradition of leading A. Villeneuve Mechanical to continued success. Based on the company’s flexibility in the industry and strong reputation as a trusted and competent mechanical contractor, A. Villeneuve Mechanical Ltd. will have plenty of opportunities to maintain its niche in Ontario’s market. 

Bird Construction Company

Maintaining Traditional Principles in Innovative Construction Produced by Cathi Sachs & Written by Molly Cohen Bird Construction Company’s construction services have delivered many successful projects throughout Canada during the company’s 90 years in the industry. However, though its presence has grown tremendously since its founding in 1920, Bird Construction still maintains the same values set by founder H.J. Bird, including a commitment to safety, teamwork, integrity, honesty, professionalism, fairness and personal growth. Bird Construction specializes in design-build project delivery, construction management, pre-construction services and public-private partnerships. No surprise considering the company’s many years in the industry. Bird has documented experience working in commercial, institutional, residential, retail and industrial sectors, with substantial experience in recent years with the LEED certification process. All of Bird’s construction management, project management and general contracting skills are held in-house, and the company’s personnel self-perform work in some sectors while choosing to subcontract the components of other projects to skilled trades to provide the greatest value to each client. Bird’s established construction processes have ensured continued growth for the company, recently announcing annual revenue over $1 billion. “We have the ability to bring a more personalized experience for the customer,” says Mark McLaren, the company’s business development manager, discussing Bird Construction’s ability to stay ahead of the competition. “Our organizational structure allows executives to become more involved at the client level.”

been with the company for over 20 years.” Finding long-term and trusted employees requires a specific process. “We have a defined recruiting, hiring and education strategy giving employees a path for growth from apprentice to journeyman to tradesman to project manager,” says McLaren. To find highly skilled employees, Bird recruits from colleges and universities with established “co-op” programs. However, the company also works with construction schools that do not have formal programs in place. “When a young person is hired, we rotate them through all aspects of the construction business, and then we select or determine where this person will have the most impact within the company,” McLaren explains. Hiring these skilled employees has been a large benefit to the company beyond their day-to-day responsibilities. A few years ago the company “saw ‘impending financial decline’ and began to redirect its focus on the public sector,” McLaren shares. “We are now working on many infrastructure projects.” Many of the company’s recent projects are for Defence Construction Canada (DCC), the construction arm of the Department of National Defence.

Recruiting for Future Generations Bird Construction’s 700 employees are all well-trained and knowledgeable about the industry. “Many of our staff members have been with us for generations — father, son, brother, etc.,” says McLaren. “We have a 25-year club — it has over 200 members now — and many staff members have

A National Company with a Regional Approach Bird Construction’s work is organised by region. In addition to the company’s corporate office in Toronto, Bird Construction maintains branch offices in Saint John, Halifax, Toronto, Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver. The company designates its long-term clients based on region and industry. Atlantic Much of the company’s recent work includes Bird Construction’s focus on sustainable design. Recently, the company completed the Shearwater Helicopter Facilities in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Drawing on its experience with hanger construction, as well as other military maintenance facilities, Bird delivered this training and operations centre ahead of schedule. In addition to a substantial hangar space, The Helicopter Facilities features administration space, warehousing facilities, a workshop and office space. Included in this new facility are many LEED aspects making it an energy-efficient building. Sustainable features include rainwater collection, energyefficient mechanical systems, and a fire protection system that emits water droplets in a “fog” in order to mitigate fire damage. Other recent projects include the design-build delivery of St. Stephens Border Crossing in New Brunswick. Bird Construction worked on this $20 million project with Rideau Construction; a partnership that was later secured when Bird Construction acquired Rideau in early 2008. Ontario Recently, Bird Construction delivered a high-profile project on the McMaster University campus in Hamilton, Ontario. The six-storey, 130,000-square foot Engineering Technology Building provides state-of-the-art graduate and undergraduate students’ teaching facilities, research laboratories and administration space. Some of the building’s notable aspects include a dual-duct supply air system and triple-glazed unitized curtain wall that help achieve the LEED Silver certification. Manitoba Meanwhile, the company’s Winnipeg office expanded its reach in the commercial sector with the South Beach Casino. This ’50s Art Decothemed casino includes traditional table games, slot machines, a cosmopolitan restaurant with space for 112 patrons and a bar for 123 guests in the building’s

26,000 square feet. The design-build delivery model allowed Bird to include space for back-up power and computer-driven security systems within a tight budget. The company also shortened the construction schedule, despite a two-month delay.

evident in its recent work in Fort McMurray on the Suncor Voyageur Coker. At 390 feet high (about 32 storeys), this project made for a challenging jobsite, yet Bird was able to deliver the $45 million project successfully, without incident.

Edmonton With its strong commitment to a safe working environment, Bird Constructionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Edmonton branch has recently been recognized for its achievements. Noted for its 60 consecutive person years with no disabling injuries, no work-related fatalities in the previous three years, no outstanding compliance orders under Alberta Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Legislation, and no violations of the OHS Act in connection with any incident investigated by Alberta Employment and Immigration in the past two years, the Edmonton Branch was awarded the 2008 Best Safety Performer from Work Safe Alberta. The Branchâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s safety efforts were also

Ontario

By recommending cast-in-place concrete, instead of the precast concrete that was originally specified Bird was able to significantly reduce the costs to the client. After three months of preparation — focusing on alternative concrete sources,

environmental risks and traffic mishaps — Bird completed the base concrete pour in 17 consecutive hours using 475 truckloads of concrete, nine concrete pumps, five batch plants and dedication from Bird Construction’s crews. Acknowledging the planning and success of the pour, project owner Suncor Energy awarded Bird its prestigious Suncor President’s Operational Excellence Award for Safety Leadership. Calgary Recently, Bird’s Calgary office successfully delivered the Alberta Schools Alternative Procurement project. The $634 million project was awarded to BBPP Alberta Schools Partnership consortium, of which Bird is a member. Working as a joint venture with Graham Construction, Bird built 18 schools throughout Calgary and Edmonton. The company’s goals included maintaining low cost and finishing ahead of schedule. The buildings are all constructed of structural steel and infill block, as well as piles and grade beams

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Ontario for the foundation. Designed to LEED Silver certification standards, all 18 schools employ energy-efficient mechanical and electrical systems, daylighting and water management applications. Each school includes 218 modular units, which allow for greater flexibility for changes in enrollment. Faced with a building boom in the province at start-up, the Calgary office was able to call on the Edmonton, Halifax and Saint John branches for additional staff to overcome its labour shortages. In June 2010 this project was completed, on-budget and ahead of schedule.

British Columbia Bird Construction’s notable activity on the west coast includes the University of British Columbia's Thunderbird Winter Sports Centre in Vancouver. Constructed for the Vancouver Winter Olympic Games, the hockey arena was the Vancouver Olympic Committee’s only design-build project. Completed four months ahead of schedule, the facility now provides year-round sports and recreation space for the surrounding community. The Sports Centre is comprised of three ice surfaces. The feature arena has 5,500 permanent seats, which can grow to 7,000 seats when sizing the rink to National Hockey League specifications. The other two arenas are focused on community recreational uses and include a 980-seat rink. The Centre is designed with LEED Silver requirements and has additional energy-efficient features to lower its impact on the environment. Looking Ahead With this list of completed projects under its belt, Bird Construction is ready to take the next steps into its growth plan. “We are concentrating more on marketing and business development, focusing on the core elements. We are in the early stages of many major products for the next few years, so that is very stable business,” says McLaren. “We are evolving our role in the client relationship to be more of a construction consultant, not just a project manager, construction manager or contractor.” By continuing to develop new services and reassessing its role in the construction process, Bird is continuing to build relationships with its existing clients, while it attracts more attention from new partners. Through these efforts, Bird Construction Company continues to expand its geographic activity, while increasing its profile in the construction industry throughout Canada, instilling each project with the values that will continue to propel the company into its second century. 

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Elric Contractors of Wallaceburg Ltd.

Leading Ontario’s Building and Designing Industry Produced by Mike Armstrong & Written by Molly Cohen Elric Contractors of Wallaceburg Ltd. (Elric) has perfected its project management process over its 41-year history and become one of Wallaceburg, Ontario’s most diverse general contractors. “We are mostly a commercial and industrial

general contractor, with a little residential. We do a full scope of work from start to finish,” says Jim Pollard, the company’s owner and partner.

Ontario

“We have quality staff that are capable of doing various general duties on the job site so, as opposed to just supervising the job, we have a number of staff that can do things hands-on and maybe a little more efficiently than other general contractors that just look after the job,” says Jim Pollard, owner and partner.

Pollard has been with Elric for 23 years, and under his guidance the company’s field employees provide more than just project oversight. “We have a quality staff that is capable of doing various general duties, as opposed to just supervising; they do things hands-on and maybe a little more efficiently than other general contractors that just supervise a project,” he explains. More than Just a Contractor Elric has four employees stationed in the office and another eight employees in the field, which primarily encompasses

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the London, Windsor and Sarnia corridor, Pollard explains. Elric’s in-house capabilities include supervision, ComputerAided Design (CAD) services, and a range of general carpentry work. The company also does design-build projects “if the need arises,” says Pollard. “My dad is an architect and engineer, so we’re able to call upon his services. He has an independent company, but we work closely with him, getting answers much faster than other people may have access to.” As for other partnerships, Elric subs out electrical, HVAC and plumbing, says Pollard. “It’s very important to have good relationships with [subcontractors and vendors]; we tend to

rely on three to five subtrades per component. We choose those that you can count on for efficiency and accuracy compared to others you’re not familiar with.”

consuming project, but we’re hoping to do more renovations in the future. We’re hoping the town and surrounding area will bounce back.”

But while Elric tends to use the same subcontractors repeatedly, the company puts most of its jobs out to any subtrade that can handle a component in a project. “If we’re not familiar with them, we ask for references from past customers about projects in their past. We have to make sure they’re reputable,” Pollard says.

While these projects are themselves impressive, Elric includes another interesting approach to its construction practices: all of its projects are built with a mind for sustainability. “All the projects we construct exceed energy standards and building code requirements. Often customers don’t want to spend extra money to be formally certified, because a lot of projects are privately funded, but we meet many requirements anyway,” Pollard shares. “The LEED projects you do see are often government-funded projects that are getting money, as it isn’t cost effective right now for private companies to go through the whole program. Still, in our design and construction process we include sustainable elements.”

Combining the revenue from all of its different roles on projects, Elric’s annual sales are between $2 million and $5 million. An Experienced Eye Contributing to that revenue involves a project Elric completed in February. “It’s the Southwest Regional Credit Union; we built the new facility in Wallaceburg as the general contractor,” Pollard shares. Now, Elric is working for two factories that are coming to Wallaceburg and opening up shops. One of the facilities is for Advanced Emissions Technologies Ltd. and the other is for Precismeca. Additionally, the company has done a variety of nursing homes. “Fairfield Park was the first nursing home built under the new design guidelines (at that time) when the government was on a kick to improve nursing home facilities. It is a single-storey building – using standard, mostly residential construction techniques – that is costefficient with very reasonable utility costs.” Pollard says proudly. According to Pollard, one of Elric’s most interesting projects is currently underway. The company is working on the Kinsmen Community Center in Wallaceburg, which is a renovation of an old tire building. “There are a lot of old buildings in town and this one had been empty for years when the local Kinsmen group bought it to turn it around,” says Pollard. The Kinsmen group plans to include a community center at this location that the public can use at an affordable rate. It will have a multipurpose room and services that “provide the community with opportunities that wouldn’t necessarily be provided if they didn’t have a cost-efficient building to go into,” Pollard explains. “It’s a time-

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With 30 years of experience in the industry, Pollard has unsurprisingly an eye for construction trends like sustainability. He is also knowledgeable when it comes to judging industry stability. “I see things getting better,” he says of his area’s economic outlook. “It couldn’t get much worse than last year, could it?” This economic improvement will fuel future growth for Elric. “The economy has been a little down in this area, but it’s starting to rebound and we’re hoping to be a part of that,” Pollard foresees. With its track record of successfully completed projects, Elric will undoubtedly find its restoration projects an active part of the area’s economic revitalization. Matching its dedication to sustainability, diversity in market sector and extensive design-build capabilities, Elric Contractors of Wallaceburg has amassed what is needed to continue successful development throughout Ontario. 

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Ontario

VEGFRESH Inc.

Producing Made-to-Order Solutions Produced by Sean Barr & Written by Molly Cohen After graduating from York University’s Schulich School of Business, Mike Sangiorgio worked as an accountant for several large companies and smaller firms before ending up at the Ontario Food Terminal in 1991. It was here, by sheer chance, that he came across a means to establish his own business niche. “I was implementing a computerized inventory control system for one of the wholesalers down there. One day I went into the cooler andsaw some shredded carrot and asked the warehouse manager about it. He said, ‘That’s something I’m doing personally. If you want to open up a business, we’ll sell this to some bakeries in Toronto...’ and I said OK,” Sangiorgio remembers. That night Sangiorgio met with his first customer who agreed to buy the product. “Once or twice a week I would meet the farmer from Bradford off the highway, get the carrot, drop it off and go to work. I started concentrating one day a week on the carrot business,” he explains. Sangiorgio was soon to need to make more of a time commitment to his burgeoning trade in custom-processing fresh produce, however. He began making cold calls and

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met with success when a muffin batter company said that it needed banana puree because its current vendor was supplying it with whole peeled bananas that the batter company had to spend time crushing. Sangiorgio began filling this company’s needs, allowing its productivity to shoot up by 70 percent. The day after the batter company began using Sangiorgio’s banana puree. “They gave us a contract for 200,000 kilos of bananas, and we had to scramble to find a facility. I bought this $75 grinder, and we called some friends, since we had no employees, and ran this product. That’s when I left my job, and gradually we got busier and gained customers,” he shares. VEGFRESH Inc. was then incorporated on June 10, 1992, with Sangiorgio as its president. Building Success After the banana puree, VEGFRESH started making lemon and orange pulp and shredded zucchini, “and then it just kept growing,” Sangiorgio says. “We moved to another facility, we moved to shredding carrot on our own instead of buying it already shredded, and every year we added more equipment and products.”

By 2005 VEGFRESH was so successful Sangiorgio bought one of its competitors. “I kept the brand name because that company had been in business for 44 years when I bought it,” he says. In June 2006 Sangiorgio merged VEGFRESH with this newly acquired facility. Designing the new plant to fit all of VEGFRESH’s equipment was a challenge. Sangiorgio had the equipment positioned using 3-D CAD to maximize the flow of product. “We have to bring in raw material, process it through the plant, and then put it into finished-product coolers. So the design of the plant was part and parcel of this project. And because we operate 24 hours per day we couldn’t call our customers to say we needed two weeks to move,” Sangiorgio points out. To implement the move, VEGFRESH utilized both of its facilities. While one was being dismantled, the other one was operational. “We literally moved on a Friday afternoon and were regularly running shifts on Sunday in the new 50,000-square foot plant,” Sangiorgio remembers. “You need to have a good team, and there’s no way I could have done it by myself. It had to be a joint effort. Everyone knew their strengths and weaknesses, and everyone worked together to get it done right.” Sangiorgio notes that the company now runs two production shifts and has a full sanitation shift that covers full days, six days a week.

From this new facility, VEGFRESH is able to secure its niche in “manufacturing products our customers need, as opposed to selling what we manufacture,” Sangiorgio says. “We also manufacture only to order, so everything is absolutely the freshest it could be; and we have full traceability. So when our customers get a product, they know exactly when that product was manufactured.” In keeping with its emphasis on documented quality control, VEGFRESH is proud of its Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) and ISO 9000 certifications, and is currently upgrading this to SQF quality standard. The company has a wide range of customers, from retailers to food manufacturers. Those customers include wholesale companies like Sysco food service and companies that manufacture soup, salad and frozen muffin batters. “Ninety-nine percent of our products are further processed,” Sangiorgio explains. VEGFRESH currently has just over 100 employees and annual revenue of more than $12 million. The company has two locations in Ontario, with its headquarters in Toronto. One VEGFRESH location is a manufacturing facility that houses a warehouse for packaging material and a raw cooler. “We process more than 100,000 pounds per day of finished product, which translates to 150,000 pounds of raw

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Ontario material a day, so we have to keep our supplies in stock,” says Sangiorgio of VEGFRESH’s materials, most of which come from Ontario. Managing its raw materials, supplies and vendors is very important to the company’s success. “We run anything from banana, lemon, orange, zucchini, carrot, potato or onion, so we don’t want to be processing substandard product because it’s going to make a big impact on the yield and on the quality of the finished product. And since we manufacture to order, we work only what we need when we need it,” Sangiorgio says. Additionally, “we need to document when we’ve

manufactured a product, so that when we send out a bag of peeled potatoes we know exactly when it was produced, who was working on the line, where the raw material came from and when we received it. That’s all part of food safety and HACCP and being accountable for a product people are consuming.” When looking for vendors, VEGFRESH focuses on quality, price and reliability. “If we get a big order from a customer and our inventories are depleted, we don’t have six months to wait. We need it now. We get calls at 8 a.m. needing 10,000 pounds of diced potato by noon. We have no more than a 24hour lead time. Our business model works because we run two shifts and are here constantly, so we need our vendors to support that,” Sangiorgio explains. Expansion Process With its vendors in place, the biggest challenge for VEGFRESH has been the downturn in the economy. “Some customers lost business, so it became slow, but then others got busier. We supply the restaurant industry through wholesalers. So if a family of four couldn’t spend $100 at a fancy restaurant, they stop at a Metro – whom our customers supply with home meal replacements (HMR) – to buy an entrée of mashed potatoes with chicken and spend $30. The biggest challenge was being able to handle the production and changing economy,” Sangiorgio shares. Looking at the economy and planning which industry to expand into or how to diversify was necessary, but tricky. But Sangiorgio decided that concentrating on catering new products to the sectors and customers he already serves was the best initial option. “We could just go to existing customers because we have a proven track record for payment. They knew who we were, and we didn’t have to do a sales call. The more we diversify, the more successful we can be,” Sangiorgio says. This was the philosophy behind VEGRESH’s new apple line for the muffin industry, as well as the company’s new apple pie filling

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products. “We just installed the support line in January 2010. The equipment peels, slices and removes seed pockets for 120 apples a minute per machine, and we have two. I’ve designed a feed system to feed the line. We will supply the pie filling industry, but we want our own line of pie filling as well to diversify as much as we can,” Sangiorgio shares. Other new developments include a new retail brand name. “Right now for retail trade all we do is parisienne potatoes. We want to expand on that and do a wedge potato or French fried potatoes. We have a brand name in the final stages of getting trademarked, and we will be coming out with the new line of retail products soon,” Sangiorgio hints.

you can’t pull customers in from the street, whereas with manufacturing the line is set up,” he says. With Sangiorgio’s successful history, eye for diversification and knowledge of industry needs, VEGFRESH Inc. is ready to continue its expansion process as a key player in both the custom food components and the retail market. 

With these new products, Sangiorgio hopes to grow within its various markets and diversify into different products. “We’re always telling our customer that if they have a problem or need a product, they shouldn’t ask me what I can do; they should ask me for something that they need. Sangiorgio reports that a few years ago. A customer wanted to produce bread with lemon, but found its prototype, made with lemon juice, to be too tart. To solve the problem, VEGFRESH put lemon rind mixed with sugar into the bread rather than lemon juice, eliminating the bitterness. Sangiorgio notes, “Our customers don’t always realize we can manufacture everything they need; we can customize our equipment.” Meeting its customers’ needs is what has kept VEGFRESH’s plants so busy. “In 18 years of business, we’ve never laid off an employee,” Sangiorgio observes. While the company is busy and diversifying, Sangiorgio is not on easy street. “We operate 24 hours a day, so I can always get a phone call, and I’ve often gotten phone calls about a machine that is breaking down or a truck that won’t start. There are always issues, and I’m always in contact with the second shift,” he says. “Thursday nights I work late, so weekly I see all three shifts. Every day I see the first shift; Thursday I see the people at night, and I usually stay in time for the cleaners.” For the company’s future, Sangiorgio “would like to see good growth. This past year we saw only 14 percent growth from May 2009 to May 2010. We started the business in 1991 in a mini-recession, but people still have to eat, just not necessarily what I make. That’s why it’s important for us to be flexible in our manufacturing. I’ve always believed manufacturing is the industry to be in because with retail

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Trinity Communication Services Ltd.

A Top Choice for Ontario’s Corporate Support Produced by Eric Gunn & Written by Molly Cohen Joseph Lo Giudice emigrated from Sicily, Italy, to Canada when he was 13 years old. By the age of 16 he was working full-time in the construction and eventually the telecommunication industry. After 22 years of working with Maclean-Hunter Cable, he founded his own communications company, Trinity Communication Services Ltd. (Trinity Communication) in Toronto on August 16, 1990. As the president of this company, Lo Giudice oversees all of its work in the greater Toronto area and surrounding southern Ontario region from the company’s office. Throughout its 20 years of operating history, Trinity Communication has earned a strong reputation as a highquality telecommunications contractor within the cable and communications industries, and has established some largescale, long-term partnerships.

Promising Continued Quality

hardware installation and IT support; and directional drilling (a service Trinity Communication can provide through a recent acquisition). “We have over 90 people and employ some subcontractors in certain areas. We do anything from construction to commercial installations to plant upgrades,” Lo Giudice adds. “Our position is fairly solid; as a contractor we believe in safety first. We have an internal culture that values safety, and we do have a lot of practice in creating a safe working environment.”

Trinity Communication’s services come from the following departments: commercial cabling installation; underground, aerial and technical construction; fibre optics; multi-dwelling units; data and voice networking; computer

However, focusing on safety is not always enough to keep Trinity Communication ahead of its competition. Thus, Lo Giudice relies on his company’s solid reputation for support during challenging times. “I’ve told my people to make

“I’ve been in the business for about 42 years and on my own for 20 years,” Lo Giudice says. “Right now we have contracts with Rogers Communications Inc., COGECO Cable Inc., and several other business partners. We’re helping to build coaxial cable and fibre optic cabling infrastructure and networks for these corporations.”

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sure the deliverables are there, and show commitment to customers,” he shares. “In all of my years of experience, I’ve found that customers want timely service available and want to see that you’ve done what you said you would do.” The economy has been the biggest challenge of late for Trinity Communication. “We’ve seen it a little later on than the U.S. did. What the U.S. has been going through affects us afterward. People in Canada tend to be following the U.S.; jobs are being cut up here and people are tightening up their belts,” Lo Giudice explains. “We’re trying to keep our people working, while being more efficient and giving our customers better pricing and service.” To meet customer demands, Trinity Communication is offering better pricing with its usual top-quality workmanship. “And we look at our people to make sure clients’ needs are taken care of. Because our company features private ownership, we can decide if we make less and take care of our people first.” Skilled people are an important part of Trinity Communication’s business because much of the company’s work is handled in-house. Lo Giudice explains, “We subcontract some excess work if all of a sudden we get big jobs. However, 85 percent of our work is done in-house.” Working with subcontractors has gone well so far for Trinity Communiation. “It’s been great because we treat them like they’re part of our staff. They’re on our training safety matrix, so no one works with us in the field unless they go through the same training methods as our people do. They’re like a long arm of us with their own vehicles,” Lo Giudice says. Technologically Updating With its in-house talent and subcontractor skills in place, Trinity Communication is holding strong. “We’re excited about starting fibre to the home projects, that’s new. We will be extending fibre optics from the street to homes in new subdivisions. Both Rogers and COGECO are doing fibre to the home

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projects. We’re getting to work more and more with wireless communications, so that’s pretty exciting to see how that side of the business works,” Lo Giudice shares. “And we’re always looking for new ventures.” Despite changes in the service focus, labor continues to be Trinity Communication’s biggest expense. “It’s always the labor. Your labor is always 70 to 80 percent of expenses,” Lo Giudice points out. Because of that expense, “we are trying to restructure our company to make sure we’re efficient and make sure we have processes and strategies on how to meet our vision,” Lo Giudice explains. “We always want to look after our employees and their families by keeping up their training, because for our customers we are the team that they choose for turnkey services and technical expertise.” With such devotion to its employees and care to make sure subcontractors are well-trained with regard to safety and quality control, it is clear why Trinity Communication is a major contender for corporate communications support in Ontario. And with an eye toward up-and-coming technologies, Trinity Communication Services Ltd. will continue to hold its place in the market. 

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Sunny Crunch Foods Ltd.

Creating Canada’s Healthy Food Choices Produced by Sean Barr & Written by Molly Cohen Regardless of the current diet fad or the latest food form to hit the market, food companies have been producing nutritionally beneficial fare for many years. For example, Sunny Crunch Foods Ltd. in Markham, Ontario, has been known for its use of grains in cereals and nutritional bars for several decades. “We started Sunny Crunch in 1970, so that’s 40 years … we should drink some champagne on that,” jokes Willie Pelzer, the company’s president. Before founding one of Canada’s most prominent health food producers, Pelzer was an insurance salesman for Allstate Auto Insurance. However, “food was always on my mind. I learned to cook at an early age, and I said I have to go do something with food one day. Oats came up and I thought, ‘There must be a better way to eat porridge.’ That was my model,” he shares. In 1970, when Pelzer was hit with his inspiration, “the natural food industry was just in its infancy, and I realized it could use some new products. I found that oats were a good,

nutritious product, so I made a cereal with them,” he says. “And then I went to the stores and presented that first cereal – our crunchy granola – and that’s how we got started.” Initially there was some hesitation when it came to healthy food products. “At first, the reception for the cereal was very poor, because the buyers looked at it as bird seed no one would ever buy, but I told them that it’s going to be a cereal that will be very popular down the road, which it has become,” Pelzer remembers. “There’s no store without granola now. So then we developed granola bars, they came online about 1977, and we make granola bars and nutrition bars now. We do our own label and also private labels for supermarkets." Fighting for Oats As a visionary in the industry, Sunny Crunch was responsible for the implementation of several new product types. “There’s a lot of product out there that did not exist until

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Ontario we made it, and we’ve kept up with that position all along. We're always coming up with products and everybody is always surprised,” Pelzer explains. In fact, Pelzer holds the trademark called “crunchy granola.” “They call me the king of granola. But it took me 14 years to get our trademark because Kellogg kept opposing it. When I won Kellogg had two lawyers and I only had one, and the lawyers were very upset with me. I told them they were immoral trying to steal from me. They said, ‘You are hitting below the belt,’ and I said, ‘Exactly, that’s where I’m aiming,’” Pelzer remembers. Currently, Sunny Crunch employs around 100 people and serves all of Canada, with some presence in Japan, Mexico and the United States. The company’s annual sales revenue is $25 million. “We established ourselves with very little competition, because the product was so different than what has been on the shelves; we basically had the run of the race because everybody said it was a crazy product,” Pelzer explains. “Now it’s different, because the whole nutrition industry has changed. People are starting to care what they eat and grains happen to be a very important nutritious item. Oats are one of the finest grains, and the taste is good too, and that’s why it’s popular.”

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To maintain its position in the industry, Sunny Crunch will continue developing products that fill market gaps. Currently the company is working on products to meet gluten-free needs. “We were always aware people were allergic to gluten, but it was difficult to a supply guaranteed as 'gluten-free' until there were regulations, but now everything is controlled and we have secured the supply,” Pelzer shares.

tends to use certain vendors repeatedly. “They have to supply the product under the specific standards that we require. Nowadays, we have organizations that do audits to

Whether gluten-free or not, Sunny Crunch products have consistent quality controlled because the company manufactures all of its products in-house and only subcontracts packaging. The rest of the company’s supply chain is relatively straightforward, taking advantage of multiple mills that specialize in product such as organic or gluten-free oats. Working well with vendors is an important part of Sunny Crunch’s profitability; thus, the company

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Ontario make sure they follow the programs. This developed in the last five years, before that you had to just believe a person,” Pelzer remembers. “It’s the same with us here; we do organic products, too, and we have to go through a complete washup and decontamination so there is no chance anything else will be in there that is not organic. And we are inspected. “The concept is solid,” continues Pelzer, discussing the health food industry initiatives. “We are trying to reduce the usage of chemicals in our growing of food, processing our

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foods and so on. We have started a movement that is going to win in the end.” The Future of Health Foods Even with the industry’s bright future, Sunny Crunch has faced its share of challenges. “Since we were innovators of new products, there were no regulations in place, so we had problems with Health Canada all the time,” Pelzer says. “We came out with a fiber cereal in 1972. They said, ‘Fiber has no nutritional value and you’re selling it as a valuable item in the cereal so you are misrepresenting,’ and they seized the product. Now, looking back, can you believe that?” Pelzer ponders. Even though Pelzer offered research, and information in books and from experts, Sunny Crunch could not produce

fiber “until Kellogg came out with a cereal that almost read like a medicine and mentioned fiber, and they believed Kellogg. So I phoned up Health Canada and they said, ‘Well, yeah, we’re considering that it’s okay,’ so we finally came out with fiber, too,” he says. A similar challenge was the accepted sources of nutritional additives. “Health Canada would only recognize two sources of fiber: wheat bran and corn bran. We came out with a product called pure food product. Well, they said, ‘You can’t use the word pure’ … until Quaker came out and called something pure food, and then I could come out,” Pelzer remembers. “My products were always seized, but I wouldn’t give up. Some said, ‘Keep up the fight, we believe in it but there’s nothing we can do from our point.’ Today it’s different. You can use fiber … you have all these claims you can make, whereas before you couldn’t.”

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Ontario This newfound freedom has led to many developments down the road. For example, Sunny Crunch launched an omega-3 cereal bar in December 2009. “It’s plant-sourced and it’s fantastic, going like wildfire. This bar has oats, wheat, pumpkin seeds, chia, flax seed, protein powder and cranberries — all very nutritious, and tasty, too,” Pelzer shares. Next, Sunny Crunch will release probiotic products. “They have been selling for a while, but they only supply the ingredients that produce the cultures you need to be probiotic. We put the cultures in, so that as you eat it, you have it all right away,” Pelzer says. With these new products in process, Sunny Crunch’s plans for the next few years are based on past success. “The future growth is to do the same thing, to come out with variations

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of products using proven basic ingredients. One of the products that will become very popular is just oats. They’re being presented in such a way that you just put your milk on or whatever and just eat them,” Pelzer shares. There is little that Pelzer can see to hold Sunny Crunch back. “I think [Canadian industries are] doing fantastic; the only problem we had was automotive. Everything else seems OK; we always have ups and downs, that’s how it’s been as long as I remember,” he says. With its position stable in the economic environment, and its list of pending products strong, Sunny Crunch Foods Ltd. looks to be positioned to continue as an innovator in its industry, with ample opportunities to continue growing and diversifying its product offerings. 

Sardo Foods Ltd.

Old World Tastes for New World Palates Produced by Sean Barr & Written by H. M. Kuldell “When I started in olives, people only asked if we had black or green,” says Mario Sardo, founder and CEO of Ontario-based Sardo Foods Ltd. “That's all they knew about olives then.” In 1965, Mario and his wife Joan immigrated to Canada from the small Sicilian town of Catania, Italy, where the couple had been selling olive and olive oils. They moved to North America with a dream of introducing the delicious flavours of the Mediterranean to their new home. Sardo Foods initially focused on importing the finest quality olives. Forty years later the company has grown into a successful national brand with more than 200 product lines. Sardo Foods has also become a key supplier and manufacturer of store brands within most major retailers in Canada. From olives, the company branched into antipasti, pesto, tomatoes, pickled products, cookies, coffee and other high-quality, gourmet foods. The privately held company now employs more than 110 people and grosses $50 million annually. Extending the Olive Branch to New Ideas Though olives aren’t an everyday food in all households, they are the heart of the Sardo Foods business. The consistent quality and freshness of its products won over grocers and customers, giving Sardo Foods strong roots in a niche market. The company then began educating its customers by offering olive options beyond black and green. It introduced new varietals, as well as developed new flavors such as Jamaican jerk and Indian-inspired masala. Innovation is often followed by imitation, and other olive distributors took note of Sardo Foods’ successes. What was once a niche market now has more distributors than suppliers, Sardo says. “The guys who copy are always one step behind,” Mario says. “So we make sure that they stay one step behind.”

Sardo Foods stays ahead of its myriad competitors with meticulous quality control. As stated by Mario, “Olives may look the same, but they don't taste the same.” To assure a consistent product the company has been working with the same honest, dependable suppliers it has for decades. Every year, Mario personally tours the crop. Once imported, Sardo Foods takes over and performs all the processing in its state-of-the-art facility in Bolton, Ontario. The company also creates it own packaging, which is updated every two to three years. Products then go through one of its two distribution centers in Quebec and Calgary. In the current economy, some company executives wake up to financial nightmares. Mario, on the other hand, jumps out of bed with new product ideas. Product development fuses the company’s creativity with a chance to address what its customers want. Recently the company introduced a line of shelf-stable products even though it has historically provided fresh products. “That gives the consumer a little bit of a break,”

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Mario says. “Instead of buying our products and using them immediately, they use them whenever they want.” Prepackaged, ready-to-use products that keep fresh for four to five weeks are also under development. The idea is to create fresh-made sauces and vegetable toppings for meals such as pizza and pasta that can be kept conveniently in any gourmand’s pantry. “There is a lot of work to it, but there is a lot of satisfaction when you love what you do,” Mario says. “At this point, it doesn’t matter if it sells or not: It matters that the customer sees the product the way they want to see it. Later we’ll worry about selling it.” Growing Product Reputation

Lines

inspires brand loyalty from consumers in return. All of these qualities point to continued longevity and growth for Sardo Foods Ltd. 

and

Mario loves what he does so much and keeps himself so constantly occupied that one of his employees had to point out to him that 2009 was the company’s 40th anniversary. After four decades in the business, Mario still enjoys his work and spends more time on dreams he wants to see actualized than reminiscing about previous achievements. “My favorite project is not finished,” he confides. Though he doesn’t reveal the details of this new concept, he explains it's been in the works for several years and may debut in 2011. “We need a second shift to be able to introduce all the new ideas we have.” For now, Sardo says his namesake company will continue the same smart, sustainable growth it has been undergoing for decades. By 2015, he anticipates his company will be grossing $70 million to $80 million annually. But numbers aren’t the only way he measures his accomplishments. “I'm doing well because I have customers calling me,” Mario says. “For example, if you have a company that wants to make an olive bread, you’ll call around and people will tell you to call Sardo. When people think of olives, they think of us.” Sardo Foods Ltd. has a proven track record for success and shows no sign of slowing down. The current tried and true products, alongside the new shelf stable and soon to debut prepackaged ready-to-eat products, are a testament to the company’s ingenuity and dedication to customer satisfaction. CEO Mario Sardo is resolute in his commitment to provide only the finest quality goods and

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Tamarack North Holdings, Ltd. Creating a Lifestyle Around Canada’s Original Masterpieces Produced by Victor Martins & Written by Molly Cohen Working with an appreciation of Canada’s natural wonders — its mountains, lakes and flora — Tamarack North Holdings Ltd. excels at building lake homes, cottages and related buildings. These projects allow a total emersion in their surroundings and provide a luxurious lifestyle to residents

of the Muskoka area. With its head office in Port Carling, Ontario, and a geographic footprint up to one hour away, Tamarack North builds custom homes for clients who also share in an appreciation of the area’s organic creations. Tamarack North was founded in April of 1990 by Chris Madden, the company’s current president. “We moved to Muskoka in 1997, which is when business took off,” he says. Tamarack North now offers turnkey services, allowing the company to assist with innovative design and specific engineering of a dream home, as well as working with municipalities to gain permits that will meet every aspect of a project’s requirements. Professional Qualities Madden was inspired at an early age by his father’s career as an engineer; he now has 27 years of experience in the construction industry. Through Madden’s guidance, Tamarack North offers an array of services to its clients. “It’s all about having professional engineering. That gives people more confidence in our management abilities to run large projects,” Madden explains. Tamarack North’s silent partner, BG Capital, provides some of the services for the company. This proven partnership is helpful for Tamarack while it is coordinating its 50 employees. These professionals include trained and accredited architectural designers, engineers, carpenters and craftsmen. Additionally, the company has its own group of licensed subtrades, like arborists, landscape designers and installers, plumbers, electricians, heating contractors, kitchen designers, interior decorators and stone masons as examples.

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in the high-end residential sector thanks to its AutoCad familiarity. Architects, designers, and any related industries can contact Tamarack North for drawing approvals, reviews, consultations or to receive progress updates through images and schedule monitoring. Changing Industry Expectations

With such a plethora of individuals, Tamarack North offers complete project management. It has experience with estimating; budgeting; creating and maintaining schedules; representation on behalf of the project owner in regards to zoning allowances; septic system design and installation; structural engineering, which includes woodwork and mechanical engineering with a large emphasis on HVAC installation. Tamarack North is also a preferred contractor

Since the recession, Tamarack North has noticed a shift in its area. “We have new competition from Toronto moving into our geographic range,” Madden shares. Additionally, “Ontario just initiated the harmonized sales tax, so that’s been a struggle to deal with. Now eight percent of taxes is from labor costs. Couple that with the recession and all these other things going on in the economy and it’s a big hit for the construction sector in Ontario. But the seasonal cottage industry is still quite strong,” Maddens says thankfully. To overcome this challenge, Tamarack North is maintaining its reputation for high-quality work. This quality is aided through its in-house carpentry services and its close relationship with its subcontractors for tasks like electrical, plumbing and HVAC work. Managing these subtrades is an important aspect to the business. “You cut out the middle man,” Madden explains. “You establish loyalty and can hold them accountable for their work.”

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Ontario For example, these subcontractor relations were particularly beneficial for a project at Skelton Bay Point. There, the company worked with Ventin Group Architects and interior designer Sloan Maurin. “We did the complete project management and physical build of the project, including the main cottage, boat house and all of the landscaping, including the waterfall and waterslide,” says Madden. “It was quite complicated civil engineering and mechanical engineering to do the slopes of the slides and fit them together on a small parcel of land. The total construction period was two years; it started in 2000 and the customer systematically gave us different phases of work to complete.” For jobs like the Skelton Bay Point, Madden looks to gross revenue and gross profit to judge how successful Tamarack North was in completing the project. Of course, work has slowed down since the economic decline. For now Madden does not see that changing. “Things look steady,” he says. “The new harmonized sales tax is challenging for the construction industry.” In the future, Madden hopes Tamarack North will grow through acquisitions and development. “We will diversify by creating building models. We will take our brand name that we’ve established over the last 20 years and make a different inventory of projects for sale instead of doing strictly custom

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home buildings,” says Madden. “We will start from scratch, because every one of our projects was completely custom. This will launch in the fall of 2010.” As Tamarack North moves toward opening this new part of the business, it will continue expanding its pre-established reputation and ability to serve several sectors. With its band of professional engineers, Tamarack North Holdings will grow its business, working to realize a built environment that does justice to the gorgeous natural views and countryside surrounding these majestic projects. 

Shore Tilbe Perkins + Will Combining New Resources with Proven Experience Produced by Hanim Samara & Written by Molly Cohen In January of 2010, Ontario’s well-known recreation and education facilities designer Shore Tilbe Irwin merged with U.S. firm Perkins+Will to become Shore Tilbe Perkins+Will (STP+W), an architect powerhouse focusing on public buildings. “They were looking for a Toronto office, and we are based in Toronto and work from coast to coast, though the majority of our work is within 200 kilometers of the city,” says Andrew Frontini, one of the company’s principals. Frontini became an architect in 1991 and joined the firm in 2000. Five years later, he became a principal of the company. Frontini is very excited about his company’s recent merger with a company immersed in honoring both clients’ visions and social needs since 1935. “We have a specialization in sports and recreation, which was of value to [Perkins+Will],” he says. “We’re excited because they have strength in terms of marketing and reach, and we are 80 people now and can use that clout for accessing new markets through increasingly advanced project delivery.” Designing for Numerous Products One of STP+W’s first projects after the company officially merged focused on its philosophy of advancing how the world uses building within one of its long-standing niches. “We’re one of Ontario’s leading library architects,” Frontini says. The project mentioned was the Orillia Public Library and Market Square, an approximately 40,000 square foot and $17 million project located in Orillia, Ontario. For this project, STP+W served as the design architect and architect of record for the whole project,

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which included the library and overall design for the market square and library square. “In a community like Orillia, the Central Library acts as real centre of gravity, socially, so it makes sense to build the public realm around it,” Frontini explains. This new library took the place of the city’s old library, which now hosts a farmers’ market on Saturdays. The market’s approximately 70 farmers set up shop in a big parking lot behind the existing library and the opera house — a historic building that dates back to the 1900s, when it was used as a town hall, and has since doubled as an entertainment venue. “The existing central library was technically obsolete and far too small to serve its community any longer. We’re rebuilding the library on the same site, but will use the library to frame a series of new urban public spaces,” says Frontini. “The idea is to accommodate parking for the library during the week, but during weekends it can be a farmers’ market or outdoor festival space. It also has a reading garden and library square that are more intimate and framed between the library and the historic building.” Another interesting aspect of this facility is its sustainable design. “We started for LEED Silver, but found more opportunities, so we are now targeting LEED Gold,” Frontini

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Ontario explains. The designs for this project began in the summer of 2008. Construction began in mid-2010 and will be finished in the late summer or fall of 2011. Spreading the Talent The client for this project is the city of Orillia, where STP+W has worked before. “Before this project, we did the design for the Orillia multi-use recreation facility, which was brought to the completion of contract documents. The construction

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did not proceed, however, because of ongoing environmental assessments on the site,” Frontini shares. Similar to its projects with Orillia, STP+W has plenty of experience working with municipalities. “We are fortunate enough to have repeat clients with municipalities. We’ve done two projects for the city of Barrie, we’ve done two projects for Whitby, and we’ve done four projects for the University of Toronto,” Frontini says. “Sometimes it can be five years between projects, but they remember you and

come back to you, though it all goes through bid and RFP processes.” One of STP+W's most interesting projects, according to Frontini, was the Hazel McCallion Academic Learning Center, located at the University of Toronto’s Mississauga campus. This academic campus library was completed in 2007 and was the school’s first LEED buildings, receiving a LEED Silver certification. “It’s pretty innovative programmatically. It’s the first academic library to have all of its books in self-serve compact storage, so that the lightfilled perimeter spaces can be used for collaborative work and digital study,” Frontini explains. “It has won, and is still winning, many awards. We are very proud of this project. It’s a beautiful place to learn and study.”

With the Orillia Public Library and Market Square’s successful completion nearing, STP+W has yet another example of its expertise in applying social context and technological advancements, and will certainly get opportunities to use its increased scope to meet market sector and geographic expansion goals. Municipalities, schools and public spaces worldwide could certainly benefit from Shore Tilbe Perkins+Will’s reinforced design culture of understanding space functions, energy efficiency, and aesthetically pleasing designs. 

With financially, socially and environmentally conscious library projects completed, STP+W looks forward to its next projects. “What was attractive about joining Perkins+Will was bringing what we do best — recreation sports, library and other public building types — to a broader office,” says Frontini. “We will collaborate with their other offices that do student centres, campuses, post-secondary schools, and they will do the same when they have a need for specialists in recreation and sports.” STP+W is also planning to expand geographically. “We hope to do work stateside and overseas in the Middle East,” says Frontini. “In terms of market sectors, we hope to collaborate with their offices to do different kinds of projects in our neighborhoods, like health care and science and technology.”

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Black and Moffatt Architects Inc. Designing Inspiring and Functional Communal Facilities Produced by Eric Gunn & Written by Molly Cohen Every community — whether it is defined as geographic or only philosophical — deserves its own, distinctive meeting facility. And it takes a certain type of person to understand and quickly absorb the views of a community to create that space. Luckily, Black and Moffat Architects Inc. (BMA) is southern Ontario’s answer to that need.

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Located in Toronto, BMA was originally founded by Walter Moffat in 1987. Moffat is still a partner at the company, along with Marie Black, who joined the firm in 1990. Under the tutelage of these two experienced architects, BMA grew over the years to include architecture, planning and interior design services.

Maintaining Focus Since it was established, BMA’s has made its niche in the community, institutional and heritage sectors throughout southern Ontario. And its works have received more and more recognition. Recent accolades awarded to BMAassociated projects and their owners include the “Best of the Best” award from the Toronto Construction Association in 2006 and the Heritage Toronto Award of Excellence in 2007.

open and accessible community centre. To accomplish these goals, the children’s playground was transplanted to the roof, giving it more space and security and a large, undulating wall on the second floor offers an area for children’s jackets and leads toward activity rooms reserved for the day care. Meanwhile, the reception desk was transferred to an area in the middle of the building’s main sections and the main entrance was moved to the main lower floor, creating a courtyard for visitors to use.

To maintain its quality control, BMA keeps all of the architecture and interior design as in-house disciplines. This in-house capability is handled entirely by partners and senior staff. This level of personal focus helps with BMA’s ability to win requestsfor-proposals (RFPs). According to Moffat, this is because of his firm’s “foresight and attention to detail, which comes because of our size and because we’ve been doing this for so long.” Updating the Old Those recently won RFPs have resulted in some fantastic and muchappreciated projects. One such project was a restoration and renovation of St. Paul’s Anglican Church, located on Bloor Street. This project won Toronto Heritage’s Award of Excellence in the Architectural Conservation and Craftsmanship Category. The church was hoping for increased access, functionality, security and flexibility. BMA met these needs by creating three connecting areas between the church’s original four buildings, including a new main entrance made entirely of glass. The renovations revealed some of the church’s original decorative façade, like stonework, wood truss ceilings and stained glass windows that were covered by earlier work done on the building. A similarly impressive upgrade project took place on the 20,000-square foot Central Neighbourhood House Community Centre and Day Care addition and renovation. The point of this project was to create a more

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Ontario With these successful and beneficial projects completed, Moffat plans to continue “doing satisfying work [that] projects such as those offer.” He hopes to continue with his firm’s traditional role in the institutional and heritage renovations, but plans to work more on “renovations, working on new buildings integrated with old.” Through Black and Moffat Architects’ efforts communities will have places of quality to meet and grow, improving life in southern Ontario. 

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Furlani’s Food Corporation Baking a Batch of Success Produced by Sean Barr & Written by Molly Cohen In 1984 Nadio Furlani founded Furlani’s Food Corporation, a manufacturer in Mississauga, Ontario, known for blending garlic with margarine and other basic ingredients and selling the spread in pails to the food service industry and retail customers. Around 1992, 75 percent of the company was purchased by Paul Kawaja, the owner and operator of Whyte’s Food Corp. Soon after this purchase, Furlani’s began providing bread products to its customers. These new products had the traditional garlic spread incorporated, so they were sold as a fully garnished product. “When they initially began to do it, the bread was being purchased from a local bakery, but fairly soon after they

began to bake the bread themselves. That was sort of the initial venture into the baking business, and now it’s a defining feature of the company,” says James Kawaja, Paul’s son and the company’s current operations manager. “Around 1993 my father purchased the last 25 percent of Furlani’s and is now the sole shareholder.” James joined the Furlani’s team in 1999. “I graduated from University of California, Berkeley, a couple years before that and did an internship in New York at an investment bank, then came to work here,” James explains. “I spent most of my summers during university working for my father. We’re very close, and I knew this was what I wanted to do.” James appreciates working with his father for a myriad of reasons. “My father is interested in growing the company and is willing to take risks as long as they are calculated. He’s pretty courageous in the amount of money he’s willing to put into the company to see it grow,” he asserts. “In his mind they aren’t risks at all, and I don’t see them as risks either; they’re calculated maneuvers. I think risks typically imply that the potential to lose is great, and I don’t think he ever saw it as that.” James and Paul are not the only Kawaja family members working together. His brother recently began working at Furlani’s and his sister is involved with White’s. “The family situation here has been very good. My siblings are hard workers and very able, while my father is the smart as they come, and I like being able to ask him questions and witness his maneuvering,” James shares. “Being in the business for 40 years has made him a seasoned pro. He was a professor for 10 years prior, so he’s no fool; he’s a very bright guy. He’s extremely funny too, so you get a lot of laughs out of him.”

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Structuring for Internal Strength With the Kawaja family leading the charge, Furlani’s has experienced growth and innovation to maintain its position as a leader in the industry. “The baking portion of the company was significantly overhauled in 2000 when a new facility was built to take the company to an entirely different level. In my mind that was when the company as we know it started, because that really changed everything,” James reflects. “We opened up a 100,000-square foot facility, and now it’s more like 160,000. In the beginning we were at a 10,000-square foot facility, so it’s a pretty significant leap.” In this new facility, Furlani’s produces an array of products within the breadstick, garlic loaf, garlic toast and processed garlic categories. Building this facility to handle all of the manufacturing is one of James’ most interesting experiences at Furlani’s. “Assembly of this facility was a project that in no way paralleled anything we’d ever done. Building a bakery is quite hard, I don’t know any other way to put it. The amount of new technology that’s suddenly at your disposal … and when you understand how to properly implement the equipment it can give you quite an advantage over your competition, so you have to hit the books pretty hard and do a lot of studying.” Upon completion, Fulani’s fully automated, SQF- and HACCP-certified plant runs three shifts per day. “If you were to combine all the employees in an aggregate sense, there would be between 300 and 400, but closer to 400,” James reports. All of the employees are considered a key factor in Furlani’s success. “We have an incredibly dedicated and able staff. There are certainly people here that I would attribute a

lot of the success to. And we need these good people, as we manufacture substantially for private and branded labels.” These employee strengths contribute to Furlani’s in-house supply chain, which makes all of the company’s products. Furlani’s only subcontracts for packaging. Managing suppliers and vendors is an extremely important part of the business, however, especially when it comes to monitoring quality and price. When it comes to choosing a new company to do business with, “we like to visit their facility. We like to have as many probing, investigative discussions with some of their top employees as we can, and hopefully with the owners of the company. We also like to talk to people who have dealt with them in the past,” James reveals. “You always take a leap of faith if you’ve never ordered with someone before. So we don’t like to switch suppliers if we don’t have to.” Even with its valuable employees and trusted vendors and suppliers, Furlani’s has been facing industry-wide challenges. “The issue all bakeries faced in the past couple of years has been the fluctuation of flour prices. We’ve seen it double over a full year’s period, which is a staggering obstacle for any bakery to overcome,” discloses James. “There are several ways to deal with it, though, like you can try to purchase futures, lock into prices for that.” Another challenge has been the currency rise. “The Canadian dollar approaching par with the United States’ dollar is making it extremely difficult for any exporter of manufactured goods in Canada to compete. Prior to this point in time we had significant advantage in our dollar being so low, but as it rises we see that dissolve. What we’ve

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Ontario tried to do in order to compensate for that is develop more local business, Canadian-based business,” James shares. Furlani’s survived the economic drop much better than other companies might have. “We didn’t witness what I think a lot of other industries did — a decrease in demand from the consumer. What we’ve witnessed for the most part is the average consumer continuing to eat our foods. We were able to be somewhat more comfortable than a lot of manufacturers were,” James asserts. “Our commitment of growth and our tremendous sales production have been the backbone behind this company’s growth.” The Next Goals Sales and growth are based on the company’s ability to churn out new, useful products. “From product conception to the customer’s store is at most six months,” informs James, “timing might only shift if new machinery is required to make it.” And Furlani’s hopes to “continue down the path we’ve always been on, which is to grow rapidly by developing capacity and customer. We’re an ambitious company and hope to continue developing new high-quality products made with the consistency customers prefer,” James states. “At the end

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of the day you’re left with two significant problems: One, to create an idea, and, two, to execute it. And it can be challenging to know what a customer would like to have that they don’t already and then to make it properly. Still, the growth of the company and growth of profit margins and happiness of the employees shows we’re on the right path. We’ve got a successful system, top-to-bottom. When things get done here, it’s never the result of something I’ve done; it’s the result of something we’ve done.” And, as Furlani’s continues to supply its current customers, “we’ll develop a strong relationship with them because we’ll continue to prove ourselves a worthwhile partner supplying them with new and exciting products,” shares James. In one to two years, he hopes “you’ll see a company with significantly higher revenue and a more solid customer base. The product will be coming out of a more sophisticated facility that reflects a lot of people’s hard work and study.” And James has every reason to feel confident, considering Furlani’s many years of success in the bakery industry. With its exemplary employees, approach to overcoming challenges and ambitious future business plans, Furlani’s Food Corporation will surely meet is growth goals and increase its niche enhancing the flavor of baked goods. 

Saskatchewan

Simpson Seeds Inc.

Expanding from a Traditional Farm to an International Distributer Produced by Sean Barr & Written by Molly Cohen Farming runs deep in Greg Simpson’s family. His grandparents were pioneers in the Saskatchewan farming industry and his father continued to grow the family farm, eventually establishing it in mostly grain production. However, as with many farms, the Simpsons felt their biggest problem was marketing. During his time at university Greg often contemplated how to improve the farm’s marketing plan to increase sales. After one particularly influential agriculture class, he took a risk and planted about 15 acres of yellow peas, a crop considered unusual at the time. The first harvest was successful, and the Simpsons continued to perfect its pulse crops — peas, chickpeas and lentils. However, every farm has an off season, and it was not until Greg had graduated university and was working at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) that an opportunity presented itself to fill that downtime for the Simpson family. While at AAFC, Greg says he “gained a lot of experience in the area of pedigreed seeds, from inspecting the fields where the seed was growing at harvest time and watching the product be cleaned and processed for seed purposes through seed cleaning facilities. So [my father, brothers and I] decided to build a plant, called Simpson Seeds Inc. as a way to diversify our farm. It would keep you busy doing seeds in the winter, but once you were done cleaning the seed and distributing it in April for planting in May, what do you do with the facility? That was the big question.” It was during the plant planning process that Greg became acquainted with William Connelly, a district manager for United Grain Growth. Through this connection Simpson Seeds began working commercially on a tariff basis, producing one million pounds in its first year. “Today we’re doing over 130,000 metric tons per year. So we grew a little bit. We went from one plant to four facilities in Saskatchewan,” says Greg. As Simpson Seeds began working with more companies, it became harder to support all of their needs. “So then we said we can actually principle this grain and own it and take it all the way to the CIF markets ourselves. We started out one country at a time in the early ’90s, and now we’re in 70 nations worldwide,” says Greg. “It’s one of those

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Saskatchewan steady growth stories. You don’t really realize the growth is going on until you look back. We don’t spend a lot of time reminiscing, though; we spend time figuring out what the next step or move is and how we can grow the company and strengthen it and diversify it.” Rolling Out New Products Currently, Simpson Seeds has about 80 employees, with Greg as the company’s president and equal parts of the company ownership and responsibility shared with his two brothers. However, the company’s next step is handing over the reins of the company to the third generation. “We’re G2, and G3 is how we refer to that next generation. There are six of them we’re mentoring right now,” Greg says. But the transition may not be too hard, as G3 understands the family business and is already introducing new products to Simpson Seeds. In 2008 G3 began working on a new red lentil splitting facility that generates red split lentils. “What you do is take a lentil, take the skin off it [decorticate], you split it right in half, then polish that and ship it. That’s very popular in the Middle East and Indian sub-continental diet, at home and abroad,” Greg explains. “We really enabled G3 to build that project. It had been on the horizon for years.

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We always knew it was there, it was just a question of timing. When G3 came along it was cool to see that particular vision for red lentil splitting actually executed through the next generation.”

of which is handled in-house. “We were mavericks, because we did decide to control every level of the supply chain. By having a farm that is well-connected to the latest in research and development of new varieties, our farm was able to

The red lentil splitting project is wholly operated and managed by G3 and is supported by Simpson Seeds expert staff. Greg and his brothers helped G3 with research and development and traveled globally with them to assist with design. “But when it came right down to it they had to make the thing run, had to market it, enhance it. They have to do everything you need to do to make it competitive. Really, it’s their baby, even though it’s still under our marketing brand,” says Greg. In addition to the new red lentil products, Simpson Seeds is introducing another new product. “We were able to win the tender for an exclusive marketing of a Spanish brown lentil. So that’s a new variety we’re rolling out into commercial production as a brand new 2010 product,” Greg shares. Despite these new products and promising next generation of company leaders, Simpson Seeds has faced many challenges over the years. For example, the company’s biggest risk is unpredictable weather. “I can point you to the drought of 1988 and the frost of August 2004. Those are two significant years where we had to cope with significant disappointment in terms of crop,” Greg remembers. In tough times, Greg says there’s nothing to do but work a lot of hours on your own. “I recall working weeks on end without holidays or breaks or wages, just to keep the thing alive until you pick up momentum.” The company’s most recent setback was the onset of the recession. “Trillions of dollars disappeared off the global market, and we deal with capital markets by the millions. All of a sudden major banks in the U.S. go south and stock markets crash and commodity volumes drop over night,” Greg says. “Surviving that was day-by-day, because you didn’t know which account was going to turn bad on you, and thankfully we had more good accounts than bad accounts and had ourselves in a situation where we had our debts managed.” Building off Reputation Simpson Seeds was able to survive the recession in large part to its management of the company’s supply chain, all

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bring in all the things that make us better in terms of as a supplier of lentils on the international plane,” Greg explains. This process creates a synergy between Simpson Seeds and its clients. By using the newest and best technology, Simpson Seeds offers higher quality, higher yielding that are pure to varieties and have no mixed classes. “Managing this process is all about the quality you’re able to institute — policies and systems and structures that enable you to reliably and consistently turn out a product that is among the best in the world,” says Greg. Simpson Seeds is so sure of its process the company is prepared to put its name on its product bags. “Ask anybody that understands anything about honor, especially in Asian and Middle East markets, they just see that bag carries our name, so as a result it has earned us a lot of kudos or respect in the marketplace and our brand is sought after highly, because they just know we’re not going to try to jeopardize the integrity of the product in that shipment,” says Greg. Based on its reputation for high-quality products, Simpson Seeds’ future plans include “continuing to get better at what we do, looking at our facilities and continuing to modernize them, increasing our storage, improving delivery capability for farmers, and continuing to diversify our base of lentil varieties,” Greg shares. “We feel there is enough space in the lentil market and we want to continue to occupy that space and drive through new technologies.” This focus on technology may revolutionize the way Simpson Seeds works. “At some point we’d like to have a robotics system come in that enables us to increase volume

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and bring more consistency to our shipping line. We had a spurt there in 2007-2008 when you could hardly find people to work, and robotics is possibly an answer to that,” Greg says. “And we’re building a new office, gaining efficiency by amalgamating two offices into one.” These technological advancements and new office will position Simpson Seeds well among Canada’s burgeoning economic opportunities. “I think if you take a look at the richness of this nation, the vastness of this nation, we’re really resource rich, richer than you think. And I think because we’re poised and positioned very well and can really have a huge impact on the globe because of what we do in every sector — agriculture, forestry, mining, oil and gas. We have extremely capable people and have the potential to turn out very innovative stuff,” Greg projects. Greg realizes his view may be more optimistic than others’, but he is a firm supporter of his community. “Particularly being here in Saskatchewan, we have a great province and I think that it’s going to be positioned well as we get through the time of economic challenge and difficulty. I think that in time we will start to see recovery internationally. The first place that you see an impact when you have global growth is inresource-rich countries. And Canada is one of them,” Greg foresees. Between Greg’s hopeful view of Canada’s future and the company’s position as a major supplier in the pulse crop industry, Simpson Seeds has established a multifaceted business model that will enjoy continued growth throughout both geographical regions and new products. 

Alberta

Fresh Direct Foods Ltd.

Bringing Innovation and Local Produce to Canada’s Food Retailers Produced by Sean Barr & Written by Molly Cohen Ron Lemiski joined the food industry around 1970 as a chef working for restaurants, hotels and institutions. He eventually moved into the food distributing industry, working for many of Canada’s most well-known companies. “Then I had the opportunity to go out on my own, and I’ve been doing this for 10 years,” he says. Having experiences every avenue of the food industry, Lemiski integrated his experiences to the advantage of Fresh Direct Foods Ltd., a food-processing company where Lemiski started as a partner, but after eight months he assumed the role of single owner and company president. Fresh Direct’s roots, however, date back to 1999 when the company started in restaurant supplies, and the company has supplied peeled produce to save time for chefs. Through its work with the Calgary Co-op, Fresh Direct began redirecting, and by 2004 it had repositioned itself as a supplier to food retailers. Fresh Direct now creates vegetable plates, fruit bowls, stir-fry’ blends, and other prepared fruits and vegetables and supplies them to a selection of Canada’s grocery stores. Following the success with the Calgary Co-Op, Fresh Direct began working with Sobeys, Costco, Walmart and Canada Safeway. “You can see how it evolved over the years. We’re basically specialized in the retail industry now. In the early 2000s, husbands and wives were both working, so it was easier for them to pick up fruit and veggie bowls and stir-fry mixes in the market on their way home,” explains Lemiski.

“The ease of making a particular dinner is how this niche started in the U.S. in the late ’90s. It picked up in Canada three- to five-years later.” Support from Country Brethren What really sets Fresh Direct apart from its competitors is its loyalty to Canada. “We’re a local processor. While a lot of the industry processing is done stateside and shipped here. Our local processing, however, results in a difference of three

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Alberta days of trucking, so with us you can get the freshness aspect of it. And, being local, some people will support a Canadian company versus an American company, so that’s how it started off,” says Lemiski. For all of his projects — whether it’s managing Fresh Direct or merely cooking dinner — Lemiski consider three important components: the ingredients available, their source and what tools/personnel are available. With a strong emphasis on employees, it’s no surprise Lemiski’s family members work at Fresh Direct as well. “My wife and son work here and my daughter was involved for nine years,” he shares. Including Lemiski’s family, Fresh Direct has 70 employees at its 16,000-square foot location in Alberta, Calgary. “Originally we were in a smaller location (5,000 square feet), but we moved in 2005,” Lemiski informs.

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“We’re a local processor; while a lot of the processing is done stateside and shipped here, our difference is three days of trucking, so with us you can get the freshness aspect of it. Being local, some people will support a Canadian company versus an American company, so that’s how it started off," says President Ron Lemiski

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From this larger location, Fresh Direct is now serving Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. The company’s annual revenue is about $9 million. “Our sales traditionally grow about a million dollars each year,” indicates Lemiski. Despite this steady growth, Fresh Direct has had several recent challenges. “The economy has stalled some things … there’s a lot less people with jobs and money to spend … but we’ve maintained our levels and sales. There is very little help from banks or the government, no grants available, so we’re self-funded, which is always a challenge,” Lemiski shares. To overcome these challenges, Lemiski says, “you have to cut down on some things; we now have machines and equipment to automate some of the jobs.”

Constant Improvements Using its tools and personnel, Fresh Direct keeps all of its tasks in-house, including packaging. Working with vendors has also been an important part of the company’s stability. Fresh Direct’s vendors are all carefully selected. “We have to be confident that they can supply us with all our needs and understand that if we receive an order today, it's cut and processed today, and arrives at the store tomorrow. It could be an order of 43 or 143 trays per day, so we need suppliers who can meet our demands,” Lemiski clarifies. “We do not make a single item that isn’t already sold. What is ordered this morning is delivered tomorrow, and nothing is cut beforehand.” To ensure efficient and timely deliveries, Fresh Direct maintains its own vehicle fleet in addition to utilizing external trucking services. These trucking services will be handy as Fresh Direct unleashes its new product. “We’re working on something right now — a fresh salad program — as an area to expand. Instead of a bagged salad, ours will be in bowl where you take it home and all the ingredients will be there and you can make a great Caesar salad every time. We will have a number of new product lines in the future,” Lemiski explains.

government doesn’t help us. They’re always giving handouts and grants to people who don’t need them. They’re not supporting the industry,” he says. Lemiski adds, “I notice our newspaper gets thinner all the time and the classifieds have nothing. It’s an indicator things aren’t improving as well as they say we are.” Trying to grow in this economic state is an ambitious goal. “You want positive growth all the time, but it can be frustrating if you don’t get help,” says Lemiski. Still, Lemiski has the ambition to grow the company even in a challenging economic climate. With the company’s largescale offerings, its loyal customers and Lemiski’s ability to innovate product lines, Fresh Direct Foods Ltd. is poised to continue expanding its market share throughout Canada. 

These new salad lines grow Fresh Direct’s history of innovative introductions. Lemiski’s favorite product was known as Applelicious. “It’s sliced apples with a caramel dip launched in 2002. It was one of the company’s key products that kick-started things into retail. We still provide it today in a to-go cup,” he recounts. Beyond the salad products, Fresh Direct is also introducing easily microwavable potatoes and other corn snack product. Thinking up these new products still keeps Lemiski awake at night. “I only sleep in stages. I’m always thinking, ‘What is the next niche, next thing to do that someone else isn’t doing?’ We have to be innovative and come up with the next great thing,” he emphasizes. Creating new products in a weakened economy is not easy, especially since Lemiski does not expect the economy to get much better. “The government says things are getting better, but as a businessman I see stability, not growth. Being a small business you look at the smaller details and things are tough for everybody — whether it’s the guy who picks up your garbage or the guy at the bank. And the

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Alberta

Permolex

Creating Profit from Grain Produced by Sean Barr & Written by Molly Cohen In 2002, a group of individuals, including Doug Mackenzie, saw an opportunity to purchase a grain procession plant from the courts. “We repositioned the whole marketing plan, quality control, expansion, risk assessment and environmental focus,” Mackenzie says. The goal of this project was to create a Red Deer, Alberta, plant called Permolex Ltd. This plant uses grains in innovative ways. “Grain can be turned into anything. Use high protein grains for breads, fuel and animal feeds. We are actually creating a value added return,” Mackenzie says.

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Production Process Permolex Ltd. is a division of Permolex International L.P. At the international level, Permolex is acknowledged as a bio-fuel producer, with an emphasis on ethanol. The Alberta location, where Mackenzie is president and CEO, has a diverse grain fractionation facility, the largest of its kind on the continent. Starting with feed grade wheat, Permolex’s 55 employees use cutting-edge technologies to make the most of integrating three usually independent processes. These processes mimic those of a flour mill, gluten plant and ethanol facility. Permolex’s system uses the by-products

of one process as feedstock for another process. To make the overall system successful, Permolex uses only the best, top-notch milling and processing equipment. It combines technology in use in the United States and throughout Europe. To assist the process, Permolex incorporated another plant to create the electricity and steam necessary for the multiple processes. At the end of the production process Permolex has created numerous products including bakery flour, vital wheat gluten, fuel grade ethanol and livestock feed. The process can also make higher protein vital wheat gluten and varying grades of ethanol. Any leftover byproducts can be used for additional purposes. Permolex Products The company’s first ethanol plant was completed in 1998. At that point, Permolex began using the wet mill process to create its high quality fuel grade ethanol. Ethanol is an important product in today’s industry because of its ability to reduce green house gas emissions when added to gasoline. Thus, Permolex’s ethanol is used as a gasoline additive. The ethanol process leaves behind a by-product, stillage. Stillage comes from the fermentation process in which wheat starch is a raw material. Since it is high in protein, stillage is used as a source of livestock feed. Stillage is made of protein, calcium, phosphorus, potassium, magnesium and sodium. Permolex’s stillage is often sold to local feed lots and hog farms. Another by-product from the ethanol production process is wet distiller’s grain. It originates the same way stillage does — from the wheat starch in the fermentation process. However, wet distiller’s grain is used mostly in the beef industry as a feed additive thanks to its high energy and medium protein levels. Millfeed is another useful Permolex product. Millfeed is technically a byproduct from flour mills. But, it is a great supplement in animal feed. To make millfeed, bran is removed from the wheat kernel. Permolex’s millfeed is sold in bulk to local feed mills. Its millfeed contains proteins, fats, fiber and digestible energy. These ingredients are essential for animal maintenance and growth. 

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Alberta

Stawnichy’s Holdings Ltd.

Creating Community through Quality Produced by Sean Barr & Written by Molly Cohen Stawnichy’s Holdings Ltd. is the parent company for Stawnichy’s Meat Processing, Mundare Sausage House and Uncle Ed’s Restaurant, and the group where Justin Barbour was an advisor for founder Edward “Ed” Stawnichy. Barbour was also Stawnichy’s personal friend, so when Stawnichy was having trouble finding a general manager for his company “he asked me to come in and help him out in the interim, and that was several years ago,” Barbour says. Barbour took this position on, in addition to his accounting firm located in Edmonton, Alberta. But working for Stawnichy’s Holdings is an honor for Barbour; the company’s processing plant and deli counter are a staple of the town of Mundare, Alberta, and the brand has a long history there. The company dates back to about 1959 when Stawnichy’s parents, Woytko and Ann, started a small grocery and confectionary store that included a small sausage smoker. Stawnichy joined the business in 1965 and took it over completely in 1971. Then, in 1979, Stawnichy sold the grocery store and built a plant dedicated to meat processing. The company has gone

through a number of expansions and changes over the years, including the 1986 opening of the Mundare Sausage House and Uncle Ed’s Restaurant in Edmonton. In 1988, Stawnichy’s daughters, Cheryl Zeleny and Colette Hennig, became shareholders of the company. In 2006 the deli/restaurant moved to a new building in Edmonton, and Stawnichy’s Holdings now employs about 60 people among its locations. That number includes Zeleny, who is now the manager in Mundare; Hennig, who manages the deli and restaurant in Edmonton; and Jeanette, Stawnichy’s wife, who is an active figure at the company and continues to work there every day. Alberta’s Best Kept Secret Family dedication is part of the company’s niche. The recipe for the sausage was created by Woytko and Ann and has since been passed through family members; currently only one person knows the recipe. In addition to its sausages, which began with traditional Ukrainian styles, the company makes pepperoni, luncheon meats, sausage patties, homemadestyle perogies, cabbage rolls, perishke, crepes and soups. In addition to its retail locations, Stawnichy’s Meat Processing sells to retailers and can ship anywhere in Alberta. Despite its long history and dedicated customers, the company has faced several major challenges in the past year. Barbour reports that, sadly, Edward passed away in 2009. Stawnichy had been an important figure in the community, having even served as mayor of Mundare for several years. Compounding the loss, the company’s plant manager died about three weeks after Stawnichy’s passing. Losing two leaders within one year was a major personal and professional difficulty for the Stawnichy’s Holdings family. In addition to these personnel losses, the company dealt with minor economic challenges. The

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company has had to respond to fluctuations in the price of pork for the last few years, but has not felt a great impact from that, Barbour reports, “We’re impacted by the economy a little bit like everyone else is, but we’ve never had excessive pricing or done price adjustments every year. Customers are dedicated to our product, and I think we treat them fairly. They’re getting a quality product with good ingredients. There have been challenges with the market, but nothing we can’t overcome.” Because of the consistency of ingredients, the company’s products do not change from year to year. To maintain this consistency, Stawnichy’s relies on several vendors for its products. “We buy raw meat from Maple Leaf Foods and from Sturgeon Valley Pork, a consortium of Alberta producers,” says Barbour. “Our relationship with Sturgeon Valley is one of our newest ones, and it was formed in the interest of supporting local producers. Sturgeon provides topquality meats, and the money stays local.” As for packaging materials and casings, “We’ve dealt with the same suppliers for 20, 30, 40 years. You build a relationship and know what they want and treat them fairly,” Barbour says. When picking suppliers and vendors, Stawnichy’s Holdings looks for more than fair pricing. “The biggest thing is quality

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Alberta of the meat cuts we get. We want it to be top notch. Other ingredients are added to it, but if it’s not good, the finished product won’t be good. One of the best things about Sturgeon Valley is that it’s only an hour north from here, so the meat they supply us with is very fresh,” Barbour shares. Managing the company’s supply chain is a relatively easy process, since the company has been around for so long. “We don’t actually have to make a lot of demands of our suppliers. We’re probably one of the biggest consumers of raw pork in western Canada, so we don’t have to micromanage suppliers. They know what our expectations are and the level of quality that we expect, and they’re good at maintaining that standard,” says Barbour. Continuing the Heritage With its supplies in place, Stawnichy’s Holdings is focusing on some new projects. Currently the company is celebrating its 50th anniversary. In anticipation of this great event, the company spent the spring and winter of 2009 undergoing a makeover of Stawnichy’s meat processing plant. “We did an overhaul of the front end. We updated the floor, walls and lighting and painted the retail front of the plant,” Barbour explains. This upgrade has been one of Barbour’s most interesting projects at the company. “It was a challenge to do that remodeling when we were still open, working around construction all the time,” he says. Another memorable project for Stawnichy’s Holdings was in 2001 when Stawnichy began the Edward E. Stawnichy Charitable Foundation. “The foundation was originally started to fund a 42-foot steel replica of a sausage in a local park. From there, Ed went on to supply a bus for hospitals and senior centers to use,” Barbour says. “Now we hold an annual golf tournament and raise money and give scholarships to surrounding high schools. That was one of the things Ed has done over the years that will carry on in his absence.” Given what the company has done for the community, and with so many previous years of business, there are few worries that keep Barbour awake at night. He notes, “Most of the staff has been here a long time, and people know their jobs.” Even the economic situation does not give Barbour much concern. “Overall it’s not really that bad. If you went

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industry-by-industry you can pick out pockets that aren’t great, such as the oil and gas industry. Overall, I wouldn’t think Canada is in a bad place. People here are fairly responsible with their consumerism compared to neighbors in the south. Most people are doing OK and just working, working, working,” he says.

legacy expanded from Woytko, Ann and Ed’s entrepreneurial beginnings. 

Due to the company’s longstanding success, the leadership of Stawnichy’s Holdings is contemplating possible future growth plans. “We may at some point address another facility to sell to other provinces. The topic has certainly been discussed, though there are no definite plans,” Barbour says. “It’s a family-run business and has been for a long time, so there’s not that driving need to expand and make life more complicated.” With its family support, perfected recipes and loyal customers, Stawnichy’s Holdings will be a muchloved company for many more years, continuing and strengthening the

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Dimax Developments Inc. Combining Industry Expertise for Building Options Produced by Mike Armstrong & Written by Molly Cohen In 2000, Diane Alstad-Garrison ended her career as a probation officer to begin working in the home building industry with her husband, Terry Garrison. “We initially had two companies, one each, and amalgamated them into one this past year. We combined the land development and building companies, because it was easier to manage it all together,” she shares. Terry had owned and operated Nova Homes for 10 years before joining his company with his wife’s. Now operating under the title Dimax Developments Inc. (Dimax), Diane adds her sales abilities and experience as a Remax Agent with her husband’s background in mortgage financing. Together they work mostly on condominium projects. “We’ll buy land, develop it and build the units,” states Diane. “We’ll do an occasional house for a friend, but we haven’t done one for about five years.” Building a Niche Dimax, headquartered in Lethbridge, Alberta, is known to specialize in alternate living choices. Dimax’s joint owners produce annual revenue of about $10 million. Much of the income is a direct result of the company’s eye-catching highquality extras. “We finish our units very nicely. We use large baseboards, crown molding around doors and upgraded doors. There is no up charge, what you see is what you get,” Diane explains. Dimax use a select group of subcontracts for projects. The company always compares cost, keeping watch for a better deal. “Our foreman is constantly getting quotes, because even if we don’t change suppliers

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or contractors we can say, ‘Well, I can get it so much cheaper over here,’ and usually people are willing to negotiate,” Diane explains. When choosing a subcontractor, Dimax focuses on choosing both the best price and the best service. “We like flexible trades, because we’ll give them leeway if we’re not pushed and they need to go back and forth to another job, and then if we’re pushed to get a unit done we expect them to help us out with extra effort,” Diane shares. In this way the benefit is to both the owners and subcontractors, who always have an extra level of commitment to their respective needs. Dimax has completed several projects in Lethbridge and one in Grand Prairie, Alberta. The company is currently working on a 75-unit project in a Lethbridge neighbourhood. “This is a Built Green Canada condominium project within that subdivision,” explains Diane, who is proud to support the industry-driven green building program. For Lethbridge Dimax is participating in Built Green Canada at the highest green level, the Gold standard, which pays buyers the highest return for the purchase. “The city has really maximized parks, streams, ponds and watershed just to make it pleasing. Using the resources available, they have added solar lighting around the lake. It’s unique for southern Alberta for sure,” Diane shares. “We’re about halfway built on it. The sales are good. And I think it’s our location, the layout, site plans and functionality of the units that have been beneficial.” The level of green a project can reach is measured by the Built Green Canada’s guidelines and criteria regarding where products come from, what type of products are used and energy efficiency. Incorporating these aspects into the project has made it one of the most interesting ones Diane remembers. “It is a little bit of a challenge, trying to keep up with the times, but it’s been worth it,” she admits. Planning for Future Opportunities Not all of the company’s clients are willing to get involved with the green trend. “But if they’re of the mindset they want to help the environment anyway, those are the ones that are purchasing in the current development,” Diane states. “And it will save money in the long run and return the money back when you sell it, because I think eventually people will be going more and more to that.” Some buyers may have heard about green project tax credit programs, though these specific buildings don’t meet those criteria. Still, the lack of tax incentive has not proven to be a business-slowing issue. Dimax did face other concerns in the past year, however. “We did have a big challenge when the economy turned, because we were doing a project in Grand Prairie and ended up keeping the properties ourselves.

We’re hoping when the economy comes back we’ll be able to sell them,” Diane explains “When we started up there people were crying for places to live. They were actually camping in tents. We started building just at the top of the market.” Lethbridge is a competitive area; “there are a good number of builders here,” Diane says. “I don’t worry too much about the business, though; it’s going to come or it won’t.” And Dimax’s future investments are looking up, as Diane believes the economy is improving. “I see things getting better; even in the last month the market has picked up a lot.” With that hope, Dimax’s owners are making plans for the future. “We’ll just do a couple more projects and then we’ll probably be retiring or passing it on to our child,” Diane forecasts. The economic up turn paired with Dimax Developments Inc.’s participation in Built Green Canada projects paint a bright picture for future business. When Diane and Terry decide to retire, it will be with a legacy firmly established for the next generation. 

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Hamill Creek Timber Homes Ltd. Using Natural Resources for More Sustainable and Beautiful Homes Produced by Victor Martins & Written by Molly Cohen Dwight Smith began dabbling in the timber construction industry in 1980, working as a carpenter. “I was just looking for way to build better homes,” Smith explains of his passion for the industry. In 1989 Smith founded his own timber frame company, Hamill Creek Timber Homes Inc., with his wife, Debbie. They began working out of a small workshop next to their house. The company quickly grew to become an international provider of custom timber frame homes and buildings. “I never thought it would grow this large; to me it simply started as a passion and I was quite happy to be building a house or two per year,” says Smith. Now, Smith serves as the company’s president from Meadow Creek, British Columbia, in the lovely and remote Kootenay region. “Our head office is in British Columbia and we have branch offices in Ontario and Colorado and our frames go all over the world. We ship to the Virgin Islands, Japan, Alaska and we can will build anywhere in the world,” Smith explains. “We have several supervisors that travel to the site and then we use a local contractor or crew to help us assemble it. We’re about 60 percent in Canada and 30 to 40 percent in the US and other areas — Virgin Islands, Japan, and other countries.”

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Updating a Traditional Craft Hamill Creek’s timber supply comes from local forests. “We’re FSC (Forest Stewardship Council)-certified so we have a chain of custody where we know all the wood is harvested ethically and a renewable source,” says Smith. The harvested logs go from the forest directly to Hamill Creeks own sawmill mill where it is processed into timbers and lumber, then manufactured into complete homes. “We do everything from timber frame structures to super-insulated walls and roof systems. We supply and manufacture all of our own siding, moldings, stairs and railings. We’re a onestop shop. We pre-cut our structures, they’re numbered, finished, and can be shipped anywhere in the world,” Smith explains. “We’re a vertically integrated company from forest to finished product; timber frame structures go up between 5 and 8 days.”Then it takes an additional 2- 3 weeks to take the home to lock up." What sets Hamill Creek apart from its competitors is its understanding of the timberframe structures and components to make the building process more efficient . Plus their access to the best Douglas-fir timbers in the world. “We’ve probably been doing this longer than any company in

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Black WindoWs ltd

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the western Canada. When we first started we hand cut all of our timber frames the traditional way, but now we mostly use our state-of-the-art CNC joinery equipment from Germany, which is the only fiveaxis patented technology in the world that can do this type of work,” says Smith. “This has led us to higher productivity, being more competitively priced than handcuttters, and allows us to deliver in short timeframes.” Through these cutting-edge tools Hamill Creek has been able to grow — increase in volume, sales and marketing capabilities, as well as the ability to prepare the pieces to the project beforehand. “We manufacture and do the joinery, pre-assemble, then knock down for shipping. It’s a lot more efficient and you have much better quality control than if you were to build a home on site. Same as our wall panel systems. They can be pre-cut with window and door openings, delivered to the site and craned in at the same time. You not only end up with the most energy-efficient buildings, but one of the more beautiful structures, because of the exposed timberwork,” says Smith. "Most of our clients are clients looking for a custom home and many of them are second home buyers. We also do commercial projects such as golf clubhouses, restaurants and lodges." Hamill Creek’s 40 employees handle the complete custom home design, timber frame consulting, mill work, timber frame cutting and raisings. The company’s usual wood of choice is Douglas Fir, but it also works with larch, white pine, spruce, and western red cedar. Its flexibility in materials and customization of design leads to the company’s $7 million in annual revenue.

up even more as we work through this challenging time.” Building a Path to Future Success Many of our technological improvements for the business have made it possible to bid on large projects and deliver on short notice. Hamill Creek recently completed two large resorts. One at Virgin Gorda in the British Virgin Islands where Hamill Creek finished a yacht club; another in the Bahamas where the company completed a similar project in Bakers Bay. For both projects we built the main restaurant, clubhouse and spa. Hamill Creek also supplied the timber frame for the Tobiano Golf Resort Sales Center on Kamloops Lake in the Thompson-Okanagan region. “That won a Tommie Award for Best Sales Center in British Columbia two years ago,” Smith adds. A year later, one of our homes was a finalist for the Georgie Awards ‘Best Single Family Home over $2 million, and won a Tommie award for Excellence in Single Family Detached Home over $2 million. One of the company’s best known structures is the Kokanee Glacier cabin in Kokanee Glacier Provincial Park near Nelson B.C., completed in 2003. This project came about from an unfortunate accident. When former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau’s son, Michel, died in an avalanche while skiing in the park, a national fundraising effort was made to build a new lodge in Michel’s memory. The successfully completed project stands as a memorial to a young man’s life that was lost in the mountains and created national awareness and a safety program on the dangers of snow avalanches in mountain country. This was a special project for Hamill Creek, located in one of the most spectacular areas in the world. “The site was by

“Timber frame homes represent a very small percentage of homes built in North America; it’s a small industry that has been growing substantially in the last 20 years. We have competitors both in Canada and the U.S. There have definitely been challenges with the downturn in the economy,” says Smith. To overcome those challenges, “we’ve become more invested in marketing and sales, and increasing our efficiencies to remain competitive. This has allowed for greater opportunities for our buyers. Internally we’ve had to tighten things

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helicopter access only, so we had to fly everything to the top of the mountain — all of the equipment and materials for a 4,000-square foot lodge.

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Hamill Creek has a long list of completed residential projects ranging from 1,500-to 10,000 square foot homes. “They tend to be very custom type structures, one-of-a-kind design and style of homes. Our clients appreciate the craftsmanship and level of detail we bring to a home, as well as the energy efficiency. We use better quality windows and doors and we find that many of our clients are attracted to green products,” says Smith. The green movement and LEEDCertified buildings are quickly becoming a large part of the company’s work. “We’re currently working on a residential home and seeking LEED certification. We’re also working together with Wing Creek Resort near Kaslo, B.C. on a project where the goal for the 27unit residential development is LEED Certification. Wing Creek Resort in British Columbia is a development on 20 lakeside acres,” Smith shares. “Phase one is completed, phase two is just starting. Sales will start in the next month. They’re spectacular — all timber frame homes, and we’ve been

following LEED certification right through to the waste water disposal, road building, etc.” The green movement has truly become an important part of the company’s business. “We went through the FSC certification, so we always know all the logs that we purchase are ethically harvested from properly managed forests. We believe it’s a good thing for the industry and has given very positive roles for the construction industry to pursue and promote,” says Smith. “Wood is the most sustainable product you can use, it moreso than steel or plastics. Our wood is grown locally and regenerates in a short time span, which fits LEED Certification. And because British Columbia has some of the strictest logging practices in the world, it’s not that hard to source ethically harvested wood here. We live in a beautiful place and want to keep it that way.” With the company’s growing involvement in the green movement, the only thing keeping Smith awake at night is “probably the excitement of the opportunities that are out there,” he says. That optimistic perspective matches Smith’s

outlook on the economic situation. “I think it’s getting better. I have a sense that we’ve been through the worst of it; it will probably be a gradual climb back to a more sustainable level of growth,” he foresees. With the opportunities available in a better economy, Smith is creating plans for Hamill Creek’s future growth. “We definitely want to pursue more LEED certification and green building work, and be more involved in those types of developments. We’re putting i a line to start changing the type of wall panel system that we use; we’re updating and automating that a little more,” Smith shares. “We want to continue and increase the use of geothermal heating in our homes. Next thing on the horizon: “Well I do like the idea of net-zero energy homes.” With such ambitious plans for the future and the company’s well recognized reputation from past work, the future looks solid for Hamill Creek Timber Homes Ltd. 

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Paradise Island Foods Inc. Cutting the Cheese

Produced by Victor Martins & Written by Molly Cohen In 1978 George Thomson saw there was an opening in Vancouver, British Columbia’s cheese industry. As the distributer of a small confectionery business, he heard of a labor dispute involving a national cheese competitor. Seeing the opportunity, he sourced cheese products from a family-owned and operated cheese company in Alberta that already packaged and labeled products for them. When the labor dispute ended, George was determined to grow his market share, so he invested in equipment that cut, wrapped, and labeled the cheese. He then had to acquire a warehouse and hire employees to create a production line. Soon after, he was marketing his own Paradise Island Cheese brand as other private label cheeses. George’s sons, Len and Kevin, began working for the company at a young age. “When I was 12 I started washing trucks and picking up orders on weekends, after school, and in the summer. My father made it abundantly clear that he would not give us full-time employment until we could prove that we would be an asset to the company," "So we both worked in grocery stores learning the retail side of the business. When I turned 19 I got my Class 1 drivers license and started doing deliveries,” Len remembers. “Then a sales position became available at Paradise Island. The sales manager hired me and I grew the business substantially. When the sales manager left, I was promoted and worked as manager for a number of years.”

In 2005 George retired and sold the business to Len and Kevin. “We bought the company in July of that year and now I’m President and Kevin is Vice President, Operations,” Len says. “And Kevin went through the ropes as well. He started in retail. When he came on full-time he was on the production line and now he’s in charge of the entire plant.” Pride in Size In May of 2010, Paradise Island celebrated its 30th anniversary. Much has changed for the company during those years. Its 37,000 square foot facility in Nanaimo on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, is HACCP (Hazard Analysis of Critical Control Points) certified and distributes across the country to western Ontario. “We have our own fleet of Class VIII Envirotrucks and Envirotrailers to service all of Vancouver Island. We service local independent grocery stores with the direct store delivery approach and larger customers to their warehouses. We have a dedicated freight company that delivers our products to the lower mainland, and we use third-party carriers for anything east of Abbottsford.” Paradise Island Foods has undertaken numerous green initiatives and is a leader in green distribution and food production. Green initiatives have made a large impact on Paradise Island’s cost savings. “We’ve been titled by the federal and provincial governments with respect to our green fleet. We invested in new tractors, trailers, and hybrid reefers. We’re loading all night long while the trailers are plugged in, so it’s been a significant cost savings,” Len says of his company’s dedication to corporate social responsibility. “Now we’re working on making our plants and warehouses greener. All of our sales people already drive hybrid cars too.” Paradise Island’s products include Canadian cheese in block and shredded forms, available in differing weights. It also carries low-fat and organic cheeses and specialty cheeses such as goat cheese. Paradise Island also distributes international cheeses — English stilton, French brie, and many others. Despite its long history in the business and wide range of products, Paradise Island has felt effects from the recession. “In the Canadian cheese business there’s three large players and a few of us little guys. We’ve had to reduce our margin to compete with the big guys who continue to get bigger and more efficient. That’s our biggest challenge,” Len shares. To mitigate

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the challenge, Paradise Island Foods has been “maintaining the best service and quality, and has introduced green initiatives to reinvest in the company. However, as our margin continues to grind down, we have had to run our operation more lean than ever in order to be competitive while prserving the best service our customers have accustomed to.” Expanding Cheese Lines Its truck fleet is part of Paradise Island’s extensive in-house capabilities. The company does all of its processing in one plant. “We are small enough and flexible enough to react to

consumers’ changing demands faster than larger companies. We target businesses or products the big guys don’t want to touch. We have the flexibility to do specific cut, size or shred, those are things we can tailor even on small volumes,” Len says. To make this flexibility possible, Paradise Island has important relationships with its providers. When choosing providers, Paradise Island looks for quality, consistency, and steady supply. “That is a big challenge. We do just-in-time inventory to minimize our stock here. We expect our suppliers to deliver when we require it,” Len explains.

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British Columbia Those relationships change when the company’s needs chang (like when it purchased a shredding machine). “We put an extensive shred line in our plant that required us to basically build a room around the equipment. Bringing in the shredder took us to a whole new league of different shredded products — retail and food service. Having a large expenditure, we had to go out and create the volume to offset the cost,” Len remembers. “That was pretty significant. Given that the ceiling was too low, we had to dig into the floor to make a pit to accommodate this machine. At the time we made the purchase, we ran the machine one day a week. We’re now running it four days! We operate five days a week for the benefit of the staff, and continue to grow that shred work.” Paradise Island is expanding in other ways as well. “We just closed on an acquisition. We’ve purchased controlling interest in Bothwell Cheese, a Manitoba-based company. They do a lot of specialty products. They make cheese the traditional way

with 100 percent milk, and won two awards in this year’s British Empire Cheese competition,” Len says proudly. “We’re excited to launch the Bothwell brand in deli departments (Paradise Island is currently almost solely in the dairy category). We’ll bring Bothwell to British Columbia and have Paradise Island marketed through Bothwell distribution to the prairies.” In addition to this acquisition, Paradise Island is manufacturing and distributing a variety of cheese alternatives. MySoy is a soybased cheese alternative made to taste like the real thing. These products are rennet-, cholesterol- and lactose-free. When launching new products, Paradise Island uses several tactics to monitor its success. “We’re pretty analytical; I’m close to our numbers every month. I’m hands-on with the sales side, and Kevin is entrenched in operations, watching the lines, looking at opportunities to reduce costs,” Len says. In fact because of such a strong management team, the only thing that keeps Len awake at night is when “there’s snow and our drivers are on the road.” With few concerns, Len is looking toward next steps for growing the company. “It will continue to grow with the acquisition; we will be focused on work with Bothwell to find new and innovative products that consumers will demand. In terms of Paradise, we want to grow more throughout western Canada and Ontario,” Len shares. These goals seem to match Len’s view of the economic recovery process. “I see it getting better. In British Columbia we’re more reliant on tourism, but I think things are picking up; business is picking up. Vancouver is a rocking city and I think the economy is improving,” Len says optimistically. In the next 1 to 2 years, Len anticipates “growth, but managed growth. We continue reinvesting in both – Paradise Island and Bothwell. We’ve done a lot of incentive programs for employees and worked to create an excellent work environment. We have the flexibility needed to compete in the market because our employees are as flexible and dedicated as we are!” Len acknowledges. With such a supportive workforce and Paradise Island Foods’ successful history of expansion in the business, the company will continue to meet its growth goals to expand throughout all of Canada. 

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Dynamic Concrete Pumping Inc. Leading the Pack in a Concrete Revolution Produced by Victor Martins & Written by Molly Cohen Dynamic Concrete Pumping Inc. was originally founded in Vancouver, British Columbia under a different name in 1969. Then in 1997, Joe Delehay brought the company to Calgary, Alberta, under its current title. “The GM Place, where the Canucks play, and a large sewage treatment place in Vancouver put us on the map in the industry,” Delehay, the company’s president, remembers.

Strength in Numbers Now that it is 13 years old, Dynamic offers a plethora of concrete-related services, including concrete pumping, placing, grinding and finishing services. “So basically we work on strictly commercial projects: high-rises, bridges, freeways, interchanges, condominiums, towers — that

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British Columbia type of work. Warehousing being one of our specialties, we use laser guiding equipment for laser leveling of concrete on warehouse floors,” Delehay shares. “We have a capacity here to do 8 million square feet per year of perfectly flat and level concrete floors based on the technology we employ. We’ve developed a process here and obtained very high-end concrete floors. So much so that companies like Wal-Mart, Home Depot, and Lowes in Canada are our clients because of the expertise we have on flat floors.” To handle its wide range of services, Dynamic employees 150 industry professionals. Annual revenue from their efforts hits around $25 million. “We operate in western Canada and we do some work for Wal-Mart as far east as Manitoba. But we primarily focus on western Canada,” Delehay says. In western Canada’s concrete industry, Dynamic is known for its “expertise, experience, and knowledge of concrete. And our good people,” Delehay says. Since its employees are such an important part of its success, Dynamic created its own in-house training programs. “We have a training facility here in our head office,” Delehay says.

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But requiring skilled employees has created a challenge for Dynamic; Delehay says his biggest issue has been a shortage of manpower. “For the last 5 years we’ve been recruiting in other countries and currently we have 65 foreign workers as part of our workforce. We’ve been to Europe, the Philippines, Mexico, Germany — the bureaucracy for getting foreign employees is difficult to overcome. But the program has been greatly successful,” Delehay says. Literally Paving the Future With its growing staff Dynamic is able to handle all labor in-house. “We don’t supply the concrete, we supply the labor component and pumping component as well as soft cutting. We also have a grinding division,” Delehay explains. In-house capabilities were very important in 2008 when Dynamic was the company selected to perform the largest continuous concrete pour in Canada’s history, according to Delehay. “And that’s the third largest in the world! We were only behind the tower in Dubai and a casino in Las Vegas. This project in Calgary brought a large increase in media attention to Dynamic. “Every construction publication that

covers the concrete industry was interested because of the size and nature of it,” Delehay says.

has that type of system and technology. Hopefully many comapnies will require this technology down the line.”

Currently, Dynamic is working on a new rapid transit line in downtown Calgary. “It is 130,000 cubic meters of concrete. We’ve completed many large projects downtown. We’re a dominant factor in the industry,” Delehay touts.

In addition to recycling its jobsite leftovers, Dynamic is also known for its fish-friendly oil. “The oil in our trucks run hydraulic solar concrete pumps and the oil is environmentally safe. Since we pump along a lot of rivers filled with fish, if any oil goes into the water, it has no affect on the environment. We’re the only ones that I know of that have that type of product in our machines. It’s about being green and being leaders in the industry,” Delehay says.

In fact, Dynamic is a 2010 finalist for the Golden Trowel Award, which is presented at a national annual concrete and masonry event — World of Concrete in Las Vegas. “That’s an award for companies who emphasize excellence in flat floors. We are one of the companies that are shortlisted to be in the final balloting,” Delehay shares. The prestige of being recognized and to possibly receive this award attests to Dynamic’s reputation in the business. And the company is using its position to influence other concrete companies to follow its steps toward becoming a greener company. “We are industry leaders and we’ve built a facility with recycling features. They dump concrete out of trucks into a machine, it’s a zero-discharge recycler. All products brought back from the jobsite are reused,” Delehay explains. “We’re the only concrete company in North America that

Despite a slow economy, Dynamic is making plans for its future. “We’ve got two major potential projects that started in the last month, but the economy is such that it’s pretty slow out there right now and there’s not a lot of opportunity. We’re capitalizing on our market share. It’s not dropping, but the levels of work have dropped and will continue to remain somewhat stagnant until 2011 or 2012,” Delehay foresees. Despite a slow workflow, Dynamic Concrete Pumping is continuing to forge ahead, focusing on green business trends and receiving recognition for its skills in the industry. 

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Vic Van Isle Construction Ltd. Creatively Designed Construction Solutions Produced by Victor Martins & Written by Molly Cohen British Columbia’s Vic Van Isle Group was founded in 1983 (from former employees of Revelstoke Construction) and is now owned by five shareholders. The group’s president, Lewis Hendrickson, learned the construction business from the ground up, starting as a laborer and holding almost every job in the industry. He oversees the group’s components: Glacier Building Supplies Ltd. and that company’s subsidiary, plus Vic Van Isle Construction Ltd. (VVIC) and Lortap Inc., a high-end millwork manufacturer. VVIC, a general contractor, builder and manufacturing company, works throughout British Columbia out of its main branch in Revelstoke, plus additional offices in Kelowna,

Vernon, Salmon Arm, Invermere and Tofino. The company has annual revenue of $40 million. Bruce Walker, one of VVIC’s engineers and its vice president, is the manager of the Kelowna branch. He also leads the company’s design-build operation. “We specialize in different types of construction in remote locations,” he explains. VVIC focuses on institutional buildings and high-end ski resorts, many of which are located on snowy mountaintops and difficult-to-access locations. Thus, VVIC developed “different types of construction practices for remote locations,” Walker says. These practices pair well with VVIC’s in-house capabilities and engineers. VVIC is experienced in development coordination, design-build, turnkey, civil construction and logistics management. VVIC has used these practices on schools, hospitals, colleges and private sector work. It is well known for its resort development and sports facilities. Due to its sought-after specialties, VVIC is usually awarded work through established relationships with clients, consultants and developers. Building Luxury in Remote Locations In the last couple of years, VVIC has completed several notable mountain hotels, resorts and lodges. For repeat customer Canadian Mountain Holidays (CMH), VVIC built two different guest locations. One, the Columbia Mountain Facilities, serves the heli-ski industry from its 11 reserved ski areas, resulting in 22,000 square kilometers of skiing space on British Columbia’s Columbia Mountains. At this location VVIC built traditional alpine lodges in addition to modern hotels; both choices offer easy access to the surrounding areas. Another guest location VVIC built for CMH is the Monashee Lodge, completed in 2003. The Monashee Lodge, located on Mica Creek 150 kilometers north of Revelstoke, is geared toward tree-skiing enthusiasts. Thus, the lodge is in a remote, forested area and is designed to mesh with the environment

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British Columbia using local materials, including stones quarried on-site and timber from surrounding forests. Much of the lodge’s metal décor, like the chandelier and bar front, come from salvaged metal found at nearby Kinbasket Lake. The lodge’s amenities include a rooftop whirlpool, sauna, steam and massage facilities, business centre, ski shop, drying room and guide centre. The structure itself is an environmentally friendly building. The lodge’s design includes energy-efficient heating and ventilating, enhanced insulation and sewage handling with low-water consumption fixtures.

relying on external utilities, even during Canadian winter weather.

Both of these CMH locales were built under the typical difficult conditions in those areas. To battle weather conditions and obstructed access issues, VVIC adhered to a specific schedule and unmatched design and construction approaches to allow these lodges the luxury of operating for long periods of time without

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British Columbia In addition to its CMH projects, VVIC has worked on numerous other lodges. At Kelownaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Big White Ski Resort, VVIC built Black Bear, a set of accommodations for the

second largest ski area in British Columbia. These 14 highend townhomes are the second of five phases for this development. The townhomes are all built with timber frames using Douglas firs in construction, and they incorporate natural wood into trims and cabinetry. This design scheme gives the townhomes a rustic and traditional look to match the areaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s landscape. Similarly, VVIC built Albreda Lodge in Gosnell, British Columbia, with cozy yet sophisticated designs to match the natural environment around the lodge. Surrounded by the Cariboo and Monashee Mountains, this lodge is reserved for Mike Wiegele Helicopter Skiing patrons, giving them quick access to the largest mountain in the area, Mt. Albreda. Using recycled and natural materials like hand wrought iron, twig furniture, bone, bark and animal pelts, the lodge is built in a 400-year-old European chalet style and incorporates the use of reclaimed timber. It also uses cutting-edge

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technologies for its heating and cooling systems, fire and safety programs, domestic utilities, building management and snow monitoring, making it the first self-sufficient wilderness resort of this operation. The site includes a hot tub, sauna, spa and three-storey climbing wall.

including additions and renovations in areas like Williams Lake, Kamloops, Salmon Arm, New Denver, Revelstoke, Vernon and Kelowna, and has also created congregate care

VVIC also completed 100 Peaks Summit in 2006 for Intrawest’s resort village, Panorama BC. This newest addition is located within minutes of many of British Columbia’s best outdoor sporting activities, including skiing, snowboarding, snowmobiling, mountain biking, white water rafting and horseback riding. The building, designed with cedar siding and stone accents, has an on-site outdoor skating rink, hot tub and fire pit for visitors to enjoy. The suites’ internal designs have knotty alder kitchen cabinets matched with Italian tiling, pine furniture and quirky gas fireplaces. In Revelstoke, VVIC completed the Hillcrest Resort Hotel in 1999. Located between the Selkirk and Monashee mountains, this lodge is the base of operations for Selkirk Tangiers Helicopter Skiing and offers 75 upscale hotel rooms. VVIC began construction on the resort in September, and although the company faced challenges from typical Revelstoke winters, construction took only 9 months thanks to VVIC’s distinctive building approach and cooperation. Once completed, the timber-framed, traditionally designed ski lodge offered its patrons a full-service dining room, fireplace lounge, spa, helipad and equipment and training facilities. In Golden, British Columbia, lies Glacier Lodge, a 2004 addition to the Kicking Horse Mountain Resort. This is the first of seven new hotels planned on the Purcell Mountains, near ski lift facilities. The Lodge is part of a master-planned village complete with restaurants, lounges and shops selling local crafts, gear and adventure services. The lodge has 56 suites; the large units measure nearly 1,400 square feet and are customized by their owners. The timber-framed structures also feature natural granites, river rock and wood shingles. Amenities include underground parking, unit storage, ski and bike lockers, boot and glove dryers, laundry, and a spa and fitness centre with an outdoor hot tub. Improving Communities While these projects are useful for visitors to the area, VVIC is also very active designing and building facilities for British Columbia’s communities. For example, VVIC worked on numerous community health projects,

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British Columbia facilities for Osoyoos, Kelowna, Moberly Lake and Salmon Arm. VVIC is also dedicated to the design and construction of private clinic facilities and assisted living centers.

lighting control rooms, a video recording and production studio, and visual arts studios. Other amenities include space for the culinary arts and a fitness centre.

Additionally, VVIC worked to elevate some of Surrey’s growth demand challenges by participating on the Fleetwood Community Centre. This facility has an entire exercise and weight floor, restaurant and lounge. The centre also has an impressive aquatics center featuring a 50-meter pool for competitive swimming and a community pool for local residents. This facility is fitted with a moveable pool floor and bulkheads that allow several aquatic programs to take place simultaneously. In addition to the aquatics facility, the new centre has twin ice arenas, one for junior programs and the other for adult users.

On the commercial side of the business, VVIC did a renovation of Royal Volkswagen’s existing facility in Vernon. This project included rebuilding all public areas to meet the strict marketplace standards while adhering to a modest budget. The renovation was completed in an unprecedented 58 days of construction during winter months, thanks to cooperation between VVIC and Volkswagen Canada.

VVIC has also completed several projects for Salmon Arm. In 2006 it completed an addition to the Salmon Arm Municipal Hall and Courthouse Facility. The original office, built in 1908, was beginning to get cramped. Now each of the building’s functions has separate wings connected by a large public space, central atrium and civic plaza. The facility also has a council chamber for the mayor and council as well as two courtrooms. A roof garden and patio help the building to blend into its neighbourhood, while its energy-efficient lighting and electrical devices and geothermal heating make it an eco-friendly facility. Not too far from this new facility, VVIC built Salmon Arm Senior Secondary School, commissioned to replace a previous out dated facility. When building this new school, VVIC used community consultation to create a space that would meet the community’s needs. It now has a large emphasis on the fine arts and features a theatre, sound and

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VVIC also built the Revelstoke Railway Museum, completed in 1993. The museum pays respects to the Canadian Pacific Railway and the influence it had on the Revelstoke/Arrow. VVIC built the museum in the style of a backstop, a facility where trains were repaired. The company also built a reproduction of a 1950s-style waiting room. The museum features a full-sized snow shed and railway tunnel models and houses a rare Midao P-2k Class locomotive and a 29 River Humber business car. From its endless list of interesting completed projects, it is clear that VVIC is an expert at design-build and is well respected in British Columbia’s construction industry. With its ability to build in obscured locations and under harsh conditions, Vic Van Isle Construction Ltd. is the top choice for a tricky or remote construction project, and the company displays the skills and creativity needed to continue as a frontrunner in its industry. 

Thompson Valley Erectors Ltd.

Offering a Multitude of Supportive Skills Produced by TaMeka Marshall & Written by Molly Cohen Thompson Valley Erectors Ltd. (TVE) is a young company, founded in 2005, but it has already diversified its services based on its extensive skills in steel, as well as mechanical work. Focusing on the mining, pulp mill and oil refinery sectors, TVE offers equipment installation, pipe installation, structural steel erection, mill maintenance and the commissioning of industrial processing plants throughout western Canada. Grant Toutant, the company’s founder and president has “… been in the industry for 30 years … too long … but I’m still having fun, so it’s OK,” he jokes. Toutant has two partners: Wayne Welsh, the general manager, and Grant Rerick, the company’s vice president. They have just marked their fifth year of steadily increasing business, which has both given them a reason to celebrate and a reason not to. “We’ve been too busy to celebrate!” Toutant says.

TVE attempts to keep a similarly consistent vendor list for purchasing materials on a regular basis. “Sometimes we will change, based on location, but we try to stay with a larger, local group if we can,” says Toutant. And choosing vendors is not a tough process, as the decision is based on a vendor’s “track record from previous experiences,” according to Toutant. Taking into account all these factors, TVE has annual revenue that is respectable, and see yearly increases for the future, explains Toutant.

Self-Performance Strengths TVE works from Vancouver, British Columbia, all the way to the East Coast. Its main office is in Kamloops, in central British Columbia, but it also has a second office in Prince George in northern British Columbia. Between these two locations, TVE can have anywhere from 10 to 300 employees, depending on the job. We have no problem running several projects at one time. But “our average number is about 50,” says Toutant. Regardless of numbers, TVE keeps its tradesmen inhouse. “Sometimes we deal with subcontractors, but this next phase that we’re growing to, we are now able to selfperform everything from low voltage to high voltage to communication, concrete steel, piping and mechanical,” Toutant explains.

Steeling for the Future It is clear from this impressive goal that TVE has been able to overcome the economic challenges facing the construction industry. “We’re very fortunate because we are busy, run a very clean company and don’t owe a bunch of money, so we were able to survive it quite easily,” Toutant explains. One of the company’s current projects is the expansion of the Gibraltar mines for Taseko Mines Limited. This site includes the installation of new equipment, the erection of a new

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building and the installation of a cleaner cell system. “We’ve been there for three years,” says Toutant, who explains TVE is responsible for “… the mechanical work in general. There are a few other smaller contractors that do dirt work and miscellaneous.”

While the Gibraltar mines have been a great project for TVE, Toutant lists a different project as the most interesting. “We suspended a heritage building in downtown British Columbia two years ago,” he says. For this project TVE had to suspend the structure from a 70-ton overhead truss system, while simultaneously another contractor was digging 75 feet below the building. Once completed , the entire building weighed was well over 700 tons. To judge how successfully it completes such a project, TVE relies on several key performance indicators. For example, Toutant looks for “return business, our same clients recommending us to other clients, [in addition to] staying focused on our safety, quality of workmanship and service.” Based on these standards, TVE has a plan in place for future growth. “Our plans of growth are to expand to a multimillion dollar company, and we believe it is in our path. There’s another very large, project in central British Columbia that we’re in line to go and be part of, so we might hit our target then,” Toutant shares.

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In the meantime, TVE plans to spend the next couple of years “… playing a larger role in the mining industry in British Columbia and throughout North America,” says Toutant, who also shares that the company has an opportunity to go out of the country, assuming the economic situation allows. “I think it’s still relatively volatile, you need to be cautious for sure. For us, fortunately, out of all the nations, Canada seems to be rebounding from this difficult time the best and

so we see growth here more than we do elsewhere and we’re kind of in a safe place to be growing,” Toutant explains. As the company gears up to reach its goals, Thompson Valley Erectors will make use of Canada’s opportunities for growth, as well as its internal strengths, to continue updating all its projects through safety, precision and technology. 

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Flora Manufacturing and Distributing Ltd.

Providing the World with Natural Remedies Produced by Sean Barr & Written by Molly Cohen Thomas Greither is a thirdgeneration health food nutritionist. He is also the president of his company, Flora Manufacturing and Distributing Ltd. (Flora), headquartered in Burnaby, British Columbia. “You could say we are the oldest health food company in the world. I’ve been doing this all my life; I grew up in the business. My dad is still working in Germany. In 1979 I emigrated to the U.S., where I got my human nutrition and food sciences degree from the University of Vermont. Then I married a Canadian and moved to Canada in 1986,” Greither recounts. Flora now distributes its products to more than 40 countries, with the United States as the main export nation. In the United States Flora is known as Flora Inc. In total, Flora has four different locations and 340 employees. Organic Creations Flora is known for its herbal medicines, “and we do some vegetable oils and flax seed oil,” Greither explains. “I was the first manufacturer; I invented the category. I’m from Germany and I’m a nutritionist by trade, so I spotted that the Omega-3 fatty acids were good for the human body and developed the supplement of flax seed oil. There was good research done in Germany that flax seed was good for everything from cancer, for skin, nails, hair and brain activities, for better memory and better body functions.” What makes Flora different from other natural supplement companies is a business culture of “treating people well and trying to find the product that no one has, extracting the products and making the products. We also do our own distributing,” Greither shares. While Flora has a strong foothold on the industry, it does face product challenges. “The biggest challenge right now for the natural products industry is the new regulations coming out. They’re trying to set the same standards for us

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as they do for pharmaceutical products,” Greither explains. However, requiring the same legislation may be a bit extreme, in Greither’s opinion. “So far no one has died from natural remedies. If someone died from a natural remedy, it would go through the whole media tomorrow. Nobody writes about how 10,000 people die in North America every year from side effects of drugs. We have to have tough standards for that, but for our industry they are trying to do the same,” he contends. Flora has its own set of stringent internal quality standards. To maintain its quality control, Flora has two established farms from which it gets its raw materials. Flora has several qualifications when selecting farm suppliers. “They have to be organic and use a sustainable means to grow their herbs. They don’t use chemicals and pesticides or deplete the topsoil,” asserts Greither. Managing its relationships with these farms is a very important part of Flora’s success. “Raw material takes two years to grow, so we have to always depend on nature for our supply.. Everything is quite fragile and could change tomorrow. Think of the Incas, who disappeared in two years because there was no water or rain. We have no control over that,” Greither states. Once the raw materials are delivered, the product ingredients are extracted from the fresh produce and encapsulated. “We make tinctures, tonics or liquids, and bottle it. They are then safety-sealed, boxed and distributed from our own warehouse directly to the health food stores,” Greither shares. Relying on Sunshine Flora introduced its newest product in the summer of 2010. “We have a very nice oil now with DHA. We skipped extracting it from fish and went straight to the algae. Now

we have a mixed oil product with DHA that comes from higher up the food chain and doesn’t damage the ocean. It’s called Udo’s Oil DHA Blend and is the ultimate oil blend for the human body,” Greither insists. Beyond this dynamic new product, Flora is also revitalizing its internal structure with a mind toward healthier operations. “We have 40 sales people, and we give them incentives to buy hybrids and think of the environment; we are also converting the company vehicles to electric,” Greither shares. The company’s most interesting initiative, however, is “changing to complete vertical integration from farm to distribution, eliminating the middle man, creating a high-quality product, but keeping prices down,” he says. Flora’s products could do more than just keep its prices down for its customers. According to Greither, a reputable health center discovered that when “using herbal remedies, chemotherapy patients improved their living conditions by 40 percent, bringing down the cost to the industry of conventional medicine,” he shares. “But it is hard trying to convince Health Canada to embrace our industry even though we are the only ones to bring health care costs down. They’ve gone up over the years by 5 to 10 percent and we can’t afford medicine anymore.”

Whether or not it is saving the country in health costs, Greither looks to several items to judge his company’s success. “We’re helping people help themselves, and operating adjacent to traditional medicine,” he says. Aside from these indicators, the only thing Greither focuses on is “being grateful for everything I have every day. Business people do not like to speak about it, but everybody knows that in business you take full responsibility and don’t know what could happen the next day. You have to trust everything and know it is always going to work out,” he believes. And while Greither waits for the economy to turn around, he is focused on internal company improvements. “We have almost 100-percent vertical integration and we’re trying to get 200 percent. A big goal for us is to be completely locally grown and made, as we currently have a limited amount of growth, because we have to grow the materials. We can grow by 25- to 30-percent per year, but that’s about it,” he shares. Overall, Greither has a vision for Flora’s future: “Helping keep more people get healthy by switching to alternative medicine,” he avows. With this altruistic goal in mind and a lifetime of experience behind him, Greither will continue to guide Flora Manufacturing and Distributing Ltd. as an innovator in the world’s health market. 

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Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership

Innovation in British Columbia’s Architecture Produced by Hanim Samara & Written by Molly Cohen For more than 40 years the Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership (MCM) has been a premier architecture firm in the Vancouver, British Columbia, area. The company’s 65 employees include architects, planners, interior designers, LEED Accredited Professionals, graphic specialists, 3-D artists and technical specialists. This professional team is headed by four partners: architects Bill Reid, Mark Whitehead, Jacques Beaudreault and Mark Thompson.

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MCM has designed structures for the commercial, retail, resort, institutional, health care and hospitality industries, contributing significantly to Vancouver’s skyline. It offers its professional design and consulting services for each project from the initial concept and financial feasibility stages through project completion. The company’s full line of services includes planning, certified professional services, property rezoning, sustainable building design and expert opinions. Additionally, MCM offers services through its

affiliated companies: MCM Interiors Ltd. is an affiliated interior design firm; MCM Health is a studio specifically designated for health-related building designs; and FOLIO focuses entirely on resort architecture. These integrated divisions allow MCM to support a philosophy of Whole Building Design, taking into consideration past, present and future cultural aspects in aesthetics and building materials, finding creative ways to maximize functionality and security, while minimizing environmental impact throughout the structure’s life cycle.

All of MCM’s projects are organized through New Forma, which is the web-based project management and document control system used by the company to keep each project on-schedule. The First of Its Kind Keeping projects on schedule, especially large projects, is inherent to MCM’s success. The firm’s recent project, Abbotsford Regional Hospital and Cancer Centre, was an important large-scale project that was finished right on schedule. To complete this project, two design firms came together: MCM and equally renowned Australian health care facility designer Silver Thomas Hanley. The Abbotsford Regional Hospital and Cancer Centre is one of British Columbia’s most recognized public-private partnerships, or P3s. It is also the first P3 Canadian hospital. The partners of the P3 include the Ministry of Health Services, Fraser Health, the Provincial Health Services Authority, the British Columbia Cancer Agency, the Fraser Valley Regional Hospital District, Partnerships BC and Access Health Abbotsford (AHA). The construction team for the project included John Laing Infrastructure and PCL Constructors Westcoast Inc. Work on the new hospital began in 2004, and it opened in August of 2008 as a 65,000-square metre facility that was

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British Columbia recognized by the Award of Excellence in the Masonry Design division from the Masonry Institute of British Columbia. In total, the innovative project cost $350 million. It has 300 beds and nine operating theatres. This is also the first facility that combines a cancer treatment centre with a hospital offering four Linear Accelerators and a 16-place Day Chemo Centre. These combined facilities offer local residents a large variety of services. And, although it was designed to be LEED Silvercertified, the building reached the LEED Gold level. The hospital is also a place that university students can use as a learning centre, as the program at Abbotsford Regional Hospital and Cancer Centre focuses on research, training and retaining health professionals, and the facility’s design supports all of these activities.

Enhancing a Respected Building MCM has completed many other well-known projects, including the Vancouver Convention Centre expansion that was finished in 2009. Once the expansion was completed, the building comprised 1 million square feet of LEED Platinum-certified space. With the expansion, the Vancouver Convention Centre can now hold a multitude of simultaneous events in their own separate spaces. The Vancouver Convention Centre is constructed partly on land and partly over water. It features a structural glass curtain wall system that spans from the floor to the ceiling, providing guests with breathtaking views of the surrounding mountains and harbor. The new West Building, the focus of the expansion, meets the centre’s established dedication to sustainability. The building features a six-acre green roof, which is composed of plant life natural to the area. The building uses heating and cooling from the harbour’s seawater and features a black water treatment facility. The design incorporates a marine habitat for local vegetation and sea life that otherwise might have been displaced by the building. Each year the convention centre recycles on average 180,000 kilograms of leftover materials. The facility’s kitchen uses only produce from local growers, donates leftovers to charities, and prefers non-disposable silverware. Because of its green initiatives, the convention centre received a Power Smart standing from BC Hydro, was awarded a “Go Green” certification from the Building Owners and Managers Association, and is the first convention centre in the world to receive the highest LEED certification level. With the Vancouver Convention Centre and the Abbotsford Regional Hospital and Cancer Centre as examples of the firm’s ability to understand clients’ goals and make them reality, it is easy to see why MCM has been a long-favored architecture firm in the area. As it continues working on projects both large and small, the Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership will have opportunities to continue displaying its endless design ideas, while enhancing and promoting British Columbia’s beautiful cities and natural elements. 

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ARAL Construction Ltd.

Building with Canada’s Natural Aesthetics in Mind Produced by Hanim Samara & Written by Molly Cohen ARAL Construction Ltd. (ARAL) of Victoria, British Columbia, is favored in the industry for its approach to construction projects. Instead of merely handling the physical part of the process, ARAL also includes site selection, budget preparation, financing, accounting and related project management issues in its service offerings. Incorporated in 1975, ARAL has two partners: Garry R. Gilchrist and Adrianus (Art) B. Kool. Under their leadership, ARAL has assumed multiple project positions, including construction manager, project manager and developer of turnkey buildings. One of ARAL’s stand-out qualities is its ability to assist project owners with financing. If a client is interested, ARAL will coordinate a process to obtain short-term financing to

cover construction costs. Additionally, ARAL can extend its financing abilities to help provide long-term financing. These financing options, as well as all of the company’s other services, are available for commercial and residential projects, industrial parks, municipal buildings, large-scale land developments and mixed-use facilities. Rebuilding Community Areas An example of ARAL’s recent work is the Burnside Gorge Community Centre, located in Victoria. This 12,000-square foot building was built on a former industrial landfill and converted into a community building and park with native plants. It features numerous rooms suited for a multitude of activities. The project began in the spring of 2006 and opened in September of 2007, according to Philip Selbee, the construction manager from ARAL who oversaw the construction process. “ARAL worked with Garyali Architect Inc. to successfully reach the goal of constructing a LEED Gold facility,” Selbee says. This was the first public building in Victoria to reach that certification. The community centre is made of concrete, a material known for its durability and sustainability, and the concrete was left untouched to avoid incorporating unneeded, uncertified building materials. Natural light fills the interior spaces as much as possible, with artificial lighting kept to a minimum and oriented to bounce off

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British Columbia concrete walls to light a larger area. This lighting system contributes to the building’s energy efficiency. Additionally, acoustical panels were included in the building’s designs to reduce sound pollution. Lastly, low-VOC products were used for carpeting and other flooring areas. “One particularly outstanding quality of the centre is how it is carved into a ravine and situated almost underground,” Selbee says. This design was an effort to pay tribute to the area’s original prairie-like environment. A green roof on the building helps to make that vision more realistic. Sharp & Diamond, a landscape architecture company, created the green roof and surrounding flora. The roof was designed for water efficiency, allowing storm water runoff to filter into a ground infiltration system to water the roof. The roof blends the building perfectly into its blooming and growing surroundings. Sharp & Diamond planted sedums, cacti, wheat grass, fescue and wildflowers around the centre in addition to wild strawberry plants, onion plants, sunflowers and Heuchera. This growing greenery will contribute to the building’s overall naturalistic style. But the centre does much more than offer a place for plant growth. The building also provides housing support, recreation, childcare and family services — services that are much appreciated by those living in the neighbourhoods of Burnside. With its connection to the Cecelia Ravine Park

and the Galloping Goose Regional Trail, the centre also contributes to an area of exercise for its users. Once completed, the Burnside Gorge Community Centre won the 2009 Award of Excellence from Green Roofs for Healthy Cities. It also received recognition for its water preservation system, focus on community support and natural aesthetics. Private Access to Natural Beauty ARAL is dedicated to observing environmental guidelines. According to Selbee, “We do a lot of work for the provincial government, and all of our waste streams follow the LEED renovation guidelines for waste removal.” This dedication to preserving Canada’s natural beauty is apparent in all of ARAL’s projects. The company is currently working on a project called Canyon Ridge, located in Westbank near Kelowna, British Columbia. This community is a five-year project that, once finished, will be comprised of 133 custom homes. The community is designed for adults above the age of 55. The homes are standalone and range from 1,300 square feet to more than 1,800 square feet. Homes with a walk-out basement can also include amenities like a home theater, flex room, wine cellar or recreational room, plus additional features. While the basement can be swapped out for a crawl space, each home has a two-car, attached garage, two bedrooms, two bathrooms and combinations of a great room, living room, dining room, flex room and den. Taking stock of the area’s natural surroundings — the community is surrounded by mountains and is near Lake Okanagan — the buildings will be situated for the best views of the natural beauties. The property will also include areas for hiking trails and is close to West Kelowna’s shopping areas. Canyon Ridge and Burnside Gorge Community Centre are two shining examples of ARAL’s signature work, showcasing the company’s skills in environmentally conscious siting and its ongoing commitment to quality. ARAL Construction Ltd. continues to add to a long history of beautifully completed projects that enhance British Columbia and the lives of its citizens. 

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Mack Kirk Roofing & Sheet Metal Ltd.

Continuing a Long History of Roofing Expertise Produced by Mike Armstrong & Written by Molly Cohen Gino Laplante “has been a roofer his whole life, ever since he could swing a hammer,” jokes his wife Christina. While Gino was perfecting his hammer swing, Christina was in law school. Together, the Laplantes have been active in the roofing industry for about 25 years, and in 2003 they bought their own custom roofing company: Mack Kirk Roofing & Sheet Metal Ltd., located in Pitt Meadows, British Columbia.

send all of our roofers that want training to the Roofing Contractors Association of British Columbia, it’s a fantastic training facility,” Christina contends. “We have carpenters that work in-house, plumbers and electricians that have been working with us for years, a full-time mechanic and a

“The company has been in existence since 1908, so we just celebrated our 100th anniversary in 2008, which was wonderful,” Christina remembers. Now Gino is the president and production manager of Mack Kirk, and Christina serves as its director and office manager. Together with their family of three children (two boys and one girl), they keep busy and manage to find time to balance hard work and family time. Currently, Mack Kirk is a member of the Canadian Roofing Contractors Association and the Roofing Contractors Association of British Columbia. Since 1954 the company has been accredited and held an AAA rating with the Better Business Bureau. “We have fantastic credentials and are well-known throughout the lower Mainland and British Columbia,” Christina touts. Supportive Infrastructure Before purchasing Mack Kirk, the Laplantes had been working with the company through their own roofing ventures for about 10 years. “We’ve been part of Mack Kirk in some way for a long time,” Christina states. “The previous owner is still with us today. He is one of our estimators and enjoys being part of the team.” In addition to its core management, Mack Kirk has 50 employees who do most of the company’s trades in-house. “Our ticketed roofing technicians are our top guys. We

state-of-the-art sheet metal fabrication shop with installers and technicians. Everyone is well-trained and skilled. “On top of that, we have strong ties with our accountants, legal advisors, bank managers, business associates, consultants, and the RCABC staff that guide us and help us accomplish our goals,” Christina continues. “Our administration and management team are always on top of things and our friendly staff is ready to assist with any call that comes through. Gino strongly believes that you are only as good as your employees. Mack Kirk Roofing is based on trust, hard work ethics, and the ability to hire and work with the highest skilled employees in a team environment.” Mack Kirk also has its own fleet of trucks, service trucks, dump trucks, disposal bins, cranes, and additional

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British Columbia machinery to complete every project efficiently. We provide our customers with a detailed roofing spec and we give them all the information they need. “The sheet metal shop helps as well, because we can customize a lot of projects,” Gino asserts. With these in-house capabilities, Mack Kirk can cover a broad spectrum of roofing projects. It is well known for its flat roofing techniques, mostly the torched-on membranes and sloped roofs using asphalt shingles, cedar shakes and metal sheeting. “We have a great relationship with all our suppliers. We mainly deal with Convoy Supply for all of our roofing materials. They have been part of our company’s growth and are a great asset. The staff is knowledgeable and courteous and they have been really good to us,” Christina says. Staying Busy The company’s well-established relationships with suppliers are part of what makes Mack Kirk stand out from its competition. Key personnel both in-house and able to be called upon help make an efficient, effective combination. Christina attributes the company’s success to “providing

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outstanding service with well-managed leadership. Our team is incredible … keeping us on top of the game all the time.” It seems these points are holding strong for Mack Kirk, as Christina reports that “2010 is going to be a fantastic year. We’re already approaching $10 million in sales. We are receiving our COR (Certificate of Recognition) certification, which allows us to comply with RCABC accreditation while maintaining the highest level of workmanship and safety standards possible.” Although Mack Kirk faced challenges during the recession, they were not a result of the economy. “We really surfed through the economic challenges; we had a lot of work during the recession due to our reputation and how our company stands. When [the economy] turned, it actually opened up a lot of doors and we hired some skilled people that had lost their jobs,” Christina says. “One remarkable obstacle we did overcome was when my husband was diagnosed with cancer. Doctors initially gave him three months, but in 2007 he underwent intense chemotherapy for five months, then the cancer came back a month-and-a-half later. But he was lucky to be one of seven people in British Columbia to have a double autologous bone marrow stem cell transplant at Vancouver General Hospital.”

Thanks to the support of family and friends and medical professionals, “he’s still alive today and going strong — and between the rough economic patches and Gino battling cancer for one year, the company held together and everything came through beautifully,” says Christina thankfully. “We take pride in giving back and helping organizations that have a valuable cause. This year, with Gino as their team captain, Team Mack Kirk Roofing has raised just over $72,000 for the Ride To Conquer Cancer supporting cancer research. We also support the Children’s Hospital and did a roofing project for Habitat for Humanity out of goodwill. It’s impossible to support all the organizations out there, but everybody deserves a good roof over their heads and everybody deserves to be healthy!”

Mack Kirk will “just keep going. We passed that small family company stage and for right now we’re proud to be part of the economical growth of this province and our commitment to providing the highest quality roofing services is our number one priority,” Christina says. “As long as we keep learning, we will keep growing.” With the company’s supportive skilled employees, solid work flow and extensive experience, Mack Kirk Roofing & Sheet Metal is fully equipped to stand between the world and the weather for many more years to come. 

In 2010 Mack Kirk already completed a number of housing co-ops schools, institutional buildings, and government-funded projects throughout the lower mainland, Gino states. Christina lists the Pacific Coliseum as another of Mack Kirk’s most interesting projects. The company reroofed the Coliseum in time for the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver, when the facility was used for figure skating and short speed skating events. “It’s a nice honor to have participated in that,” Christina says. Beyond these projects Mack Kirk has a long history of building roofs for various commercial buildings, shopping malls, hotels, airport terminals, and restaurants. “Some of them have a very unique architecture,” Gino shares. “It’s nice to drive around town and look at the buildings and the roofs and think, ‘We did that roof.’” On the residential side, Christina is proud of Mack Kirk’s long roofing history. “Since the company has been around over a century we still get the odd call of a third generation needing work on a roof that Mack Kirk put on. We have backup information and documentation that shows the roof was done by us in 1958 and put on again in 1980 and now it’s time for a new one,” Christina explains. With projects like these added to the portfolio, the Laplantes foresee that

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Nufloors

Treading on Solid Ground Produced by Mike Armstrong & Written by Sheryvonn Burrell Peter Denroche has been a leader in Vancouver’s top-quality commercial and residential flooring market for almost 40 years. He started working for a carpet manufacturer before starting his own endeavor. Now Denroche is the proud owner of Nufloors locations in Coquitlam and North Vancouver. Thanks to an expert staff and an extensive inventory to meet its clients’ diverse needs – from warm hardwood and natural cork to easy laminate and sophisticated leather – there is no job Nufloors cannot handle. “We’re an A+ Better Business Bureau rated [company],” Denroche boasts. “In fact, in Greater Coquitlam, we’re only one of two A+ ratings.” But this is just one of many things that set Nufloors apart from its competitors. “We’re a very different company because, number one, we’re a Stainmaster Flooring Center,” explains Denroche. With only 260 Stainmaster flooring centers in the whole of North America, Nufloors can proudly say it is the only of its kind in Greater Vancouver. No other flooring retailers in Vancouver can offer Stainmaster Ultra Life – the brand’s thickest, most luxurious, super-performing carpet, with a superior 15-year warranty against stain and wear. That, along with Nufloors’ lifetime guarantee on products, has resulted in a loyal clientele and annual revenue of $12 million. “We guarantee everything for as long as the customer owns it,” says Denroche. “Whether it’s commercial

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work or whether it’s not, if we do the work, we guarantee it. We give great service to everyone, not matter how big or how small the project is.” Flooring from the Ground Up Operating a Nufloor since 1986, Denroche now has three locations, including the one in Coquitlam. Known to some as the Lougheed Flooring Centre, it is the company’s largest and one of the larger retail stores in the Greater Vancouver area at 10,000 square feet. Denroche also operates a flooring centre located in Southern California, where the company has done extensive work for nearly a decade and in 2009 accrued revenue of $3 million. Southern California is also the site of Denroche’s most interesting project to date: Astoria, a residential commercial project in Irvine, Calif., constructed by Intergulf Development Corporation, a company Denroche has worked alongside for over 15 years. “It is the best residential commercial project we’ve ever seen [Intergulf ] do,” says Denroche. “They took six of their penthouse units and gave them to the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID). They hired an interior designer for each room and we installed things like leather on the floors and on the walls. It was great. They did an amazing job.”

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British Columbia But with the market slowing considerably in Southern California, Denroche believes Astoria to be the company’s last project of this scale in the area for some time. Even so, he remains optimistic about the future of his U.S. operations. “In a couple of years, we’ll be back,” Denroche says confidently. “We don’t have any big overhead down there [in Southern California]. And we’ve got a very good installation company down there.”

“We’ve just grown our business in the last year, and substantially,” Denroche says proudly. “We do every type of business we can, including insurance restoration and commercial contract. Residential contract is a bit slow right now, but it’s picking up. A year from now, it’ll be very busy. Our retail business was very busy in the last six months because of the tax credit. We’ve got 14 sales people and they go after everything.”

The Nufloors in Canada continue to work heavily, however, offsetting any slowdown in the U.S.

And thanks to its voracious sales team, Nufloors has just completed work on two projects: Forever 21 and Aritzia, two ladies clothing outlets in the Greater Vancouver area. Also, in April, the company started work on BC Place with PCL Construction, a frequent collaborator. To facilitate these large-scale projects, Nufloors has maintained an equally strong relationship with its North American suppliers. “We deal with all major floor covering suppliers, whether they’re hardwood, laminate, carpet, whatever,” Denroche explains. “We have a very good relationship with them.” These relationships also benefit Nufloors’ subcontractors, allowing the company to provide them with the best quality materials for each job. “We don’t switch suppliers unless we can save our customers some money,” says Denroche. “If we have a contractor that is doing a big job, and a different supplier could produce exactly the same product and save the contractor money, we will offer them that. We don’t do it just for us. We do it for our contractors, because the contractors we deal with we’ve been dealing with for years.” Looking into the Future With his 25th anniversary as a carpet and flooring installer to take place in 2011, Denroche hopes to continue growing the company’s relationships with its customers and to continue its expansion, increasing the commercial and residential contract business, as well as its retail business. But it is not just the big things that matter to Denroche and his team. For them, Nufloors truly is a labor of love. “Just running the business is fun because … everybody that works for us loves the business.” And Peter Denroche is certainly one of them. With this passion for the industry, plus a portfolio of expertly executed installations and a roster of world-class supplies, Nufloors is positioned to further its stellar reputation in western Canada, standing behind whatever surface clients may want to stand on. 

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Rambow Mechanical Ltd. Taking a Full-On Approach to Mechanical Contracting Produced by Mike Armstrong & Written by Molly Cohen After a full career in the industrial sector working specifically for oil refineries and pulp mills, Patrick Waunch moved to Kelowna, British Columbia, to retire. However, the itch to work was too much to overcome and Waunch founded a mechanical contracting company, Rambow Mechanical Ltd. “I wasn’t planning to get into business, but I now love what I do. I didn’t expect to get so heavily involved, but I’ve got great staff and great project managers that allow me to remain involved in the industry,” says Waunch, the company’s president and CEO. Besides running his own company, Waunch is a director of the Southern Interior Construction Association, director of the British Columbia Construction Association, director of the Canadian Construction Association and a director of the Canadian Apprenticeship Forum. “I am involved very heavily with construction across Canada. That has helped our company a lot … put us in the who’s who,” says Waunch. And this industry involvement has been a source of support for Rambow, which celebrated its 25th anniversary in January 2010. The company specializes in coordinating a project’s total mechanical division and has around 70 employees. “We do a lot of schools, hospitals, water treatment plants and sewage plants, plus wineries – more of the bigger projects — and what separates us from the rest is design-build, which accounts for about 80 percent of our projects,” Waunch shares. While most of the company’s work is done near its Kelowna office, Rambow has no borders when it comes to work. “We’ve tendered in South America in Guyana and up to Dawson City and White Horse in the Yukon area,” says Waunch. “When we tender outside of Canada, we get competitors out

of England and out of the U.S., but we’re pretty competitive. We land about 60 percent of the projects we pursue. We’re pretty aggressive when we want to be.” Quality Management According to Waunch, Rambow has been so successful because of the “quality of design-build work we do; it’s definitely a positive for us and we stand behind our work.” On each job site, Rambow handles the mechanical division of labor. This includes all the plumbing, heating, gas fitting, welding and steam fitting. Rambow subcontracts the insulation and sheet metal, sometimes controls and fire

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British Columbia protection. This strategy helps to get the work completed efficiently and also “spreads a little risk, and that’s what it’s all about in this industry,” Waunch explains. Seeing as larger projects require tighter coordination, Rambow tends to use the same group of contractors repeatedly. “Good subs that look after their problems stay on our list, and if not they’re gone. One of the things that have kept us going over the years is quality. Therefore, we’re very motivated to have customers come back to us due to the fact that we give them systems that perform to their requirements,” says Waunch. When choosing subcontractors, Rambow does take price into account, but usually quality and relationships are more important. “Customers want things done on time and don’t want any hassles in the present or in the future. That’s the idea you try to build your teams around. In design-build you can select your own groups, whereas when we do bid spec we can’t always do that because it’s low price to get the project,” Waunch explains. This design-build/selection process is working well for Rambow; the company’s annual revenue is around $12 million to $15 million. This has been aided by an internal apprenticeship structure that promotes workers trained to

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augment any job, avoiding the need to reach outside for help and therefore add expense. Also indispensible is experience in previous tough times. “When you’ve been through one recession, you keep your feet planted firmly on the ground and have your ears open,” Waunch says. Building the Firsts Some of the recent work that has kept Rambow busy during this recession includes a $90 million project for Sparkling Hill Resort & Wellness Centre in Vernon, British Columbia. The resort has 152 units and world-class therapy facilities. It stands out as a distinctive hotel in Canada because it uses geothermal heating and is the nation’s first six-star hotel. The mechanical part of the project is about $11 million. “The European group Swarovski out of Austria was financing this. We took a two-year contract and crunched it i nto a year,” Waunch explains. Another recent project was the South Okanagan Events Centre in Penticton, British Columbia. “This was a designbuild project and it turned out well,” Waunch says modestly. “There’s a couple sheets of hockey ice in there and space for conventions. That was a two-year project all together and it was completed about a year ago.”

Over the years, there have been several projects that stand out in Waunch’s mind as particularly interesting. “Because we’re so versatile, we chase the things that are oddball. The Labatt’s Brewery can-line relocation in Creston, British Columbia, was a particular favourite. Right now we’re in the final stages of the design-build process for the new Clinical Support Building attached to the Kelowna General Hospital."

a booming phase Waunch will have the portfolio and experienced personnel to continue meeting his customers’ needs. 

Staying on the institutional track, Rambow is working on a college in Penticton. “This is government-funded, thus it is required to be LEED Platinum. That’s the type of stuff we work heavily in right now and we are pushing to give customers the most energy-efficient building we can,” says Waunch. Like Sparkling Hill’s geothermal heating and the LEED platinum college, Rambow has been increasing its energyefficient building of late. “All the time we’re involved in new product research. When we do design-build we look for energy efficiency, and we’re trying to use sustainability on all projects because customers are looking for that,” Waunch shares. With all of the positive aspects of his company, Waunch finds only a couple things keeping him awake at night. “Usually it’s trying to collect from customers; it’s always an issue when times get soft. As far as the business, I have great employees and staff who do a great job,” he says. “We’re always looking to succeed; I’m one of the types always looking ahead. I want to become bigger, better, best.” Waunch, however, thinks the company can grow its business without having to expand its size. “Probably we won’t grow much larger, but I’d like to establish $20 million on a regular basis. We have a nice niche and it’s easy to control at this time. I’d be losing more control bringing in more and more people, but we find that what we have is working pretty well,” Waunch says. And that growth is a definite possibility based on the tremendous amount of tendering Rambow is doing. “Right now a lot of the projects that are being awarded are going below expected budgets, but for sure it’s definitely on an upward run. I expect 2011 and 2012 to be booming years,” says Waunch. Rambow Mechanical’s reputation and countless examples of quality work carried it through the recession, and as the construction industry reenters

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Walter Francl Architecture

Helping Design Vancouver’s World-class Community Produced by Eric Gunn & Written by Kelly Matlock When Walter Francl founded his firm in 1988, he just wanted to design buildings on his own. Thirteen design awards later, Francl’s decision has proven fruitful. Definitely no longer a one-man office, the firm now has 22 employees, including nine LEED Accredited Professionals. Francl speculates on the reason the firm has done so well: “I guess our niche is that we don’t have one. Our projects range from mixed-use community developments to hospitals to ice arenas.”

Dual Challenges Met Head On Francl created the LEED Platinum-certified Southeast False Creek Community Centre, which is located on a waterfront lot at Southeast False Creek in collaboration with Nick Milkovich Architects. The building’s duties required that it serve as the headquarters and office space for Olympic and Paralympic mayors, management staff and the Four Host First Nations. Post-Olympics and Paralympics, the building now contains a two-level community centre, child-care facility, non-power boating centre and has space set aside for a for a two-level restaurant. The building’s location on the waterfront provides easy access for cyclists and pedestrians. The other facility Francl designed was the Trout Lake Ice Arena in east Vancouver. The new ice rink replaces an aging community centre facility. The rink served as a practice facility for competitors participating in the Games, and was successfully converted for public use after the Games. Specific Clarity

The 2010 Winter Olympics and Paralympics, held in Vancouver, offered a large number of talented architects across western Canada an opportunity to showcase their approach, Francl included. Based on the reputation of his previous work, Francl was given the privilege of designing two sites. Both sites combined the challenge of providing a world-class facility that could serve the local citizens post-Olympics. Francl not only met the challenge, but far exceeded it with these two projects.

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Building

Details

Provide

The Trout Lake Ice Arena building is located at the foot of an east-facing slope, between the park edge and Trout Lake. This siting — together with the roof profile, a shallow vault springing from low perimeter walls — minimizes the impact of the ice rink’s large volume and establishes a scale in keeping with the surrounding single-family neighbourhood. The west elevation is articulated by a colonnaded exterior gallery that provides views down to the ice surface. The roof structure consists of an arched steel truss spanning the length of the rink, north to south. This primary arch reduces the east–west span, which in turn allows the secondary structure of curved glulam ribs to be reduced, resulting in a simple, appealing, and efficient structure.

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British Columbia The public space (skaters’ lounge), located at the north end of the building, has good visual and physical connection to the future community centre and entrance plaza. The roof structure consists of a single central longitudinal steel arch 210 feet (64 metres) in length that is connected by pin joints to buttress the walls at the north and south ends of the ice rink. The arch is constructed as a curved, wedge-shaped, Vierendeel-type truss using wide-flange steel members with welded joints. The truss divides the roof longitudinally with one half of the roof structure bearing on the lower chord, and the other half on the upper chord, creating a clerestory

that allows natural light to penetrate into the space. The arch supports British Columbia Douglas-fir glulam beams that span across the arena from concrete columns at the exterior wall locations. The beams are spaced at 12 feet (3.6 metres) centres and are all 7.75 inches (196-millimetres) wide, but depending on load and span are either 30-inches or 36-inches (750-millimetres or 914-millimetres) deep. The glulam beams support structural steel decking. All other structural elements — including the north-, south- and west-side low roofs, gable end walls, retaining walls, and interior partitions — are constructed of exposed, cast-inplace, reinforced concrete. Vancouver stepped firmly onto the world stage in the winter of 2010, and the world was duly impressed by her many jewels. Walter Francl Architecture Inc. not only contributed to that dazzling display, but has established a tradition of designing with Vancouver’s future in mind. 

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CA Executive Journal

Fall Edition 2010