All the best, The Editorial Team We will keep adding business units that enhance our offering and separate us from our competition. “ ” Editor From The Dear Reader, Welcome to the latest issue of Construction Source Canada, the magazine that highlights the best in building and building products across the country. In this edition, we’ve cast our gaze all across the country, and we’ve looked not just at builders and developer, but also at a selection of building material suppliers, mechanical service providers, and aggregate producers and recyclers. Firstly, however, we took a look at Anthem Properties – one of the country’s leading real estate development, investment and management companies, with core offices located in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, and Sacramento. Their growing residential portfolio includes more than 20,500 homes, while their past and present commercial portfolio includes over nine million square feet of retail, industrial and office space. Today, Anthem employs a selfperforming, fully-integrated team of about 570, and together their guiding mission is to create “real estate that works” – as in works for all stakeholders, including their customers, their project partners, and the communities in which they work. For more on Anthem’s mission, we spoke to Mike Grywacheski, a leader of the company’s internal construction team. Mike also walked us through one of the company’s most significant ongoing projects, a bold and energetic master-planned mix-used community in South Coquitlam called SOCO. Meanwhile, this edition also features a look at ARRO Crushing – a leading resource in Ontario for custom onsite aggregate crushing, screening recycling, aggregate resale, and equipment rentals. We talked to owner and co-founder Jared Kuepfer about their diverse array of services and how they all contribute to their mission of making sustainable building practices possible within the construction industry. This time out, we also tell the story of Arthon. They are a longstanding Kelowna-based company with over 50 years of history in their local market. These days, they are a full-service general contracting company with expertise in a wide range of services, as well as the owners and operators of two local quarries, from which they do their own aggregate producing. We caught up with leaders from both sides of their business. They talked to us about Arthon’s ability to overcome challenges, about their depth of in-house experience and knowledge, and about their new asphalt and concrete recycling capabilities and other green initiatives. To read those stories – and more like them, about other industry leaders from across the country – just keep flipping the pages.
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THE CONSTRUCTION SOURCE CANADA With a readership exceeding 145,000 senior executives, The Construction Source takes immense pride in providing an enticing platform to amplify your message to the most pivotal audience – your valued customers. Whether your aim is to promote an exciting new condo development, attract crucial financial investments for upcoming projects, or establish a commanding brand presence, we’re here to assist you every step of the way. To explore opportunities for featuring your company or showcasing your latest project in The Construction Source, please reach out to our Group Publisher. Jermaine Poulsen e: info@theconstructionsource. The Costruction Source Canada 202 - 1200 Bay Street Toronto, Ontario M5R 2A5 E: info@theconstructionsource.ca Executive Publisher Jermaine Poulsen COO Alexandra Box Editor in Chief Zach Janes Director of Operations Scott Carter Cathy Ditchburn Director of Business Development & Marketing Tamara Breen Business Development Managers Mary Ann Taylor Mike Turenne Director of Production Vicki Lee Digital Strategist Pranim Thapa Administration Manager Belyn Quijance-Dorero
NOVEMBER 2023 ANTHEM PROPERTY GROUP Growing Places ARTHON Thinking outside the box SCOTT BUILDERS Total construction service ARRO CRUSHING Keep crushing it DIAMOND CONTRACTING Design excellence meets building excellence DAVENTRY DEVELOPMENTS Dream, design, develop VERHOEF ELECTRIC Wired for service… Grounded in trust NOBLE EXTERIORS The noble advantage TKI CONSTRUCTION Driven by ‘Culture of Quality’ THE FENCE STORE LTD. Making great neighbours INDUSTRY INNOVATIONS INCINERATING TOILETS IN THIS ISSUE NOVEMBER 2023 SCOTT BUILDERS DIAMOND CONTRACTING
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Anthem is a real estate development, investment and management company with core offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto and Sacramento. Their growing residential portfolio includes more than 20,500 homes, from master planned mixed use residential and multifamily, to townhome, rental and single family communities, while their past and present commercial portfolio includes over nine million square feet of retail, industrial and office space.
Today, the company’s portfolio comprises over 8,500 acres of current and past projects. As a self-performing, fullyintegrated team of 570, Anthem’s vision is: ‘Great Space. Great People. Great Results. Integrated through a Bold Culture.’ Anthem’s mission of ‘Creating Real Estate that Works’ is centred around a strategy of growing their diverse portfolio of real estate projects, in various asset classes, in multiple markets. They seek to create real estate that works for all their stakeholders, their customers, tenants, homeowners, partners, communities and their team. “We get fulfillment and satisfaction when the experience and outcome is meaningful for all. We begin with the end in mind, to create real estate that works,” says Mike Grywacheski, Vice President, Construction. Mike is an industry veteran, having been involved in the construction industry ever since graduating high school. He first started working with Anthem about 10 years ago as a part of a partnership on a project in Burnaby called Station Square. When that project wrapped up about two years ago, he made the transition to working with Anthem full-time. He made that move, he says, “because I liked the people, the culture, and the projects they were working on.” “It’s a great place to work and a great group of people to work with,” he says. “People here really care. We all work hard and we take our jobs seriously – but we also enjoy doing what we’re doing. We’re passionate about building great homes for our purchasers.” Over the past couple of years, Mike has overseen a variety of different projects for Anthem, including several residential and mixed-use towers and a couple master-planned communities. One of the new and exciting projects Mike is overseeing is a project in South Coquitlam called SOCO. NOVEMBER 2023
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SOCO is a bold and energetic master-planned mixed-use community situated across 1.8 million square feet. When complete, the project will be comprised of over 2,242 homes across seven towers and a six-storey rental building, and anchored by over 66,000 square feet of retail, commercial and office space. As designed and planned by the experienced team at Anthem, the community integrates striking architecture, landscaping, amenities and local conveniences. A synergistic community hub centered around transportation, access, culture and lifestyle. According to Mike, there is a lot that sets SOCO apart and makes the community appealing, particularly to residents. From a location perspective, for example, the community is very accessible, as it is located within a five minute walk to the SkyTrain, Lougheed Town Centre, and the Lower Mainland’s best transportation links. “It’s kind of a perfect location,” Mike says. “It’s close to transit and shopping. It’s incredibly convenient. You have everything right near your home. You don’t need to travel 25 or 30 minutes to do some shopping.” Meanwhile, when it comes to amenities, SOCO also has a lot to offer. SOCO Two – the aforementioned rental building – offers 12,000 square feet of resident-only amenities. Those amenities include: a lobby lounge and co-work space, an outdoor terrace and lounge, a tiny tots play area, music rooms, a DIY workshop and hobby room, a bike tine up and wash station, an entertainment lounge with a kitchen and private dining area, an outdoor terrace with a BBQ area and fire pits, a dog grooming room, NOVEMBER 2023
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NOVEMBER 2023
a gym and recovery zone, a yoga and dance studio, a golf simulator, a games and theatre room, and an infrared sauna. Of course, SOCO is also set apart by the quality of construction. That’s true of all developments by Anthem. Mike credits that consistency of quality to a few factors. First of all, he says it helps that the in-house Construction Team is involved in all phases of every project, starting all the way from the land acquisition – when the acquisition team is evaluating a potential property, the Construction Team is a key part of the conversation about the vision for the land and what can be built there. They are also heavily involved in the design phase – according to Mike, they play a key role in design meetings from the development permit stage onwards, and they provide a lot of valuable input in terms of buildability and cost-efficiency. “The advantage of that is we can help keep the project on vision and on budget,” he explains. “Because we’re active participants in the designdevelopment, we can keep the project going in the right direction.” “It also allows us to have far more background and history with the project by the time we get to construction,” Mike adds. “By the time we get to the building permit stage, we’re very familiar with the project. We understand what decisions were made and why. We understand the design intent behind everything we’re delivering. We just have a greater perspective. We see the bigger picture – and that’s reflected in the quality.” THE CONSTRUCTION SOURCE CANADA
Mike also credits the quality to the skill, talent, and dedication of their site teams. He says their Construction Team spends a lot of time working with new team members to make sure they understand the expectations in terms of quality of finish. He also says they carefully vet their subcontractors and trades – and when they find partners they like, they tend to keep using them. “We try to build win-win relationships,” Mike explains. “We believe that every project should be successful not just for us, but also for them.” While Anthem doesn’t just rely on just one trade or one supplier per category – they like to have multiple options in every discipline, and they like to keep things competitive – they do tend to form longstanding relationships with the pool of trades and suppliers they select from. Some of those relationships go back decades, Mike says. One example of a longstanding supplier is Toro Aluminum Group of Companies – they are one of the premier window wall and door suppliers for high-rise condominiums, office buildings and hotels across Canada. Like Anthem, they have offices all over the country, as well as one office in the United States (also located in California). Also like Anthem, they are committed to earning repeat business and referrals by achieving customer satisfaction in all areas. In their case, those areas include: applied testing programs, quality control, design innovations, attention to detail, competitive pricing, and service-minded attitudes Another example is Excelsior Kitchens Limited – a wellestablished Langley-based NOVEMBER 2023
Glotman Simpson is proud to work in partnership with Anthem Properties. glotmansimpson.com company with over 30 years’ experience in custom cabinetry design and installation for both single family housing and highrise developments. Their team strives to provide the highest level of professionalism, quality design, and craftsmanship to every project. As a company, they also strive to support their team, as much like Anthem, they believe promoting a supportive team environment is what makes their company successful. With many of their subcontractors – Toro and Excelsior included – Anthem’s relationships are not only longstanding, they are also personal. Of Anthem’s 570-plus employees, over 100 are part of the Construction Team, and many of those Construction Team members have been in the industry for many years. Over those years, those team members have built personal relationships with key suppliers and subcontractors that they can now leverage for the benefit of the company. Mike is a prime example of that – he’s been in the industry for over 30 years and he’s had a lot of exposure to a lot of different trades and subcontractors. He says that experience is extremely valuable in his current role, and he says the company’s other leaders on the Construction Team are similarly experienced. THE CONSTRUCTION SOURCE CANADA
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The future is growth Currently, construction on SOCO 1 is nearing completion, and Mike anticipates the project to be fully occupied by the middle of next year. In nearby Burnaby, the company is also about to start construction on another mixed-use community called South Yards, which will feature 2,500 homes and 60,000 square feet of vibrant commercial and retail space, surrounding a oneacre urban park. Those two projects represent some of Anthem’s larger-scale ongoing works, but they are far from the only works in the pipeline – at any given time, Mike says Anthem has well over 20 projects in various stages of development. He believes that number is likely to increase in the coming years: “The future of Anthem is growth,” he says. “We’re growing and we’re looking to grow across all asset classes. It’s not just residential – we also THE CONSTRUCTION SOURCE CANADA
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hold a number of commercial and industrial properties, and we’re looking to grow on those sides as well. We’re also doing some office space. We take a diversified approach.” “Year after year, we’re consistently growing,” he adds. “We expect that growth continue, and we definitely expect to keep growing our Construction Team. We manage the construction on all our own developments, so as the company acquires more real estate, that just means more and more work for our Construction Team. We take great pride in growing our team members. We’re invested in their professional and personal development, and provide continuous training. So we see our in-house Construction Team getting a lot bigger and doing a lot more. It’s an exciting time to be here.” NOVEMBER 2023
For more on Anthem Properties, their people, their culture, and their approach to development – and for more on their deep portfolio of residential and commercial projects – visit https://anthemproperties.com For more on SOCO in particular, including more on the location, amenities, and future releases, visit https://socobyanthem.com/ THE CONSTRUCTION SOURCE CANADA
Thinking outside the box
Arthon Industries Ltd. is a longstanding Kelowna-based company with over 50 years of history in their local market. Arthon Industries Ltd. is the parent company of a group of companies that includes Arthon Constructors Corp. (Arthon) and Sandhill Materials Inc. (SMI). Over the years, they have consistently grown and evolved in every sense – they have grown their team, their fleet of equipment, their reputation, and they have especially grown their capabilities. These days, Arthon is a full-service general contracting company with expertise in a wide range of services. They are also the owners and operators of two quarries, from which they do their own aggregate producing. In all facets of their business, they have become known for thinking outside the box and overcoming challenges. “We see problems as opportunities,” says Keith Meldrum, Vice President, Special Projects. “We get some tough jobs, and that’s no accident. We’re known for our ingenuity in the face of a challenge.” “Some of our solutions involve synergistic partnerships, alternative construction methods, procuring and developing local resources, and developing new markets locally and internationally,” he adds. Keith joined Arthon a little over a decade ago, in May of 2013. Since then, he has seen the company evolve rapidly, especially from a mining perspective. In the last three years alone, he says that their aggregate sales have expanded considerably. He credits that success to “our leadership team, dedicated employees, extensive fleet of equipment, multiple quarry operations, rigorous health and safety programs, and successful strategic partnerships.” Today, Arthon’s services and capabilities are truly wideranging. They are a full service general contracting company specializing in bulk excavation NOVEMBER 2023
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work, infrastructure and utilities installations, mine development,damconstruction, drilling and blasting, major highway construction, and site reclamation. In addition, as previously mentioned, Arthon also owns and operates two quarries where they develop and produce their own on-site aggregate sources – those include the Crawford Quarry in Kelowna and the Sandhill Mine and Quarry in Kitimat. From the Crawford Quarry, they supply blue granite aggregate products at competitive prices to both residential and commercial clients in the Okanagan. Meanwhile, the company’s Sandhill resource is ideally situated to support development projects in northwest British Columbia and the resource has supplied quality aggregates in the local market over the past 70 years. Currently, on the contracting side, Arthon is focused on projects in the private resource sector. In recent years, they have done premine development, as well as work within existing mines. One of their latest projects, for instance, involved providing significant safety upgrades to an old, closed mine. According to Keith, those private resource clients tend to choose Arthon because of their ability to problem-solve. “These projects are not typically straightforward,” Keith explains. “They can be challenging; they can be complex. You don’t always know what you’re getting into. That doesn’t scare us.” “We have a really experienced, knowledgeable team that’s NOVEMBER 2023
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very skilled at thinking things through and coming up with alternative solutions,” he elaborates. “We can look at a job as proposed, and then we can offer unique solutions that will be of benefit to the owner because they will save them time or money. We can meet their needs but do it in a way that’s much more efficient than they had originally considered.” “Efficiency is our strong point,” he continues. “We have some really creative operational people here who can flip a telescope around and say, ‘We see what the client needs to achieve, but here’s a better way to do it.’” “We also have on-site production that really understands moving earth,” he says. “They know how to match the right tools to the right job. They always make sure they’re using the right equipment to meet the needs of the client. Then we constantly monitor and track everything we do, so we’re always on top of what we’re doing.” Most importantly, the team at Arthon meets the needs of their clients safely. Keith emphasizes the importance of that safety piece: “Literally everything that we do is guided by health and safety,” he says. “Whenever we look at a job, we look at it through the lens of health and safety. That’s first and foremost. We’re not interested in seeing anybody get hurt. A lot of companies talk about that, but we live and breathe it. It starts with our ownership group – they are very strong about health and safety.” NOVEMBER 2023
“So, we create that efficiency, but without ever, ever, ever stepping back from safety,” he adds. “We may not always be the lowest bid, but our costs address health, safety, and the correct deliverable to the client.” As an aggregate producer, Keith says the first thing that sets Arthon apart is the quality of their product. Again, he credits that quality to both the calibre of their team and the strictness of their processes and policies: “We have some crack aggregate specifications people here,” he says, “and we’re constantly monitoring the aggregate that we produce. We’re testing our product on a daily basis. We’re always making sure that we’re either meeting or exceeding our specifications.” Another key point of difference on the aggregate side – according to Josh Zwaagstra, Crawford Quarry Supervisor and Mine Manager– are the extra services that Arthon provides their clients. For example, the company recently introduced a well-received recycling program, wherein they take waste disposal concrete and asphalt and turn it into reusable aggregates. “We noticed a big bottleneck in the Kelowna market was what people were doing with their waste materials, with their asphalt, with their concrete,” he recalls. “So, we looked for ways to maximize the effectiveness of using those products to create reusable products. We looked for ways to take the waste materials that our customers were hauling away, and instead re-use them, turn them into new products, and send them back to site.” Using their unique knowledge and specialized equipment, Arthon has discovered a process that indeed allows them to recycle asphalt and concrete. They have also launched other green initiatives to divert their clients’ waste from landfills. “So, contractors, instead of having to send their trucks away to the other end of town and wait for the Kelowna landfill to open up, they can send their trucks to us,” Josh explains. “They can do green disposals – we have a top-soil program and a mulch program – or they can bring us waste concrete or waste asphalt, and we can reuse those waste materials for green aggregates and send them away with a high-quality product.” THE CONSTRUCTION SOURCE CANADA
Busier than ever As Keith has repeatedly emphasized, a key part of achieving the level of efficiency that Arthon achieves – on both the contracting and mining sides – is having the right team in place. However, he clarifies that that means not only having the right team members inhouse, but also collaborating with the right subcontractors and suppliers. One example of a trusted subcontractor would be TwinCon Enterprises – a longstanding Penticton-based company specializing in earth moving, civil construction, subdivision development, and landscaping. Like Arthon, they are a company that has grown and evolved rapidly and substantially over the years, and that evolution has been powered by their commitment to their work, the relationships they have fostered with clients, and by the excellence and longevity of their team. Also like Arthon, their business is based on ‘community’ and ‘respect,’ – NOVEMBER 2023
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values reflected in the work they produce and the satisfaction of their clients. As Arthon grows, Keith says that Arthon will strive to maintain their relationships with partners like TwinCon, and he says that when they bring on new partners, they will look for the same values. Moving forward, from a contracting perspective Keith also says that Arthon will continue to “look at what’s happening in the resource sector.” “In British Columbia, there’s a lot of resource development happening in the northwest and parts of the northeast, so we’ll continue to look at those opportunities.” Arthon manages Ponds Ventures Inc. (Ponds) – a land development company that is owned by the family of the majority owner of Arthon. Ponds is currently looking to develop land to help meet the growing demand for housing in Kelowna. Arthon is likely to be a part of those projects in the future as well. Lastly, when it comes to their mining and aggregate production activities, Josh says “we are busier than we’ve ever been.” “It’s a growing market, and we’ve seen dramatic increases in recent years,” he says. “We want to do our part to satisfy the needs of that market.” As part of that effort, Arthon plans to start producing new products within the next year and grow their product range. They also plan to continue refining and expanding their recycling capabilities: “We’re going to have a heavy focus on recycling,” Josh concludes. “That’s what we’ve noticed people want. Our recycled product so far has functioned really well, and all our material assessors have been happy with it. We want to keep going down that path. We want to help our clients be as efficient as possible.” NOVEMBER 2023
THE CONSTRUCTION SOURCE CANADA For more on Arthon Industries, their wide range of services and capabilities, their past projects, and their strategic partnerships – and to get in touch with their teams in both Kelowna and Kitimat – visit https://arthon.com/
Total construction service
Scott Builders is a longstanding Alberta building company that offers clients a “total construction service,” from design to completion. Between their three full-service branches in Calgary, Edmonton, and Red Deer, they employ an experienced team of roughly 150 building professionals, with expertise spanning virtually every delivery method, construction service, and project typology. That expertise and experience enables the company to deliver projects on time, on budget, and to a high standard of design and construction quality excellence. That excellence, in turn, leads to customer satisfaction and loyalty – over the course of Scott Builders’ 50-plus-year history, repeat clients have averaged over 70 per cent of their business. “As a provider of total construction services, we are poised to handle any project from new construction and renovations, to full service maintenance programs,” says Cliff Huber, a business development manager in the Edmonton office. “Through collaboration, we become an extension of our clients’ team. Together we create buildings that are functional, aesthetic, within budget, and built with exceptional quality.” Scott Builders was first formed in Red Deer in 1971, and for a long time remained a relatively small regional general contractor, specializing in the sale and erection of Butler Engineered Building Systems. In 1978, they began to broaden their service options into design-build work, but still remained relatively regional. In 1986, however, the company was taken over by Ralph Ward, who saw a lot of potential in Scott Builders. In Ralph’s view, it was a company “that took very good care of its customers and its people,” From that point, Scott Builders started growing quickly. Within three years, they had opened full service offices in NOVEMBER 2023
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Calgary and Edmonton. Their growth was powered by their ability to design and construct large projects, as well as their expanding base of repeat customers. In the years since, the milestones have kept coming. For example, in 2008, Scott Builders undertook another major evolution when they become a fully employeeowned company. In 2010, they were ranked amongst the Top 50 Contractors in Canada. In 2021, they celebrated their 50th anniversary in business. Then in 2023, they started work on a mix of exciting new projects – including a 500,000-square-foot headquarters and distribution centre in Edmonton, an Elders Lodge near Grand Cache, some significant projects for local First Nations communities, as well as the regular mix of car dealerships, fire halls, and light industrial developments, among others. Cliff has been working with the company since 1997. Other team leaders working out of Edmonton include Justin Bourgeois, who joined the company in 2011, and Terry Gray, who joined in 2021. All three bring many years of design and project management experience to their roles – as do all the leaders at Scott Builders, at every branch and in every division. According to Justin, that depth of experience and expertise is one of the main reasons clients choose Scott Builders. That experience, he explains, gives the company the ability to adapt and overcome challenges, as there are virtually no problems their team hasn’t seen and solved. With experience also comes NOVEMBER 2023
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familiarity with clients and their needs, Justin adds. The ability to anticipate and accommodate those needs in turn leads to repeat business – which, as previously established, makes up the vast majority of Scott Builders’ work. “That repeat business is a testament to the kind of customer service we provide,” Justin says. Lots of companies can build a building, but what sets us apart is how we get there. We communicate with our clients. We treat them with respect and integrity. We’re transparent when it comes to costs and schedule. That’s what we hope sets us apart.” Terry emphasizes the importance of transparency, in particular: “We do a lot of open book cost-plus agreements with our clients,” he explains. “In my past life, I spent four years as an owner’s rep from a project management standpoint, and I always used to tell clients that was how you get the best value from a project.” “It breeds trust,” he adds. “When you’re open book and everything is out there, when you have everyone at the table and you’re all collaborating, that breeds trust. Then at the end of that process, we frequently offer to flip it over to a stipulated price once we’re locked in. If the client needs a lump sum for their banking, we can flip it to that, but that’s after everyone has been through the estimate with a fine tooth comb, so everyone knows exactly what’s going to be delivered and what each part of it is going to cost.” Scott Builders also continues to be transparent throughout the whole project lifecycle. Their transparency doesn’t end after NOVEMBER 2023
a price has been negotiated. “Throughout a construction process, there are always fires you have to put out, there are problems, there are unforeseen circumstances,” Justin explains. “How you communicate those issues to clients can either help the relationship or hurt the relationship. We’re transparent every step of the way.” “We’re also solution-driven,” Cliff adds. “If there’s an issue, we make clients aware of it right away, but we don’t just come to them with problems, we come to them with solutions.” Again, Justin reiterates, the ability to provide those solutions comes from the company’s experience. In particular, he says their experience as design builders really powers that aptitude. “Even on construction management jobs where we didn’t do the design, we’re very open to designassisting and working with the clients’ consultants as part of a team to find the solution,” he says. “I think a lot of companies in that position would consider it not their problem and leave finding the answer to the clients’ consultants, but we’re very team-based. We believe in cooperation. We believe in getting everyone at the table and solving the problem.” One more thing that sets Scott Builders apart is their quality control. They strive for “zero deficiencies,” according to Cliff. To achieve that standard, they conduct frequent inspections at every stage of a project. They also have a ‘procedure manual’ that they follow, which is a document they are continually refining. Scott Builders also works with many of the same subcontractors and trades on an ongoing basis, which is also helpful when it comes to quality control and assurance. Cliff says some of those relationships go back more than 25 years. At the same time, he says they are always on the lookout for new trades to add to their roster, but they will only work with a company again if they prove they can deliver to Scott Builders’ quality expectations. THE CONSTRUCTION SOURCE CANADA
Growing and developing In recent years, particularly post-pandemic, Scott Builders’ has seen the market become more challenging. According to Cliff, clients have started asking for a lot more information during the procurement stage of a project, while the the preconstruction and permitting stages of projects have typically gotten longer and thus more costly. Environmental requirements have also gotten more stringent, which presents yet another challenge. In response to those challenges, Scott Builders is investing heavily in the training of their staff. For example, they are now “embarking on training an initial cross-section of our Edmonton staff with the Lean Six Sigma skills,” Cliff says. “The intent is for those initial staff members to gain Yellow Belt Certification, and the hope is that some of those members will continue through with Green and Black Belt Certifications.” NOVEMBER 2023
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Scott Builders is also focused on forming strategic partnerships with companies farther along in their sustainability journeys, including Aboriginal companies. (That’s not to say, however, that Scott Builders doesn’t already have some of their own experience with sustainable design and construction. In recent years, the company has built several LEED accredited facilities, as well as Alberta’s first commercial Passive House® facility, which was the Valleyview Town Hall.) Moving forward, equipped with their newly-trained staff, and with the help of their strategic partners, Scott Builders’ goal is to continue pursuing and winning a variety of project types in a variety of sectors. Their goal now is to “grow, develop, and evolve,” Cliff says, and that means entering new markets and taking on new challenges. “We want to take on larger projects and more complex projects,” Terry says. “We want to challenge ourselves and challenge our staff.” “We also want to keep creating multi-year, multi-project relationships with clients,” he concludes. “That’s how this company has been able to grow over the years, and we want to keep that up. That’s one of our core values: to ‘earn our clients unequivocal commitment to do business with us again.’ We do that by communicating, by being transparent, and by building great projects – and that’s what we’re going to keep doing.” NOVEMBER 2023
For more on Scott Builders, their range of delivery methods, their services and capabilities, and their past and present projects – and for more on their expert team, including Justin, Terry and Cliff – visit https://scottbuilders.com/ THE CONSTRUCTION SOURCE CANADA
Keep crushing it
ARRO Crushing is among Ontario’s leading resources for custom onsite aggregate crushing, screening recycling, aggregate resale, and equipment rentals. From their home base in Cambridge, they employ a team of highly-experienced crushing professionals and they serve clients right at their demolition sites, asphalt plants, concrete plants, recycling yards, and quarries all across southern Ontario. Their mission is to provide their clients with services that make sustainable building practices possible within the construction industry.
“ARRO Crushing is more than just a concrete crushing company,” says Jared Kuepfer, owner and co-founder of the business. “We offer full processing services to deal with leftover concrete from construction, demolitions or concrete plants. Our capacity for recycling concrete is essential for providing sustainable construction.” Jared was raised in a farming community, where his family runs a company that works with natural stone for the faces of houses and buildings. Growing up, he used to go with his father to visit different quarries in Ontario, which sparked his interest in the industry. He went on to work with his father for eight years in the family business, before spending a couple years doing sewer and water main work for a local excavation contractor. Eventually, Jared had the “entrepreneurial itch,” he decided to start his own business. He got the idea to get into custom crushing, and in the summer of 2019, he formed ARRO Crushing with his business partner. They began in the small town of Millbank, equipped with only some small crushing equipment that they had purchased from auction. From there, the company grew at a rapid pace. They started doing small-scale agricultural work, but they quickly earned the opportunity to bid on some larger projects. After winning some of those “decentsized” projects, they upgraded their equipment, hired some employees, and the growth just kept coming. “Those clients kept sending us to more and more of their sites, and word got around that we had good customer service,” Jared recalls. “As we picked up more work, we picked up more equipment. It was all driven by customer demand.” In the last few years, ARRO Crushing has expanded aggressively in terms of both their fleet size and their service offering. Today, that offering NOVEMBER 2023
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starts with mobile crushing and screening – they offer onsite crushing and screening services to take care of recycled concrete, asphalt, or natural stones like limestone and bring them to their clients’ desired dimensions. As Jared previously mentioned, however, ARRO is more than just a crushing company. They also do recycling of concrete and asphalt – “which breathes new life into these otherwise unsustainable building materials.” That process requires specialized equipment and experienced operators, which ARRO Crushing has. To recycle concrete, for example, they use a magnetequipped impact crusher that breaks down the concrete while separating away the steel pieces. Their crusher breaks the concrete down to any size of their clients’ liking. They finish with a clean, recycled aggregate that can go off to be used in a variety of applications. When it comes to asphalt, meanwhile, ARRO’s top-of-theline crushing equipment will break down old asphalt and run it through a series of screens to create a fine aggregate for many uses. The resulting processed and recycled asphalt is a great alternative for new asphalt mixes while also reducing the need for new material processing and use. On top of their crushing and recycling services, ARRO also now helps clients with aggregate resale if it turns out they don’t need some of the aggregates leftover from their crushing and screening services. Resale can be a timeconsuming hands-on task that clients don’t want to bother with – ARRO Crushing takes NOVEMBER 2023
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that hassle away by buying their unwanted or leftover aggregates and bringing them to the right markets, so clients don’t have to – and so the extra piles don’t have to take up space on their job site. Lastly, ARRO Crushing also offers equipment rentals – and their rentals come with operators that can handle almost any job. If a client has a specific task but they don’t have the equipment or the operator to get it done, ARRO can step in and provide a comprehensive service that gets the job done properly and safely. They offer customized rental plans that fit short-term, long-term, and reoccurring jobs. In general, no matter what service ARRO is providing – from crushing concrete and asphalt, to recycling it, to reselling the leftover aggregates, all the way to equipment rentals – Jared believes what sets the ARRO apart is their reliability. He says they have proven that “we do what we say we’re going to do, in the time-frame we say we’re going to do it in.” “A lot of our clients have tight schedules,” he elaborates. “They have certain dates for when they want us in their yard and when they want us out again. Oftentimes that doesn’t leave a lot of time for us – but we’ve proven that we’re able to come in, tell them what we’re going to do, follow through and do it in a safe and timely manner, and then go off to the next site and repeat the process without too many surprises along the way.” Jared largely credits that nimbleness and efficiency to the company’s team: “We have a team of hardworking individuals who are committed to doing whatever it takes to get the job done,” he says. “And we NOVEMBER 2023
have a good mix of experience and youth. We’ve got some older guys who work for us that have been in the industry for a long time, and we have some 19 and 20-year-olds that are willing to put in long days and go above and beyond to help the company achieve our greater mission.” “In many ways, we’re building the base for Ontario,” he adds. “We’re building the base for the roads, the bridges, the hospitals. One of the first steps on any infrastructure project after breaking ground is to start hauling in gravel – and oftentimes that’s recycled gravel that we may have produced. That’s something I tell my guys all the time, and I think that’s something they respond to. We’re making a real impact.” At the same time, Jared also credits the company’s efficiency to them having the right fleet of equipment. He talks about how carefully they have selected that fleet, and how they have refined that fleet over the years to best meet their clients’ needs: “We’re dialled in on what equipment we need for different projects, and we remain committed to purchasing and customizing our equipment to fit the sites that we handle.” On that note, Jared also credits the calibre of their equipment suppliers. He says they take care to work with only the most reliable and highest-quality suppliers in the industry, and their goal is to form longstanding relationships with those partners. For example, one longstanding supplier is RTI Equipment Solutions, based in Innisfil, Ontario. They are among the THE CONSTRUCTION SOURCE CANADA
province’s premier sources for heavy equipment sales, service, rentals, and parts. As an authorized and trusted dealer of Hyundai Construction Equipment, they sell and rent a wide range of Hyndai’s industryleading machinery, from excavators to wheel loaders, skid-steer loaders, and more. They also have a well-stocked parts department, and a team of certified technicians equipped to handle maintenance, repairs, and upgrades. Whatever their client needs, the team at RTI seeks to provide them with the advice they need to make the most informed decisions, and then the right equipment solutions to meet their needs. In that way, they are very similar to ARRO Crushing – and that’s what ARRO looks for in their supply partners, companies that share the same values as them. “Our relationships with suppliers are critical,” Jared says. “Having a reliable supply of parts and consumables is a huge part of our business. We need those relationships to be strong to be successful.” NOVEMBER 2023
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Here for the long haul Currently, a high priority of ARRO Crushing is building and affirming their reputation in the local market: “We’ve been putting a lot of effort into establishing our company name in the marketplace as one of the market leaders,” Jared explains. “We also want to establish ourselves as a company that’s not going away any time soon. We intend on being here for the long haul. We’re not just in this industry to get in, make some money, and get out. We’re going to be around. We’re going to keep adding equipment and people to our team.” “Our main goal is to become a long-term partner for our customers,” he adds. “That’s how we’ve grown so far, it’s from customers bringing us back to their sites over and over again, and we want that to continue.” Another main goal, Jared says, is “expanding our presence across the province.” “We think there’s lots of room for growth. We’re definitely growth-minded. Over the next year, people are definitely going to see us expand. What form that expansion will take exactly is hard to say, but I imagine it will involve us building our fleet of machinery and adding to our ability to produce more volume on a monthly basis.” NOVEMBER 2023
For more on ARRO Crushing, their wide range of services and capabilities, and their quoting options – and to get in touch with Jared and his team – visit www.arrocrushing.ca You can also find ARRO Crushing on Instagram, where they like to highlight the exceptional work of their employees, at www.instagram.com/arro_crushing_ltd THE CONSTRUCTION SOURCE CANADA
Design excellence meets building excellence
Diamond Contracting is an award-winning renovation company that specializes in providing a complete designbuild service to clients in Edmonton and surrounding areas. Their multi-disciplined team is equipped with over 20 years’ industry experience in both design and contracting, and together they service clients from concept to completion, no matter the size or scale of their project. Whether they are renovating a small area, an entire home, or a commercial space, their goal is to provide their customers with exceptional craftsmanship, efficient project management, and a positive end-to-end experience. “We’re a family-owned business, and our client relationships are built on referrals,” says Sheldon Ens, co-owner and president of the company. “We strive to create the very best client experience possible throughout every job by ensuring every project runs like a well-oiled machine.” “No matter the size of renovation, we understand the importance of creating intentional and comfortable spaces without compromising beauty or function,” adds Kendall Judd, co-owner and lead designer. “We aim to design and build spaces for growing families, downsizing couples, developing companies, and everything in between.” Both Sheldon and Kendall come from deep backgrounds in the construction industry. Sheldon, for his part, has been building for over 25 years. He first formed Diamond Contracting in the year 2000, originally working as a finishing carpenter and cabinet installer. Over the years, he grew the business to include residential and commercial renovations, additions, and infill projects. Kendall, meanwhile, was exposed to the construction industry at an early age, as her father owned a residential construction business. Growing up, she acquired an interest for NOVEMBER 2023
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the industry, and she pursued that interest through school, graduating with Honours from N.A.I.T in the Interior Design Technology program. After five years working for a local design company, she decided to strike out on her own and form a company called Revolving Rooms Interior Design. In 2008, Kendall and Sheldon decided to team up and begin tackling design-build projects together. “We realized there was a need in the local industry for a company that had both design and contracting capabilities under one roof,” Kendall recalls. “That was a niche that was going unfilled. Typically, clients would hire a designer and a contractor separately, and oftentimes the communication between the two companies wasn’t as strong as it should be – sometimes it was even non-existent.” “The client would hire a designer, they would design something, they would sell that package to the client, and then they would be out of the picture for the rest of the construction scope,” she elaborates. “We found that left the contractor kind of high and dry. Because some things may have been communicated to the designer and not the contractor, and then those things wouldn’t transfer to the site. And if halfway through the construction process something came up and they needed access to the designer, the designer might not be available.” “Both Sheldon and I saw that happening and we realized there was a really good opportunity for us to work under one roof,” she says. “From there, our businesses really took off. The advantages NOVEMBER 2023
were immediately obvious. If something happened on site and a decision needed to be made, we were able to make that decision in-house very quickly and avoid delays and save the clients’ money. Because things almost always come up in construction – it’s how you deal with them in the moment that matters.” In the years since Sheldon and Kendall teamed up, Diamond Contracting has grown considerably. About 15 years ago, the company employed a team of just two or three carpenters, while Revolving Rooms Interior Design employed just two or three designers. Today, they employ roughly 13 people, including finishing carpenters, flooring professionals, administrative staff, and design staff. They all work together out of a 6,000-square-foot space in Edmonton, which includes a production bay, a design studio, and a state-of-the-art showroom. These days, Diamond Contracting mainly takes on home renovations of varying sizes and scopes, though they also tackle the occasional commercial project. In both sectors, Kendall believes that clients mainly choose Diamond for the obvious reason – which would be their combination of design and build capabilities, and the aforementioned synergy that comes with providing both services under one roof. Kendall doesn’t believe that’s the only reason clients gravitate to Diamond Contracting, however. She also says that clients value the handson personal attention they receive from the owners of the company: THE CONSTRUCTION SOURCE CANADA
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