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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. The time out, we’ve taken a look at a wide variety of industry players, from architects to builders to property managers, to door specialists. All are longstanding contributors to the construction industry, with decades-long histories as leaders in their fields. Chanden Homes, for example, is a property management company with over 20 years’ local experience. Based in the Steinbach and Winnipeg area, they are a family-owned company led by Leon Reimer and his children Chantelle and Caden. We spoke to Leon and Chantelle about the company’s roots in building, about how that background informs their dedication to providing quality homes for renters, and about their mission to create “a sense of community” in all their projects moving forward. TCA Architects, meanwhile, is a full-service architectural firm based in Hamilton, Ontario. Following the promotion of two of their longterm senior associates, they will soon be known as CGS Architects. We spoke to the principals representing all three of those letters – founder William J.E. Curran, Stevan Gaseca, and Kyle Slote. They talked us through some of the firm’s most recently acclaimed projects, their driving passion for Hamilton, and the part they are playing in the city’s revitalization. There’s also Gestion DMG Management, a general contractor based in the Ottawa-Gatineau region of both Ontario and Quebec. They are experts in the fields of commercial, institutional, and government construction. On the Quebec side, they are recognized industry experts with a deep bench of repeat clients and a portfolio of successful multimillion projects. They are currently building the same reputation in Ontario. Then there’s Canadian Door Doctor, the aforementioned door specialists. They are another proudly family-owned company, and in their case they have been operating for over 40 years. We talked to Managing Partner Chad Dommasch about that legacy and about the keys to that longevity. We also talked about the many benefits of that longevity, including the unrivalled product knowledge and experience that comes with it. For those stories – and a lot more like them, about more industry leaders across the construction spectrum – just keep reading.
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THE CONSTRUCTION SOURCE CANADA With over 90,000 senior executive readers, The Construction Source is proud to offer an attractive platform to share you message with the people that matter most - your customers. Whether your objective is to promote a new condo development, attract financial investment in your upcoming projects, or to build brand recognition, we stand ready to help! To find out more about having your company or latest project feature in The Construction Source, please contact our Group Publisher. Jermaine Poulsen e: info@theconstructionsource.ca The Costruction Source Canada 2201 - 250 Yonge St Toronto, Ontario M5B 2L7 E: info@theconstructionsource.ca Group Publisher Jermaine Poulsen General Manager Alexandra Box Operations Manager Michael Hinden Head of Editorial Content Paul Harrison Production Manager Vicki Lee Editor Zach Janes Graphic Design Pranim Thapa
JULY 2022 ARCHDESIGN CABINETRY Precision and quality CHANDEN HOMES Properties with pride FORTHRIGHT VENTURES By Manitobans, for Manitobans CANADIAN DOOR DOCTOR Door specialists THIER + CURRAN ARCHITECTS Transformative design GESTION DMJ MANAGEMENT Innovative partners THOSE GUYS PLUMBING AND ELECTRICAL Making things easy TCA ELECTRIC A brighter future INDUSTRY INNOVATIONS INCINERATING TOILETS IN THIS ISSUE JULY 2022 GESTION DMJ MANAGEMENT CANADIAN DOOR DOCTOR
THE CONSTRUCTION SOURCE CANADA THIER + CURRAN ARCHITECTS
JULY 2022 Industry INNOVATIONS MODERN & ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY TOILET SOLUTIONS
THE CONSTRUCTION SOURCE CANADA Water connection not required Requires little space No odour Easy installation No frost protection needed Secure for children ash to be emptied No waste handling, only and more Bunkies, For Home, Cottages, Shops, 3 - 4 visits per hour High capacity Propane&Electric models ABOUT CINDERELLA ECO GROUP Cinderella Eco Group is a family-owned company located in the north-western coastal community of Midsund in Romsdal, with deep roots in the beautiful Norwegian fjord-landscape. We have more than 20 years’ experience with the Cinderella Incineration Toilet, a water-free, ecological solution for the management of toilet waste. Cinderella, the natural first choice for those who place high demands on quality and functionality. HIGHLIGHTS OF INCINERATION TOILETS:
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Precision and quality Archdesign Cabinetry is a full-service residential and commercial custom cabinetry company. From their office in Cranbrook, British Columbia, in the heart of the Kootenays, they are perfectly positioned to seamlessly deliver, install, and service all of their products throughout their region. Founder and owner Garold Gipman has a lifetime of industry experience, and over the course of his career he has successfully delivered over 1000 jobs. Armed with that experience and backed by that track record, he says he can “guarantee precision and quality to the highest standards” – a rarity in the cabinetry industry, he believes.
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THE CONSTRUCTION SOURCE CANADA Garold has personally been around cabinetmaking and millwork almost all his life. He was “born and raised in a cabinet shop,” he says, and he started working as a cabinetmaker at a young age. In 2016, he temporarily stepped away from the industry in order to earn more business experience, but by January of 2019 he was ready to return and start his own business. That’s when Archdesign Cabinetry commenced. From the start, Garold says the vision for Archdesign to do high-end projects around the Kootenays, both residential and commercial. The vision was also to build a reputation for being easy to work with. “We wanted to make a name for ourselves for our quality, our attention to detail, and our customer service,” he explains. “The cabinetry industry doesn’t always have the best reputation, but we wanted to subvert that. We wanted to make our clients lives easy by putting more care attention into both the frontend process and the installation process.” Initially, Archdesign Cabinetry was just Garold and his wife. The company quickly earned their desired reputation, however, and their success coincided with the growth of the Kootenays and increased activity in the building space. In just a few years, Archdesign has developed a team of five install “From the start, Garold says the vision for Archdesign to do high-end projects around the Kootenays, both residential and commercial. The vision was also to build a reputation for being easy to work with.”
crews, who now all work almost full time. Today, between those teams, Archdesignoffers a “full service,” from design and engineering to project management and custom cabinetry installation. They cater to both the residential and commercial markets. According to Garold, clients in both sectors tend to discover Archdesign through referrals: “We actually don’t do many projects with people who don’t know us personally, or who don’t know anyone who has done a project with us before,” he says. “That’s almost always the foot in the door with us.” “When we start working with a new client, they have already heard about how well we’re going to take care of them,” he adds. “They know we’re going to be there at both the front-end and the back-end. The backend is particularly important. That’s how we get most of our referrals. We finish strong. We execute properly.” Garold credits Archdesign’s finishing capability to a few key factors. One of them is their internal quality assurance policy – they utilize a stringent series of procedures, programs and checks and balances as a means of ensuring that all work performed exceed industry standards. That policy also ensures they achieve compliance with all specifications requested, applicable building codes, regulations, standards, specifications, and other relevant requirements. At the same time, a just-asJULY 2022
important factor is the team at Archdesign. According to Garold, they have assembled a “phenomenal group of people.” “All of our installers are very highly skilled,” he says. “We don’t just send anyone to a job site. They are all extremely well-trained and they have all proven themselves capable of delivering quality.” “We also have a great front office staff,” he adds. “We have an incredible office manager, Sherri, an extremely detailed operations manager, Nolin, a lot of drafters, and a lot of engineers – we have a lot of horsepower on the front end, which makes our clients’ lives very easy.” Having that experience and knowledge in the office is important, Garold explains, because of how technicallyexacting their work can be. “There really is a lot of detail in cabinetmaking. Astronomical detail, actually. To get it right, you have to know what you’re doing. You have to be able to envision what’s going to happen in the space, and that only comes from experience. We have that experience.” Going back to their quality assurance, Archdesign also has an extremely detailed front-end checklist that they go through with every client. It’s a six page booklet and it actually takes about anhour to get through. By the end, they have a complete understanding of what the client wants and needs, and they can design them a custom cabinetry solution that ticks all their boxes Then, when it comes to THE CONSTRUCTION SOURCE CANADA
manufacturing that very specific product, Archdesign relies on a state-of-the-art production facility – “the highest quality productionmanufacturingplant that I could find,” according to Garold. “We’re their largest client by far,” he explains. “They take care of us. We don’t see any material issues or issues with supply. We can get to site on time, the day we say, every time, without fail. That’s a great thing we can offer to our clients – especially important in this area, which is fairly remote.” Finally, when it comes to the installation of their product, Garold stresses the calibre of their team: “We only hire the best installers,” he reiterates. “We’re very selective about who gets to touch our cabinets. They have to have at least 10 years’ experience. They have to have a proven track record.” “And they have to prove themselves,” he adds. “If they have too big a deficiency list during the first few jobs they do for us, they don’t get another opportunity.” “Our operations manager oversees everyone, and after every single job they go to site and do an inspection. We cut no corners on the back-end. We need to know that the job is done right. We take quality very seriously.” According toGarold, Archdesign Cabinetry is able to attract and retain those high-quality team members for several key reasons. Firstly, he credits the quality of their work. The projects they take on tend to JULY 2022
be challenging and interesting, “so you have to use your head every single day, you can’t turn your brain off – and I think the people we hire tend to like that challenge.” Secondly, Garold credits the quality of their clients. He says that Archdesign is just as selective about them as the other way around, so the clients they work with tend to be good people. Lastly, Archdesign is a growing company, which means there’s room for employees to grow with them. Garold believes that’s especially important. “There’s a career path available here,” he says. “Our apprentices have steps they can take to advance their careers. We have very little turnover, and I think that’s one of the main reasons.” Archdesign’s relationships with their other stakeholders also tend to be longstanding. That includes their relationships with their clients, with their production plant, and with their roster of suppliers, vendors, and other external partners. For example, one frequent and enduring external partner is Big Magic Design, a multidisciplinary branding, design, and print house headquartered in Kimberley, BC. They equip their clients, like Archdesign, with all the necessary visual and verbal tools to clearly portray their vision. They make sure there is alignment between their clients’ vision and their product or service and they help show their clients’ company in the best light. THE CONSTRUCTION SOURCE CANADA
Creating a name Moving forward, the vision for Archdesign Cabinetry is to continue down the path they are on. They want to keep growing and they want to keep taking on high-end projects. According to Garold, the jobs that most excite them are the “very challenging ones.” “The ones that most companies just don’t understand how to do properly – those are the ones that excite us the most,” Garold says. “We love the ones that are extremely challenging, the ones that require a lot of engineering to make things work.” Currently, Archdesign is working with a few builders that specialize in that type of highend work. Garold’s goal is to maintain his relationships with those builders by continuing to make their lives easier. His goal is also to find a few more builders like them and build similarly lasting relationships. “We have some room to grow,” he says. “We have the team and the capacity to do more. We have the horsepower we need.” “Ultimately, we want to create a name for ourselves,” he concludes. “When you’re doing any sort of cabinetry project, we want to be top-of-mind.” JULY 2022
THE CONSTRUCTION SOURCE CANADA For more on Archdesign Cabinetry, their services, and their history of projects – and to get in touch with Garold and his team – visit https://www.archdesigncabinetry.com/
Properties with pride
Chanden Homes is a family-owned property management company based in the Steinbach and Winnipeg area, and backed by over 20 years of industry experience. According to founder and owner Leon Reimer, they were founded with the goal of “getting tenants into homes they can feel proud of.” To achieve that goal, they have focused on providing rental properties that feature “cutting edge design, immaculate levels of cleanliness, and a high level of care.”
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THE CONSTRUCTION SOURCE CANADA “What sets us apart from our competition is we try to make our buildings look and feel more modern, more sleek,” he says. “We want them to feel more like condos than apartment rentals. We want them to feel high-end – but we want to provide them at a lower rent than a typical highend unit.” Leon is also the founder and owner of Integra Building Systems, a development and building company that acquires most of the land and constructs most of the properties that Chanden Homes manages. Prior to starting both companies, Leon grew up around the building industry, as his father was a carpenter and framer. “From as young as I can remember, I was on job sites watching him work,” he recalls. After graduating high school, Leon worked as a framer himself for a while, before taking a detour and embarking on another career. About 25 years ago, however, he returned to the industry when he and his wife, Valerie, invested in “a little old bungalow,” which they turned into a rental property. When that went well, they slowly started buying more bungalows and renting them out. Eventually, they started building rental properties from the ground up, progressing from single homes, to duplexes, to four-plexes, to townhouses, and finally apartment blocks. “What sets us apart from our competition is we try to make our buildings look and feel more modern, more sleek,” he says. “We want them to feel more like condos than apartment rentals. We want them to feel highend – but we want to provide them at a lower rent than a typical highend unit.”
As the company grew, so did Leon and Valerie’s children. Today, both their daughter, Chantelle, and son, Caden, are key parts of the business – which is fitting, as the company title is an amalgamation of their names. Chantelle, for her part, grew up around the business – she remembers being as young as 13 when she started helping her mom with showings. After earning a business degree, she officially joined the family business full-time. She now serves as property manager. Today, Chanden Homes and Integra Building Systems focuses largely on apartment projects with anywhere from 25 to 200 units. Geographically, they work in both Steinbach – where they started – and Winnipeg – where they expanded to roughly five years ago. No matter where they are operating, however, Chantelle says that what sets them apart is the service they provide to tenants. Their staff is friendly, they provide 24-7 maintenance, and they form personal connections with their clients. “Tenants rent from us because they want to have a no-stress experience, and that’s really what we want to provide for them,” Chantelle says. “Maintenance issues, snow removal, lawn care – we take care of everything.” “We don’t want them to feel like it’s just a rental property,” she adds. “We want them to feel like it’s their home. That’s the way we treat them.” Leon reiterates that the quality JULY 2022
of their buildings is another point of difference. Again, he says, they strive to provide a “high-end product,” but without the high-end prices. Leon credits the company’s ability to walk that tightrope, firstly, to his background in framing – “I learned from a young age the importance of doings things right,” he says. Secondly, Leon says it helps that they do “everything under one roof.” When it comes to material selection, for instance, they tend to have greater insight than most builders, because they can consult directly with their in-house maintenance personnel – who know better than anyone what products last the longest and perform the best, because they are the ones maintaining them. “We’re always looking at how we can become more efficient without compromising quality,” Leon explains. “A lot of our decisions are based upon reducing future maintenance.” In addition, Chanden Homes also invests in energymodelling, and thus they almost always achieve higher standards of energy efficiency compared to average. They do that in a variety of ways. For example, with their exterior walls, they stagger their studs in order to achieve “continuous insulation” with no thermal breaks. They also typically do a lot of extra insulating in their attics, which has a significant impact on energy performance. Thirdly, Leon credits the quality of the company’s properties to the dedication of their building team. That team includes THE CONSTRUCTION SOURCE CANADA
roughly a dozen people inhouse, as well as a longstanding roster of suppliers and contractors – some of whom have been working with Leon for two decades. “We have built some really longlasting relationships with our sub-trades,” Leon says. “We’ve built a lot of trust on both sides. We’ve found people who are willing to go the extra mile for us, and we’ll go the extra mile for them as well.” One longstanding partner, for example, is Core Electric, a Steinbach-based company that services the multi-residential and commercial sectors. They are known for delivering their services on time and with superior quality, and they strongly believe in workplace safety and continuous improvement. Those are the kinds of values that Chanden Homes looks for in their suppliers and subcontractors. According to Leon, Chanden Homes has been able to foster loyal relationships with those kinds of partners by keeping in constant communication. He says they routinely have meetings with all their subtrades, and they often ask, “What can we do on the job site to make it a better experience for you?” “If we can make some changes to make them more profitable, we’re happy to do it,” Leon says. “We know that if we do that, they’ll be more efficient, and they’ll be happier to work for us. It’s a two-way street.” JULY 2022
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Creating a connection One of Chanden Homes’ most recent properties is located at 710 Westminster Ave in Winnipeg. That project was designed by Affinity Architecture, a firm that Leon has been working with for about 12 years now. “I’ve always found Affinity to be a very good fit,” he says. “When I started working with them, they caught on to my vision right away. They understood that I wanted to have a superior building without superior cost, essentially. They’ve worked very well with us to find ways to cut costs while improving quality. They’ve been very open to suggestions and ideas and we work very well together. On 710 Westminster, the goal of the project was to create “a connection with the community.” The project includes some commercial office space, and Leon says they wanted even that to be connected. “We didn’t want to just have a big corporate commercial JULY 2022
entity,” he explains. “We wanted to provide a service to the community.” Above the commercial space, there are nine units that the company calls “loft units,” which have 12-foot-high ceilings and an “industrial look.” That kind of look is unique to the area – which is something also that Chanden wanted to provide. “You seldom see that look in brand new construction,” Leon says, “but we wanted to provide something that had a very classic high-end loft vibe, but in a new product instead of in a really old building.” Within the apartment units, they also wanted to do something unique with the kitchen design – they wanted to give their future tenants a say. According to Chantelle, during construction, they offered a choice between four different color palettes. They also offered a choice between gold and black accents on the faucets. “We made it feel much more like a personal experience for them,” she says . The market has responded strongly to those unique touches and that personal service, as almost all of the units have been fully leased prior to the completion of construction. Moving forward, Chanden Homes is hoping to replicate that success on their upcoming projects. That list includes a 136-unit apartment in Steinbach, which was also designed with the goal of “creating connections.” To create those connections, the company has included some exciting amenities, such as: a lounge roomwith a kitchenette; a games roomwith a pool table, foosball table, shuffleboard table and card table; and an oversized fitness room with a sauna. THE CONSTRUCTION SOURCE CANADA
“We made sure to include places where tenants could gather and create connections,” Leon explains. “We’ve found that people are seeking that connection, and we’re trying to provide that in our buildings.” Also coming up is a 75-unit apartment at 1800 Leila in Winnipeg. That will include similar amenities, including a fitness room, sauna, and games room. “We want to create a sense of community in our larger projects,” Leon reiterates. “We’re doing that by having gathering places.” Also, as they move forward, Chanden Homes intends to grow. They currently have four properties of various sizes under construction, and they want to maintain that pace. That will mean aggressively seeking land opportunities, which they are doing now. “Our goal has always been to have a better product at a lower price,” Leon says. “As we grow, we’re only getting better at providing that – so we want to keep growing. We want to continue building relationships and creating opportunities for our employees and subcontractors. We want to continue down the path we’re on.” JULY 2022
THE CONSTRUCTION SOURCE CANADA For more on Chanden Homes and their properties – and to get touch with Leon, Chantelle, and their team – visit https://chandenhomes.com/
By Manitobans, for Manitobans
Forthright Ventures is a family-owned builder of multi-family rental apartments and townhouses throughout Manitoba, with a growing focus on the City of Winnipeg. Since forming in 2011, they have grown and evolved to become local leaders in land acquisition, project management, and construction. Their goal today is to design and develop multi-family residential developments in order to provide underserved communities throughout the province with modern, functional rental apartments and townhouses.
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THE CONSTRUCTION SOURCE CANADA “As a locally-owned-andoperated business, we take great pride in supporting our local community,” says Jordan Sodomsky, Vice President. “Our properties are built by Manitobans, for Manitobans.” Forthright Ventures was originally founded by three brothers and a cousin. At the time, the family was looking around Winnipeg and seeing a lot of growth in what they called the “submarkets” in and around the city, but they didn’t see a lot of developers taking advantage. They decided that “now was the time to provide a good quality stock of rental housing in these underserved areas.” They started off developing townhomes and smaller apartment units. After achieving some early success, they started steadily increasing the size and scale of their projects. “Over time, we came to amass close to 1,000 units in those submarkets,” Jordan recalls. “That’s when we started moving towards the City of Winnipeg.” Jordan personally joined the company in May, 2021. Prior to that, the founding family were extremely hands-on. They were “on the ground, they were doing site supervision, they were doing budgeting, they were doing design, they were doing the financing – all of that was family.” When Forthright Ventures became too busy to manage all on their “As a locally-ownedand-operated business, we take great pride in supporting our local community,” says Jordan Sodomsky, Vice President. “Our properties are built by Manitobans, for Manitobans.”
own, they brought in Jordan to help – though the company still does everything in-house, from acquisition through to construction to building management. These days, in addition to Jordan, Forthright Ventures employs an in-house team of project coordinators, construction managers, project managers, and site supervisors, who work together to manage every aspect of the project from start to finish, ensuring the highest quality of construction with every project. Combined, their staff has many decades of experience in every facet of multi-family development and they believe they have “the knowledge and experience to tackle any challenge,” according to Jordan. “This experience combined with a personal, family focused approach allows us to create a successful collaborative team environment for staff, trades, vendors and partners,” he says. Forthright Ventures also works directly alongside their management arm, which is called ‘Forthright Properties.’ In collaboration, the two entities work together continuously to refine their homes to best meet the needs of residents, and to ensure “long-term occupancy, minimal turnover, and wellmaintained communities residents can be proud to call home.” Over the years, the company has focused mostly on lowrise boutique projects, but as previously mentioned, their range is widening. On the smaller side, they recently completed a project that comprised 39 townhomes, and JULY 2022
on the larger side they are now embarking on a project that will house almost 370 units over 10 acres. “Our projects span from good opportunities – which is what a 39-townhome project is – to what our strategy ultimately is, which is ‘Get dense, get big, and get very efficient from an operational standpoint,’” Jordan says. “At the same time, we know that 370 units isn’t as dense as most developers will get on a site that size,” he adds. “That’s part of our strategy. That’s because we’re a build-and-hold company. We buy the land, we develop the land, we construct the building, and then we hand the building off to our property management division to manage in-house.” As a result of that integration, Jordan explains, Forthright Ventures is very much attuned to the needs and wants of the future residents of their buildings. In particular, they understand the importance of parking. They know how critical parking is to sustaining low vacancy rates. “We’re very, very focused on the long-term efficiency of the operation,” he says. “As a consequence of that, we intentionally dial back the density of our sites to ensure the appropriate parking ratios to ensure that vacancy is never a problem. We could be as dense as 60-units-an-acre if we really wanted to be, but we’re more comfortable being around 42, because we know that’s where you’re able to achieve the least vacancy by providing the right parking.” THE CONSTRUCTION SOURCE CANADA
So Forthright Ventures understands the needs and wants of their tenants – but who are their tenants? According to Jordan, the company markets to what they consider “the middle of the market”: “We very much avoid the perception of being ‘luxury,’” he says, “and we definitely avoid being considered at the bottom end of the market.” “We don’t offer all the amenities that you see in some of the newer buildings,” he adds, “because those amenities ultimately cost quite a bit of money to maintain, they take up a lot of space, and they ultimately add to the rent on the unit.” “But at the same time, we build a very a high quality unit. We would rather take those dollars and put them back into the unit itself. We would rather ensure the quality of the construction and the quality of the materials that we use is at a high level. Quality-wise, I think we achieve a level that would be considered at the higher end of the market, while still achieving rents that are lower than you’d see in the luxury segment.” By catering to the needs of that middle or upper-middle market, Forthright Ventures consistently achieves extremely low vacancy rates across their portfolio. Jordan credits that success to the company’s aforementioned understanding of that demographic. That understanding, he reiterates, comes from owning and managing all their buildings inhouse. “We’re keenly aware of the JULY 2022
sorts of things that might make people uncomfortable over time,” he explains. “We keep on top of those things.” “Renewals are very, very important to us,” he adds. “We start and end with the idea that renewals are the most important thing we need to achieve. That makes us think about the satisfaction of the tenants. That makes us envision ourselves in their place, living in those units.” “We know that happy tenants like to renew, that renewals create stability, and that stability creates low vacancy,” he says. “What sets us apart is that we’re always thinking about having to stabilize. We’re not simply constructing a building and then then handing it off to a third-party property manager or a set of investors or a pension fund that’s not directly impacted by the success of that building.” “We’re incentivized to pay more attention,” he sums it up. “We are directly impacted by the success of the building. That really drives how we do things, and I think that’s something that’s evident when you walk through one of our buildings. When you do that, you will see the quality differences. You will see the attention to detail. You will see where it is we invest and where it is we don’t, and you’ll notice that everything we do goes towards achieving a comfortable experience for the tenant.” “Our tenants aren’t worried about their car being parked on the street. They aren’t worried about their appliances being on the lower-end and not functioning. They aren’t worried about hearing their neighbors because we saved money on construction by reducing the amount of sound dampening on the walls. That’s the kind of thing that sets us apart. It’s not something that you can necessarily see from the outside, but if you’re a tenant, you notice because you don’t have to deal with those issues.” Again, from a renewal perspective, Jordan says that Forthright Ventures’ approach has been very successful. He describes their vacancy rates as “microscopic at the best of times.” THE CONSTRUCTION SOURCE CANADA
Caring about quality AsarecentexampleofForthright Ventures’ quality, Jordan cites their upcoming project, ‘The Boardwalk,’ located on Ballentrae Drive. That project, which is under construction now, demonstrates both the quality of workmanship that Forthright aims to achieve, as well as the kind of positive impact they can achieve in the communities in which they work. Comprising roughly 350 units between four buildings on a 7.2-acre site, The Boardwalk is a brand new multi-family development project currently in Winnipeg’s South Core, in a brand new live-and-work community, theRefineryDistrict. It will be a unique project, converting an under-utilized industrial land area in to a large mixed-use infill development. The current development plan for the site envisions the ultimate development of 44 acres of industrial and office space, 23 acres of commercial space and 32 acres of multifamily residential housing in an area that is surrounded by some JULY 2022
of Winnipeg’s fastest growing and most affluent residential communities. TheBoardwalkwill feature three five-storey 67 suite apartments and one 97 suite building right in the heart of Fort Garry. The 67 suite buildings will feature a selection of one, two, and three-bedroom layouts, ranging in size from 748 to 970 square feet. The 97 suite building will include both one and twobedroom apartment layouts with an amenity building featuring on-site leasing and maintenance staff. The project stands out for a number of reasons, Jordan says. One big reason is the location – the development offers a short commute to the University of Manitoba as well as Investors Group Field. Also, Plaza Station rapid transit station is located right next door connecting downtown Winnipeg with the central and southern ends of the city allowing quick and easy access to major areas of the city. The suites themselves also stand out – each one offers a modern, open-concept design in multiple functional layouts, and each suite includes fullsize stainless steel kitchen appliances, private oversized balconies, in-suite laundry, and access to above ground parking for residents and visitors. Then there’s the quality of the building – as with all Forthright Venture projects, Jordan believes that quality is generally a significant point of difference. He credits that quality, in turn, to the calibre of their building team. In-house, for example, Forthright Ventures employs a team of highly-qualified supervisors, as well as several inspectors “whomove about the jobs at various stages.” Those THE CONSTRUCTION SOURCE CANADA
inspectors “ensure that issues are addressed as they come up, rather than buried.” They also ensure that the workmanship on-site is always meeting the company’s higher-than-normal standards. “Oftentimes, there’s a way in which something can be done and be considered good enough by most trade standards,” Jordan explains. “But we’re not shy about ensuring that trades are delivering a higher standard of finish and a higher standard of quality, even if that means we have to pay a bit more.” “We are unyielding in the quality of our finishing,” he adds. “You will not walk into our units and see butt joints on baseboards and window casings. You will not see miter joints. Everything has to be in tip-top shape. That’s the standard we hold ourselves and our team to.” With that said, Jordan clarifies that, over the years, Forthright Ventures has assembled a team of trade partners that they trust and rely on. The company is growing quickly, so they are always on the lookout for new partners, but some of their existing partnerships already go back over a decade. “Our trade relationships are part of our competitive advantage,” Jordan says. “I think a lot of developers would say that, but I don’t think a lot of developers could demonstrate 10-or-11-year-old relationships with the same trades where the partnerships have stayed so happy and productive. I think that makes us pretty special.” “We have a stable of trades that have been with us since day one. There are very few trades we have right now that we don’t have long-term relationships with.” The same goes for Forthright JULY 2022
Ventures’ roster of suppliers and vendors. Jordan says those relationships have lasted “equally as long,” He also says those relationships have enabled their projects to “run smoothly,” even throughout the uncertainties of the pandemic “When others were having difficulty sourcing, in a lot of ways we weren’t,” he says, “because we had commitments from guys and girls we’ve established trust with over time. Those relationships have been absolutely integral.” “As we’ve grown, and our rate of growth has increased, we’ve had to introduce new trades and suppliers into the fold,” he adds, “but one thing that’s gotten us to this point is the reliability of the trades and suppliers we have. That’s what we’re looking for in our new partners. We’re looking for partners we can rely on.” “We’re looking for partners who care,” he adds. “They have to want to deliver work that they can be proud of as well. That’s what we’re used to. That’s been one of the most important factors behind the success of the company. It might even be the most important factor. THE CONSTRUCTION SOURCE CANADA
Extremely exciting Moving forward, the vision for Forthright Ventures is to continue growing and to continue adding to their portfolio. They currently have about 1,000 units, and they are on pace to build out another 250 per year. Geographically, they are focusing mainly on projects within the city, and sizewise, they are moving into more of a “mid-rise style product” – The Boardwalk being a prime example. Speaking of The Boardwalk, that project is currently being delivered in three phases. Phase 1 is expected to be complete by September of this year. Phase 2 is due for completion by June, 2023. Phase 3 is due for completion a year later, in June, 2024. Also, as mentioned earlier, Forthright Ventures now an even bigger project in the works – they have just recently taken possession of an almost 10acre site in Westport Festival, a subdivision of Shindico in the west end of the city. There, they will be developing roughly 370 units over the next couple years. That will be their biggest project Some projects closer to completion include ‘Brighton Heights’ – a 108-unit project in Steinbach – and ‘The One’ – a 91-unit project in Saint Adolphe. “We’re extremely excited about what we have on the horizon,” Jordan concludes. “We have some projects that we think are really going to put us on the map in Winnipeg.” JULY 2022
THE CONSTRUCTION SOURCE CANADA For more on Forthright Ventures, their team, their values, and their past and present projects – including The Boardwalk – visit https://www.forthrightventures.ca/
Canadian Door Doctor & Construction Co. Ltd. is a proudly family owned and operated company located in Niagara Falls, Ontario, and operating for over 40 years. Over their decades-long history, they have continuously grown in the supply, installation and service of overhead and garage doors for both residential and commercial applications. According to Chad Dommasch, Managing Partner, that growth has been powered by their customer service. Door specialists
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THE CONSTRUCTION SOURCE CANADA “Service is the backbone of our company,” he says. “Right from our humble beginnings, customer service has been a vital part of what we do. Wework hard to ensure that we meet and exceed the expectations of our customers, no matter how big or small their project is.” That customer service philosophy was established by the company’s founder, and Chad’s father, Art Dommasch. Art started the business in 1979. At the time, he had the opportunity to install doors for a small local manufacturer, and he saw the need for a local door sales and service company. With the support of his family, he took a chance and started Canadian Door Doctor. The company started by doing relatively small projects, like mini-storage doors, but they grew quickly on the back of their “exceptional quality service.” In the mid-1980s, Art bought out his partner at the time, and that further accelerated the company’s growth. From there, they started getting into larger industrial projects and built strong relationships with industry titans including General Motors and John Deere. As the years went on, Chad says they “expanded a little bit at a time,” and “added new products here and there” – to the point where they started supplying, installing, and servicing “basically any type of door you can think of.” “Service is the backbone of our company,” he says. “Right from our humble beginnings, customer service has been a vital part of what we do. We work hard to ensure that we meet and exceed the expectations of our customers, no matter how big or small their project is.”
“Fast forward to 2022, and we have a huge amount of products available,” he says. “Whether your dog or your cat walks through it or whether an airplane flies through it – we can handle it.” Today, Canadian Door Doctor’s offering includes: residential overhead doors and operators, commercial and industrial overhead doors and operators, rolling steel doors and operators, high-speed fabric doors, crash doors, automatic door controls, gates and operators, rolling grilles and shutters, loading dock levellers and seals and equipment, truck restraints, man doors, and hardware. That list is long, but “it’s by no means complete,” Chad says – as the company specializes in unique applications and customized work. Whatever the door-related challenge, they take pride in finding the solution. Chad credits the company’s ability to find those solutions to their experience. The company has been around for 43 years, so they have encountered virtually every challenge the industry has to offer, and they have always figured out ways to overcome them. They also have very longstanding and experienced employees. That includes Chad, who has been in the industry almost all his life, and has been with the company since the year 2000: “I could install a door before I had my driver’s license,” he says. “I grew up around doors.” Chad stepped away from the industry for a while after graduating high school – when JULY 2022
“the only thing I knew for sure was that there was no way I was going to work for my dad at a door company,” he recalls – but after working several years as a financial planner, he realized how much he missed what he was doing as a kid. After figuring that out, he returned to the family business around, and he’s never looked back. These days, Chad manages the company alongside his sister and partner Jennifer. The jobs they focus on have changed over the years, as manufacturing in the Niagara region has slowed down. In the 90s and early 2000s, Chad estimates that about 75 per cent of the company’s work was commercial-industrial and about 25 per cent was residential. In the 2020s, residential is a much bigger slice of the pie, maybe as big a slice as 40 per cent: “There’s a lot of development in this area,” Chad says. “There’s a lot of housing going up, and our goal is to be part of that.” According to Chad, Canadian Door Doctor has crews that specialize in that type of work, just like they have crews that specialize in commercial and industrial work. He says the two disciplines are similar – “they’re siblings, they go handin-hand” – but that residential clients and commercial clients have different priorities, and Canadian Door Doctor recognizes that. “When you’re in someone’s house, you need a different set of skills then when you’re 40feet in the air in a scissor lift welding a plate together,” he explains. “You’re in someone’s THE CONSTRUCTION SOURCE CANADA
house. Everything has to be neat and tidy. Everything has to look just perfect. We have a residential crew that specializes in that.” On the commercial-industrial side, meanwhile, they have a crew with a deeper knowledge of hydraulics, welding, and torching. “On the commercial-industrial side, the clients need their product to work and they need it to be reliable,” Chad says. “Those are their two main concerns. The average homeowner wants that too, but they also want it to be quiet. They want to press the button and not hear anything. That’s not as big a priority on the commercial side.” Again, Canadian Door Doctor has crews that specialize in both sectors, and that’s one of their key points of difference. No matter who the client is, they know how to service them and they have team members who know how to service them. “We have a couple employees I would call jack-of-all-trades, but generally our crews are very specialized,” Chad says. “We have a group of guys that that just do residential. We have a group of guys that just do commercial installs. We have a group that just does commercial-industrial service. We have an electrician on staff. We have a master carpenter on staff.Wehave a lot of specialists. We have experts in our field. I think that sets us apart.” “In terms of door companies, I don’t think there’s anyone better than us in terms of what we can provide and what we can do,” he adds. JULY 2022
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A family feeling Chadisnot theonly longstanding team member of Canadian Door Doctor – he’s not even the longest standing teammember, which is a fact he takes a lot of pride in “We have a very low turnover rate of employees,” he says. “We have multiple employees who have been with us for over 30 years. That’s probably one of the things I am most proud of.” When one longstanding employee recently retired, the company threw him multiple parties. Chad recalls “there were tears involved, he didn’t want to leave.” “We’re truly a family,” he says. “At these parties, the guys that have been around for a long time were telling the younger guys ‘You’ll never find a better place to work.’” “It’s very much a family feeling,” he adds. “My sister and I are there every single day. We know every single person. We know a lot of their families. We know their children, we know their JULY 2022
spouses.” “My view is you shouldn’t have to go to work. It should be you get to go to work. Work shouldn’t be a source of stress. Work should be a place where your employer respects you. We try to go over and above to show that respect and give them the tools they need to do their job successfully.” “That’s important, because if your employees leave the shop in the morning and they’re ready to do their job and they’re happy about it, then they’re going to perform better,” he explains. “That’s something my dad taught us,” Chad says, “and I think that’s a big part of the success and longevity of the company. That’s why we’ve lasted for more than 40 years. It’s a credit to him.” By retaining employees, Canadian Door Doctor also retains their knowledge and expertise. Chad reiterates that that experience is a big part of their quality at every level: “Even our salesmen are experienced,” he says. “Most of them are employees that have been with us and have installed the products and serviced the products for many years. As they get a little bit older – and maybe their bodies become less responsive to the cold, or maybe they don’t want to work as much – we usually transition them into sales positions.” “We’re not just hiring guys who know how to use a calculator,” he adds. “We’re utilizing professionals who know the product inside and out. They know what the customer needs. They know how to get them the best solution.” As a result of that knowledge and expertise, Canadian Door Doctor doesn’t just retain THE CONSTRUCTION SOURCE CANADA
employees – they also retain customers. Chad estimates that at least 90 per cent of their work is repeat business. On the commercial side, he says almost all their work is repeat customers. On the residential side, they have a lot of contractors and developer clients who build subdivisions and use them exclusively for their garage doors. Chad believes those contractors keep returning to Canadian Door Doctor because of their product knowledge – and because of their willingness to share it, even when it means earning less money. He recalls a recent instance where he reviewed a set of blueprints and realized that the architect had specified a non-optimal door: “I called the architect and I asked if there was a reason they were spec’ing that door, because I thought they could save probably $6,000 or $7,000 on that door and get a better door for the application,” he says. “The architect appreciated that.” “We could have just provided what they asked for and charged more for it,” Chad adds, “but that’s not how we do things. I think that goes a long way. Architects appreciate that about us. Contractors appreciate that about us. They remember that when they are looking at their next job.” In addition to employees and clients, Canadian Door Doctor has also formed long-lasting relationships with at least one more stakeholder – their manufacturers. Chad says they work with the “best in the industry,” and he describes their relationships as “in a single word, loyal.” “We’re very, very slow to switch manufacturers,” he says. “We do deal with various manufacturers, but we don’t just jump from one to the next based on price. We prefer to work with our existing manufacturers and figure out, ‘How can we work together so that we both generate more business?’” “If our customers want a certain type of product that our manufacturers are not offering, before we go to another manufacturer, we ask the ones we have ‘What can you do? Can you match this? Do you have a product that’s comparable?’ We’ll explore every option that we can to work with our existing suppliers. Those relationships are so important to us.” JULY 2022
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