THE CONSTRUCTION SOURCE CANADA and they know how to solve challenges, and they make sure they pass their experience on to their employees directly. “Dan and I are constantly onsite and we’re training out guys face-to-face,” Nate explains. “This is a tough industry to train. There are a couple schools around here that have tried to with Red Seal stuff, but what they do doesn’t really pertain to exactly what we do. So if we want our guys to learn, we actually have to be on the ground to physically show them what to do.” “Fortunately, we’ve got a lot of good guys,” he adds. “Some are quick learners, some take a little bit of time, but they’re all willing to learn – and learning on the job is a big part of that. Getting that on-site training and knowledge is so important. That’s why Dan and I are constantly there. We also have some senior guys who have been with us for over five years, and they are more than capable of doing that training as well.” Currently, General Concrete employs roughly 14 people. In a physically demanding industry like concrete, there’s typically a lot of turnover, so the fact that General Concrete has some longerstanding team members is very meaningful. Nate partly credits that retention to – once again – his and Dan’s hands-on involvement. “I think it’s important that we see them every day to make sure they’re happy,” he says. “I also think it’s important to do a little bit extra. When the Canucks start playing, we like to get them to a few games so they’re able to do a bit of team building. And we provide them with general benefits, like gas and cars, because we know it would be tough around to maintain a certain standard of living if we weren’t able to provide that for them.”
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