mentor, and whom he credits for teaching him how to better lead and grow the company. They not only built single family homes, but started building multi-family units, a Community Hall for the Sechelt Nation, a motel, as well as commercial and industrial buildings. “We stayed very busy until late 1984 when the bottom fell out of the housing market and I had to look for other opportunities. It was then that I got involved with fish farming as a way of surviving,” recalls Clark. He was instrumental in the beginnings of transferring fish farm technology from Norway to the coast of BC. “I was able to apply a lot of my knowledge to that industry and created floating fish farms and barges that could accommodate both workers and tether the fish pens; and we towed them out to remote sites where they’d stay and raise the fish in the wilderness.” “In the blink of an eye it was 1988, and once again things were exciting and growing fast, but we hit another economic snag that wiped out a lot of fish farms. There was no turning things around as we had no sales and weren’t able to grow the fish economically. So it was time to go back to my roots – building houses.” So Clark founded Clark Hamilton Enterprises Ltd. – now known as Hamilton Fine Homebuilding – in 1989. The company has specialized in custom homes and renovations ever since, and over the years has progressively worked on larger projects. As the economy improved and the business grew, Clark brought his family into the business as soon as they were old enough. With a family of five sons it seemed to be a good opportunity to create a family business, which was a dream of his. “Over the years all the boys have had a JULY 2024
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