others in the industry. “A couple years ago, for example, the price of plywood was almost $100 a sheet, it was insane. But we were protected from that because we were a bit more insulated within our own community.” “That’s not only our suppliers, but all of our subcontractors as well,” he adds. “They’re all local businesses. We strive to work within a local nexus. That’s one of our core values. I think that creates an atmosphere of not only good will, but also flexibility – something that I think is very important in the construction industry. When you’re working with larger players, oftentimes it’s a bit more rigid, it’s a bit harder to problem solve in complex situations. Working with smaller local businesses, sometimes you have more room to manoeuvre.” Moving forward, Lopez Contracting aims to continue supporting local businesses, and to grow their company along with their suppliers and subcontractors. In collaboration with those partners, they are excited to get into new builds. “For us, the next step is becoming a licensed residential builder, which will allow us to build from scratch,” Matthew explains. ”We already have all the skills – we can do everything from concrete foundations to framing to sheathing, and so on and so forth – it’s just a matter of putting our heads down and doing the paper work.” In the near future, they are also excited to open a showroom – which will be separate from their workshop, located more centrally in downtown Victoria. “There, we’re going to show off some of our more bespoke works, such as our live edge timber furniture, our millwork, et cetera,” Matthew explains. “We want to be able to showcase all our offerings there. That’s something we’re really excited about.” Lastly, Lopez Contracting is also excited about growing – growing in terms of size and in terms of service offering. Matthew believes they have a lot of opportunity to do even more than they are doing now: “We’re always looking to grow and always looking to expand our repertoire of skills,” he says. “For example, it’s been a dream of mine for a really long time to get into fabric work.” “So we want to add more people to our team, people who align with our values and fit into our culture,” he concludes. “We also want to give more opportunity to the people on our team now who have been here for a long time. We want to prepare them for leadership positions. That means we need to grow, we need to move onwards and upwards into larger and larger projects. That’s the path we’re on now, and we’re very excited about it.” JUNE 2024
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTYzNTg=