Building Fort Saskatchewan’s Top Renovation Company
Hey guys, thanks for joining us on our YouTube channel. This is one of our first interview videos. Just getting started. My name’s Tom, I’m the director of operations for Fort Sask Reno,
And my name’s Jim, and I am the president of the company. Welcome to the channel. Looking forward to doing some videos, introducing our company and ourselves, and letting you know what we’re all about.
A quote to start off for you guys, when you have a dream, you’ve gotta grab it and never let go. Carol Burnett.
That’s a good one for sure. Yeah, we’ve all got dreams to chase and we definitely have ours. So that’s a great quote. We’ll start all our videos with some quotes, some inspirational things to help you and help us to keep those things in mind.
I got a statistic here for you. Did you know that one in 5,000 people build a million dollar businesses? It is statistically similar to probability of playing a professional sport, yet successful entrepreneurs go from industry to industry, replicating their success time and time again, Josh Bar.
Yeah, that’s awesome advice. Just get some tried and true methods and stick to ’em. Repeat, and you’ll get those successes.
Here start. I’ll just give you a little background on my personal story with Fort Sask Reno.
We started out in 2007 was a one man show. It was actually we, me, myself, and I, all three of us. And I was laid off from my job in the chemical industry, decided to get back to working with my hands, do some good honest work. Took a course in siding installations and worked for other people as a subcontractor for the first couple years. And from that point, it’s almost 17 years later, and we’ve got the top rated renovation business in Fort Saskatchewan.
A company consists, it’s a family business, so it consists of myself as the president. Tom is my son and he’s the director of operations. There’s seven of us in all in our family, and everybody’s worked in the family. Yeah, in the business, family business. And yeah, it’s a rare thing these days, and so it’s a privilege and honor to work with my family. It’s, can’t beat that really.
Let me start by asking you, where did you grow up, Jim?
I was born in Ponoka, Alberta, and I lived there until I finished high school. Really?
Okay. And where did you go to high school?
Well, I went to, there’s a one high school in Ponoka, pretty small town, one horse town there. So I went to Ponoka opposite high school. Few years later I returned to school and I went to Red Deer College, did my up upgrading there and took some chemical technology at Red Deer College. Finished that up at night.
Okay, that’s interesting. Let me ask you why you decided to take chemical engineering?
Well, it was it was because when I was doing my upgrading, I, I did really well in the chemistry. I found it quite, quite fine actually working in the lab and that, working with my hands, the problem solving aspect of it and whatnot. And so got into the, the Nate calendar and the Nate books and saw the chem tech program. That seemed like a, a pretty good way to go. So I took that and worked in that industry for about 10 years. Turned out it wasn’t as fun as it was in the high school course.
What was your first job?
My very first job, I was a, I was a chicken farmer, as a matter of fact, I was about 10 years old, got 25 bucks for a birthday present, and I went and bought 25 chicks. We lived out on acreage to, so outside of Ponoka, so I wanted to be a farmer, so I had my chickens and I got built a little coop for ’em and all that, and I’d go door to door and sell eggs in Ponoka. So I’ve always had the entrepreneurial spirit from an early age.
Yeah, for sure. Starting your business as your first job. Not too many people get to say that. Yeah,
It was, it was pretty cool.
How long have you been working in like your current industry?
So, yeah, started in 2007, January, 2007, decided to take the job, working in the trades outdoors, learning how to install siding, soffit, fascia, and eavesdrop. It was paid by the square foot, so, you know, had five kids at home, wife wasn’t working. So there’s some pretty long days, but 2007 is when I really struck out on my own.
Yeah, that’s quite the time to start an exterior renovation company in the middle of January. Yeah,
Well, I’m an outdoor kind of guy, so no problem there. I’m not afraid of the weather.
So, Jim, let me ask you, why are you so passionate about what you do?
Really, it, it boils down to, it boils down to helping others. Helping others and the satisfaction that I’ve got in this job is like nothing. I, I’ve gotten any other job.
You know, when you take a house, you go in to see somebody and they’ve, they’ve lived in this home for, you know, 25 years and it’s looking rough and it’s, it’s been a pain for them and a source of maybe embarrassment, even people coming over looking at their home from this street view, it’s this ancient stucco, it’s all fallen apart. Yeah. And they, and they’ve really, you know, suffered with this thing. So you go from that two weeks later they’ve got a brand new house and, and we do an amazing job. You know, our teams are excellent, we’re keeping the communication up the whole time.
Just we find out what’s really important to them and then deliver that to them. And so in the end they’re so happy if, you know, we look at our Google reviews, we got over what, one 20, almost pushing 1 25 at the moment five star Google reviews. And so that, that speaks volumes as to what we can do. And so I’ve just never had that feedback in any other job I’ve ever had. And so that’s one of the real perks of of, and actually the passion, why I’ve got passion for this business. Yeah,
Yeah, that’s so true. There’s so many clients that are they really are glowing after we’re finished with their projects, they Yeah. Take their house from an embarrassing, embarrassing exterior to something they can show off and be proud of.
Yeah, for sure.
What made you decide to become an entrepreneur?
Well, I, I had just been laid off from a job in the chemical industry and the corporate culture in that particular industry. And that, that business was terrible. It was all about yeah, it was all, all this politics, all the politics that goes on in a business. I didn’t enjoy it. I was just not enjoying that. No one really cared that much about what you did in the end. They, it was just more of an expectation rather than an appreciation. And so when I got laid off from that, I thought, I, I want away from all this.
I just want to go back to work, do some good, honest work with my hands. And I’ve, I had done all that kind of stuff as a, at an early age and I enjoyed it. Let’s, let’s, you know, take another shot at this. Even though I was getting older at the time I still got it. I can do this. So that’s, that was really the, the tipping point that pushed me to get into my own business.
Yep. Yeah. You always had a, had a need for quality and as you mentioned, you wasn’t really being fulfilled with the chemical industry. Not at
All. No, that’s not for me.
So let me ask you what made you decide to start a business in this industry?
Well, to be honest, I, there was actually still newspapers around when I, when I got going. So I was reading through the Edmonton Sun and I saw, oh, ciders wanted training provided I, I was looking at framing. I was looking at something like a trades job. Yeah. And so that one came up. I phoned a few, talked to these people. I really liked the idea that they’re gonna give you some training.
It was unpaid training, but there was gonna be some training and then they’d give you a job. So it was just the Edmonton Sun, it was luck of the luck of the draw. I bought that newspaper that day and found this number and that, that worked out well. Got me off, off and started there.
Yeah. You thought you’d give it a shot? Yeah,
Give her the good old college try.
And what would you say was the most difficult part of starting your business?
Most difficult part about starting the business? I don’t know that it was that hard. I was just determined I was gonna do it. I, like, there’s been lots of challenges. Like it’s, it’s not an easy job in any, any form, but I was determined, I knew I was gonna do that, so it wasn’t that difficult once you make the decision and it was done, I was going, so, yeah. Yeah.
And what would you say is the most difficult part about running the business currently?
Currently one of the most difficult parts is that the main office. It’s still a home-based business. So yeah. So you’re always at work. And that’s one of the more difficult things at the moment is that, you know, even on Saturday morning, Sunday morning, you walk past the office, you, you see the computers in there, you got your phone in your hand, people are sending you notes and emails and you, you do have to shut that off. That’s one of the more difficult parts at the moment.
Yeah, true. You’re never really off when you run a small business.
No. You never really are. You can try and, and we do our best. So
Yeah. And then we do experience, one of three problems is it’s either we have a cash flow problem or we have a people problem, or we have a, the job problem. There’s one of three problems that you’re
Always Yeah, that’s the classic three for sure.
And most most businesses fail from one of those, those three for problems.
Yeah, that’s right. That’s the balance.
What is the most rewarding part of running your business?
Oh, one of the most rewarding things is this level of satisfaction that I get when we’re, we’re all done a job and the clients are, are overwhelmed with joy. A lot of times they want to be our buddies even. Yeah. Like they, they really do appreciate us.
Been invited to a couple barbecues over the years,
Barbecues and gifts and cards and all, all of all of that. And so there’s, I’ve never had any other job where you get that level of satisfaction job satisfaction. So that, that’s one thing the opportunity to work with my family. Like there’s, it’s a rare, rare thing these days. And true. Yeah. It’s a, it’s a double-edged sword as you know. Right. ’cause we’re always together. It’s a challenge as well, but it’s also, it’s pretty amazing to be able to work with your family and be successful. So yeah, that’s definitely rewarding aspect of the business.
Where do We see our business in five years time?
Well, five years time I’m sure Will, I’ll still be in the same industry. I plan to be in the same industry, can’t be sure of anything in life, but I do plan to be in the same industry. I’m only 55 now and, and so I’ve got a few years to, to work yet. Definitely. And so in five years time where I can see myself is in the same business, but we’re gonna have a much more structured business. Yep. Yeah.
Tried and true techniques, methods, procedures, policies really just to having a streamlined business being that we’re already the top rated in our area. For Google reviews, we’re gonna have, our goals obviously is to get 500 Google reviews. We’re at 125 right now, so any past customers, if you want to get on our, our page and give us a Google review if you haven’t, get on there. And we do appreciate that so much. So yeah, I do plan to be in the business still working away, and we’ll be, yeah, by far the, you know, the most, the most highly rated business in Fort Saskatchewan end area.
We’ll continue to be in by pool. We’re gonna blow them out of the Water. Definitely. We will, we’re gonna have so many YouTube videos as just the first one, but we’re gonna continue with this and, and keep working through the, the videos and yeah, hope, hopefully y’all enjoy that.
Very good. Well, thank you for taking the time to watch this video and look forward to more videos on the way.
Yeah. Thanks so much for tuning into our channel and please subscribe and share and all those good things.