A conversation with contractor success

While in Saskatoon for a trade show, I took the opportunity to visit friend and successful reno contractor Dave Anderchuck and his sidekick Lindsay of J.A.B.A Construction. Lindsay has been his EA, office manager and super employee for 13 years.
They were getting ready to fly to Baltimore to participate in a three-day Contractor University session with Remodelers Advantage. Lesley was completely stoked. Both of them met Victoria Downing, the president of Remodelers, at the Reno Summit we ran last year in Calgary and immediately realized it was exactly what they needed to take the next step for the company.
I was pleased to discover that the ‘next step’ for J.A.B.A was to turn it into a sellable business. Dave has been at it for a while and has made a good living becoming the go-to contractor for anyone in Saskatoon who wanted a renovation done right. But, like almost all renovation companies in Canada, the business was built around the owner and without the owner was not a business.
It was clear to both of them that it was time to build in the kinds of admin, estimating and management processes that could make the company scalable and distinct from the ownership.
Dave has given himself five years to get it there and he has already taken specific steps internally to start the process.
What was so pleasing for me was to see how focused and in sinc the two were. More than their specific skills and technical knowledge, it is the dedication and fun they were both clearly having that made me believe that whatever they set they minds to would be done. Pleasing also was that the Reno Summit was the catalyst for their new direction.
Dave said they were still doing outside work despite the -25C Saskatoon weather. It’s not easy to be upbeat and positive under those conditions but here they were, knocking back a beer with me at a local bar, telling stories, bright eyed and full of anticipation for the hard work that lay ahead. Very cool. Very successful looking.