// ON THE RECORD
Permacon
Permacon is one of Canada's largest manufacturers of concrete masonry and landscaping products, producing more than 700 masonry and landscaping products including pavers, slabs, bricks, stone veneer, retaining wall systems, steps, capping, and curbs. Founded in Quebec in 1952 (as Bloc Vibre Inc.), the company operates eight plants in Quebec and Ontario and distributes through over 900 distribution points across Quebec, Ontario, and the Atlantic provinces. In Atlantic Canada, products reach contractors and homeowners through authorized dealers such as The Stone Depot (Halifax, NS) and Bergman Landscape & Masonry Centres (NS and NB). Permacon is a division of Oldcastle Architectural (Oldcastle APG), part of the global CRH Group.
📍 Saint-Léonard, Québec, CanadaEst. 1952✓ 90% first-party verified
// CLIPS FROM Permacon
“we've seen plenty of jobs look awful because you thought your siding guy could do it”
“it was an eye-opener me being on the other side of that counter”
“his grandfather says son you're going to be a tradesman you just need a different toolbox”
“the opportunity to acquire the Stone Depot was presented to me”
“I gotta channel my inner Phil Jackson”
“four years ago guys had that old school mentality of no I'll just break my back”
“when I purchased Stone Depot I knew the commercial side was lower than residential”
“Masons are starting to become harder and harder to find”
“I'm not doing the landscape hours anymore that was a big thing for me”
// LESSONS FROM Permacon
Buying a supplier business you previously bought from gives you instant empathy for their operational juggling act — and lets you course-correct your own demanding-contractor habits.
Equipment rental (vacuum lifters, roller tampers) bridges the capital gap for smaller landscape contractors and converts renters into buyers once volume justifies it.
For large-format pavers, always incorporate equipment rental costs into your labor estimate as a direct variable cost; the per-job math often beats back injury and lost productivity.
Winning commercial masonry/landscape work requires getting specified by the architect or landscape architect early — before the project goes to tender — or the product gets value-engineered out.
On large commercial deliveries, direct ship from manufacturer to site removes the need to stage at your yard — cutting double-handling cost and space constraints.
Never substitute an unqualified installer for a mason on veneer or brick work — failed jobs create expensive remediation calls and destroy the subcontractor relationship.
// KEY PEOPLE
KM
// NOTABLE