How Halifax's 30-Storey Boom Gets Built: Inside Wolseley Canada's Atlantic Supply Chain (Heat Pumps, Mega-Jobs & the Labour Crunch)

0:00This episode is brought to you by our presenting sponsor Piercey's Building Products. Piercey's Building Products has been providing contractors and builders with the supplies necessary to complete their jobs since 1964. They have built a reputation of honest, helpful and quality service, serving the HRM for the last 58 years. Now with seven locations in Nova Scotia and one in New Brunswick, our team at the Atlantic Construction Podcast is extremely excited to announce our new co-branded partner, Procore. Procore is the global leader in construction management software. We'll be conducting

0:29several podcast episodes with Procore users and construction companies across the country in 2023, among many other things. Stay tuned — we're excited.

0:42Welcome back to the Atlantic Construction Podcast. Very excited today to have our guests — Wolseley Canada Atlantic division. So we have Tom MacKenzie across the table, the Atlantic director; Jacqueline Janes to my left, sales manager in Atlantic; and Stephen Gaudon — that's right, Stephen Gaudon, account manager. Thank you guys for coming in and giving your time today. Excited for our conversation. Thanks for having us. Appreciate it. Yeah, maybe we can start like we usually do, just a little bit of context on our guests. Just talk a

1:12little bit about your background, the industry. Maybe Stephen, we can start with you — how you landed in the role you're at at Wolseley, and kind of how things started. Sure, yeah, definitely. So I started my construction world actually in Halifax, working for Dexter's, years and years ago. And after doing a little four, four and a half year career with them, I moved out to Alberta, went around to the oil patch a couple times, and fell into a wholesaler there. It

1:39was an independent supplier. They had seven branches, so I started working with those guys. It really taught me the industry because it was such a small outfit that they had. So I got to know customers out there, got to know how the whole industry of wholesale worked. And then we were about to have our first kid, and we said to ourselves, you know, we were raised in Atlantic Canada — that's where we're going back, right? So we dropped everything, quit a job out there. Everybody said I was insane. I came back

2:11here and went looking for a wholesaler that would take me on. And anyway, ended up at Wolseley Canada, and now this coming summer will be four years, so I've been here for four years. It's been a great time. Yeah, and I don't know if you'd agree, but I feel like it's kind of a common tale — you know, guys will go from the sites, move into a supplier role or some other more white-collar role like a PM or something. But it does give you a unique experience, right?

2:36And the guys you're working with as clients, or as a vendor and stuff — you just have the language, the kind of respect levels. Do you find that? I do. I mean, I like it because you can walk onto a job site and I feel like I fit right in. I can walk up into a sea can, sit with a guy in a soup can and have a coffee and discuss some business. And it's just something that it comes

3:00natural to me, where I think you know, if you spent your whole career in an office, you might be kind of out of your element. Yeah, it definitely gives you an advantage when you're dealing with the guys. That connects with you on that level — gives you the advantage over someone who doesn't have that experience. What about yourself, Tom? So I guess this is my 26th year. I grew up in Pictou, Nova Scotia, moved to Hamilton in '96, and started with the

3:28company in St. Catharines. And I basically kind of worked my way up through the company. Started in the warehouse, did some time on the counter, outside sales, national accounts — so different stages of my career, different focuses within the business. And then coming up on four years now, we moved back home. So I took a regional sort of management position with Wolseley back here in Atlantic, moved the kids and my wife back home, and we were here just about five months before the pandemic. So — wow, yeah, okay.

4:05Yeah, that's my journey — yeah, different than Steve's. Yeah, for sure. I mean, I think though, we've had a number of CEOs and people in upper management positions governing, you know, Atlantic regions and stuff, and a lot of whom have come up through the ranks in different facets of the company. So they have contacts and experience, and I'm assuming that beyond a lot of other variables too, that gives you a big advantage when you're in your position — just to be able

4:37to have that understanding and that experience, and you're dealing with all these different variables every day. 100%, absolutely. And you've kind of worked in the shoes of a lot of different folks in the business, so when they're raising concerns you know exactly where they're coming from. So it's definitely an advantage. Awesome. Yeah, and Jacqueline — well, definitely not an industry I thought I'd see myself in. So I graduated Commerce at St. Mary's and

5:08was actually working for telecommunications when a company convinced me to get into the HVAC business. And I stayed there with the general contractor locally here for almost nine years. And then I went on the rep agency side — so I was repping Samsung here in Atlantic. And I had collaborated with Tom on a couple of projects, and when Tom moved into his role, I was like, oh, maybe this is a good environment for me to be in. So the position came up and, you know, I knew a

5:40lot of the team by working with them on the rep agency side, so it was a great shift. It was a good move for me to move into the sales manager role. And I came in at a time that — well, Tom was new in his role, and the company itself had made a lot of changes. So the timing was perfect. And it was during the pandemic, but it was an amazing shift for us. Yeah, and you're from Newfoundland, is that

6:07correct? I'm originally from Newfoundland. I came here and finished high school — grade 11 and grade 12 — and then went on to St. Mary's. Okay, so we have two from Newfoundland discovered here — because you're both local, you're both Nova Scotian, right? That's right. Yeah. And that's actually what's really cool about our roles — a lot of the time we get to take care of the four provinces. Yeah, so, you know, separate from the rest of Canada when we talk with other associates of

6:39Wolseley — we're quite unique out here in these four provinces, so it's a lot of fun that we get to kind of work our team throughout the whole region. Yeah, I feel like it's a different dynamic to the markets. For sure. Smaller region but bigger geography. Exactly, a challenge to cover. Yeah. So maybe we could start just by giving our listeners a one-on-one and context on Wolseley as a wholesaler — kind of like a little spiel on the

7:06business itself. You know, lots of partners involved, they're dealing with HVAC and plumbing contractors as partners. Maybe we could just, you know, between the three of you, kind of give our listeners some context on the operations of Wolseley. Yeah, so I would say as a whole we are a national distributor — a national wholesaler of HVAC/R, plumbing products, as well as industrial and waterworks. That's our general day-to-day business — contractor relationships and supporting contractors in our markets.

7:41Okay. Yeah, so we have 220 locations across Canada. We're just shy of 3,000 employees — I think just 2,800 and some change right now — of employees across Canada. And like Tom said, we cover all the provinces, so we're coast to coast, unlike some other distributors in the country. Yeah, that's a large operation. I think you were saying before there's eight locations in Atlantic Canada — four Nova Scotia, yep, right? One in Newfoundland? So one in Newfoundland, we have three in New Brunswick, and we

8:17have four in Nova Scotia. Correct, correct. We don't have an actual location currently in PEI, but we do have representation over there. Okay. And so these locations are retail stores — is there — like, you mentioned before, there's a facility in Ontario, it's in Milton, Ontario, and that's our regional distribution centre. Right, right. So that is a hub of sorts. It's just over 300,000 square feet in Milton, Ontario, that houses a select group of products for us —

8:51like our main movers, basically our class A and B items, and we have those housed there. So if it's not in-house with us, we can have it generally next day, sometimes same day, but generally next day. And at a minimum, we would get three shipments a week to our branches — at a minimum. Yeah, right. Yeah. And so — go ahead. No, sorry, I was going to say I think that's what really sets us apart as a wholesaler. All of our branches work together to transfer stuff

9:19in. We could see something in Newfoundland, we could have it here in Dartmouth right away. Other wholesalers kind of work as independents, so they don't have that capability. So it works very well. It's not like you're backwards integrated — more into the logistics and supply chain all over the place, lots of moving parts. Absolutely. Yeah. And so here locally in Atlantic Canada, where are large shipments being stored? Is there one kind of centre here as well for you to feed the eight locations, or

9:47yeah, so in partnership with our distribution centre, we would have smaller hubs in each region as well. So for us in Atlantic, Dartmouth is a hub for us. Okay. Yeah. Well, that makes sense. We just added 13,000 square feet to that hub in the last year to be able to deal with the growth in our industry right now. Yeah. I was like — Tom, you were saying before, before we went on air, like if you're dealing with on the commercial side, large

10:13shipments, big volume jobs, whether it's a hospital or maybe a multi-res project — and you're getting that in, the project's taking longer on schedule, then you have three others coming in and you're walking around that, and it can get pretty backed up pretty quick. Yes, for sure it can. I think we're all feeling that pain right now in this business. And yeah, when projects get pushed, it definitely is a challenge for us at the branch side, for sure. Yeah. And so for Atlantic, can we talk a little bit like

10:40commercial, residential — like is it kind of an even split, or is it — for sales, is it more on the residential side? A bit of both? The bulk of what we're supporting today is commercial business and HVAC — those are our biggest categories right now, presently. Right. And Stephen, so you're working with — you mentioned before you're working on a lot of multi-res projects, you know, a lot of kind of high-volume supply on each one. Yeah, like our

11:10city's really kind of turning that direction, I would say. Yeah. And you're focused here at Nova Scotia yourself — focused right here in Halifax and Dartmouth? Yeah. So there are a lot of upcoming projects in the next few years that are 200 units plus. There are a lot of those projects on the go right now. So our city's really turning in that direction when it comes to multi-res, and it's a great opportunity for us. Yeah. So tell us

11:37like — for our listeners — whenever you see it, you mentioned 200 units, or there's a project you work on for a multi-res, what are the items typically that Wolseley's taking care of? Not always 100% of the mechanical and plumbing, but a certain percentage — like, it's the fixtures, it's the boilers, it's the — well, we look at the fixtures, and we do very well in our fixture business. Then your consumable business and

12:04your equipment business. So your consumables would be your pipe, valves and fittings, your plastic pipe, your Victaulic, your Uponor, that sort of thing. And then your equipment would be what runs all that stuff — your boiler systems and your pumps and stuff like that. So usually, you know, we try to get all aspects, but sometimes we get one or two. But we're happy with partnering up with what we can do, and we appreciate that from our

12:32partners. Yeah. And it's a big part of your business on the contractor side. You know, we were talking earlier — as well, different from architectural, different from different parts of the spec — when you're dealing with mechanical plumbing, these contractors are fully licensed, they're installing really complex units and systems and whatnot. So tell us a little bit about the process — to screen out or to take on a new client to supply. It's not about volume necessarily, but just about

13:05making sure they have the right licensing and they're legit and all. Yeah, I mean, I guess we're a little bit different in that we don't touch the retail side of the business, so we're not dealing a lot with walk-in homeowner type customers. It's all licensed contractors. Yeah. And these are, quite often, contractors that we are building long-term relationships with. I mean, they become almost family to you. Yeah. And they need to have the right

13:33licenses and certifications and all that type of thing. Yeah. Because that's a big deal for them on the contract side — if they find a good supplier who can take care of them as far as lead times and meeting the spec and whatnot, it's really a pain to have to switch out. For sure, absolutely. So it's very long term. Yeah, yeah, it is. Absolutely. Jacqueline, do you want to talk a little bit about some of the initiatives for Wolseley? You mentioned a few different — so

13:59some of our national initiatives. Sure. Yeah. So very near and dear to us — Wolseley is definitely a give-back type of company. So nationally we do various initiatives for Habitat — Habitat for Humanity — you know, Tom just last year, we took a team for the day to go out and actually build. But we do various fundraisers throughout the year as well. We'll have different initiatives just locally, branch-wise, and then nationally. This year we did win an award — the Game Changer Award for United Way. So we

14:34raised — our associates alone raised almost a hundred thousand dollars for United Way, which got us the Game Changer Award. We're very proud of that. And yeah, we do Habitat, we do Special Olympics as well, so that's another great one. We do the truck rally every year — it's a lot of fun. We go out and support all the drivers and spend the day fundraising for that as well. So giving back to the community is

15:05extremely important. And I can speak just from our team here locally — for us, it is something that we want to give back to our communities and make sure that our communities are aware that we are a very conscious company. Wow, yeah. Well, that's amazing. So how many team members for Wolseley in Atlantic right now? We have 88. Wow. Yeah. And so those 88 would be made up of salespeople — like, what's kind of the breakdown? Yeah, so I mean we would

15:33have folks in the warehouse, we would have counter folks, we would have inside sales folks, outside sellers, quotations — yeah. We have some specialized people in some of those roles as well. Like Kristen, who's head of our quotations team — she's an engineer, and she heads our quotations. You talked before — yeah. And so, very again, that is a very specific role, and we're dealing with all of the contractors on any of the hospital, school, any major projects

16:10coming up in the Atlantic region. So would she be in touch with architects on these projects, on the spec and on the products that are being spec'd — at that point? Yeah, she will deal with the engineers. Okay. We don't — right, we don't drive the engineers, we don't drive the industry that much. It's more our vendor partners — together with our vendors, specifically, she's dealing more with the intricacies of

16:41product changes. You know, bid-spec is very specific as we mentioned. So if there are longer lead times, we can't meet certain things — that's when she really starts to get involved with changing out products and options. She's just really slicing and dicing a lot of the bids that come across the desk. Yeah, pricing them — constant pulse on the bids. Always. Yeah, absolutely. And there's a whole team under her, so I think there are five on her

17:12team — four quotes reps. Right. And then we have a project manager as well, so Tammy Conway. Once we win a bid, it becomes Tammy's job to execute it. Right now she's working a lot with the vendors on ETAs, and the customers, and the sales reps as well. It takes a lot off of the branch network and the sales. Yeah. All that happens upstream to make something go smooth, exactly — once you're finally bringing these materials to site for the contractors. Yeah, yeah, there's a lot behind it. A lot. And

17:42you know, I think, talking a little bit about how Wolseley is unique in a sense — the teams that we talk about, they run throughout the region. So we're not branch-specific, not a specific location, which is really great because a lot of the companies and contractors that we're dealing with, they're not just one branch location either. So Tammy and Kristen, the people on our team, have eyes on the entire region. And oftentimes we can say, hey, you know, we did this on

18:09this other job with this team here in this location — this is what worked — and it really helps our contractors. This is truly our partnership. And being able to have people that oversee the region and look more outside of just your project in Newfoundland, but what happened here in New Brunswick, what happened here in PEI — so we can work and give the best result for our contractors. Yeah, you're building off similar projects that are happening all

18:36throughout all the regions. Yeah. And we talked about space earlier, right, and the branch network. And I think on the PM side for Tammy, it's a challenge right now. I mean, it's great to win jobs, but you need to be laser-focused on the schedule of when the material is coming in. So that makes sense for everybody. So there's almost, since the pandemic, an extra layer there that you really need to consider. Yeah. And when you say that to me — just from, you know, I'm not

19:04extremely experienced, but just a little bit of project management — you see a project come out, the bigger the more complex it is, especially with some of these public jobs that you're supplying or just supplying a certain percentage of HVAC and plumbing, whether it's healthcare or school. Like, when they set a timeline or a start date, a lot of times people say, oh, this makes sense, you know, maybe August of — but the thought that goes into that, it's a formal document and it's a legal

19:27document — that date has a lot of meaning for a lot of people, a lot behind it. Yeah. So some of these — yeah. So I guess shout out to the PMs who come up with these schedules, like — well, it must be nice, all you have to do is sit there and make up a schedule, but yeah, it's not that easy. She does a great job for us. Well, maybe talk a little bit about — as a wholesaler, you know, there are so many

19:53brands, so many lines that you're associated with — it's got to be hundreds. Well, I think — what's our SKU count, 170,000 or something? Yeah, something like that as a national. Right, yeah, yeah — 83,000 SKUs right now, I would say. Probably the one — to manage 100,000 of them, that's way off. Yeah, right. We have a lot of partners, a lot of vendors. I think the one we probably pride ourselves most on is our own brand. Absolutely. And our own brand is a

20:24Wolseley own-label product. Okay. So maybe Steve, you want to talk a little bit about some of the ones that you work the most with here in the city? Yeah, so we have a fixture line — a complete fixture line of our own brand products. And when it comes to the industry, we have our competitively priced ones and then we also have our ones for the high-end units that people are looking for. That extends into our hangers —

20:52pipe hangers. Yeah, we also have an own-brand product on those. And that's a consumable product, so it doesn't really matter what your taste of a toilet or sink is — a hanger is a hanger, not many — you know what I mean? Yeah, exactly. For folks that aren't in the industry, you'll see these, you know, ceilings, these hangers. Some guys like different types of hangers, so — I shouldn't say that. Some contractors are kind of picky when it comes to it,

21:20but not necessarily for the aesthetics — it might be more the functional, exactly, and the installation, the time it takes to install. The problem but — we're doing very well. We've got it into several buildings in the city and the feedback is quite good. Are there some other Wolseley internal lines other than fixtures and what you just mentioned? There are a lot — many products. I would say Brock is one, like on the HVAC side. So Brock-labelled air conditioners, furnaces, heat pumps, air handlers —

21:47exactly, that's a great line for us as well. Yeah. Are you noticing anything right now, like in the market here? Anything trending, or has it always been that way? You know, lots of people want heat pumps — do you notice any kind of new trends? I mean, the rebates have — rebates right now are helping, so a lot of people are going with more efficient products, obviously. We have been seeing a trend in products that are listed on the rebates

22:16category as well. Okay. Can you explain that a little bit for our listeners who might not know what you mean when you say the rebate categories? For energy savings — correct. Yeah. There are energy rebates — well, federally there are federal rebates, and there are provincial rebates throughout all the provinces. And so if you are looking to make a switch from oil, or electrification of course is big right now, if you are looking to make that switch to a more efficient system for your home or for your business, there are government

22:43grants available that you can recoup some of the installation costs. For a lot of these grants, you do have to have audits or a pre-inspection and so on. And once you have a pre-inspection, usually a document will outline what it is that you'll be required to do to be able to attain a certain amount of funds back. And so there are various ones throughout all the provinces — there are federal ones, but you can also piggyback some of the provincial ones. So it's a pretty — it's

23:12a lucrative time right now, actually, for a lot of homeowners to make that switch. And that wouldn't just apply to heat pumps — there are all kinds of different scenarios. Yeah, hot water heaters. For us, I would say predominantly it is the heat pumps that we're working the most on, and it's really driving an increase in sales and business for us, for sure. Yeah. And it's pretty critical for us to really help to

23:38educate our customers. And when these trends are changing, we need to be changing our inventory levels locally as well. So that relationship is pretty important when it comes to that and the change of inventory needs. Yeah, I think — yeah, especially in the verticals that you're in, a lot of complex material and units and how they're functioning. And education, like Tom said, has got to be a big thing. Are there other proactive things that you can talk about that

24:05Wolseley kind of does here as far as information sessions, or just kind of hosting, talking with the contractors or the end users? Is there any kind of — yeah, so for an example — we have on our team a category sales specialist for HVAC, so Joey Robertson. That's his role — day in, day out, live, eat, breathe HVAC. And supporting Joey is a technical service person, Brian Houghton. And what they've been doing a lot lately is performing training sessions. So certain manufacturers are coming to town

24:39and we're trying to line up contractors to come in and just get educated on new equipment or technical support for the particular piece of equipment — so for installation purposes, installation, service, basically. Yeah. Oh, that's great. Stephen, can we — or all three of you — mention maybe some jobs in Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia that you've been involved with, whether it be a hospital or a school, or something commercial, something that people in the community might be aware of — it's a new building or one that's currently happening. Maybe just some different projects you're proud to be part of. You can go first if you want. Well, I'd say there's a

25:11big one going up here in the north end — Richmond Yards — okay, it's kind of the new skyline there, pretty hard to miss on the bridge crossover. Yeah, yeah, north end Halifax. I'm going to say — how high are they up

25:32there with the tower now? It's 30 storeys, but I'm not sure. Yeah, not to cut you off, but yeah — but for a long time the city, right, 27 was the cap. Yeah, Fenwick. Right. Now you're seeing multiple buildings at 30 and above, a few plans for 34, 35. So it's like — I think that's just the starter one. I think there are multiple of those that are probably going to be coming down the pipe in the next five years. Multiple buildings — three buildings now, would be eight or eleven by the end

26:00of — but completely anyway. We did a portion of that with the contractors, so that was a nice one to be involved in. We have a couple of other ones — The Mills, downtown right now on Spring Garden. Spring Garden, that's Westwood, right? Westwood Developments, yeah. So we're working with them. Can you mention the contractors that you're working with on those jobs — like the subs, if they're listening in on the site? Yeah, well that would be Eastern Plumbing, okay, which is

26:24a great partner of ours. And then Richmond Yards is Ace Mechanical. Yeah. So you mentioned you're supplying a certain percentage — can you talk a little bit about that for our listeners who might not be that familiar with the mechanical plumbing trades and suppliers? It's not always that you're supplying every piece of equipment — no. HVAC and plumbing is so complex and vast, there are often different suppliers involved when you have a job that big. You're going to have

26:54every — yeah, probably every wholesaler in the city is going to get a piece of it, right? No one wholesaler can handle it. It's just not even good business, right? No. Yeah, I can't say what portion, because I don't want the editors to know. Right. So just for context — like, can you talk a little bit about what you're supplying at Richmond Yards? Not that you have to tell everything, or maybe there are things you don't want to say, but can you tell us a little

27:15bit about what you're supplying on each of those jobs? Is it different stuff? Yeah, so maybe just a little bit about that — you know, we partnered up on some of the fixtures on that particular job, and then some of the other bigger jobs we've partnered up with the fixtures and the piping and, yeah, that sort of thing too. So they're all kind of spread out — some will do a little bit more, some will do a little bit less, depending

27:39on — you know, there are so many factors that come into account on these buildings. So you'll work with a contractor that you've got a great relationship with, but sometimes on that particular job, because they might have five or six jobs on the go, you're going to do a smaller portion of that job with them. Yeah, right — just because of the logistics of everything. So each job, with logistics and how busy they are, and the lead times and the

28:09supply you're able to give them — or is it pricing as well? Well, it's a multitude of factors on each job, so every job is very complex. There's not one that's at all the same, really. So yeah, like sometimes the pricing will be different, sometimes supply will be different. And we also understand that they have relationships with other wholesalers as well, and they want to maintain those as well. So it's rare that a trade — especially, I think, in that realm — would do a job without at least

28:38three quotes, you know, to keep people honest. Because you could see a big discrepancy on a million dollars of material — $100,000 one way or the other, right? So they might do it — we might do product on one, and then the next building they might decide to go somewhere else, just see how things are — they might be stretched out, you know, if they're buying all this material there, they might want to buy the next job with them. So then they kind

29:01of have an even split with their relationships as well. What Tom was saying earlier about building these relationships — like, these are formal B2B relationships, the kind you want to last years. How important — talk about your relationship with that contractor. If they just completed a big job like Richmond Yards and it went really well and you were part of that and you were able to get stuff there on time and

29:29everything kind of went smooth — that's going to lead to more. They're just going to need more work, they're not going to switch out, right? Well, those relationships — we try to make very long term. You know, there are guys — I've been here four years right now — there are guys in the industry, they come over to my house, and you know, we're more than just business partners, you're also friends. Yeah. As Tom kind of said earlier,

29:53it's kind of like a family, really. It's a small city, so — well, plus these jobs, I mean, they last a year per contract for sure. You've got to talk to them once a week, a couple of times a week at least — maybe every day. Maybe every day, yeah. Sometimes, yeah. There's a lot that comes into building the relationships. And I mean, we're all selling things, right? So the differentiator is really the support and the service, and the on-site support that somebody like Steve

30:21would provide. Yeah. I feel like that's where your experience being around a site and being in that world is a big thing. And that's just coming from my own experience as a contractor — you know who speaks the same language and who, you know, you figure that out pretty quick. So I like to get to know everybody on the sites, but then also in the office as well. So anybody can call me if there's an issue, and we're there. We're there in the

30:45back. And you're spending a lot of your time out on these sites throughout Nova Scotia, right? You're visiting sites a lot, yeah, talking to guys. And Steve, any large ProFlow jobs that you might want to mention in the city that you can think of? There's one out in Dartmouth for sure, on Basswood Run. Can you clarify ProFlow — that's one of your own brand lines? Yeah, that's your own brand line. Okay, yeah — fixtures. Okay. And where

31:10was it again? It's out in Basswood Run in Dartmouth. We did a job out there. Okay. It was multi-unit — was it residential? 220 units, I believe, combined. Okay. Yeah. What project were you mentioning earlier — something here local — was it in the north end? Is it a water or wastewater treatment? No, it's down off Goodwood in the industrial park. Okay. It's actually — cycling organic — sorry, they take compostable waste, organics, and they actually break it down and recycle it, or

31:45whatever. But the technology that's put into theirs — actually, I think the most advanced facility outside of — I think it's Calgary, if I'm not mistaken. So it's pretty advanced technology coming to our city. It's awesome. It could be Montreal, but yeah. So how does that impact — do Wolseley, like, is it a job where you can tell this has got all kinds of different spec and different units? Does it make it harder for you to — obviously it's within your 100,000 lines

32:18that — yeah, it's in there. Yeah. Sometimes you actually have to go outside of those lines. Sometimes you do. Okay, that's what I was leading into — so sometimes you do have to go outside of what you have. Something that's a little unique. I mean, that's when our vendor partnerships really kick in — we've got to sit down, we've got to figure out what is actually being requested here, get a good understanding of the equipment, and then we go from there. So quick shout out to

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34:03pivotbookkeeping.com. And I assume that happens on your healthcare projects and the ones that you just mentioned — specialty ships from Italy and different things — and you have dedicated staff here that are focused on that. I think you mentioned his name — isn't it Mitchell? Yeah, so Mitchell Heisinger is one of our outside reps, like Steve. But Mitchell's unique in his position — he deals with the Cahill Group of companies, so they have various facets as well. So they have Atlantica Life Safety,

34:33and there are a lot that fall under that umbrella. And of course a lot of their projects are throughout Canada, but specifically Mitchell deals with all of them across Atlantic Canada, which is really nice. He migrates throughout the region, so he's not in one specific location. And it allows us, as we've mentioned, the ability to say, hey, this worked for this group here, we used this product, or if we run into any issues it gives us an avenue to look at solutions for

35:04the companies. So Mitchell — he does have a bid-spec background. He grew up in an engineering family, grandfather and father all engineers. So it's really in his wheelhouse. It's a shame we don't have him here today because he could sit here and talk about projects, some of the ones he's worked on. I've had the ability to do some walkthroughs on those. Yeah, it's generally schools and hospitals, energy centres. Like, we worked on the Newfoundland Adult Mental Health Facility, which was a huge

35:37project over in Newfoundland. Yeah, that was in recent years, right? Yeah, that's still ongoing. Yeah. I just did a walkthrough on the site and it's incredible — just wrapping up now. It's yes, yeah, they're coming on to the finished work of a lot of things right now, and it's pretty — we did another hospital in Corner Brook, the Acute Care Facility there. We're working on the NSCC campus up in Cape Breton. Yeah, beautiful changes going on here as well for NSCC locally

36:08and then there's the energy centre of course — there's so much. Wow. So again, as we've talked about, we have specific members of the team just to cover everything that our customers might need throughout Atlantic. You know, Steve specializes here in the city and he's done an incredible job. Mitchell migrates throughout. We have a rep in New Brunswick and he really specializes in HVAC — all things HVAC. So we definitely have a multi-faceted team here. And the cool thing about it is, like we've talked

36:38about — other areas may individually operate, but we constantly collaborate as a team between the different provinces. Yeah. As I mentioned, I manage the sales — I also have an outside team, I have an inside team. And that inside team, they're not in a branch, they're not dealing face to face with customers and being interrupted. They sit remote and literally from 7:30 to 6:30 every day they field incoming requests, they pump out quotes, but they take care of the whole region. So it really allows us, like

37:10we've talked about — these companies that are not just a local Halifax company, they're dealing throughout the region. We have eyes across the board, and it just gives them a seamless operation — just a higher comfort level that they're being taken care of. Yeah. Not to mention they're local, you know, relationships with your partners. That's right. Yeah, so we have the local, and then we have them on the back end just making sure that everything runs smoothly. Yeah.

37:38You mentioned you had a rep in Prince Edward Island as well, which is kind of a hot spot for the size of the market. Things are very hot there. Yeah, yeah. And he's doing — like we said, we don't have a location there, but he's got great history, great relationships with the people. You know, you talk about talking the talk, and this guy really knows his stuff. And so although we don't have a branch for them to be able to walk into, Jason is so well-equipped

38:00and well-versed. New Brunswick's not that far. That's right. Yeah. We're shipping product from Moncton or wherever we need to go. We ship right from Moncton or New Glasgow. He actually — that's right — he actually comes from PEI and even takes care of some companies in New Glasgow as well. So yeah. I mean, it just makes me think you have a pretty complex goal there to supply all these contractors in different markets all through the region. And maybe Tom, you

38:32could talk a little bit about the importance of the people that are filling those roles. You mentioned Mitchell with an engineering background and he's got experience on lots of different jobs, you can pull from that — maybe the same market, maybe the same engineers there that he worked with two years ago. But just having those people in those roles. Yeah, so important. And the labour shortage — I mean, we talk a lot about that from the service contractor's standpoint, with

38:58a lot of different people on our podcast. But it's affecting the suppliers too, it's affecting architects, it's affecting everyone. Absolutely, yeah. And I think our business is unique because it's not cookie-cutter — it's very different from one branch to the next. I mean, the customers that we're supporting are often different. And our inventory is different. So the people that we have in one branch compared to another may have different strengths depending on what is required in each area. So yeah, I

39:29mean, it's been a challenge to try and find the right people. Like we were talking about earlier, it's not like there's this pool of folks out there that are just waiting to get into distribution. Yeah. You have to — funny how that is, right? Yeah. You have to kind of — we need to do a better job, I think, of shining a light on what it means to be in this. And the different areas that you can go into

39:52once you sort of get on this side. And you'll see a lot of people — I take great pride in — so we talked about the fact that I'm only two and a half years with Wolseley and you have a business degree, right? It's like — he did study supply chain management and some of that kind of stuff. That's right. And some of the courses, statistics — you know, critical path. And this would be probably one of the most complex industries that you could get into,

40:13you know. But just talking about the fact of how important everyone is and how — everyone is a spoke in the wheel of our team. And being able to bounce ideas off each other and operate as a whole locally — I really think it makes a big difference for us. Yeah. And it's got to be tough on Tom, just looking ahead, thinking, you know, I might have to replace this guy, might

40:40retire — sure. No, I'm not sure — this guy just put his two weeks in! I've got these positions to fill. I always have to be thinking ahead a little bit. But I am so lucky to be working with this team. We really, honestly, have a phenomenal team. To my point where I was going with that before — was, you know, two and a half years in, and every time I'm in the branch I talk to people like — Tom said 26 years. We just had a

41:02retirement party two weeks ago for a gentleman — 40 years. And there were so many people at that party that were like, oh, I worked with him, you know, 20, 30 years ago. And they stay — they stay in this industry, and more importantly, they stay with Wolseley. Yeah, that's the proof. It really is. It's probably the best career decision I've made so far. Just the support as a company — you know what they do for their employees. Some of the

41:30initiatives — we talk about the give-back. Wolseley has a cool thing: if you want to go volunteer for a day, they'll pay you for that day. You just have to show that you volunteered. They want us all to grow. We're constantly being offered — Steve, I know you're in a leadership program, I've completed leadership programs. I have members of my team — I love them in the sales role, but are they going to be in sales forever? Probably

41:54not. Wolseley offers — okay, you want to move into management? Sure, we'll train you, we'll give you the courses that you need. And supporting going back to school and furthering your education — Wolseley fully supports that as well. So it's pretty awesome. And as a female in the business — we talked about it's very limited. I'd love to try to encourage more women to enter into this industry because it is growing, it's challenging, it's fun, it's never boring —

42:26because there are so many facets to the business. But you can be very, very successful as a woman in this industry. And right now we're about 10%, so pretty low. But Wolseley — we have a group called Women of Wolseley, where it's a network across Canada. We fully support any females looking to further their education, further their roles within the company — very well-supported company for that. Yeah, that's amazing. I think we can use all the women in the industry that

42:54we can get, and it's definitely needed, heading in the right direction. Sure. Yeah. Okay, yeah. Maybe we can mention — I know we were talking earlier about the e-commerce side of Wolseley, and the service offering and what that means to your partners and stuff. Maybe just a little bit of info on that. Tom or Stephen, or — yeah, so Wolseley Express is our e-commerce platform. And really it's essentially every product that we sell in the business, available online to

43:22our customers. So what does that mean for our customers? At the end of the day, it saves them — if they're coming in physically, they wouldn't necessarily need to come into the branch. They could place orders at home, or they wouldn't have to wait on hold at a branch, or they wouldn't have to wait to talk to somebody specifically in a branch. So the contractor is the end user using this as well? That's correct. Okay. That's really what the platform is for — it's for our

43:47contracting customers. Is it like an app they can download on their phone too? It is. Okay. So it's really streamlined. It is, it is really streamlined. And a lot of our vendors partner with us on content for Wolseley Express. Just as an example, Kohler — I think they've done a great job. We picked up Kohler about a year and a half ago. They're a big brand, phenomenal line for us, has been going really, really well. And when you go on to Wolseley

44:13Express, you can click into the Kohler website directly and bring up specs and pictures and dimensional data — anything that you need. So it just makes the day-to-day life for contractors a lot easier. Yeah. I remember what I was going to — did you have something you were going to say there? Oh no, we were just talking about Wolseley Express in general. There are just so many facets of the platform that are making the user experience a seamless one, a friendlier one.

44:43We talk about — we have lists, customer lists. So if you constantly buy the same thing, your lists are already there. We have the option of barcode scanning, even. So if you have, say for instance, a large shop or warehouse or truck stock or anything like that — we actually have a barcode system. You can use your phone and you can scan, and basically shop from your own shop, or you can replenish any of

45:10your truck stock, any of your shop stock — very easily and efficiently. So you're saving the end user time. So much — contractors, if you're saving them time, then yeah. So you're getting some great feedback on that. And Jacqueline nailed it. For the customers who are buying the same thing day after day, it's perfect — yeah, it's a perfect tool for them. It shows you their trends. So it shows you the trends — you can go back and look at what you've paid for something,

45:37the pictures and visuals are all there. We have invoice gateway on there as well, so for those operating in the office with all the bookkeeping — we have a full year of invoicing that's available through that site as well. There's training available online too — if you want to do a hydronics training session, you can sort of sign in and do the training on them. And there are product comparisons — so for instance, if you go to purchase a

46:08specific product and it's not available, they'll give you options of comparable products. So again, really taking that time from a user having to go try to find something — because as we've talked about, a lot of these are very specific, integral, mechanical items. So having to take the time to go and find a like product — we've done that for you in many cases. So again, a very user-friendly experience. And hey — Stephen, I just wanted to add to that. If you look at our

46:36inventory side of that as well — it doesn't only show you that it's in stock in Dartmouth; it can show you that it's in stock in our DC. And then if it's not in stock in either one, there's also another symbol there that shows you that it's got to be brought in by the manufacturer. And they want to know that, because if they want a thousand more in two months, they know there's lots at the DC. So they can kind of plan out by looking at

46:57that, and they can plan a guy going to Dartmouth the next morning. So again, integrated back into our whole system as a company — very great features. Yeah. One of the things about doing this podcast with so many different guests — from large companies, large corporate organizations, smaller local companies or Atlantic region only — is that you just get a lot of different contexts. And I'm talking to EllisDon about the labour shortage, Sean Stiles and Travis Rudolph. And Sean was saying, you know, they do have a bit

47:33of an advantage because they're national — they can kind of pull from their employee pool, maybe someone's willing to move from the western provinces here. But not only that, there are other advantages too, right? Just from — you're here handling the umbrella of the company for this region. Maybe just talk a little bit about Wolseley as a whole — and like, are you communicating with head office in Ontario, or what it's like if you're traveling there every quarter — just a

48:00little bit about what it's like under the Wolseley brand in Atlantic specifically, but the advantages of — because you mentioned all the different programs and things that you're doing across the country and the internal logistics that give you the advantage. Does that make sense? Like — yeah. I think for our region, as we'd mentioned, it's a large geography and it's very critical that we are staying engaged and collaborating all the time.

48:32So Teams has helped, right? We all get on Teams fairly regularly — maybe a little bit more than we should, but we need to address that. But at the end of the day, we need to be talking with important folks, key folks in the business, as far as what they need and what's working well and what challenges they're having. So I think we do a good job — we have to do a good job with that. When you look

48:58at the region of Atlantic — I would say our support from corporate is much the same. We are engaged with initiatives that are going on from our corporate team. We're on at least two calls a week just to keep everybody in contact — it's really to keep everybody up to speed on what's cooking. Absolutely. Yeah. We do a national call, yeah. So across the board, every — once a week. So every

49:28week — there are over a hundred of us that sit on a national call. So we can hear what's going on across the country. So if we start hearing of supply chain issues or things that are starting to become very popular in other regions, we can start to plan ahead. It gives us the ability to see what's happening on a national basis. But not only that, it also gives us many more eyes on what's going on to provide solutions. So if we raise an issue that we're having

49:56in Atlantic, someone in BC might say, oh hey, ran into that — this is what we did. And we do that every week and we plan in advance, and it has been very, very effective for us. Yeah. So you're all learning from each other. And although you're in different markets — like you said, large geographic area, not as condensed — you can talk Montreal or Toronto, it's a small geography and the volumes are there. Yeah, yeah. Communication really is key, and I think that's what has kind of

50:25afforded us some of our success in the last few years, with the change. So when we talk about the change — we used to be part of kind of Ontario as we operated. But since Tom has come into play, we operate with the autonomy here in Atlantic — we make our own decisions, but of course we work as a whole with Wolseley and these initiatives. Yeah. And like for example, Stephen, in your role — when

50:50you're dealing with these contractors on jobs like Richmond Yards or The Mills, and you start talking to them early on — you're in a meeting maybe one week, talking to the team and saying, hey, do you guys know that we're going to need this volume of that, and this change — so you're kind of all communicating, even down the supply chain, even though that's not your position. That communication is so important, because throughout the year, you know,

51:13you're going to have problems if you don't catch them three to six months in advance, right? It's critical, it's absolutely critical. I mean, if Steve wins a job, then the next conversation is to Jacqueline, and then we'll chat about it, and quite often we're bringing in our supply chain business partner — just to talk about, hey, this is what's coming, this is the ETA that we have, so we need to be prepared for that. So again, 3,000 employees coast to coast and it's very important that we're all sort of

51:38rolling in the right direction. Yeah, that's a big operation. Anything else that you guys want to touch on that we haven't mentioned, individually or on behalf of Wolseley? We talked about a lot of different things. Yeah, I think we've talked about a lot of our specialized staff. We have Clinton — who's new in a role — so Clinton Rempel, who used to head our bids, a lot of experience. He's now

52:08manning a hydronics category for us. So we're trying to make improvements — we're putting people in place to make those necessary changes, specialized individuals who kind of eat, breathe, sleep that category — just to help make sure that we're on the right path. R&D is big, yeah, it is. Forecasting is a big thing for us. We're constantly — you know, like you talk about, you get this particular job — well, do we forecast that we needed that much copper or steel or cast or whatever?

52:37It's a big focus right now — huge focus for us right now. Certainly, that's pretty important. Yeah. We also wanted to plug the Wolseley Expo that we're hosting here. So Atlantic is hosting a Wolseley Expo here in Halifax, June 1st. Okay. So about the — it's at Pier 23, just down behind the Westin there. And I think right now we have about 35 vendors — something like that — 35 vendors coming in

53:09and they're going to be from every facet, so from fixtures to HVAC to — so we're going to run three to seven. It doesn't run all day, it's towards the end of the day, so a little more convenient for our customers to get in. Yeah, we're going to have some food, we're going to have some entertainment. Honestly, it's like the first time that we've been able to pull contractors together for a little bit of a mini trade show since the pandemic. That's awesome. Well, hopefully lots of contractors

53:36are listening in out here. And to say the date again — June 1st. June 1st. Okay, three to seven, Pier 23. Okay, yeah. Exciting — should be a great time. We're hoping for a great turnout. You know, we've heard from contractors from across Atlantic who say they're coming to town to attend, and it should be a really great turnout. Awesome. Stephen, any last words? I'd say my last words are — you know, working for Wolseley, I think it's a fantastic business. The culture that we've

54:03created here in Atlantic Canada is unbelievable — it's beyond anything I've ever seen at a business. And I think that culture just propels us out there with our contractors, and they feel the energy. And the energy brings back business and just continues to build those relationships. I can feel it too. Yeah, it's great. Huge on team building — we're very much a team. We come together a few times a year. So that's — when

54:33everyone would see each other would be a couple times a year from all the different — at the same time generally, twice a year. Yeah, you see each other throughout the week on video calls and whatnot, but yeah, to be in person — we try as often as possible. We do it twice a year where we get together with our team for a couple of days. We have events where we compete against each other — to keep that ring toss very, very popular.

54:58Competitive spirits — we curled a couple weeks ago as a team and that was a lot of fun. We got pretty intense. We're extremely competitive in nature. But yeah, just to talk — there was a ton of screaming, yeah. But the closeness, right, just as a team — I think that's really the catalyst that helps us continue to be passionate about what we do, because you have to have that. It's a long, arduous process — we're constantly working on these projects,

55:28there are so many issues, so many fires to put out. But at the end of the day, if you love what you do, it doesn't drain you. And if you love who you work with — we pretty much, our mantra is just kind of get it done. And I feel like everyone that's part of this team has that same mantra, that same passion. It's so easy to work towards a common goal. Yeah. And communicate. Like, I remember thinking

55:54about a story or something I've seen — on TSN, or like on — it may have been Sidney Crosby or some of the other top-tier players. Like, one of the things that the coaches or players always do — they talk all the time, they never shut up during the game. They're talking about every little play back on the bench. Yeah, it's like what Tom and Jacqueline and Stephen, you guys are saying — just communication all the time, right? Yeah, yeah, that's really what it is. Yeah. We do a great job

56:18of communicating. I think that's really what — if I could really pinpoint it — it's the positivity for sure. Our team is super passionate and positive-focused, but the communication — we regularly communicate, and it makes us more efficient. Yeah. Well, we really appreciate your time today. It's great to have three individuals from an organization, from different facets of the organization, to get different perspectives. So that was great in the conversation. So Stephen and Jacqueline and Tom, on behalf of

56:48the Atlantic Construction Podcast, I want to thank you for your time, and it's great to sit with you and have this conversation today. Thanks so much for having us. It's been fun. Cheers, cheers, cheers. This episode is brought to you by Cook Insurance — your trusted insurance broker in Atlantic Canada for 50 years. Insurance is complex, and the Cook team focuses on delivering comprehensive solutions for your construction needs, including builder's risk, wrap-up liability, performance bonds, and project-specific construction. A Navacord partner since 2020, Cook is one of the largest

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