EP 6 · 2021-05-03 · 39:16
38 Modular Townhomes, Craned in Like Lego: How Cresco Is Building Through Nova Scotia's Trades Shortage
Cresco's Amanée Mousavi and Farhang Fotovat on craning 38 modular townhomes together 'like Lego' amid Nova Scotia's trades shortage, and on using Family Business Atlantic to engineer a two-family succession.
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Amanée Mousavi
⟶ The story, written up — a sharp read with every fact on the record. Or skip straight to the moments that matter, as clips.
// CHAPTERS — TAP TO JUMP THE PLAYER
0:04Cold open and guest intros — Dan introduces Amanée Mousavi (Cresco sales/marketing, president of Family Business Atlantic) and Farhang Fotovat (Cresco commercial construction development manager).0:43What Family Business Atlantic is — FBA as a membership-driven organization: a broad definition of family business, complementary programming, education courses, and seven peer groups that act as confidential mini boards of directors meeting monthly.5:30Member roster and the PEI expansion — Construction-adjacent members named (Conrad Brothers, Hardman Group, Blunden Construction, Barrett Lumber, Maple Leaf Homes, Leahy's Glass); Cresco a member since 2010; a Michael LeBlanc-led expansion into PEI launching officially in May.7:40Education, COVID webinars and advisors — Courses (digital marketing, leadership, HR best practices) enabled by the NS Department of Labour and Advanced Education; close to 40 webinars since the shutdown; a third of the membership are trusted advisors covering legal, succession, estate, HR and insurance.11:00Membership value and cost — Membership grew to 110-115 during COVID with a seventh peer group added; a $500 fee covers the entire company, including programming, events and the network.12:25Cresco's origin story — Founded 1989 by Hossein Mousavi, who left Iran after the revolution, studied at St. FX, and went from taxi driving into construction; Taleb Abedali joined in 1994; growth from homes to land development, including 1,300 acres bought in 2006 that became Parks of West Bedford, plus the Ravines of Bedford South and Russell Lake West.14:54Farhang's journey: student visa to family business — Came to Canada in 2005 on a student visa, switched from business at Saint Mary's to NSCC's two-year construction administration technology program, worked as junior site supervisor, estimator and formwork crew lead, then joined Cresco in 2013.17:05Running job sites through COVID — The industry negotiated with the provincial government to keep construction open; Farhang ran three staggered shifts (7-3, 3-9, overnight) to separate crews on a multi-unit site, trading production speed for continuity.19:02Trades as long-term partners — Cresco's model: a small direct staff (~6 in home construction) leveraging 200-250 loyal trades across projects, treated explicitly as partners with long-term relationships.20:40Land development at Cresco — Farhang's development-manager work since 2013: approvals, clearing, roads, pipes, curbs and sidewalks — making land ready for homes, apartments and commercial, partly in partnership with Clayton Developments.21:42The modular townhome project and the missing middle — Cresco's first multi-unit project with The Shaw Group: 38 modular rental townhomes factory-built by Prestige Homes in Sussex NB, trucked in at 16 ft max width, craned into five blocks in a day, sub-2,000 sq ft and more affordable than apartments — a 'missing middle' product that the market accepted fast.25:34Iterating the modular design — Phase-over-phase improvements: hot water tanks, HRVs and electrical panels moved into each unit to cut basement plumbing and wiring; phase three is 20 bungalow townhomes on crawl spaces needing minimal site connection.27:17Schedule savings and the trades shortage thesis — Modular cuts the schedule to roughly a third and barely touches Cresco's own trades; with Halifax's population growing and skilled trades scarce, Farhang argues offsite construction is how the region doubles its build rate — with no winter downtime.28:53Succession planning at Cresco — Two families (Mousavi and Abedali) formalizing succession through FBA connections: an external advisor (Dr. Margaret Humphries, Watermark Partners), a joint family council, a shareholders council, shareholder expectations, family compensation philosophy and conflict-resolution policies.33:40Working on the business, not in it — Strong non-family management lets owners focus on governance and the future; Hossein's arc from would-be doctor to 200 homes a year in Timberlea/Beechville as a follow-your-passion story in a hot market.36:22Where to find them and close — FamilyBusinessAtlantic.ca, an open invitation to construction family businesses and young entrepreneurs, praise for the podcast's one-voice community mission, and outro.
// THE INTRO
Host Daniel Arsenault sits down with Amanée Mousavi (sales and marketing at Cresco, president of Family Business Atlantic) and Farhang Fotovat (commercial construction development manager, Cresco). The first half is an extended profile of Family Business Atlantic: peer groups that function as confidential 'mini boards of directors', government-backed education courses, ~40 COVID-era webinars, advisor-members, a PEI expansion launching May 2021, and a member roster spanning Conrad Brothers, the Hardman Group, Blunden Construction, Barrett Lumber, Maple Leaf Homes and more. The second half digs into Cresco itself: founded in 1989 by Hossein Mousavi (an Iranian immigrant who came to study science and pivoted to building), the 1,300-acre Parks of West Bedford, and Farhang's path from student visa to NSCC to running a formwork crew to managing Cresco's first modular project — 38 rental townhomes with The Shaw Group, factory-built by Prestige Homes in Sussex NB and craned into place at five blocks a day, pitched as the answer to the 'missing middle' and the regional trades shortage. The episode closes with a candid look at Cresco's succession machinery: a joint family council, a shareholders council, written governance policies, and an external family-business advisor.
// THE LESSONS
See all 16 lessons ▸A confidential peer group of fellow family-business operators works like a mini board of directors for problems you can't air inside the company.
“a peer group is like a mini board of directors it's a confidential space”
Modular construction sidesteps the trades shortage: the units arrive factory-built, so the builder's own scarce trades are barely needed on site.
“we're not using our own trades to build these units these are already built in manufacturing”
Modular delivery compressed Cresco's schedule to roughly a third of a conventional build.
“it's a lot of kind of time a third of the time”
Sub-2,000 sq ft modular rental townhomes fill the 'missing middle' between apartments and detached homes — and the Halifax market absorbed them fast.
“missing middle is that that part between apartment building and home construction”
Treat subcontractors as long-term partners; a loyal trade base (200-250 trades on ~6 direct staff) is the developer's real capacity.
“we always when we look at them we look at them as partners”
Iterate the modular design between phases: moving hot water tanks, HRVs and electrical panels into each unit slashed basement plumbing and wiring.
“we move the hot water tank to the second floor”
Modular logistics set the design envelope: truckable units max out at 16 ft wide and roughly 30-70 ft deep.
“16 foot wide that's the 16 foot is the max that they can't carry it”
Factory-built units lose no time to winter — a structural schedule edge in Atlantic Canada.
“they don't lose any time in winter time”
To keep building through COVID, split the site into staggered shifts (7-3, 3-9, overnight) so only one crew occupies a unit at a time — accepting slower production for continuity.
“i had like three different shifts basically to separate people from each other”
Collective industry advocacy kept Nova Scotia construction sites open during COVID by negotiating safety plans with the provincial government.
“they were very successful negotiating with the government with provincial government”
If population growth means doubling housing output while skilled trades shrink, offsite construction is the only arithmetic that works.
“how are we going to build them if we have shortage of trades”
Family-business succession needs formal governance before the handover: a family council, a shareholders council, and written policies on expectations, compensation and conflict.
“in order for cresco to move to the next generation successfully there has to be governance”
Bring in an outside family-business advisor to structure succession — Cresco sourced theirs through association connections.
“through the connections that i've made at family business atlantic we were able to hire a family business advisor”
Strong non-family management frees owners to work ON the business (governance, succession, growth) instead of IN it.
“not really working in the day-to-day business but working on the business”
NSCC's two-year construction administration technology program is a credible operator-recommended entry path into the industry.
“it's one of the best programs that i recommend it to anyone that wants to get into construction”
// CLIPS FROM THIS EPISODE
Framework · 2:23
“a peer group is like a mini board of directors it's a confidential space”
Hot take · 4:57
“us being involved in a family business we see who are our sub trades”
Story · 12:43
“cresco started by my uncle jose mousavi in 1989”
Emotional · 14:57
“i came to canada with student visa i wanted to just to leave iran”
Story · 16:06
“working different parts of construction from just working as a junior site supervisor”
Story · 17:26
“when they start shutting down basically businesses we said what is going to happen with construction”
Framework · 19:18
“as companies growing we keep adding more people it started with one person hussein himself”
Story · 21:45
“the first project that i'm doing right now it's a project that we are doing with the partnership of shaw”
Framework · 24:16
“now in land development there is something that they all talk about it and it's called missing middle”
Framework · 25:34
“as we were going through this we were making changes to this to the units to make them more efficient”
Hot take · 27:21
“it's a lot of kind of time a third of the time but what what this add to us”
Story · 29:07
“cresco's made up of two families the musevi family and then the abadali family”
Framework · 32:14
“we believe in order for cresco to move to the next generation successfully there has to be governance”
Hot take · 34:34
“there's stories of you know what could have been really successful family transitioning to the next generation”
All 16 lessons from this episode, on one page.
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// FEATURED BUSINESSES
Cresco Developments Limited
Family-owned, integrated Nova Scotia real estate firm that builds low-rise residential homes and townh…
Family Business Atlantic
Not-for-profit, membership-driven association dedicated exclusively to supporting family-owned and ope…
Prestige Homes (M.M.H. Prestige Homes Inc., a division of The Shaw Group Limited)
Modular home manufacturer that builds homes indoors on an assembly line in sections (modules) at its S…
The Shaw Group Limited
Privately held, multi-generational Nova Scotia company that manufactures construction and natural-reso…
Watermark Partners Inc.
Halifax-based management consulting firm that guides organizational change and people processes, with …
// COMPANIES & ORGS ✓ verified
Cresco Developments Limited ▸Family Business Atlantic (FBA)M.M.H. Prestige Homes Inc. (Prestige Homes, a division of The Shaw Group)The Shaw Group Limited ▸Watermark Partners ▸The Parks of West Bedford
// PROJECTS NAMED
The Parks of West BedfordThe Ravines of Bedford SouthRussell Lake WestBrownstone Way TownhomesClayton Park developments
SOURCE: podscope · public episode data · 6Im6a2Z3f_0