How Fabtek Atlantic Built a Glazing Fabrication Shop from Alumacore's Regional Exit | Atlantic Canada Construction

0:03Welcome back to the Atlantic Construction Podcast. Today we have with us Cory Wensley. Cory's the Director of Sales and Marketing with the big news on the block for glazing contractors here in Atlantic Canada. Fabtech Atlantic Limited is a new manufacturer of aluminum and glazing products located here in Dartmouth. Cory Wensley moved to Nova Scotia from Sault Ste. Marie in 2008, attended St. Francis Xavier University for a Bachelor of Business — or as a Bachelor of Arts. Yeah, yeah, all right — I was paying

0:41attention to the four years of football that you played at StFX. Let's open up with that — tell us a little bit about your football experience at StFX. You're a QB? Yep, yep. So I played quarterback there. When I was leaving the Soo, you know, there was one of the football players that used to play at StFX, you know, came down — he was from the Soo — and he just put a list together. Sure enough, myself and a

1:05few other guys were on it, so they had a recruiter come down. My brother was on it too, so my brother came out to StFX for a few years with me as well. So yeah, they just did a little bit of a recruit. I went down there, spent one weekend there on a recruit trip, and I was like, I'm coming to StFX — there's no way I'm not coming. So yeah, I basically signed that next week, and then yeah, so I'm excited to — what

1:28was your MO as a QB? Were you throwing the ball long, or were you short throws? Yeah, yeah — what were you? I throw the ball long, yeah. I'm not — I wasn't the quick movement guy. But yeah, like I said before, we could talk about football all day, but we'll jump into some of your experience. I know you worked in the glazing community for the last few years here locally, and you've got some

1:52mention of some courses and professional development you did at some different institutions. Always like to mention, for any of our guests that have been on, if they took some courses at Dalhousie or with CANS — maybe you could just tell us those courses that you took and what the experience was like for any young listeners who were thinking about it. Yeah, so when I started working, I was fortunate enough to get on with Alumicor, and they were really

2:20really helpful with the mentorship aspect of it. So in addition to learning the ins and outs of the company, I got to take a lot of professional development courses, and that was kind of one of my focuses and still is to this day — I really am passionate about always staying relevant and up to date on certain things. So I got to take, you know, principles of construction documentation, a couple of courses through SAIT, working in Southern Alberta. Southern

2:49Southern Alberta, yeah. And so I was fortunate to do that and then supplement that with a technical rep course through CSC, and then I actually took another project management course just to better understand some of the higher level design side of things. So yeah, I've been very fortunate, had some good mentors throughout the years, and they've coached me up, and now here I am with Fabtech. Yeah, it's always nice to see these large

3:19companies giving back to the employees with training and development, you know, having their employees take courses and stuff. I almost feel like if you don't take a course or two a year, you're just going to fall behind — and yeah, you know how fast technology is moving and stuff like that. But especially probably more so for the glazing industry specifically, as a project manager, your role with Alumicor — it's such a, you know, so many parts and the specs are so heavy, all kinds of

3:49stuff going on. So I assume that it's even more necessary, and it totally is, because as a young person coming in, you do have to learn those things. You have to know how to sift through those specs and the drawings and find what's relevant and applicable to you, and if you are in the quoting process and the estimating process, to be able to do that quickly and efficiently. I mean, yes, it ends up being kind of an everyday

4:13thing at some point, but as a younger person coming up, it's like — you know, it can be daunting. Like, oh my, I can't find this, I don't know what this is, I don't know what these section details are, I don't know anything. So another one I got to take through the Construction Association of Nova Scotia was a blueprint reading course — you know, pretty straightforward, just, these are the ins and outs of what the drawings are, this is what this means — and that kind of got my feet wet with

4:38understanding. But it's all just to help supplement you in your work and in your career. It's like, you're going to see these drawings every day in your job, but it's learning that foundational stuff — reading blueprints and specs and all these different things. They're all just tools you can have in your repertoire when you're dealing with putting out fires and stuff like that. You know, then you've got to know the products, and then you've got to know who the

5:03manufacturer is and what product you're using, and comparable products — your competitors at the time. You know, with Alumicor, you would have somebody kind of chatting about, oh, what's an equivalent to a Conor Glass product, or what's an equivalent to, you know, an Anatec product — like, what are they? And so you have to know those competitors' comparable products so that if you are in a spec and you've got to call an

5:30architect or a designer — yeah, to get your product approved — you've got to be able to do that. And you might see five, ten, fifteen specs a week, or maybe more or less depending on your workload. But yeah, and a set of specs to go with it — the specs are easier to get confused with each other when one's bleeding into the other. Yeah, there's a lot going on with it. So let's talk

5:55about Fabtech Atlantic Limited and, you know, the big news on the block. With ilumacore closing their doors in the past few months — maybe officially today — our president and the ops team decided, okay, this is big news. What are we going to do? Are we going to take this and run with this opportunity? And sure enough, they did. And so the team at Alumicor, for the most part,

6:25a lot of the fabrication team — a lot of the team — the operations manager is now our president. So he took that and said, okay, let's go with it and let's try to get this opportunity running, and hopefully it'll work. And sure enough it has been working. We've been seeing it kind of exploding a little bit more than we anticipated. So we're in the planning stages now. We are up and running at 191 Joe Zatsman, and

6:53we're adding more people as we go. We're potentially adding drafters. But we are offering an amount of services that are going to almost step in, in the sense of how Alumicor was doing it. So you're going to be able to — we're going to be able to work with you on the design side, make sure your loading calcs are right, and then get you shop drawings, everything stamped and all that. And all the while, we have a veteran inside sales and upfront team — an estimating

7:27team that really knows the ins and outs of that as well. So we are very fortunate to take the ilumacore team. Yeah, and it's nothing, you know, it's nothing against that supplier's next step plan in their business model — it's just now we're filling the gap with it. Yeah, let's clarify that. Like, ilumacore is, you know, multinational. Yeah, got a certain business model as a wholesale supplier of aluminum and glass products, and they're just — this region for them is not the region. The region for

7:59them — they decided that fabrication in this area just isn't going to be part of their model in Dartmouth. So what they did was, yeah, they pulled out, and now their model is going to change and it's going to be more on the side of, you know, you get your stock lengths, you get your doors and vents, and then you order and you have somebody fabricate for it. So when that memo went out and the glazing

8:23industry kind of got word of that, a lot of them were like, okay, well, what do we do? Do we decide to add our own fabrication line in our plants if we have the room? We're going to fill that gap a little bit and hopefully, you know, replace some of that business that ilumacore pulled out of. Yeah, for sure. And I mean, just for context for our listeners — we're not bashing Alumicor. Like, you guys will buy stock product from them

8:50at Fabtech. Oh, you need to — they'll be a supplier. Be doing business with them. Yeah, yeah. And that's the thing — we just understood it as that model just doesn't work for them right now. It doesn't work for them going forward in the future. So we still want to be partners, you know — the industry is small and they have a great product. So that's not knocking them at all. It's just, things change, and you know, that's the

9:13developments that are happening in the industry, especially in Atlantic Canada. Yeah, I mean, this is a really neat story, and it's perfect, I think, for the Atlantic Construction Podcast. Our show is kind of like, you know, shedding light on passionate organizations and people and telling stories — getting you out there, increasing your reach. And the fact that, you know, for any entrepreneurs listening, you guys were able to jump on an opportunity three months ago that really wasn't

9:39public information until then, and then to capitalize on it that quick and get the team together — just the way everything came together, which I'm sure you'll talk about more — it's just really a neat story. I'm glad you're on here. Yeah, it was awesome. It was quite fast moving, and it still is fast moving. Like, we have our location, we are fabricating right now, and we're in the process of even

10:07getting our offices up and running too. But we are on the operation side all good to go. So Zatsman's just going to be a little bit of a process for the next few weeks to just finalize some of the front-end stuff, but all the fabrication is ready to go. All of the operation side — you can call, you can get quotes, you can do all those things. Yeah, okay. All right, well before we drill into some of the details on that front, I know there's

10:32probably a lot of subcontractors in the glazing industry — or hopefully, for both of our sakes — and they're hearing that ilumacore is closing their doors. What's that mean to them? It means, well, who are we going to buy from, or who are we going to do business with as a supplier who we can send specs and pricing to, that can provide us with, you know, shop drawings, manufacture these storefronts and curtain walls and all the stuff that we need to install? Yeah, so they're listening and hearing that

11:02okay, Fabtech is the people we can reach out to now. That's essentially it. So we took that and we decided to run with that similar model — be able to come in the same way, as that one-stop shop for your fabricated curtain wall and your doors and all that stuff — and we want to mimic that model as best we can, because we know how valuable it was to those glaziers. Like, when I'm speaking to some glaziers,

11:34I'm like, well, what are you doing now? Like, what are you going to do with your install team? Are they going to start fabricating? Or what's going to happen, you know? Like, are you going to add bodies? Well, they're not sure. Some of them aren't sure. Some of them are like, well, no, we're just going to have to outsource and go find another fabrication team. So that's where we were — after having these chats with more and more glazing

11:58contractors throughout those months — it's like, okay, yeah, this is going to work. And it is working. And it's just a matter of shifting that clientele — that was on the fabrication side — over to Fabtech. So these contractors that are local to HRM, in Dartmouth, Bedford, anywhere in Nova Scotia, they're aware of Fabtech and they've been talking to you guys, just to be sure that they're going to be able to deal with someone for supplier purposes. But are you guys going to supply to New

12:26Brunswick? Newfoundland? Yes. PEI? Yes, yeah, and anywhere west as well. So we are going to focus on Eastern Canada right now, including Quebec. We're going to work and develop that part of the market. But being situated in Dartmouth and having connections now — old glazing contractors that we did work with in the past at ilumacore — and just kind of rekindling that, there are a lot of opportunities in Newfoundland. There are a lot of opportunities in PEI and New

13:02Brunswick. You know, you've got your O'Connor Glass in PEI, you've got your Markland's here, you've got your GSIS, you've got your Atlantic Windows, your Royal Door — even in Newfoundland, you know, on either end of the spectrum, you've got Panmar in Corner Brook, and then you've got Complete Glazing, Coastal Building Products in St. John's and a few other ones too. Like, Hampton Building Systems has come along — I believe they purchased Geo Glass back a few years back. So there's

13:29even been transitions within the glazing community — who's who and who are the big players now — and even the small to medium-sized companies right now, there are developments in their teams growing, and they're making moves to take on more large jobs. Some are happy where they're at. And so we're looking to fill the gap with all those levels of fabrication needs, you know — small storefronts, curtain walls, stuff like that — and then big projects that you see around here. So for anyone listening that

14:03maybe hasn't talked to you guys, or hasn't been in touch with some of the guys from ilumacore who are now at the helm of Fabtech — who've moved over — do you want to mention a name or two of some of the individuals that are kind of leading the way with Fabtech, just so our listeners know? Maybe it's a person they dealt with in the past that they want to deal with again. Yeah, so currently Vince Lemieux is our president. He was the operations

14:28manager over at ilumacore, so he ran all the lean manufacturing operations. He's very focused on lean processes and quite knowledgeable and intelligent with that. And some of the others — you know, we have a long-standing fabrication team. I'm not sure if anyone would know them publicly, but you know, like Steve Redmond, who's one of our long-standing guys, and Dwayne Stewart's one of them — he was basically on the planning side, the glazing community on the ground. So yeah, there's a few of those

15:00guys, and we're currently looking to add to the team, so you might see another one or two that you might know. But those are a few that are on the team. So who's your competition? I think you might have named a few of them already. Yep. So Anatec is a fabricator and product supplier — they do extrusions as well, so they're a little bit different. You've got even MGM

15:24Automated Doors — Division 8, Division 8 as well. Social Glass, yeah, they do some fabrication as well. Some companies do fabricate only with certain products too. So the competition is varied — it depends on that company's business model and who their supplier is and all those things. So it does ebb and flow with the amount of competition, let's call it the competitive level. But yeah, so those are some of the competitors that we

15:58mentioned. And Silicas PEI — so they do, they would be more on the doors and entrances side, a little bit smaller fabrication. But yes, definitely a competitor of ours. And they work heavily, I believe, with Conor Glass products and maybe a few others too. But yeah. So tell us about the shop — how many square feet is this shop in Dartmouth? And I think you were saying earlier that basically you've got

16:26this from the guys that came over from ilumacore and a lot of the gear made its way over here too. Yeah, yeah. So we were fortunate enough to transition pretty much everything out of the shop that was at Gloria McCluskey — I think it's a new name now to be honest, since I haven't gone up that road in a while, but I believe yeah, something like that. But anyway, so we were fortunate enough to transition all the

16:52equipment — everything that was in there for the most part, give or take some other items. Even a lot of the office supply stuff we transitioned over to Fabtech. So it's been very beneficial for Fabtech because we didn't really have to go out and source any equipment, anything like that — only a few minor things. So it really allowed us to get up to speed and up and running very fast. And so, you know, the

17:22space over there is just over ten thousand square feet, and with potential to grow if we decide it's justifiable. So yeah, everything came over — it's been pretty seamless that way. Everything's gone smooth. Almost turnkey. Almost turnkey, yeah — just need to put a different sign on the door. Yeah, yeah. Oh, that's great. So like, who will be — or who do you hope to be — some of your

17:52bigger clients in the coming years? Like, some of the local contractors — obviously there's Flynn, a dozen others. Yeah, so Flynn is one of them. You know, you've got the bigger project-focused ones — Markland would be a great client of ours. Even in PEI, O'Connor Glass is also a big potential contact there as well. Royal Door is one out of New Brunswick too that we may — we're going to

18:22potentially work with at some point. We're just in the process of adding clientele to the business and getting the word out on Fabtech. Around here, yeah, KP Glass is another great glazing contractor. You know, Pictou County Glass. There's a few other ones like Halifax Glass too. And some of these companies too, they do — even companies that do have some fabrication — and that's what I was going to ask next. Yeah, so all of the

18:53contacts, or all of these potential clients of yours — are they install only, and they're not... some of them can fabricate themselves? Yeah, and some of them have had to. And so some of them, yeah, some of them will handle some minor stuff — just like you're talking, just milling of the aluminum in the shop, or actually putting the entrances together, fabricating. So they're going to still order their lengths from a supplier and then they'll fabricate. But when we get

19:23involved in like big curtain wall projects, that's where you need a proper setup in your shop. It can be a little difficult, and even understanding it on the front end — because a lot of the stuff for the big curtain wall projects, you have to know your anchoring, you have to know all those things and you have to prep that inside. You also have to know on the front end, you know, the loading calcs — you have to have an appropriate

19:49sized back section for a curtain wall to go in. You have to know the wind load and dead load calcs, so that if you do need to have structural steel reinforcing up the mullion of one of the posts, you know where to anchor and how to anchor. We have that ability. So when you get mixed in with a big project like that, we feel like yes, we're going to be able to have that edge in the market because we

20:18have that veteran team, because we have those services. And so yeah, some fabricate small doors, small entrances, and buy their doors from a supplier. Others get involved in a large project and maybe call us — it just really depends on their scope and what they like to take on and the risk they like to take on. Yeah, and we're just here to help, really. You mentioned large projects, and like, with your time at Alumicor and dealing with some of

20:45their big clients here — is there one or two or three large projects that you kind of were involved in on the back end a little bit, around the city here or somewhere else in Atlantic Canada? Yeah, so a couple back and forth — one would have been Brenton Place, with ilumacore. I was there for that one. And there's a lot of the dealerships — so Alvin Ko, from his company, he does a lot of the big dealerships around here too. Big car dealerships that

21:12always have heavy glazing. Lots of that stuff. So those are two of them. And then I was fortunate, when I came on with ilumacore, to be part of the process for the Core Science Facility at MUN in St. John's. So it wasn't one of my clients, but it was ilumacore, and I got to go see the process there and all the development of seeing the glazing going on

21:40and all that. So that was very fun to see. And even in Newfoundland, like the Corner Brook Acute Care Centre — with Window Shop, slash Coastal Building Products — they've done some pretty substantial work there, and I do think they have some big stuff lined up too. So yeah, there's definitely a lot. Take us through a couple of these jobs and just, for our listeners maybe who are outside the glazing industry, just to give them some

22:07understanding of how intense, how many different parts go into, like, a storefront or a curtain wall in one of these large car dealerships that you drive by here in the north end of Halifax or something. I mean, you've got low-e one-inch thick curtain wall — some of it's tempered, some of it's opaque, not see-through — and it's designed for wind load. Then you have all the aluminum specs and the spacers and blocking and rubber components. There are a lot of components. Even so,

22:35with Alumicor at the time and even with Fabtech — you know, we don't get involved with too much of the glass, but we have to understand that component of building the aluminum framing. But yeah, there's a lot of moving parts when you're talking curtain wall, when you're talking even storefront. Every part and piece has its own function. You have to have your glazing rubber appropriate, you have to have — we have a lot of quality control in our plant, and the reason why is because you

23:03can't have gaps in certain framing. You can't have those things because then it just compromises the quality of the product. But when we're talking moving parts — or even parts and pieces in a curtain wall frame — there's so many that are incorporated into it. But yeah. So I was thinking about the trades that are heavy on the prefab side, like structural steel and millwork could be another one, and this is in the same

23:32ballpark where it's heavier on the prefab end, and then obviously the installers are extremely talented on site. And even if they want something fully fabbed, or if they even want it knocked down and in parts and pieces so that they can install it when they go to site — there are a lot of options when they're chatting with us, in how we bundle it. And even from start to finish on product ordering — ordering the

23:58amount of product per phase of a project, and making sure that lead time for the product is going to be adequate for having it come into the shop, be able to fabricate, ship it out or get it picked up. Yeah, all those things. And it all stems from having good processes in place from start to finish — from your order entry into your purchase order processes and then into the operations side, all the scheduling, all those things. It

24:28is essential. Yeah, all your guys — not to cut you off — but all your guys that came from ilumacore, it's like you also have this new company with, you know, ten people with twenty years' experience in the same field. It's so great. Yeah, it's so great. And to have that added on to — not only software — it's like we have the people to double-check these things and really do great quality control when it comes to

24:57making sure even our order packages are correct. Because if one or two things don't go right in that, you could be halting somebody on site because you have to order another extrusion or something like that. So it's really important that those processes are in place and run efficiently. And then, basically, it's just fab time and then everyone's just going hard at it. Well, take us through a scenario — let's say, you know,

25:26if there's a new dealership going up, or a large storefront job, or something similar where there's just all kinds of glazing on the exterior, and a contractor is awarded the job and they want to use you guys to fab and as a supplier — whether it's Flynn or Halifax Glass or Cape Breton Glass or any of these subcontractors — what's the process like? Are you ordering the raw materials for

25:57aluminum, getting them to the shop, and then you go through the glass spec, and that comes in, you kind of arrange things in the shop — just to give context to how it works? So normally when we're getting involved — normally, you know, you get your average bids and you get your quotes out, and you might have a couple of clients asking for the same project at some point. So during that time, and the unique thing I

26:23guess as an aside with Fabtech is we aren't necessarily one-product driven — right, one-supplier driven — so we have to understand competition and understand equivalences with a whole different set of products. Right, because you're fabricating for the installer, who's had the supply and stuff. It could have been ordered to a win-spec product. They could have been — you know, a lot more reason for your experience then, knowing alternates and exactly solving problems like that. Yeah. So basically,

26:58we would have them reach out, and depending on where they are in the process, we may get involved at an earlier stage to make sure that before they do the specs, they may just have to have the right wind loading and dead load calcs, appropriate back sections, whatever product they want to go with. That's fine. That might be a first step. But then, you know, the bids come in, and then we may have to go back and forth with that client. If we go internally and say, oh,

27:31is this actually an inadequate back section? Is this frame too big? Are we going to have to add steel and stuff like that? So that's another part of it in the up-front stages, and they've got to know that prior to the closing of bids. And what's crazy too is that's why we're offering that service — because what we're seeing now with a lot of private development is that demand put on some of the glazing contractors. It's like, okay, well, we need you to do

27:59this, or we need you to package this. And yeah, it, you know, some of them are set up, some of them can do it just great. Others do need some of that. Some of them can do it just great for the smaller scale jobs, but when it comes to something more mid-range or a larger job that they're not set up for — you're not just a fabrication company at that stage, you're more like a fab consultant. Yeah, tell them, hey, this is what you need to allow for for

28:21this, and that's going to allow us also to just quote an appropriate product, so that we're not going back and forth. And there are tweaks when you get involved with that, trying to find out what's most cost-effective or what some alternate solutions are and stuff like that. Some people would rather go with a larger back section than throwing steel inside a mullion, but it all depends on the client and what they want. When we get involved on

28:46some of the design side, when there's a little less information — that's where you get involved with, okay, we're going to need to confirm sizes once we run with it and start fabricating. So those confirmed sizes may come right away, they may come a little bit later. But the essential thing is having that in line with the appropriate product, with the appropriate colors and finish — type one, type two, you know, if you

29:15want something outdoor, you're typically going with Class 007 — it's a little bit more robust in terms of anodizing thickness. But right now with supply chains, sometimes you go with what you can get, and Class 004 is just another mill thickness or anodizing thickness that you can offer. So yeah, just to make sure that all the components are packaged together, and then we'll provide shop drawings that are accurate to those dimensions. And then we kind of

29:47run with that, and we can get them stamped too for our clients, right? Yeah. And so, like, for the process — you know, is that glass product, whatever it might be, whether it's a curtain wall or a storefront — is that glass product at your shop while you're milling everything and you're kind of piecing things together? Does that happen in a separate process? Yeah, so that would be separate for us. We would build the frames and get

30:12them out, and then I suppose the glazier would just coordinate the glass ordering. But for the most part, that's happening on site while it's getting installed — well, or maybe in their shops. They might just package them together and do that internally. But yeah, so they would come to us, we'd fab, and then we'd get them the frames. Yeah, yeah. So just to understand the process a little bit, so

30:37you're not dealing with the actual glass product in your shop — it's the aluminum component. But obviously you still have to know all the details and thicknesses and all that kind of stuff. Yeah, so we definitely come across those in the spec and in what type of glass is needed. But often yeah, so often we would be working with something like a one-inch IGU in a curtain wall system, and our client will let us know what glass sometimes they're going to be

31:04using, if there's anything kind of quirky about it, or the thicknesses. But for the most part it's pretty standard for us for fabrication purposes. And like, what about blocks and the rubber components and stuff like that too? Those are accessories that are separate with the glass and the aluminum. So many different components. Yeah, it's pretty crazy. So yeah, there's a lot of components even for the glazing. But that prime seal with the glazing

31:32rubber — we do provide that. So if you're ordering a curtain wall system, all the glazing rubber for you to glaze is going to be included, right. And that's kind of — that is essential. But it is that prime seal that's going to allow for no water to penetrate in. Yeah, but also you're talking pressure plate that's going to secure everything in, and your caps — yeah, there's a whole bunch of pocket fillers. Yeah, there's a lot of little things

32:00that when you're looking at the system itself, a lot of people may not even really know how many little components there are. That's what makes it so hard — obviously, the fabrication of it is a really intense process, but it makes it a hard scope to estimate too if you don't have a background in it, because there are so many different parts. And you've got to know the estimating side — like your feet of rubber, you know, how

32:25much, how much pressure plate you're going to need, how many screws per joint we're going to be needing. And also, you know, how many minutes does it take to fab that joint? That's another thing too — really working to be efficient in your fabrication number and how much you allot your labor times to. That's going to allow you to be competitive in the market. You know, whether you're getting a product from XYZ supplier, your internal processes and your overhead and your fabrication

32:54cost is going to allow you to be competitive. It's going to really allow you to work with your client. Because, you know, a product is going to have its price — it may go up and down, likely up — but we want to work internally sometimes with that fab number. Yeah. And so, if you're designing a curtain wall or a storefront and there's three to six sets of double exterior doors, for example, obviously the hardware has got to be

33:23ordered as a separate item. But are you guys involved in fabbing those doors as well as the curtain wall itself? Not yet. That is something we are set up internally for, but we're going to work at that — basically as we speak right now. So there may be some options down the road, but right now we're working with some suppliers to be able to do that. The suppliers that we're working with now actually don't

33:51offer that — like, if we're working with an Alumicor product, you actually have to order your doors and vents from them. But that's not to say that other suppliers won't sell us lengths of door material and go from there. But another part of it too is, if we're talking doors, hardware is — you know, there's so much going on with hardware, yeah. And to know the compatibilities — we have somebody internally that's really worked with a lot of door hardware in the past

34:18and currently. So there are a lot of compatibility potential issues when you're trying to put certain hardware into a door, and to know how to prep that and how to cut that right and accurate — it's like a Chinese clockmaker. It's crazy, it is insane — it's a little bit crazy. So yeah, we're fortunate to have somebody internally that really knows the ins and outs of that. But there is standard hardware that we package for our client. So if they're

34:51looking for a standard, you know, hundred-day door from Alumicor or something, we're going to get them that standard hardware. But if they want to go with, like, a rolls-royce style — like Von Duprin type hardware — they might have to supply it from an outside source, and then just have us as almost a consultant to say, okay, this is going to work or this is not going to work. You might have to switch out a couple of components. But

35:18yeah. So what about supply chain, like for you guys — your suppliers that you'll be dealing with — and what's the current state like right now for lead times? Lead times — like, for a lot of things yeah, for a lot of people the lead times aren't great. We're working with a few suppliers right now, and it looks like our lead times are actually going to be quite good. And by good I mean, you know, it's going to be back to getting things in an adequate time

35:48period. And we're working with those lead times — it all depends on how much you're ordering and what you're ordering, and what inventory you may want to have. And that's something we're considering too — having inventory and working with some of those suppliers for any potential that way. But it's because this company is fast moving. We're adding things basically as we speak, and we're working with a lot of clients, suppliers, other organizations to really get

36:18everything in line with that. But yeah, so lead times should be quite good. I would have to — so you know, give us a call and we'll let you know how quickly we can get you something, for sure. Yeah. Also, your design assistance and engineering shop drawings and stuff — so obviously you're servicing these contractors on small, medium, large-size jobs that have no fabrication element to them if they're your client, but also the ones

36:47that do fab a little bit themselves. You guys can go above and beyond with providing shop drawings and different things like that. Yeah, so we have that ability because we saw the importance of that component for our glazing contractor clients. Like, when they get involved in those bigger projects, you know, it's almost like a team effort — working through those initial design stages. Because with the private development, some of the processes are a little bit

37:20just — they're not all over the place, they're just different. So we might get someone reaching out asking for a quote, or asking for certain elements of what's appropriate curtain wall sizing — and there's not always an architect involved. It's probably not, and sometimes there is, but it's not like public tenders, which are usually more structured. Yeah, so it's a little different. And because we're seeing so much of that around here, there's just a lot more. So that's a real niche for you guys. Yeah, so

37:44that's a little bit more of a niche, and we're providing that now. And then, you know, we can get your shop drawings too when you need them, and that's more or less standard practice, especially when we're mimicking something like an ilumacore-type model. So yeah. Any current projects? I know you guys just opened your doors — maybe you want to mention a few that you're starting to work on, or

38:11maybe just where's your bread and butter — is it the storefront, is it retail, is it multi-unit? So we're currently working for all of those sectors. We're looking to be able to provide fabricated product for all of those sectors. So that is, you know, your storefronts, your quick transaction type things, your storefronts — your broken doors where somebody backed into a Starbucks or something and you need that

38:41fixed. So we're definitely set up to have that quick transaction fabrication, but we're also looking to — and actually we already have started with clients and started working with clients on some longer phased-out type projects. And those are in the works right now. I did get a couple of notifications today and some feedback on some of the projects we might be involved in, so I'll keep you in the loop, and yeah, we'll go from there. But anything from

39:13commercial, institutional — you're throwing something in an industrial building or something like that too. Yeah, yeah. We're going to be focusing on everything. Anyone reaching out from any other provinces yet, or anything in the works there? Mostly local right now, Nova Scotia local right now. There is some potential in Newfoundland actually right now that we're just waiting on. And everything is in that, let's call it design phase, or that quoting phase. So we're working with our clients to get

39:42them appropriate and accurate quotes, and then they're going to their clients. And yeah, so there are some good positive seeds planted. Yeah. New Brunswick's busy right now too. New Brunswick's busy, yes. So yeah, that is crazy. PEI is. Yeah. And O'Connor Glass does a lot of work there, and they've been there for a lot of years. So that's another client that we're hoping to work more with. And with

40:11general. So yeah, and that's kind of my role too — so I'm going to be hitting the streets, basically. Travel's opened up, yeah, for the most part. And I'm excited for that. So I'll be getting up to Newfoundland, I'll be going to PEI, I'll be going to New Brunswick, and staying locally around here too. Yeah. And Montreal's kind of in the plan as well, when the time is right. Yes, yeah. Montreal

40:34is definitely in the plan too, and we're just kind of working at that. And as the team grows, there's going to be more focus on other provinces. How many team members now? Twelve, thirteen? There'll be, yeah, just about twelve now, yeah. Right. Yeah, I mean, this is a great story — it's current news and it's big news in the contracting industry. Yeah, every commercial building has a glazing element. Some of them, yes, it's

41:02maybe the biggest element and one of the most expensive. People like glass, you know. It's great, you've got to have it. Yeah, exactly. So there's a lot of opportunity, especially around here, but yeah, just in Atlantic Canada in general. So yeah, we're excited about the future, and I'm excited to see where Fabtech goes. Awesome, man. Well, yeah, it's exciting news, and thanks for coming on here and doing this and allowing us to showcase all the great things that Fabtech is

41:29doing. Hopefully the community that's tuning in, you know, it helps get some exposure and kind of slingshot you guys into 2022. And who's your Super Bowl pick this year? A little too early to tell? Well, he's putting you on the spot, isn't it? Yeah, we'll see — I'll hold off on that one. Well, I used to have teams, but now I'm just like, I like that player, like yeah, I'll watch it once

41:57in a while. Yeah. Well, my wife and I just had our first baby. Yeah? Girl or boy? A boy. Just over a month now. Wow. So he's going to be pumping all his fists yet. He will — then at some point, yeah. Probably. We'll see, though, we'll see. Well, that's great, man. Yeah, congrats on that. Thank you. Any closing words? Yeah, I mean, just to go over — you know, Fabtech, we're at 191 Joe Zatsman. If you have any

42:22questions about architectural aluminum fabrication and need any assistance with that, we're more than happy to have a chat and have a discussion about it. And yeah, we're really excited about the future, and we see the opportunity in the glazing contractor industry with those potential new clients. So yeah, just excited. Awesome, and we'll post your website with all the contact info if people want to reach out. Yeah, we do appreciate this episode, and thanks again, man.

42:50My pleasure. Yeah, thanks so much. Cheers. Thanks for tuning in to this episode of the Atlantic Construction Podcast. Be sure to follow us on any podcast platform you use. You can also find us on LinkedIn at Atlantic Construction Podcast. Be sure to send us a comment or a review — we'd love to engage with you.