The decision by EnerQuest Services Inc. to build a new facility near Windsor, Ont. is the start of a new chapter not only for the company, but for STC Construction Group, who was tasked with making the multi-phase project a reality.
"One of STC’s next adventures was trying to get into the industrial construction market," says David Hunter, manager of business development with STC. "It was the one piece of the puzzle that we were basically missing for our portfolio."
EnerQuest designs, builds and manufactures power distribution equipment, its website reads, also creating "Electrical-House enclosure from 208 volts through to 44,000 volts."
The company services the agricultural, water/wastewater treatment, automotive, wind energy, mining, solar and industrial/commercial sectors, to name a few.
Bill Parr, who owns the business with his wife Arlene, says in January 2013 EnerQuest had one manufacturing facility in Kingsville, Ont. with 32 employees. By January 2014, they had five manufacturing facilities in three different communities with 80 people.
"So the construction of phase one, and it was a multi-phase approach to our construction, was to try and get everything under one roof again and with enough land to allow us to expand," he says.
Thus, STC Construction was selected to build a 70,000 square foot manufacturing plant on 16 acres of heavy industrial land in Harrow, Ont., a small community south of Windsor, Parr explains.
"We took possession of the assembly bay with the 80-ton cranes on St. Patty’s Day last year. That signified the 11th building that EnerQuest has manufactured out of in the first 11 years of our existence."
With the scale of work getting bigger and bigger, Parr states, under the facility’s roof he and his team will be able to construct an 80 foot long ‘house’ in the coming months, that’s 18 feet wide and weighs approximately 125,000 pounds. The transport truck needed to carry it will be between 180 to 190 feet long.
"Having one facility with the crane capacity, the hook height that we have with a 50 foot building, it’s pretty rewarding," he says. "We’ve come from working out of the back of a pickup truck (when the company took shape around 2003) to supplying big electrical buildings, with all the components manufactured and installed by us and commissioned. Just the building itself, I call it my field of dreams."
But this element was only one component of the project, Hunter and Parr state. STC also built a 16,000 square foot warehouse, and is currently expanding the plant by an additional 30,000 square feet. A 38,000 square foot office space is also slated as part of the project eventually, Hunter adds.
"It was a project that allowed us to advance into the industrial construction market not only locally but on a provincial scale. We’ve done smaller projects on preparing prep pads for new machinery for the tool and die industry in Windsor, for various clients, but to this size, this was the golden egg if you will," Hunter states, adding the estimated overall project cost is about $20 million.
For Parr this facility represents a sign of things to come.
"By the end of August we’ll have 116,000 square feet of fully functional operation here, and we’re looking to move that up to 160,000 to 170,000 in the coming years," he adds.
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