Fifty years ago, a small group of Sault-area contractors joined together to focus attention on construction industry concerns.
Associations
Helping one another key to success
Sault Ste. Marie
Fifty years ago a small group of contractors joined together in the hopes of forming a special interest group to focus on construction industry concerns.
They were following the steps of counterparts about 350 km away in Sudbury, who had made a similar move almost a decade earlier.
The group wanted to band together in order to present a unified voice to owner clients and the design industry in the hopes of establishing a fair and equitable tender process.
They called themselves the Sault Ste. Marie Construction Association and former and current members both say they’ve achieved their goals and more with the now 129-member organization.
“We’re a relatively young organization compared to those in some of the bigger cities like Toronto, but it’s something for us to be 50 years old and the youngest,” said manager Rick Thomas. “It’s complimentary to the association, to our members and to what we do.”
A celebration won’t take place until its annual general meeting in early January where former presidents and members will be invited to attend a yet-to-be-determined festive event.
George Gough, retired founder of Gough Masonry Ltd. (his sons now run the business), joined the association shortly after it was formed.
“At that time there was not a single voice for contractors,” he said. “We needed that voice and a lot of contractors needed a drawing room to work from, so that’s how it got started.”
The association’s building proudly displays a framed list of the 40 Original Bond Holders who donated money and in-kind service to build the association’s first office in the downtown core.
In 1963 the offices were moved to its existing location on White Oak Drive, in the heart of the city and just three years ago, the membership contributed $39,000 which was used as seed money to add a new training room to the facility.
For Gough, the association served its purpose with its now defunct bid depository system.
“The bids were closely scrutinized by a committee of our members and they were all posted so everyone knew what company bid what,” he said. “It was a very successful process that they used.”
The original mandate of the association has not changed; it’s only grown to adapt to the changing times and technologies introduced into the business world.
Originally formed to act in the best interest of the local industry, protect its members, ensure tender fairness and accurate distribution of timely construction information, Thomas notes that health and safety issues and teaching business technology to the construction industry has also been part of the association’s role.
Bruce Caughill, of Caughill Consulting Services Inc., noted his father was one of the founding members, and served as president of the association in its second year.
The association is about partnerships, said Caughill.
He remembers an incident from the early years when four local contractors, including his father’s original company, were bidding on one of the first jobs at the Fort Creek Conservation Area.
The companies included L.R. Brown Co. Ltd., Samson Construction Ltd., McClarty Bros. & Brodie, and Jannison and Scott Ltd.
Caughill said that the foursome agreed one of them would bring all the bids to Toronto by its tender closing, via TransCanada Airlines.
“My dad either won or lost but he was the one who did it,” Caughill said. “It really infers that in the early days they used cooperation to solve common problems and that was what the association was about.”
Caughill, who has also served as president of the association, remembers working on the foundations of the existing association building in the early 1960s.
While Caughill now heads a consulting firm instead of a contracting company like his father, he says the association is a very important source locally.
For instance, association staff recently helped his company find enough single source bidders to form a team to compete in the tender process for the city’s new emergency measures centre renovations.
Current association president Mike Moore, a member since the late 1970s, said the association helps its members deal with new-age construction.
“It used to be that construction was simpler. You went to the job and you did your work. Now there is more legislation and safety issues and high priority items that we need to deal with and the association helps our local businesses be aware of these things,” he said.
The association is led by an executive and 10-person board of directors.
Thomas sees future trends in the association moving towards more training, especially in health and safety and new business technology.
“The majority of our members operate out of trucks with notebooks. They’re skilled trades people trying to be business people but that’s what the market is calling for now.”
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