What is your background?
Right out of high school I started in the trade of Sheet Metal. The reason I picked Sheet Metal on the day was because it was one of the highest paying trades. It was so busy in the trades at this time, companies were encouraging employees not to complete their next year of trade school and they would pay the higher rate in lieu of this. I was one of the only apprentices where I worked who decided to start and finish the journeyman designation. Soon after receiving my interprovincial journeyman certification, the work had also dried up when the NEP was introduced.
Due to me having a journeyman certification, Johnson Controls took a chance on me and hired me to sweep floors. I soon completed the Refrigeration and Air Conditioning (HVACR) trade certification with Johnson Controls, which was a great place to learn, grow, and become proficient in all JCI offerings. While at Johnson Controls, there was an opportunity to perform building operations at a couple downtown buildings. Being very young in this field, I was blessed to work alongside knowledgeable people and receive guidance from the great Les Anderson, who would later become the President of the Building Operators Association (BOA) in Calgary. I was successful in obtaining the Building Operator (A) Certification and later transitioned to the New 4th Class designation through the Alberta Boiler Safety Association (ABSA).
After 12 years with Johnson Controls, I was then recruited to become the Honeywell Controls field foremen where I was able to help grow their service department, tasked with driving sales from the field, while having the opportunity to learn from Honeywell’s skilled senior technicians.
After 8 years with Honeywell, I was recruited by one of my great mentors, Peter Dixon, to become a service salesperson for Landis & Staefa who was purchased by Siemens Building Technology a short time later. It was a culture shock putting down the tool pouch and putting on a tie but it was an exciting opportunity where I collaborated with some great folks such as Don Schaab, Roy Best, and Ron Young to name a few.
During this time, I wanted to stay involved in building operations, so I became an evaluator for the Operator, Chief Operator and Operations Team of the year with BOMA. With this experience, I was able to learn how top building owners and property managers perform and develop award winning facilities and teams, which helped Epic become the company it is today. I grew into the role and was asked to Co-Chair the BOMA awards committee alongside the great Peter MacHardy for a few years. I followed my mentors and friends from Siemens over to the Direct Energy Business unit and from there started Epic Building Services.
Why did you start Epic Building Services?
My dream was to start an HVAC service company but during my time being an evaluator for the BOMA Awards, as well as co-chairing the awards committee for a few years, my vision changed. While on the committee and conducting evaluations with building operators and property managers, I learned the average age of an operator was 54 years old. I felt as an industry, we were not doing very much for succession. I thought of engaging young people right out of high school as well as recruiting from other industries to introduce them to building operations. We started out as providing building operators and power engineers to support our customers facility but now we’ve grown to providing facility management services as well.
What was your career outside your career?
While doing my Sheet Metal apprenticeship, there were a couple rugby players on the crew. They asked if I would like to try out and after the first training session, I was hooked. It did not take long to make the first division team where I learned the commitment that was needed to play alongside great players and compete at the highest level in Calgary; it was an amazing experience. Our team (The Calgary Rams) had tremendous success with a few of us representing Calgary and playing at the provincial level. We also toured Australia and New Zealand, as well as a tours to the UK, Wales, and the Netherlands which was a life altering experience. I was taught a lot of life lessons during my 20 plus years in the game and when it was time to hang up the boots, I was blessed to be able to help sponsor the Prairie Wolfpack rugby team, as well as coach the Senior High School boys’ team at my old high school, Ernest Manning where we won a city championship!
After my rugby career, I was left a void and needed something new. My son James was well into the discipline of Tae Kwon Do and I thought to give it a try. It was very humbling, starting as a white belt in the back of the room having to bow to a more senior belt: my son. James was having great success competing at the national level and I found myself participating in classes 5 times a week and started competing in sparring and patterns as well. It was an awesome experience hoisting gold as a coloured belt in the Canadian Championships. I am currently a 2nd Dan Black Belt but shy away from competing these days.
What mistakes did you make early on?
When first starting Epic, I wanted to show value by performing more tasks in the daily activity of our building operators. I first hired experienced operators but many were reluctant to perform less menial tasks, so the true vision was not experienced. I found that hiring hungry yet inexperienced candidates and then performing the tasks with them helped create the work culture Epic has.
What excites you about the industry?
The industry is vast and many aspects to learn. I found building operations to be very challenging and rewarding. I feel that it captures all areas of the trades. You may not be an expert, but you truly need to understand each component of a facility with each facility being unique on its own. Being in the people business, working with all types of customers and learning about their business, as well as training and mentoring the new generation of operators and tradespeople is a reward all on its own.
Where do you see yourself and Epic in 5 years?
I will always be part of the Epic team; it is very rewarding providing mentorship and witnessing the development of the team. We have been asked many times to expand our business outside of Southern Alberta and with a solid office and infrastructure, we feel it is time to expand to other regions.
I feel the need to stay active is paramount and did a mini-indoor triathlon last year and would like to try an outdoor one to test myself further. I recently purchased some lake property in central Alberta and will spend more time in the great outdoors which has always been a passion of mine, while at the same time having fun working and developing Epic.
Biggest challenge starting the business?
I believe all who have started a business with an idea, starting from scratch, has experienced some of the same challenges. Cash flow was the biggest hurdle; we were conducting business and invoicing but cash was not flowing back. I had a payroll with 5 employees and after three months of no cash coming in, I had enough for one more payroll on my credit card. When that was done, we were done. All of a sudden invoices were processed and the company had cash flow and we have never looked back.
During the early stages of the company, we took on contracts for litter pick up. We had a saying “we are not picking up trash, we are picking up cash!”
Another challenge was introducing new employees to building operations from all walks of life (framers to long haul truck drivers to Walmart managers and everything in-between) and then mentoring them to achieve their power engineering designations. After a few employees received their power engineer certification, we were able to expand our services and provide more expertise.
I was often asked, “Brian, what if you train your employees and they leave?”
My response has always been, “what if I do not train them and they stay?”
Bonus Picture!
Bonus Video!