GENERAL CONTRACTING New generation discovers traditional values remain critical for success in competitive industry Canadian Design and Construction Report staff writer How does the new generation of general contractors view the industry and its future? The answer, according to a group of relatively young Ontario company presidents, is that the values underly- ing previous generations' successes remain the key to the years ahead. And it seems the work ethic for these leaders is as strong as it was for their parents and grandparents, they told the Ontario General Contractors Asso- ciation (OGCA) symposium's presi- dents' panel this spring. “We need to have leaders in the field,” said incoming OGCA president Jason Ball, moderating the panel. (Ball is president of Ball Construction in Kitchener.) “How do you grow people to become leaders?” Joel Melloul, president and CEO of Melloul Blamey Construction in Water- loo, provided an insight that several other panelists echoed – he inherited his opportunity, and values. “With (my) journey, it began in 1982,” Melloul said. “I was 10 years old. My dad and his best buddy from Conestoga College, they were laid off twice in quick succession by two dif- ferent contractors due to the tough economic climate, and they decided they would have one last go at the in- dustry on their own terms and not OGCA's young presidents: (from left): Victor Aveiro, James Van Gurp, Joel Melloul, Jason Bell and Marcus Gillam. someone else's terms.” It was the middle of the winter and the middle of a recession, and “at that point in time they had nothing to lose.” Melloul said his father called him to wake up early on his tenth birthday. “I had leftover birthday cake from my sis- ter's first birthday for breakfast” and then father and son went to work at a decrepit old building in Kitchener to create the new business's first office. “He needed help fixing things, vacu- uming orange curtains, green carpet tiles” in the cheap-rent location. “I don't think it was labouring in those dusty rooms,” he said. “Spending the day with my dad made it fun.” He said “all my childhood memo- ries and exposures to the real world re- volved around construction.” By the time he was a teenager, the business had grown enough to move to its pres- ent location, and he had a high-paying summer job. He went to university in engineer- ing, toured Europe for four months, and then his father “begged him to start” in the business. “Dad threw me into the estimating department learning from (partner) Dave Blamey how to be a successful estimator.” www.merx.com/events merk@merx.com 8 – April-May 2015 — The Canadian Design and Construction Report www.merx.com