“As I grew within the organization, so did the organization grow.” “In about 15 years my role evolved from a junior estimator to vice-presi- dent (and then president) – and my field of vision got bigger and bigger and to this day is getting even bigger at the OGCA as well.” There were problems along the way, including his parents' divorce. “That's where I learned about patience and resistance to dealing with any- thing in a rash way,” he said. “Some- times (it is best) to let things play themselves out before meddling.” He said he's learned that you need to keep changing and learning. His business has evolved from fixed bid public work to contract and negotiated work, but when times demand it, it can compete for the competitive public jobs. “If you are not changing, you are dying,” he said. In some cases, in the morning, you have to make a decision, “and by noon you have to be prepared to make the exact opposite decision.” Victor Aveiro with Aveiro Construc- tors Ltd. in Dorchester, ON, just out- side of London, described a somewhat similar family succession story. His parents started the business in 1985. In the early years, they completed “small and mostly local projects” in- stalling Steelway buildings, specialty formwork and other challenges. “When times were tough and there wasn't work to find locally, they looked for opportunities that could be any- where in the world” – leading to oppor- tunities in Nepal, Latvia, Lithuania and through the Caribbean. “I started in the business when I turned 16,” Aveiro said. He was one of the few teenagers in his high school who drove to class with a cellphone, because after school he needed to de- liver screws or grinding disks to the job sites. He has continued to grow the busi- ness. James Van Gurp from Graceview Enterprises Inc., also in the London area, also recalled his youth growing up in a family-owned construction business. “When I was 13 or 14 years old, I got to participate in the tender process from time to time” answering the phones as subs called in their quotes. Marcus Gillam, president of Gillam Group Ltd., meanwhile, experienced the evolution from seeing his father becoming a leader of one of Toronto's largest general contractors, Vanbots, then experiencing the transition to cor- porate ownership under Carillion, be- fore he took the leap back into entrepreneurship and his own busi- ness. “It is remarkable how everyone in the panel has a parallel theme about how they got to where they are today,” he said. “Some of the themes are the core values, mentoring, value of education, value of life-long learning, technology, dealing with failure, family issues and succeeding with uncertainty around you, that pay the dues over the long term.” Gillam said his father immigrated to Canada from the UK. His father and a partner bought into Vanbots in the early 1990s, initially dreaming of reach- ing volumes of $20 million a year. By the time they sold the business to Car- illion in 2008, “annual volume was $750 million a year” with offices in Montreal, Ottawa, Vancouver, Ala- bama, Arizona, a presence in England and an office in Dubai. Gillam gained international experi- ence, working on a UK project “where we had to deliver $400 million in 2.5 years,” he said. “The client was very demanding to work with. I struggled but it was a good thing – it allowed me to grow personally.” In 2011 he decided to go in busi- ness for himself. “It was fairly tough knocking on doors” before he won his first contract, a $40,000 project. He re- calls showing up to help build the hoarding for the job site so they could keep it within the $1,000 budget.” Five years later, “we have a staff of 60 people, an excellent safety record and we have repeat clients.” www.threadsoflife.ca The Canadian Design and Construction Report — April-May 2015 – 9