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North Canadian Construction Group: Exceeding customer expectations
A locally-owned company that has been renovating and building high-quality homes in Regina, Saskatchewan for over 10 years, North Canadian Construction Group (NCC) ensures quality craftsmanship and communication to provide a transparent general contracting experience that takes care of all the details.
Owner Brandon Fuchs has been in the construction industry for almost 20 years, turning his childhood love of tools and building into an entrepreneurial passion which continues to grow as the company expands operations across Western Canada. Mr Fuchs recently created the North Advantage Program, an innovative membership program which provides homeowners with peace of mind and access to NCC and its network of trades for their properties. He is equally passionate about community involvement and is actively involved in supporting groups such as Big Brothers Regina and spearheading charitable events such as Build Love. Mr Fuchs spoke to us recently to discuss some of NCC’s recently completed projects, the issues currently faced in the construction industry, and the focus on loyalty and honesty that has helped NCC build a successful locally-owned business.
Building relationships
“NCC is a company that focuses on providing high quality renovations and builds to both residential and commercial,” Mr Fuchs explains. “We are currently operating out of Regina and Saskatoon and we are expanding as well to Alberta, BC, and Manitoba. Our five year plan is to expand into those regions and provide a high quality service.”
Having worked as a subcontractor for other construction companies, Mr Fuchs has learned more about how the company differentiates from its competitors, with one of the main differences being loyalty, which helps build positive relationships with trades and customers.
“We are very loyal to our subtrades and our suppliers, and by doing so they provide us with very competitive pricing and a better position in the calendar when we’re trying to schedule them. They prioritize our projects, primarily because we’ve got their back. Our customers see this and they enjoy seeing a lot of the same trades on all of their projects.”
The business is all about relationships. By building great relationships with customers, those who hire NCC always feel they are in good hands. By doing the same with suppliers and sub-contractors, everyone involved in the process is happy.
“There is something to be said about just being loyal and letting somebody trust you. I think trust in construction is something that doesn’t really exist that much anymore, unfortunately, and I think that we stand at the front of that and try to provide that trust both for our customer and our sub-contractor and our supplier.”
The company’s recent advantage program has opened it up to any clients who need work done in their home and can appreciate hiring a professional. The company doesn’t perform the individual task, but is a specialist in managing professionals for each part of a job.
“If you’re somebody that’s looking at building a home, and you want professionals to complete the entire thing, that’s the way we operate our company. If you’re looking at renovating your home, we bring in professionals for each part. So our customer really is somebody who appreciates that.”
The company’s main demographic is the high to medium income range client, people who would benefit from property maintenance, or those with multiple locations. Knowing that customers can call one company to take care of all their needs is a key selling point.
One of the company’s most impressive features is the digital marketing campaign it has embarked upon over recent years, which includes at its heart a YouTube channel, NCCTV, which brings to life the company’s daily workload.
“NCCTV was us just trying to show our customers who we are, show our customers the professionals that we use. We have goals to try to produce at least one episode a month. Trying to manage a construction company that’s growing across Canada, and film a lot of the things you are doing, is very complex.”
The company has recently finished a number of impressive commercial projects, including Regina’s coffee-shop hotspot, The Everyday Kitchen, a swanky, relaxing space where people can work and socialize. Another recently completed commercial project was for Paradise LeisureScapes in Regina.
“That’s about a 14,000sqft space that focuses on hot tub, leisure, pools, and accessories. We’ve actually just finished a deck that they added on at the end – it’s designed to hold three hot tubs, and run smoking functions outside. It’s a super cool, unique space that we were very fortunate to be trusted to build.”
On the residential side, NCC has recently renovated the home of one of its designers – a 6,000sqft home with an indoor pool and a total of six-car garage space. The house has just been sold in less than 48 hours and has gone for over the asking price.
“So many super unique projects that we get to work on,” Mr Fuchs says. “We’ve got probably over a hundred projects a year, and each one is just very special and very different, and we’re so fortunate to be able to work on such unique projects.”
Inefficiency in the industry
Every industry has struggled during the COVID-19 pandemic, and construction is no different. Mr Fuchs explains that he took some time to really get a handle on what problems the pandemic had created for the industry.
“You listen to your customer, and their frustrations. Then you listen to the subcontractor and their frustrations. Then you try to step back for a moment, you try to figure out what is going on. Everything isn’t working. I realized it’s a major inefficiency in how the world is operating right now, unfortunately.”
One example Mr Fuchs gives is of one of the company’s subcontracted electricians looking for a basic screw from his supplier. The supplier didn’t have the screw that was needed, and the electrician had to visit two more suppliers to get it.
“You can imagine that driving all over the city took nearly three hours. Then by the time he got back to site, that normal process maybe would have taken one hour. But it took three times as long to find a screw. That’s just one subtrade, and we deal with hundreds. You can imagine the inefficiency that’s happening.”
For a company like NCC this has created the need to always be pivoting and looking for a solution to unnecessary problems. The issues in the industry don’t change the expectations of customers, who still expect their job to be done on time and on budget.
“It’s a struggle. The other part that I’ve learned to this is to just be honest. Tell your customer what’s going on. Don’t burden them with it, but allow them to understand the magnitude of some of these inefficiencies that are happening, because then their reactions when things don’t go to plan won’t be as complicated to deal with.”
Over the years in the construction industry, many with a number of different of organizations, Mr Fuchs admits to getting a lot of life lessons that have helped him navigate the different business environments he has chosen to work in.
“All of those situations are experiences,” he says. “My recommendation to anyone is to really figure out who your customer is, and what their expectation is, and find a way to exceed it. When you can focus your business on exceeding your customer’s expectation, everything else will come together.”
With a focus on loyalty, honesty and integrity, NCC has shown how to build a successful locally-owned business that continually exceeds customer expectations. Find out more about North Canadian Construction Group by visiting www.nccgroup.ca.
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