In business, continuity is invaluable. Maintaining a thriving company over multiple generations is a feat that only few can achieve. Thomas Fuller Construction is one such company. With a storied and rich history, Sam Fuller, Business Development Manager at the company describes it as “a long-standing company with very deep roots in the entire industry.” As Thomas Fuller Construction continues to grow and develop into the next generation, its future looks even more promising.
Incredibly, the company has been in the same family since the “inception of Canada,” Sam said, with his great-great-grandfather starting out in business having arrived from Bath in England. After stopping in Antigua, the architect designed the Christchurch there, before coming to Canada and partnering with Fuller Jones Architecture. This proved a shrewd move. The company quickly won the commission to design the parliament buildings, encouraging Fuller to move to Ottawa in 1867.
On completion of this project, he became the chief architect of Canada, only succeeded by his son, Thomas Fuller Jr. As Sam explains, the company grew during an exciting period of growth for the nation itself. “Both men became chief architect of Canada respectively. This happened through the expansion of the gold rush out to the Yukon, so he really expanded the federal infrastructure out West to the post offices and all of those types of things.”
Along the way, Sam’s grandfather, also a Thomas Fuller, deviated from the tradition by moving into construction. He set up a business in 1939 and went off to war two years later. Before enlisting, Fuller sold the company for a dollar. Incredibly, he came back from active service as a three-times decorated veteran and brought his company back for the very same price.
The company remained in his hands until 2017 when his children – Sam’s father and uncles, took over the reins. As it to be expected with a company that prides itself on its generational legacy, they still sit on the board of directors.
Which brings us closer to the modern day where, after many years of success, the team work on ICI including office buildings, schools, light industrial work, warehousing, heavy civil projects, water and wastewater pumping stations and also condos and apartments. As Sam explains, the company has a varied and diverse skill-set. “We have a pretty mixed bag where we’re vertically integrated and build across multiple ICI projects.”
Primarily however, Thomas Fuller Construction has built its reputation on a deep understanding of the pressures a developer has to go through. Sam explained: “Typically our clientele list in the private industry have to go through a pile of hoops. They have a ton of costs and time is everything, so we offer our preconstruction services to help accelerate the process of going through the design, getting into a budget meeting, your performance expectations and getting a shovel in the ground. So, we offer our pre-con services for that where we just offer our expertise, advice, market conditions. We produce the schedules; we help flag potential issues with drawing submissions and what they might go through and the planning process and all the different regulatory authorities.”
Ottawa has unique authorities, including heritage councils, city planning councils, local councils and standards permit submission processes that companies must go through before even putting a shovel in the ground. With decades of experience, Thomas Fuller Construction is in a position to manage these challenges for its clients.
“There are many different regulatory bodies that you have to pass your development through in order to get a shovel in the ground. We providing that advice to our clients, especially if they’re not a local builder or local developers and they’re coming from somewhere else – certainly that’s where we offer the most value.
On the construction side of things, the team self-performs work as needed, leaning heavily on the trade pools and relationships it has built through the years. Throughout the process, the team works through tendering, contracting, quality assurance, quality control and the scheduling of a project from start to finish making it a full turn-key service. “We like to get involved as early as possible to facilitate making the project a success and not finding out that your builder finds all these issues that have come up that have just been patched over work as you designed the building that has now cost you a lot of money and has rendered the building un-buildable because it’s no longer a feasible project.”
“We like to get involved as early as possible to facilitate making the project a success and not finding out that your builder finds all these issues that have come up that have just been patched over work as you designed the building that has now cost you a lot of money and has rendered the building un-buildable because it’s no longer a feasible project.”
The company is celebrating its 85th anniversary, and for Sam, the key to success is quite simple. By developing and maintaining relationships, Thomas Fuller Construction has thrived. “I think it’s relationships, it’s being fair, you don’t last this long by cheating anyone or being greedy. You really have to be fair and understand that our job here is a service-oriented job. We’re here to provide a service that benefits the developer and that benefits the subcontractors, we’re here to understand what the contracts are, what the scopes and what the intents of the work are so that if somebody comes on to a job with the Fuller constructions name on it, they know that they’re going to be treated fairly. They know they’re coming in to do the job they’re expected to do, and that the money will come.”
It will come as no surprise to learn that the company’s staff are at the heart of everything. As Sam shares, without its dedicated and skilled team, the company simply wouldn’t be where it is today. “To keep the projects moving and keep things fair is really the key to success for us, and it’s not just to other companies or developers, it’s right down to our employees. I think that by maintaining a family culture and a closeness and our staff understanding that the door is open when there’s an issue – I think it’s a really important piece that we’ve carried on since my grandfather started this.”
Recently, the team worked on a range of successful projects, including a school in Finley Creek and Barrhaven for the Catholic School Board. For Sam, the latter project was a real “a pat on the back,” as he explained it was one of the only schools able to be delivered on time this year – completely finished. “A lot of new schools can give out the classrooms, but they don’t have the gym, or they don’t have the common space yet. We were able to deliver the entire project on time and hand it over to the school for the start of the season, which was a great accomplishment for our team.”
Additionally, Thomas Fuller Construction worked on a heritage restoration with the same board, which involved abating it and doing demolition and repairs. The team provided a full construction management service, restoring the building to the point where it can now be rebuilt into a high school.
For Thomas Fuller Construction, the outlook for the rest of 2024 is a positive one, despite Sam noting that the “industry is slowing down a bit”. He added: “There are a ton of projects that are sitting on permits waiting for market interest rates to drop a bit. It seems like competitiveness is growing, there’s more demand for releasing a lot of these projects, so the outlook for the rest of 2024 looks great. Our docket has been full for a very long time, so now that the summer is closing and we’re ending a few of our projects that were on the books, we’re finally looking at what’s coming ahead and there’s some good work coming down the pipe for us. We’re excited.”
