Concrete is only as strong as the steel wire mesh it has to reinforce it – so contractors can’t play games when choosing the best manufacturer for this linchpin product. As the conditions of our world evolve, the quality of our wire mesh has become a primary focus on many construction projects. A changing climate has brought stronger winds, more frequent tornadoes, and other environmental concerns to the northern shield of Ontario and Quebec, while new political realities call for tunnels, bridges, and infrastructure that can even hold up to bombing (an overcaution, yes, but better safe than sorry).

Numesh Inc. has, for a long time, been pushing the needle for what contractors can expect from wire mesh. Numesh, Canada’s largest manufacturer in the space, has turned its home in Laval, Quebec, into a powerhouse for producing top-of-the-line products that are custom engineered specifically for its client’s projects.

Out of Laval, Numesh’s presence has been felt in projects across Quebec, the Maritimes, Ontario, and the northeastern United States. This reach has only grown with its recent expansion and opening of a new facility in Brantford, Ontario. Just as its products bolster and strengthen the concrete we use to build; this new facility adds to the underlying framework of Numesh’s already industry-leading operation.

Brantford, only a short drive from both Toronto and the US border, offers new logistical advantages for Numesh as it delivers wire mesh to clients on time and within budget, while also tapping into a region that continues to show excellence in the trades and in manufacturing.

A stone’s throw away from Hamilton – the city famous for its steel – Brantford and its surrounding area is home to some of the best that Canada’s trades have to offer. Numesh, now operating in Brantford with over 60 employees and counting, has been a welcome addition to the community. “When you walk into the plant,” Charles Thibault, Numesh’s COO and GM, says, “you can see people are excited. We’ve been able to bring in strong trade people with a good mindset on leadership. It’s an awesome team, all working together.”

The response to Numesh’s expansion, both locally and provincially, shows the importance of a new facility like this. The Ontario government welcomed Numesh’s nearly $40 million investment into the new plant and partnered with the company to the tune of $2.9 million as part of the Regional Development Program’s Southwestern Ontario Development Fund. “The opportunity to create new high quality, high paying jobs–that was a big upside for us,” Thibault says.

“The opportunity to create new high quality, high paying jobs–that was a big upside for us.”

As mentioned, the expansion puts the company right where the industry needs it. “For a long time,” Thibault says, “we were looking for another spot to be closer to our customer base. We have a lot of customers in Ontario. The Toronto area alone is one of the biggest construction markets in North America. It’s getting bigger every day, so being close to places like this is important for both serving our current customers and reaching new ones.”

Looking forward, this facility is a launch pad for breaking into the prairies as well as taking on more private market projects in the US. “What makes or breaks this business is the transportation. The closer you are, the more competitive you can be.”

Keeping things cohesive during an interprovincial expansion is no small feat, which is where Numesh’s strong culture and perspective on training has played a large role. Rather than running top-down out of Quebec, Thibault and the leadership of Numesh have built a team in Branford that is an autonomous part of one unified whole. “We don’t just look to develop people,” he says, “we empower them.” Along with the new team in Brantford come eight new state-of-the art machines, six of which are currently in action with two more being commissioned as this goes to press. These facilitate the welding, cutting, and fabrication needed to transform steel wire into welded wire mesh that meet the needs of the specific project at hand. As Thibault shares, every project is different. This means that when contractors look for more than just standard rebar, they turn to Numesh to supply exactly what they need. “There’s around 75 to 100 different general products that we keep in stock at all times,” Thibault says. “We customize these based on the contract and project we’re working on.”

Numesh, in both Laval and Brantford, boasts in-house engineers able to calculate the fabrication of mesh to accommodate any form a pre-caster would need. It’s able to provide an engineering stamp of approval so that the customer does not have to worry whether or not their build will be up to standards, whether it be CSA in Canada or ASTM in the US. Numesh continues to build on this quality. “There’s always new techniques, whether it’s in precast or in construction,” Thibault says. “They’re moving forward in every industry, every customer segment, and it’s keeping us on the edge to develop different services and engineering offerings.”

This commitment to progress has allowed Numesh to touch a wide array of projects since its founding in 1975. This has included everything from an Amazon facility in Ottawa to new battery plants in Ontario coming up soon. As this goes to press, Numesh is even involved with the construction of a major tunnel in Los Angeles, a testament to the company’s growing reach. “We have another site in California that we share with a general contractor. We have a few machines, and we are providing all of our technical expertise in engineering and tradesmanship. It’s exciting to offer them Canadian talent that can support those guys as they fabricate the mesh to use for the tunnel.”

The universal need for steel wire mesh in construction makes for a dynamic work environment at Numesh. According to Thibault, this flexibility has been integral to the company’s success. “It’s allowed us to be very diversified. So sometimes mining can go up, general construction will go down and maybe road construction will be at an all-time high. We can shift our focus based on what’s happening and see steady demand. It’s fun, because we’re always touching different segments and accommodating different customer needs.”

For the COO and GM Thibault, his position at the helm of Numesh is still fresh. In December 2022, he left the concrete construction material giant Lafarge to start the new year in his current role. With 23 years of concrete experience under his belt, Thibault transferred over with strong connections and sensibilities for the market, as concrete and wire mesh are almost always bought hand-in-hand. With that in mind, it is no surprise that his fresh perspective has only strengthened the trajectory of Canada’s largest steel wire mesh manufacturer. “It’s been a very good opportunity to revisit the company mission, vision, and the values with all the employees,” he says. “Now that we have our second location–and almost third soon with California–and a few ideas for acquisition and expansion, it’s been a really good opportunity to sit down with the management team and redefine Numesh 2.0.”

Already at the top of the industry, what can we expect from Numesh 2.0? Beyond the physical growth of the company, sustainability is also a big part of Thibault’s vision. “The more efficient we are in fabricating,” Thibault says, “the less energy we can use, the more environmentally friendly we can be. We’re looking into reducing and reusing our waste by finding opportunities with other industries to adopt a circular economy strategy. For me, becoming greener is the best thing we can achieve.”

From Laval, to Brantford, to California, Numesh Inc., led by Charles Thibault, has a presence as strong as the steel wire mesh that it creates.

For more on Numesh, visit www.numesh.com

Concrete is the lifeblood of the construction industry. From bridges, to highways, to runways, our national infrastructure relies heavily both on the material, and the contractors who excel at working with it. Vital Consulting Group, a New Mexico-based contractor specializing in concrete construction, is one such company. The company has amassed a huge amount of experience and expertise to become a leading firm in the sector, and one that plays a critical role in the southwestern market. Vital has crafted bridges in key areas of transit, performed apron expansions on runways that will service important airports for years to come, and worked alongside the region’s top builders, engineers, and clients. In fact, given the importance of concrete across a wide range of project types, it is no surprise that Vital has touched an array of markets from public, to private, to governmental.

For company President and Managing Member Vincent Martinez, this variety fuels his passion. “We like taking on different jobs,” he says, “especially the ones that are a little bit challenging.” On delving a little deeper, it is clear that “a little bit challenging,” is something of an understatement. Many of Vital’s projects are anything but straight forward. A prime example of this is its recent St. Francis Crossing project, which involved the construction of a pedestrian crossing under St. Francis Dr. in downtown Santa Fe, New Mexico. For context, the project was near the intersection of St. Francis Dr. and Cerrillos Rd., one of the busiest intersections in the state of New Mexico. With local traffic flowing throughout the day and a railroad track running through the middle of it all, Vital had to ensure that any disruptions from the project would be kept to a minimum.

To make matters even more complicated, the city insisted on the pedestrian crossing running underneath the roadway, rather than over it as you would expect to see in a traditional project of this type. To accomplish this, Vital had to build out the pathway, all while keeping the road above in a functional condition. “We never really shut down the traffic at all,” Martinez says. “There were always lanes going. At night, when we worked, we only had to take it down to one lane each direction.” To pull off this feat, Vital put its skill and innovation to good use, building an underground bridge, rather than following the process for a traditional tunnel. By taking a top-down approach in which precast sections of concrete were first set across the road to build out the bridge. Vital then performed the necessary work of excavating the dirt underneath. It was a complicated engineering plan to execute, but Martinez and his team delivered.

While the project rightfully earned Vital an award from the American Concrete Institute, the highest praise came from the city and the local public who were pleased that this stand-out project had been accomplished without creating a traffic bottleneck in the beating heart of Santa Fe. Aesthetically, the project bears an outside-the-box look, finding it well at home in a city known for its artistic flair and cultural importance. More crucially, the project was built safely and Vital’s handiwork will allow the easy passage of cars and pedestrians alike for years to come. The need to balance the visual and structural elements of the job, was a considerable challenge. In order to achieve this, Vital collaborated with the project’s four architects, combining their vision with the diligent planning of the crossing’s engineering team. Now, by the intersection of St. Francis Dr. and Cerrillos Rd., we find a passageway that sits at the crossroads of both function and form. “This was a city of Santa Fe job,” Martinez says, “but even the state highway department and the federal highway department performed a lot of their own inspections. They liked what we were doing.”

Vital Consulting Group is building a strong legacy. Having been in business for 15 years, the company has learned and evolved over time. For Martinez, this growth and education now enables the company to serve the market with the highest quality and standards. “When I started Vital Consulting Group,” he recalls, “I had been working for a lot of contractors for many years. I took my knowledge in construction management, estimating, takeoffs, contracting, scheduling, and other areas and put it together to offer consulting services.”

“Furthering its ability to serve the southwestern market, Vital has been able to acquire three concrete production plants.”

Along with his business partner, Martinez offered consultancy services for a number of years. However, having put his licenses for construction under the Vital name, market changes in 2014 would see Martinez return to the world of contracting. At the time, some of New Mexico’s biggest concrete contractors were drifting out of the market. As Martinez explains, there was a clear need for a new company that could do everything from flatwork to structural builds at a high level. Having a great deal of experience in concrete, Martinez chose to pivot, altering the trajectory of Vital Consulting in the process. “We had five or six employees,” Martinez recalls, “I was running all the office work by myself. Today, we have 87 employees. It’s quite a difference in a relatively short time.”

The growth of the company can be seen across a variety of metrics. Since 2014, Vital has gone from executing $2 million worth of work to over $26 million last year. “It’s been a big jump,” Martinez says. “We’ve gone through some hard changes that weren’t foreseeable, but through them we’ve continued to grow. All the time I hear people saying, ‘we want to be the biggest contractor in the state,’ but I’ve always stressed to our guys that I want to be the best. I want to be proud of what we do. I want to have the owners and vendors trust us and want to come to us.”

Unsurprisingly, this growth and expansion is set to continue. Furthering its ability to serve the southwestern market, Vital has been able to acquire three concrete production plants. As Martinez explains, this will help the company produce and deliver concrete to the job site faster than any of its competitors. “Our two large plants are capable of doing 275 yards of material an hour,” he says, “and one that’s capable of doing about 30 or 40 yards an hour. We use that one on the smaller bridge jobs and projects that are in remote locations.”

When dealing with high performance projects such as runways, having its own source of production ensures that materials are of the highest standard and that the company can oversee all elements of construction to ensure that the product meets all necessary government standards.

Being the best means that Vital has recently been trusted with one of the most structurally demanding jobs in flat and horizontal work: runway and airport apron improvements. On a recent job for Albuquerque International Airport, the company performed this demanding work to the tune of $12 million. As Martinez shares, working as the prime contractor on a key area of an active airport meant that good communication was key to the project’s success. “We have a really good relationship with the Aviation Department here in Albuquerque, working with their engineering and planning department team. I think they see our quality of work and we continue to work on projects with them.” As he explains, this specialty skill is key to the company’s vision for future growth. “We are moving to expand our work in the federal market with more Air Force, Army, and Navy work at their bases,” he says. “Many of these bases date back to World War II. They’re 50, 60-year-old airports, and they are starting to deteriorate. We are excellent at concrete paving, and we want to go out there and show what we can do.”

A proud member of the Associated Builders and Contractors’ New Mexico Chapter, Vital continues to work on some of the southwest’s most critical projects. A company that has learned to adapt in order to best suit the market that it serves, Vincent Martinez and his team continue to be as vital to clients, fellow contractors, and the community as concrete is to construction.

Construction impacts community. From projects that transform a city’s skyline, to buildings that are woven into daily life, the most successful contractors are the ones who are devoted to building upon their hometowns. By maintaining a focus on developing community, a collaborative approach will invariably offer the best chance of success for all.

This is evident when you visit Kansas City, Missouri, where general contractor JE Dunn Construction has been in operation since 1924. After 99 years in business, JE Dunn may be one of the largest contractors in America—with 26 offices nationwide—but it hasn’t lost focus on the community where it all began. Its Missouri operations, led by Kansas City Office Leader Jeff Blaesing, continue to innovate on its legacy work with projects that support the growth of Crown Town and beyond. “We want to make win-win scenarios for everyone,” Blaesing says. “The best projects are the ones that wrap up and everybody says, ‘let’s do this again.’”

JE Dunn’s operations in the KC metro put an emphasis on transparency, collaboration, and maintaining a balance between community projects and megaprojects that push the needle at a monumental scale. Just a few of the company’s latest projects show these principles in action: a 2.5 million-square-foot parking garage for Kansas City International Airport, its continued community-first contributions to the K-12 education market, and an eight-story office tower out in Overland Park, Kansas.

The tower in Overland Park is dressed in a curtain-wall exterior, with glass that catches the Kansas sky and blends beautifully with the surrounding environment. Exterior LED blades line the cladding on the north and south, leaving a long and lasting impression to passersby. This building—which sits at a crossroads between creativity and luxury—belongs to none other than Shamrock Trading Corporation, a Kansas City staple, and a titan of industry in the heartland of America.

Working on large-scale projects such as these can be challenging. With so much at stake, positive relationships are key. JE Dunn’s commitment to offering an authentic partnership made it the perfect match for Shamrock, in this regard. “You have to go in with your eyes wide open,” Blaesing says. “One of the first things we do on every job, whether it’s with a serial builder or someone who’s building for the first time, is to show them the critical decision-making milestones and continue to talk about them throughout the process.”

While Blaesing and his team believe in the power of intricate planning and communication, there are always logistical hurdles for both the contractor and client to overcome. When building the Shamrock Tower, the team had to navigate hauling off over 275,000 cubic yards of dirt in a phased and cost-effective manner. “In order to expand our portfolio, we worked with the client and our mass excavation contractor to identify local projects that could test the material on the Shamrock site. That, in addition to having a very detailed excavation plan, made significant savings for the project in terms of both time and budget.”

“It wouldn’t be a construction project unless you had to make shifts and adjustments,” he says. “That’s where transparency and collaboration come into play. When we have a problem, we get the people that need to be in the room and talk about it openly and honestly. We had to switch two weather sensitive systems (fireproofing and exterior envelope) to ensure we could maintain schedule while installing both through an entire winter, saving the project both time and money.”

The strong cohesion between this experienced contractor and a client navigating this scale of construction allowed the building of this tower to proceed smoothly. To clad the building in its soon-to-be iconic façade, eight-foot-wide floor-to-floor chunks of the exterior were brought in pre-assembled and pre-glazed. There were many moving parts to the project—as with every build that JE Dunn executes. Working at this scale, JE Dunn leaders deeply believe that collaboration is the ultimate avenue to success. “My primary responsibility is to set strategy that supports the regional and national efforts of our office,” he says. “We compartmentalize each one of those office goals into the individual vertical markets that roll up our Kansas City book of business. When it comes down to a pursuit or strategy decision, we have an open conversation and determine what the best plan forward is.”

“Working at this scale, JE Dunn leaders deeply believe that collaboration is the ultimate avenue to success.”

This level of transparency, both in its internal decision-making as well as in its collaboration with clients, has made the Kansas City office a long-time partner with the community it belongs to. Even after a century of growth, JE Dunn has not turned away from its commitment to projects that are integral to the community. Its work in the K-12 school market, for instance, holds a special place in the hearts of Blaesing and his team. While these projects happen at a scale often smaller than the others that the Kansas City book of JE Dunn tackles (such as the 2.5 million square foot garage for KCI), working on education buildings and institutions brings unique logistical hurdles. For starters, teams often work within tight windows, working at speed to retrofit and renovate areas in the space of summer vacation. With timelines that are three months or less and bond-funded budgets that cannot be adjusted, a great deal of planning goes into executing with safety, expedience, and precision. “When we approach a K-12 renovation project,” Blaesing says, “we need all the pieces bought out under contract in March so that when we get access to the space, we can hit the ground running. We’ve never missed an opening day for a school to-date—and we’re not going to.”

Safety is paramount in all projects—but projects such as these take that notion to another level. Schools never shut down entirely in the summer—and JE Dunn often works while camps and events run in other areas of the building. “We’re constantly communicating with the administration and personnel in charge,” Blaesing says. “We want to inform them about what we’re doing and also understand what they have going on to make sure that not just our workforce is safe but that the surrounding community is safe as well.”

JE Dunn’s “X-Factor”, particularly when it comes to its Kansas City operations, lies in the care it takes on these community projects in addition to its acumen in executing monumental builds. The company’s spirit of transparency and collaboration allows local schools to open safely and on time. The same principles empower JE Dunn’s teams to thrive when given the biggest projects Crown Town has to offer.

When KCI, one of Missouri’s busiest airports, moved to open a new terminal for February 2023, JE Dunn had the privilege of being part of the process. Blaesing’s team set out to build a parking garage—one substantial enough to accommodate over six thousand spaces. “This was a large project,” Blaesing says, “and it was surrounded on all four sides by the construction of the airport proper. Logistics and coordination were crucial to the job’s success.”

To finish on time, the team was putting up 30 pieces of precast per day. With other projects being constructed around the site, moving and storing materials took a great deal of planning and communication with all parties involved. While this was a massive build, the workflow had to remain as lean as possible. “You have to be able to react quickly and change. We evaluated what we accomplished after the first two months and then we worked to perfect the plan.” As in all of JE Dunn’s projects, the Kansas City team’s partnership approach resulted in the job completing on time, safely, and to the satisfaction of the owner and the community, who will use the parking garage for years to come.

With much to celebrate as the contractor approaches its 100th year in business, JE Dunn’s Kansas City office, where it all began, is excited to continue its growth in and beyond the heartland of America. As JE Dunn’s Missouri operation now grows into new markets, including industrial semiconductors, data centers, and even a women’s professional soccer stadium currently being built in downtown Kansas City, transparency, collaboration, and an emphasis on community still drives the teams led by Jeff Blaesing. “We’re balancing building all these megaprojects while still being a true community builder,” he says. “That balance is a challenge, but it’s something that I’m passionate about as leader of our Kansas City office.”

Reputation is everything in construction—especially when you’re in the commercial space. Contractors in this market must often deliver on a massive scale while managing every little detail from the ground up. When you include budgets, timelines, and safety protocols, there leaves little room for error. For a corporate client or developer to throw their lot in with a contractor, there needs to be a great deal of trust.

In Houston and its surrounding area, Corvus Construction is a name whose reputation precedes it. Existing in the commercial market for three decades, Corvus is known for its commitment, professionalism, and strong work ethic. It has continuously translated these traits into quality builds and long-lasting relationships with the commercial construction community in Texas.

With a long-time focus on interior build outs and tenant improvement projects, Corvus’ new ground-up division is taking the company into new territory. Building out a solid footing for such a move has been a climb three decades in the making.

For these last thirty years, interior construction has been Corvus’ wheelhouse. CEO and shareholder Steve Thornton built out the company to specialize in this key area. Such a close focus allowed Corvus to become an elite name in the niche, much thanks to carefully designed systems that create predictability and consistency around delivery, quality control, and cost control—in addition to a cradle-to-grave mindset that creates long-term relationships.

Corvus’ Founder hadn’t come out of nowhere either; Steve brought over 15 years of construction experience into the 1992 launch of the company. Commercial projects are successful when trust is placed in proven experience: this is an underlying trend for Corvus’ growth in the 90s—and the reason why it continues to expand thirty years later. According to Will Thornton, Company President, trust doesn’t just underly Corvus’ client relationships, it also plays a role in its culture. “The culture at Corvus is family-oriented,” he explains. “Our staff are tenured: employees know their job responsibilities and are given plenty of opportunities for advancement. Management has high expectations. Given such, employees are not micromanaged and produce high-yielding results.” By bringing in top-tenured talent, Corvus has been able to operate with an unrivaled level of internal trust—which in turn reinforces its reputation in the greater market.

David Gross, Director of Interior Construction, continues to embody this in his work for Corvus. The company’s interior division displays great competency in building out spaces for a variety of uses and applications. A recent project for beverage industry titan Keurig Dr. Pepper involved both a 10,000 sq ft office buildout in addition to 270,000 sq ft of warehouse improvement. A buildout for the legendary Persian rug weaver Safaveih saw Corvus craft 8,500 sq ft of office space along with warehouse improvements across the company’s 1 million sq ft building. When Wrist USA—the world leader in shipping and supplying marine provisions—called needing a 12,000 sq ft office buildout and a 153,000 sq ft warehouse featuring a whopping 42,000 sq ft of cold storage space, Corvus answered.

These are clients not just making waves in the Houston area—these are global industry leaders who view their Texas facilities as integral pieces of its operations. When it comes time to build, they find Corvus as a contractor they can trust. “We’ve proven to our clients time and again that we’re able to get the tenant into the building and the lease commenced on time,” Gross says. With this rock-solid reputation established, the last few years has seen Corvus flexing its muscles into new territory: ground-up construction.

“Customer relationships allowed Corvus to develop the ground-up division,” Will explains. “Our customers wanted us to have a bigger impact on their business, and we wanted to be able to deliver a full-project-cycle experience with speed and efficiency.”

Reputation matters to Corvus and its clients—and the Director of this new division needed to be a proven mover in the ground-up space.

Enter Blake McClendon. By the time McClendon joined Corvus in 2021, he had over 6 million sq ft of institutional tilt-wall experience under his belt. An army vet with over a decade of experience in the industry, the new Director of Ground-Up has long been a well-respected name in Houston construction—making him right at home in Corvus’ ranks. “It was critical that Corvus acquired the right person to assist with starting this division,” Will says. “We ultimately made the decision after a customer came to us with a recommendation and expressed the willingness to provide us with the opportunity.” This was an exciting move for past clients who had dealt with both Will and McClendon separately. The two had worked on several shared projects in the past, cementing a mutual respect between the pair. By coming together, a turn-key solution was born. “There are great contractors in the ground-up market,” McClendon says, “and there are project teams that have been tenured and are well respected in the marketplace. Being able to establish ourselves as a turn-key solution has given us a differentiator.”

“Our customers wanted us to have a bigger impact on their business, and we wanted to be able to deliver a full-project-cycle experience with speed and efficiency.”

Gross echoes this view, explaining how this approach ensures flexibility with no loss of quality. “Having both ground-up and interior divisions gives Corvus the opportunity to quickly convert a speculative shell space into something end-user ready without having to change the project team,” he says. “Build-to-suit delivery methods give us the capability to begin the interior work very early in the project life cycle.”

With both Directors being able to strategically coordinate the efforts of both teams, Corvus has furthered its reputation for delivering projects on time and on budget.

To see this process in action, look no further than the recent project on 1-10. Completed for Igloo Product Corp. (most known for their coolers), this two-building industrial warehouse and office facility is one of the company’s most critical distribution hubs. The facility’s footprint spans over 1 million sq ft and presented a great opportunity for the new ground-up division to prove itself. Built around a structural steel center core, concrete tilt-wall panel construction provides an exterior shell that will stand for years to come. Igloo required cross-loading and front-loading functionality, which Corvus provided in the form of 200 loading docks and 100 mechanical dock levelers.

The Corvus flag also recently flew over a job site that delivered 474,000 sq ft of Class A institutional buildings for Alliance Industrial Company. As a speculative facility, the buildings on site were under a tight deadline to get tenant-ready and in proper shape to close leases quickly. Both of Corvus’ divisions, along with the rest of the project team, were able to deliver.

Adding ground-up to the arsenal has brought in gangbusters business. Since the division opened two years ago, revenue has doubled. It’s a snowball that continues to grow larger, as the reputation of Corvus grows from increased exposure.

The work of ground-up, by nature, has a far larger visual presence in the community in comparison to interior buildouts and tenant improvement. Corvus’ place on Houston’s biggest construction sites is more noticeable than ever before. This, paired with Steve’s continued oversight of the business and the long-term relationships he’s built over the decades—the Corvus name continues to drive high levels of trust.

The growth of the last couple of years has allowed the company to bolster its safety program, optimize its processes, and streamline its approach to winning jobs. Expansion starts with a solid reputation. It’s with a great deal of trust that Corvus Construction lays the groundwork for Houston’s future.

“The underlying principles of the company never changed,” Will says. “We are proud of our work and are always willing to sacrifice profit to do the right thing. We seek long-term relationships and that cannot be achieved with low quality.”

To see more of the work Corvus Construction is doing in Houston and beyond, visit their website.

corvusconstruction.com

The construction industry is woven into everything. More than just the roof over our heads, a building teaches us about our history, reflects the personality of our community, and inspires us to build a world that’s better than the one we currently inhabit. Similarly, it takes more than just four walls and a roof to mark a construction project successful. To build something truly aspirational, a contractor, developer, or builder must bring a powerful vision to life. Fusioncorp, an Ontario-based leader in development and construction, takes this as a rallying cry.

From historic conversions to future-forward new developments, Fusioncorp combines a respect for the builders who have come before with a passion for constructing builds that push the needle in the daily lives of end users and their communities. Building for people, the boutique nature of this construction management and general contracting company ensures that the key principles of time, budget, and quality are always met. This is largely down to the active leadership of its CEO, Nick Ainis, who has a hand in every project. “We don’t play with honesty,” Ainis says. “We don’t play with our integrity. We are like that with all our clients. We’re like that with our trades. We have the highest bar set for ourselves. That’s what is in every one of our buildings.”

Operating in the competitive landscape of the Ontario market, running a company that’s above reproach is integral to Fusioncorp’s success. As a boutique organization, partners and clients enjoy the clarity and cohesion of working with a tightly knit team that can take them all the way from pre- to post-construction. “I see everything from A to Z,” Ainis says. “Having that oversight is great because I want to make sure our clients are well served.”

To get a picture of how each client is served, look no further than the company’s Harbour Ten10 project out in Whitby, which is on track to be completed this winter. A 5-story modern building with 110 residential units, Fusioncorp is managing the execution of a minimalist, future-first design crafted by architect M. Shami. Employing a total-precast system, a major part of the process has been Fusioncorp’s construction of the building’s superstructure. Turning to Stubbe’s Precast to manufacture the exterior walls of the project off-site, Fusioncorp had the building’s envelope completed over the course of mere months, leaving it ready for roofing and interior finishes in great time. “The biggest challenge with the total precast approach is coordinating all the mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and sprinkler trades,” Ainis says. “We need all those trades to provide input and information so that the architects and consultants can prepare their final drawings.” With that in mind, it is no surprise that by putting an emphasis on communication and cohesion, Fusioncorp was the perfect choice to manage Harbour Ten10.

“We’re proactive and transparent,” Ainis says. “We’re working for a developer who needs someone they can trust.” These are principles that Ainis founded his company on in 2005. Having built a wealth of experience as a project and site manager in the condo development sector, Ainis’ passion got him through the early years of the company. These formative experiences saw the company grow tentatively until it received its first standout project: Carmelina Condos on Danforth Avenue in Toronto. In managing the completion of this $50 million, 12-story project, Fusioncorp had truly arrived as a strong player in the condo development market.

It all started as a dream of Ainis and one of his business partners. Over the years, the vision of Fusioncorp manifested itself into one of Ontario’s most well-oiled machines for construction management and development.

“It takes a while to find good people,” Ainis says. “But one thing about Fusioncorp is that we’ve had people here for years. We treat it like a family business, and we have a lot of fun. I think if you get a good person that you like to work with, you hold on to them and you try to make sure that they are enjoying working for you.”

The team that has gathered around Ainis is one that continues to bring meaningful projects to life. In the late 2010s, Fusioncorp participated in the GTA Aboriginal Affordable Housing Program by managing the construction of two affordable housing projects for status and non-status First Nations. For Ainis, the experience was an opportunity to give something back.

“It was exciting to work with the New Frontiers Aboriginal Residential Corporation,” he says. “It was great to do something where you’re helping these groups and people in need.”
Historic conversions are another specialty of Fusioncorp, which fuels the company’s passion for learning about the past and finding new uses for cherished spaces.

In 2021, Fusioncorp breathed new life into historical Downtown Newmarket, by converting a 100-year-old schoolhouse into a luxury condominium space. In 2016, it reworked Aurora’s Wells Street School (the second-oldest standing elementary school in town), into a new community of loft-style residences. Currently in the works is a project that will turn an Owen Sound jailhouse into a premier event venue. This project will both maintain and honor the history of the Scenic City, while also offering Owen Sound a venue that will drive commerce, community, and progress.

“One thing about Fusioncorp is that we’ve had people here for years. We treat it like a family business, and we have a lot of fun.”

“Our history and heritage are what give our city character,” says Owen Sound Mayor, Ian Boddy. “It will be great to see this beautiful, historic building brought back to life when it opens its doors again.”

“I love history,” Ainis says. “Being able to work on a historic conversion project is exciting. You get to dwell on the history of the building and see all the way it’s been constructed. You learn a lot about these buildings. You learn a lot about what should be done on a project and what shouldn’t be in terms of cost-effectiveness.”

A student of history, Ainis ventured into new territory this year, authoring Building Toronto’s Skyline: “Toronto Condominiums Through the Decades.” Ainis’ research and storytelling paint a rich history that goes beyond just the construction methods used to build Canada’s premier city. The book dives into the social, cultural, and economic influences that shaped the skyline we enjoy today.

“I have a lot of interests,” he says, “and I try to work on what I can. My book was something that I had been thinking of doing for quite some time, and I thought it would be fun and exciting. I learned a lot by writing it.”

Looking at the history of buildings in-depth—while also performing historic conversions with Fusioncorp—has given Ainis a fresh perspective on the projects he helps manage. “I don’t think people are thinking about the next 100 years when new projects are built,” he says. “But it’s a great question, and it’s something that should be carefully considered. What happens to these buildings when they’re really old? When you built a school, it was meant for a school. No one thought that in 100 years they’d be converted into condos.”

Our buildings are wrapped with history—but within each one also lies a promise for an aspirational future (one only limited by our imagination). As for Fusioncorp’s future, only one thing is certain. “There are no holds barred. We want to go as far as we can go, because why think small when we can think big? We want to do a lot more projects and we’re working towards that.”