I was born at a young age... don't remember much.

After graduating from college with a counselling degree I went into construction as that was the work available at the time. When doing new home construction, the builder that I worked for hated how our insulation crew would fiberglass batt, poly and try to seal the poly to the I joists (or rim joists). There was always air leakage and, in our climate, frost in the winter. He and I came up with the process of installing an R12 fiberglass batt and then custom cutting 1.5” rigid SM and pinching it in next. We would then use acoustical sealant to seal the SM to the wood joists. With this we could have an airtight seal with good R value.
I don’t profess as being the smartest guy out there, but every once and a while I come up with a thought and I just said to myself, there must be a better way.
Years later, after starting my own renovation company I found people who would install spray foam insulation. I was excited to have answered my question but wasn’t happy with the quality of the work or the price. From this point on, now 18 years ago, I started on my quest to start a spray foam insulation business.
At the same time my brother-in-law had been accepted into the police force and was about to head out for training. I approached him to see if he would be willing to not pursue law enforcement and join me on an adventure. After mulling it over he said yes and we started on this journey together.
At the time, neither one of us had ever picked up a spray foam gun, used the equipment or anything. We both invested some money into the business and I started ordering parts to build our 1st unit. 40kvw generators, reactors, pumps, fittings, supplied fresh air machines, etc. I had no clue what I was doing but did research and spent a lot of late nights figuring it all out.
We also had to be persistent as material suppliers, at the time, only sold to those who had done their training. We were rejected multiple times but by being relentless BASF allowed both Kevin and I to come to their course and get certified.
Dec 2006 we officially opened our doors and in the 1st year we did $64,000 in total revenue. Year 2 we completed 1.1 million dollars and have not looked back. Now we are an 8-digit construction company with 60+ staff and are planning on 8-12 new hires in the next couple months. By this summer with the booked sales we have we are anticipating 75 staff which was a dream of mine a long time ago. I had called it the ‘March to 75’.
We have grown from two guys in a truck to 4 distinct divisions and a team of amazing people.
After our insulation division was set up and running, we started a thermal division. Beyond Thermal does fire stopping, fire proofing, intumescent coatings and spray applied sound insulation for commercial projects. We have been able to work on some cool projects in our area such as the Calgary New Central Library and are currently working on our cities convention center called the BMO. This division also makes use of our spray foam insulation and has become a major contributor to group.
Close to the same time we also got into commercial flat roofing. Instead of convention EPDM or TPO roofing we went after the spray applied roofing market. This is where we use 3lb roofing foam to seal the roof and a silicone installed after to protect it from the UV light. Our crews are busy all summer doing this and we have now, more recently, started more conventional flat roofing to keep our team busy in the cold season.
Lastly, we started a concrete lifting business. Instead us using mud, or mud jacking, we use foams to lift concrete and void fill practically any space. This division started with just lifting sidewalks and driveways but our attention is turning more towards commercial and transportation projects. Things such as bridge approaches, highways, etc can be fixed using foam with little to no down time. Because of this, it is becoming very popular.
To switch gears, Kevin and I believe we have been able to accomplish what we have because of our people. We would have been happy to have 10 or so staff but we hired such great humans that didn’t want to leave but wanted to do more. People who started as helpers, scrapping walls, sweeping floors, turned into installers that turned into sales staff who turned into managers. The drive they all had kept Kevin and I motivated to keep building this. We now tell people that we build into the people who build something Beyond. We found loyal, optimistic and principled people and needed to keep them part of Beyond.
We truly care about the team and protect our culture more than anything. The great culture turns into finding more great people who find and complete great work for our clients. We have a financial course we put our team through, leadership training, have a shared audible account for reading together, celebrate group wins and so much more. Most of my time now goes into investing into the people who are building Beyond.
If you need more information about any part of this, please let me know. I’m happy to write more if it is needed.