SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE OCTOBER 2018
Back in August 2016 when Spotlight on Business last spoke with Jeff Heggie, the President and CEO of Kodiak Mountain Stone, he explained how his vision – and execution – was simple when he began operations in 2005: manufacture beautiful masonry products for exterior sidings, fireplaces, feature walls – or any project his customers could dream up. “We finish the dream” quickly became Kodiak Mountain Stone’s slogan. “After all, it’s our products that they see. The owners see the final product in their minds long before they begin: our stone, our brick, our stucco – or often a combo of them all,” Jeff told the magazine more than two years ago. But just as often, he recalled earlier this month, that combo included something that only a competitor offered. “That really made us take a look at how we were running the business strictly as manufacturers. And after everything kind of crashed there in 2008 and the housing market took a nosedive the focus became renovations. That’s when we opened our stores, our showrooms in Alberta, and we started to develop relationships with a lot of the other manufacturers – and eventually started distributing their product in our stores. At first a lot of them were hesitant and I think some of them looked at us as a competing manufacturer only. But once they realized we were not trying to pull any fast ones or anything – that we were legitimate – and that we just wanted to be able to offer a whole line of products out of our stores, beside our own, they were on board.” Today, Jeff explained, the Kodiak Mountain Stone brand has completed its transition from producer to supplier and now offers an even wider variety of manufactured stone, natural stone, brick, acrylic stucco, and light- weight concrete fencing products to fit the needs of distributors, homebuilders, and homeowners north and south of the 49th parallel.
By David MacDonald W e couldn’t have done it if it wasn’t for those existing business relation- ships,” Jeff said with humble enthu- siasm from his office at Kodiak Mountain Stone’s Lethbridge, Alberta homebase. “Bringing on the best in new manufactured lines, as well as some other phenomenal natural stone lines, really filled in the gaps that were there – and that’s what I wanted to address from the start.” Those natural stone lines include Merrill- stone and Natural Stone Veneer Internation- al, among others. “Particularly on themanufactured stone side, I really believe that we’ve got the number one products available in the marketplace today – I’d say in North America as a whole. We’re supplying Creative Mines products; we’re supplying ECOstone products; we’re supplying Eldorado Stone and Harristone. You can’t beat those products.”
Jeff’s confidence in his inventory, he explained, comes from one place: “Our cus- tomers are confident in the products that
much of this fighting, and that’s how a lot of business owners on both sides of the border see it, will just end up hurting people’s bottom line everywhere anyway you look at it. In our case the majority of our builds happen in Canada but all of our products are coming from the U.S.” “We started to develop relationships with a lot of the other manufacturers – and eventually started distributing their product in our stores.” Keeping his finger on the pulse of the manufacturing side of the industry isn’t merely a nostalgic exercise for Jeff – it’s good business sense. He explained how every year sees its different trends in the worlds of manufactured stone and natural stone – and brick and acrylic stucco, too. “No one knows what’s coming next better than the people whose name is on the product. Being able to let customers who want the latest and most modern products know what’s available, exactly, is key. Darker stone is one of those trends that is masterfully reinvented year after year: like when you get into the rundles and the dark grays and blacks. (It’s defi- nitely more popular in Canada than it is anywhere else.) We also have, from one of our distributers, Creative Minds, a product called ‘slip modular’ and that is a beautiful, mod- ern-looking product, too.”
we carry.” He continued. “We supply what you want and we work with your budget. We’ve found a nice balance and we’re going to leave it that way. Working with these big guys made a lot more sense. It diversified and expanded what we can offer to our distributors: we have a much wider variety of not only stone profiles and colours, but also price points.” The transition wasn’t – and still isn’t – without its moments of doubt and angst, Jeff confessed. Stepping away from production and to supply meant that the Kodiak Mountain Stone manufacturing facility in Utah was no longer needed. “That was a big deal before it had a happy ending,” he recalled. “To tell 20 guys, ‘Hey, we’re shutting down the factory and that we’re not going to be producing anymore,’ would have been heart-wrenching. As it happened one of the other manufacturers that we buy a lot of our product from – along with another business relationship in a differ- ent industry – offered to hire-on our people. So it worked out that when we told them we are shutting down we were also able to tell them whoever wants a job, here are two companies you can work for – and they’re both great com- panies. Another manufacturer that we have a good business relationship with bought a lot of the equipment from our plant when we shut down so a lot of that operation was rein- vested back into the industry, which was great. We’re really connected to this industry in a lot of ways.” But that’s not the end of cross-border stressors for Jeff and Kodiak Mountain Stone. The shadow of uncertainty that surrounds the marathon NAFTA renegotiations has Jeff thinking like many business owners across North America: “It does make me a little nervous, where it could go. Too
“The ledgestone products from Harristone have been big sellers, too,” Jeff continued. “The people at Harristone are
very innovative and they’re always making changes and tweaks – right now they’re coming out with some really great new colours. We’re showcasing 12 new, never seen before, Harristone products in-store and online and I know our customers are going to love the additions.” One of Kodiak Mountain Stone’s more popular products is ECOstone’s dry stacked stone. “It really is a nice stacked stone,” Jeff said. “A lot of people like the stacked stone because it’s a quick, easier product to put up and then once it’s up, it looks like the individual stones rather than a stacked product.” relationship with bought a lot of the equipment from our plant when we shut down so a lot of that operation was reinvested back into the industry, which was great.” While adding more big names to the product line has been integral to the transformation at Kodiak Mountain Stone, Jeff knows it’s not the most crucial element to recent growth. “It’s what happening at the centre of operations in Lethbridge that’s got us gaining speed these days. When I look at, especially my two main guys there, Mark and Red – they’ve been with us forever – they know the industry inside “Another manufacturer that we have a good business
out. Education has always been a part of the business model here and these guys go out of their way to know everything about our products, new and old. These guys are not only dealing with the customers who come into the store, they’re also dealing with our distributors so they are really a key to all of it. Because they’re on top of their game, it allows us to focus a lot of energy into new markets. For example, in Edmonton right now, I am working with a few potential distributors who want to build a partnership and grow their business.” Visit www.kodiakmountain.com for product information and to use the Kodiak Mountain Stone Visualizer app, which allows you to view your home with some of the most popular profiles and colours on the market!
Kodiak Mountain Stone
Toll Free: 877 KODIAK2 (877-563-4252) Fax: 877-231-0548 info@kodiakmountain.com Corporate Office P.O. Box 118 Cardston, Alberta T0K 0K0 Phone: 877-563-4252 Lethbridge Store 2620 2 Ave N Lethbridge, Alberta T1H 0C2 Phone: 403-388-8948
kodiakmountain.com
as spotlighted in the OCTOBER 2018 issue of SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE
www.spotlightonbusinessmagazine.com
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