As far as apprenticeships go in the home construction industry, Dave Waldner had the best. Dave, the founder of Master Painting and Renovations in Chilliwack, British Columbia, grew up in a family of flippers. “I lived in a reno for the first 18 years of my life,” he explained proudly when he spoke with Spotlight on Business in early November. “In total I think we moved 23 times – there were six of us. Dad would buy the junkiest house on the nicest block, we’d move into that house and in a year, we’d have it lickety-split and ready for sale.” Dave can remember as early as seven years old helping his family with simple demolition-related tasks. “Even then I was carrying two-by-fours, cleaning up, that sort of thing,” he said. “We never hired out contractors; Dad would do everything with us, just the family, from scratch.” Even his father’s full-time job provided Dave with invaluable early insight into the industry in which he’d one day build a successful business. “Dad was a drywall taper, so he was on job sites all day. It was the evenings and weekends where we would work as a family and we’d get these houses up and running – and eventually sell them to make some profit.” Today, Dave still relies on family teamwork to deliver premium craftsmanship at a competitive price to customers throughout the Fraser Valley and beyond. His oldest brother, Jon, is the Project Manager at Master Painting and Renovations. “He is in the field on every job site, at least every other day, just making sure things are going smoothly. Jon irons out any on-site wrinkles that may occur. He works directly with the foreman and the clients; he makes sure the right material is on the job site when it needs to be there.” Dave’s wife, Amy, is on the radio – so to speak. “It is intense,” he explained. “She coordinates people all day long. She stays on top of delays and any hiccup you can imagine so that there is as little down time as possible for our 45-plus team of experts.” Even Amy and Dave’s young son, Logan, pitches in. “He’s a couple of years older than I was when I first started to help my Dad. He shows up on-site to paint from time to time and goes on the occasional purchasing run with his Dad,” he said with pride in his voice.
By David MacDonald W hen Dave talks about how his young son Logan is learning the ropes of the home construction industry, there is more to it than a prideful dad painting a perfect picture from happy memories. Dave explained, in a polite, pragmatic manner how his industry is plagued by a “slap and dash” work ethic – something he feels is a side-effect of an increasingly undereducated workforce. “I would estimate that up-to 60 percent of the people out there just slap and dash,” he said. “They want to get it done and they’re cheap when they source materials. They throw lipstick on a pig and walk out the door. So more and more home owners are getting something that looks good for three or four weeks and then when you touch it, it falls apart or you wash the wall and the paint comes off. It’s atrocious out there. You can tell a lot of contractors didn’t
grow up helping to source materials and really helping out on projects. By the time I was nine I knew my way around The Lumberyard, Home Depot, Rona.” What’s worse, Dave continued, is that the slap and dash mantra seems to be catching on with reputable companies that have spread themselves too thin. “We call up community services and rec centres or donate to people we know are in need.” “We’re seeing this more and more in million dollar homes we work on. We come in after they are done their job to do the finishing and we need to redo things. The common
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JANUARY 2019 • SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE
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