DIVERSIFICATION GETS MILLWRIGHT THROUGH ENERGY DOWNTURN
When Jesse Messom decided in 2010 to start his own millwright, welding and fabrication company, he was advised by well wishers to focus on the oil and gas industry.
While the energy sector had been good to the hard-working Calgarian, he’d experienced enough boom-and-bust economies to know he needed to diversify his client base from the outset.
Messom earned his tradesman ticket at SAIT while working for his project-manager father before moving on to a large company. When his offer to buy into that firm was rejected, Messom decided to be his own boss.
Bigfoot Industrial Services was launched out of the back of a Chevy pickup truck. Today, the company leases an 8,000-squarefoot, fully-equipped shop that’s staffed by 12 employees, which could grow to 20 by summer.
One of Bigfoot’s first customers was FedEx, handling maintenance at the courier service’s Aero Drive N.E. sorting depot. FedEx has remained a good client and Bigfoot is busy on an expansion that will require new conveyors, platforms and the installation of an X-ray machine.
FedEx is so pleased with Bigfoot’s work it has invited four employees to take specialized training at its plant in Salt Lake City, Utah. Bigfoot has also completed work for Loomis, Purolator and DHL, providing staff good experience in the shipping industry.
Many projects require specialized attention, such as the maintenance, installation and retrofits for Canada Malting and ADM Milling.
Messom said he is often asked to do custom jobs such as the current refurbishing of a 1961 German ProBat roaster for Phil & Sebastian Coffee Roasters at its Simmons Building location at East Village.
Both Phil and Sebastian are engineers but Phil Robertson is the partner who has been redesigning the roaster for automated production and tweaking away to ensure it performs to the satisfaction of the fussy pair and their coffee-savvy customers. They hired Bigfoot to custom-weld and fabricate the equipment.
Initially, Bigfoot had to subcontract parts of its work but is steadily adding to its equipment and services. It launched Rocky View Fabrication as an in-house provider and is looking to bring a hydraulic fluid company inhouse. A major recent investment is a water-jet table that will cut metal and wood up to a four-by-eight sheet size.
Jesse’s sister, Kerri McGrath, who spent the past five years as director of client services at Arlington Street Investments and is on the executive team of Private Capital Markets Association, Alberta, has joined Bigfoot as vice-president business development.
Bigfoot has grown rapidly over the past three years and Messom and his business partner, Dan Demchuk, are in the process of restructuring the company into a fully integrated industrial and commercial facility maintenance contracting company.
Messom also works hard to give back to this community as a supporter of SAIT and a keen member of the Airdrie Dad’s Facebook Group that presented $20,000 to the Airdrie Lionesss Club.
NEWS AND NOTES
Members of the Calgary chapter of Entrepreneurs’ Organization are challenged by increases to the minimum wage in Alberta. On April 20, it’s holding an event to help members see the increase from the perspective of employees. Featured speaker Sherry Stewart Deutschmann, the CEO of LetterLogic, will discuss the issue of fair compensation and its effect on corporate culture at the Mustard Seed event.
Deutschmann will share her own story of climbing out of poverty, the barriers and challenges facing under-capitalized female entrepreneurs and her role advising former U.S. president Barack Obama and the U.S. Congress as a member of the National Women’s Business Council.