Family business carries on in son’s hands
LAURA BARTON
Although there were a couple of years of uncertainty, Bernier Excavating Inc. is still around after 43 years of service.
Reg Bernier said when he started the company he didn’t know what he was getting into. He started out by selling top soil here and there and eventually bought a backhoe. From there, his business kept progressing as he learned different trades, including demolition and concrete work.
When Reg’s health took a turn a couple of years ago as he began a battle with cancer, he announced his retirement and the Welland business looked like it was going to shut down. Before it completely went to the wayside, his son Nick stepped in.
“I was so happy when he said, ‘Pops, I’ll take it over,’” Reg said.
“I thought it would be quite the shame that a 43-year-old business would go down the tubes,” said Nick about his decision to take it over despite already working for another company.
The business officially changed hands last November and since then Nick said he’s been working to build it back up. In the lull of uncertainty about the business’s future, he said people had stopped calling for work, so now it’s a matter of letting everyone know its back and ready to go.
Despite the challenge of rebuilding the client base, Nick knows people respected his father’s company and knew he did quality work. He’s confident the strong legacy will encourage people to come back.
Right now, Nick is running back and forth between both jobs, but said he hopes to retire from his other job so he can focus on the family business full time.
The only real change so far has been incorporating the company; otherwise, he’s working through the details as they come at him. One of the goals is to get a building so he can stop working from home, which he hopes to do within the next year.
As for Reg, he has officially retired from the business, but still helps out here and there when he can. Going through cancer treatments and taking care of his health is top priority, but he likes to keep busy.
Nick said he can sympathize with what his father is going through because he was diagnosed with cancer himself in his early 30s. He has been cancer-free for 18 years.
He can also relate to Reg ’s desire to keep busy because he has a passion for the job and has many fond memories of spending time on the job with his dad when he was a kid. One particular memory that stands out is riding around in the dump truck with his dad when he was just five years old.
“That was the best thing in the world.”
Having that passion is something they both agree is essential for a good business, because it creates that drive to do the best work possible and keep at it.
“If you miss a call, it could mean a job,” Reg said of the non-stop schedule of owning his own business. “So you’ve got to get your bum out there and try to handle everything you can.”
Nick said the business is slow right now, but he plans to do everything he can to let people know that it’s back and he and his staff are ready to work.