EASY DOES IT
A family-run roofing and siding company that puts people first
When you’re in a competitive industry, you have to find a way to set yourself apart. That’s just what John Beimers, owner of Easy Building Products in Hensall, Ontario, has done.
Easy Building Products is a family-run metal roofing and siding manufacturer whose products are tough, easy and last virtually a lifetime. Beimers left a company at which he’d accumulated years of experience with corrugated piping and metal roofing sales and started Easy Building Products with partners in 1990. Four years later, with funds borrowed from CIBC, Beimers bought out his partners and moved to his current location with only a handful of staff. Now, the company employs 14 people — administration, sales, delivery and manufacturing — and is a full-fledged multi-line operation.
RE-INVENTING THE ROOF
The company has traditionally serviced commercial and agricultural customers. But with more small house manufacturers entering these markets, Beimers decided to look at other avenues. “We took a run at the residential roofing market to provide long-lasting roofing products other than the conventional asphalt shingle,” he says. Beimers and his team worked with engineers to research and design a new, superior product that still met industry specifications. The result is one of the company’s latest creations: EASY Shake, steel roofing that resembles and is as strong as slate, but weighs less than shingles or slate itself, takes less time to install and lasts much longer, with little to no maintenance. And it comes with a 40year guarantee. The company aims to expand its residential business until it matches its commercial and agricultural work. “We’re on our way,” Beimers says.
Easy Building Products was also the first company in Ontario to produce the G-rib metal roofing profile. Others have copied and produced it under various names, Beimers says. In addition to its metal roofing, the company also produces interior liners, flashing and trim and provides fasteners and accessories, windows and doors.
Quality control has been a key priority, says Beimers. His company has been selective about the equipment it has purchased to roll its form metal products. “We probably pay a little more, but it’s reliable and efficient,” he says. “It’s made so that one person can run it at high speed.”
THE GREATEST ASSET
For Beimers, his employees are his greatest asset. “I never say they work for me; I say we work together. We can’t do anything without our employees,” he says. “June to mid-December is our busy season, and our employees are very good — they know it’s our busy time and they put in the extra effort.” Easy Building Products provides all its employees with a monthly profit-sharing program. The company’s slogan is “Working hard for your success,” and Beimers says his company always tries to go the extra mile. As a licensed pilot, Beimers is himself often going extra miles — flying workers and contractors to potential job sites or to service existing customers. As a small business, he adds, you have to work together: “It works two ways: they give and we give.”