MEMBER PROFILE
all at a good price,” said Snyder. “And a lot
of our customers keep coming back, so I
guess we are doing something right.”
The shop culture at Brandon Avenue
Electric is centred on the staff. The company
enjoys recruiting and retaining top-quality
tradespeople to the business and then
building alongside them.
“From a trade’s standpoint, all of our
field staff come from one of two places:
they are either an apprentice or journeyman
electrician,” said Johnstone. “And it is always
rewarding to watch some of our younger
staff grow into this industry through
their apprenticeship.”
Safety is paramount for Brandon Avenue
Electric and is regarded as a work in progress.
The company is COR™-certified, which
allows it to better manage risks, establish
controls and minimize incidence of injury
and illness to its employees. Brandon Avenue
Electric staff is routinely sent for new safety
trainings to strengthen existing training and
to maintain any safety training that may have
expired within a two- or three-year cycle.
Even so, the COVID-19 pandemic
has proven a significant challenge for the
company. Although Brandon Avenue
Electric has remained fairly busy through
the pandemic, the ever-evolving provincial
COVID-19 response protocols, as well as
the different mitigation efforts between
various clients, have often made it difficult
to stay current.
“Nothing COVID-related ever seems
to stay the same for any length of time,”
said Johnstone. “But we have been doing
everything we can to ensure that we keep
our staff and clients safe during this crisis.
It is amazing just how quickly we have all
learned to develop processes to manage the
pandemic and the speed in which we have
transitioned is certainly going to be a big
benefit going forward.”
While COVID-19 has slowed any plans
for expansion through 2020, looking ahead,
Brandon Avenue Electric will continue to
keep its eye on maintaining slow and steady
growth for the business into the future.
“Obviously with the pandemic
happening this year, we’re really just
interested in seeing our way through the
crisis and keeping our heads above water,”
said Johnstone. “However, once we come
out on the other side of this crisis, we will
sit down and re-evaluate all of our plans
going forward.”
Brandon Avenue Electric believes
strongly in giving back to the community
and the customers it serves through the
support of local athletic teams and other
charitable endeavours. The company
is particularly proud of the work being
done with one of its valued clients,
Westman Youth for Christ (YFC), a
community organization that aims to
help support teens and families as they
move through difficult life situations and
assist young people to transition into
independent living within a stable and
safe environment.
Brandon Avenue Electric, alongside
several other CARM members, is currently
working on the YFC Blue Lions Project,
two 4,750-square-foot buildings that will
provide safe accommodation and a secure
place to heal for local at-risk youth. YFC’s
new apartment facilities will be used for a
combination of low-income housing and
recovery units for youth coming out of
addiction treatment programs.
“The Blue Lions Project is one that we
are tremendously happy to be a part of
and look forward to seeing it complete,”
said Johnstone.
The company greatly values its
membership with CARM, having been
part of the association for many years
at different levels. For Brandon Avenue
Electric, CARM not only provides a
chance to share information and industry
best practices among peers, but also to
learn about future tender opportunities.
“CARM is involved in everything from
lobbying government to putting together
benefit plan providers, but for us the big
attraction has to be the association’s online
PlanPoint platform,” said Johnstone.
“PlanPoint provides all the tendered
documents for upcoming projects that we
might want to draw on. We are really quite
excited about the platform and are glad
to see that it’s proven to be a tremendous
success so far.” n
“The speed in which we have
transitioned is certainly
going to be a big benefit
going forward.”
– Paul Johnstone, Brandon Avenue Electric
26 | Issue 2 2020 www.carm.ca
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