Growth is the new Priority

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This article was published 10/02/2016 (3763 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Winnipeg company specializing in restoring homes and businesses after they’ve been hit by disaster is ready to tackle the entire province.

Priority Restoration has purchased Cancade Restoration, the largest company of its kind in Brandon, for an undisclosed sum. The move will grow Priority’s staff to 140 from 100, but, more importantly, it will make it easier for the firm to service customers on the western side of Manitoba and beyond.

“We send our people all over the northern part of the province out of the south,’ said Scott Meyer, the company’s general manager and vice-president.

The company isn’t done adding to its stable, either, said Richard Hutchings, a partner at Priority.

“We plan to be multi-market. We’re looking for out-of-province acquisitions, too,’ he said.

With Cancade rolled in, Hutchings expects the company’s growth to hit 25 per cent this year. Priority doesn’t release specific financial figures but he said the company handles “several thousand’ claims a year.

Priority doesn’t work in a high-profile industry and it languishes under the radar until you’ve had a water pipe burst, your sewer back up, a fire, hail or a break and enter.

It gets called by insurers to any type of disaster, where it assesses the extent of the damage, stabilizes the situation so no further damage can occur — often by extracting water from the building — and then hauling out the contents.

If furniture, clothing, electronics, china and other items can be repaired, Priority’s team will fix, sanitize and refinish them. If not, they’re catalogued and disposed of. The construction team then descends on the property and rebuilds what was damaged.

Once the place is restored to its original condition, all of the undamaged and repaired items are returned.

“The unexpected happens. We’re there to help you get your life back fast,’ said Ken Klassen, the company’s president.

Priority is on the job 365 days of the year.

Priority’s business is comprised of building and reconstruction (60 per cent), emergencies (30 per cent) and the cleaning of contents (10 per cent).

Klassen, who recently sold off a significant chunk of the business to Hutchings and general manager Scott Meyer, will remain as the president, and said it was time for some new blood to lead the company into the future.

“The opportunity for this organization was in the new people that we had coming up. I wasn’t in any type of position to get the company to the next level. I had done what I could,’ he said.

“I wanted to keep it local and independent. I didn’t want to see us become a franchise of a national company.’

When Klassen first started out in 1987 with partner Glen Smith, they had a painter and a couple of carpenters.

geoff.kirbyson@freepress.mb.ca