Nation high school, teaching students how to safely operate
skid steers and then install the piles to create the foundation
for the school’s greenhouse construction project.
“It was a shared experience for both the students and
our team to be able to experience each other’s worlds,” said
Baillie. “An interesting success occurred on the second day of
the training when we had two more students join us because
they had heard about the excellent experience from the dayone
participants.”
Almita’s Ontario expansion
Just as it did in its early days in Western Canada, Almita
believes that in Ontario it will be able to demonstrate that
larger diameter helical piles are a viable alternative to the
more traditional foundation technologies used for heavier
loads. In 2015 Almita began to explore the Ontario marketplace
for potential geographic expansion and, a year later, the
company successfully acquired Ancora Metalworks, a helical
pile manufacturer located in Guelph. This, for the first time,
established Almita’s full end-to-end service capability within
the province.
“In the Ontario market we see that we can provide that
‘one-stop-shop’ for custom design of the helical pile foundation,
fabrication and supply of the piles, and then installation
and capping of the piles for the project,” said Jared Harnish,
Almita’s regional manager, Ontario. “We have also identified
that clients value our ability to custom design and fabricate
helical pile solutions to the needs of the specific soils and
loads; rather than trying to find a solution using standard,
stock parts from a catalogue.”
From Ontario’s Installer Network market, Almita has
received feedback that its non-franchise approach is welcomed.
Almita will sell piles and accessories directly to the installers,
while offering engineering support for the more complex
jobs and providing additional training for them to become
authorized installers. Almita’s stockpiles are Canadian
Construction Materials Centre certified, which offers another
guarantee of quality and certainty to its clients.
Some of the hurdles Almita still faces as it finds a home
in the Ontario market will be in scaling up resources as it
grows; connecting with numerous new clients; understanding
differences in labour relations frameworks in Ontario and
the Greater Toronto Area; identifying and getting set up on
local bid sites and plan rooms; planning for the addition of
shop and yard space at the correct strategic time; and also
contending with an already tight labour market, which could
prove challenging for Almita’s planned growth.
Looking to the future
Almita fully expects to establish a presence within northern
British Columbia to further support the region’s major
liquefied natural gas projects. By 2020, the company
anticipates having operations set up in the lower mainland
area of the province. The company also plans to construct
additional stockpile yards throughout Canada in order to be
closer to and better serve its Installer Network partners.
“A quick response to our client’s needs is critical to their
success, as well as ours,” said Baillie. “We take great pride in
being able to respond quickly when a client calls for support
on a project that is struggling or is a particularly challenging
situation. As an industry leader, we believe that if we can
ensure our clients look good to their clients, we have done
our job.”
Almita’s long-term strategic plan also sees adding other
foundation technologies to its table of service offerings
and the company has begun to add driven piles, which will
expand capabilities in combination with helical piling scopes.
Over the next 12 to 18 months Almita expects to be adding
further complimentary niche foundation technologies, such
as micropiling and grouted helical piles.
COVER FEATURE
“Almita offers complete
design through to
installation of helical
pile foundations, and our
designs are fully customized
to specific soil conditions,
loads and site conditions.”
– Bill Baillie, Almita Piling
36 Q2 2019 www.pilingcanada.ca
/www.pilingcanada.ca
