There’s usually nothing impressive about watching someone laying down bricks, but when you see the finished product, if done well it can make quite a statement. Before you get to the roof though, you need to first build a strong foundation and then the supporting structure – a process which has its own timeline and shouldn’t be rushed.
Quality things take effort and time to build. We all know the saying: “Rome wasn’t built in a day”, but I’m sure bricks were laid daily.
This story starts back in 2015. After a successful 15-year career in the construction industry, Jeff felt it was time to put his strong faith and values to the test and build on that foundation. Both a dreamer and a visionary- he wanted to make an impact. Jeff envisioned starting a business that held up to what he truly believed in. He saw Just Working Construction Inc. (JWC Inc.) as a business that gave him the opportunity to give back to the community and a way to make a real difference in the lives of others. (Both clients and employees).
Fast forward to the year 2020: JWC Inc. is now a construction management company dedicated to the cause of building better communities. JWC Inc. is centered around the motto: “love God, love your neighbour & work hard towards the goal of building better communities”.
But before getting here, Jeff remembers JWC Inc’s humble beginnings:
Back in 2015 Jeff and a couple of the guys he hired on worked hard and took on projects like building backyard decks, fences and landscaping gigs.
But the true inspiration really was one of his current employees and his personal story. As a new immigrant, H. struggled to find work in Canada. Jeff met H. through Welcome Home Refugees. The connection was instant, and the struggle was real.
After getting to know H. and his family, and learning of his struggles, Jeff was pretty positive and quite hopeful that he can easily connect him with some contacts and find him some stable work. Jeff decides to assist H. in the job hunt process. Afterall, how hard can it be? Sooner or later he was confident they would find something suitable with reasonable pay.
Although the jobs where out there, it seems the challenge was the fact that H. was a new immigrant. Sad to say out loud yes, and hard to believe but that was the reality for H. Either employers didn’t want to bother investing the time to offer the training he needed, or when they hired H. they took advantage of the fact that he was eager to work and didn’t really complain much. It seemed so unfair, and dishonouring. Low wages, long hours, and at times even unsafe work. Nobody seemed to see the value H. could bring as an employee. That really frustrated Jeff and shocked him at the same time.
For H. So far, the experience in Canada was a disappointment. Not only did his family go through enough hardship back in his home country, the struggle continue here in the so-called “land of opportunity”.
So, what do you do when life throws you bricks? Start building something of course!
H’s story jump-started the journey to building the JWC Inc. foundation. Today Jeff continues his passion to help newcomers get back into the trades, while earning fair wages to support their families.
“We are passionate about helping them achieve the goal of building a better & more hopeful future for themselves and their families.”
Two of JWC Inc’s employees were able to buy their first home in Canada, within just a couple years of employment. The success the employees reflects on the success of the company.
The supporting structure is being built-JWC Inc team is currently growing and on track to becoming the company that Jeff always envisioned. A model if you will that hopefully helps bring about a solution to a very real problem in the community.
The main types of projects JWC Inc. now chooses to focus on include building healthy, hopeful places to live such as affordable housing, passive, net zero & generational homes.
If you have any projects that fit the vision of this company, we’d love to chat with you about a possible collaboration. Hoping that if you took the time to read this story of JWC’s humble beginnings, you will leave here inspired to take a leap of faith, lay your own bricks and bring about change in your community too.