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Oke
Woodsmith Building Systems was launched in 1984 with just one client
and a tremendous vision. In the years since then, the Hensall-based
company has built and renovated 600 distinctive custom homes from
Muskoka to Rondeau Provincial Park for clients who have come to
expect the unusual.
The idea
for the company came about in 1983 when the four Oke brothers –
Brad, Wayne, Randy and Kevin – reunited with their parents for
Christmas. At that point, Brad, an architectural technologist, was
employed by Bell Canada in Saudi Arabia and Wayne, an engineer, was
working in the tar sands in Alberta.
Over
Christmas dinner, Brad enlisted his family’s aid to help him build a
home in Southcott Pines in Grand Bend. Wayne volunteered to quit his
job in Alberta to work on the project, Kevin quit his job as welder
in the agricultural sector, and their father, Don, decided to resign
from his management position. Many years before, Don had owned his
own construction company.
With just
one client, Oke Woodsmith was born. It was a courageous move, given
the recession of 1981.
“How
foolish were we to think we could start a construction company?”
Brad recalls. “Three guys quit their jobs, I bought them each a
brand new truck and we started to build my house, so we were going
to be a one-house wonder.
“The only
reason we were successful quickly was the fact that my father had 33
years of building experience and was very well-respected as a
builder in the area. Even though we started off fresh, people
weren’t looking at a bunch of kids building houses.”
Don, who
was an equal partner in the company, priced the homes and ensured
his sons correctly estimated the time needed for each stage of
construction. After completing Brad’s house, the partners landed a
contract for a $1-million home in Grand Bend, which raised their
profile in the area.
Randy and
Brad worked for the company on evenings and weekends until the
business grew. Brad, who was still working for Bell, was the last to
join full-time in 1986.
“It took
us two years from inception until the company was large enough to
pay five. The day I came in, we had three new contracts,” Brad
recalls. “We went out to dinner to celebrate because we figured now
we were a construction company.”
Brad’s
role centred on selling the homes, which involved providing
architectural drawings to clients based on their ideas, budget and
property. That was a new concept in an area where clients normally
chose a stock plan and contracted a builder to construct it.
There was
no charge for the drawings, which included three revisions and
pricing. If clients weren’t happy with the results, they weren’t
obligated to work with the company.
“With nine
out of 10 people that we did that for we were able to achieve the
budget and the design to their liking,” Brad says.
The five
partners undertook all aspects of the construction work, from
roofing to drywalling the homes. Randy believes that was a benefit.
“It’s very
satisfying when you start a job from the ground up and finish it.
Any one of us could build a house from start to finish and lay the
carpet, lay the tile, lay the hardwood – finish it completely.”
In 1987,
the company began building foundations and, later, above-grade
exterior walls with Insulated Concrete Forms (ICF). The partners
believed they were headed in the right direction because of the
improved energy efficiency and sound resistance of concrete.
Home
buyers, however, were skeptical until the company began
incorporating concrete floors with in-floor radiant heat into the
design. Visitors to two of the company’s model homes in Grand Bend
came specifically on cold days to experience the warm floors.
“Concrete
floors are warmer and the colder it is outside, the better they are
inside,” Randy says.
At that
point, clients began to appreciate the floors and recognized the
value of building exterior walls of concrete to the eaves because of
the added comfort and energy savings.
Oke
Woodsmith has since become one of the leading builders of ICF homes
in Canada and is also the distributor throughout Ontario and Quebec
for Lite-Form, an ICF building system. The company sells the systems
to builders and to private individuals throughout Ontario.
Over the
years, the partners’ roles in the company have changed very little.
Brad is responsible for the design and sales of the homes, Randy is
the general manager of the Oke Woodsmith office and manager of
Lite-Form, Wayne acts as construction supervisor and Kevin, a finish
carpenter, looks after the drywalling and fine details. Don and his
wife, Betty, who joined the company in 1990 as general manager, have
since retired.
Altogether, 45 staff members comprise Oke Woodsmith, including a
team that is responsible for the company’s framing, trimming and
concrete work. Employing in-house staff instead of subtrades ensures
consistency in each home from the time a site is excavated to the
time a client moves into a home.
Annually,
the company builds about 20 new homes and undertakes up to 10
renovation projects. The partners have also designed and built many
commercial projects, including a fire hall east of Toronto, as well
as office complexes and agricultural buildings in Huron County.
Oke
Woodsmith is currently building homes in the Grand Bend area, and in
Muskoka, Windsor, Niagara Falls and points in between. The company
specializes in the unusual, which attracts clients from young
professional couples to empty nesters.
“I like
the challenge of taking an unusual site and making it work, or
taking a budget for a small home and giving clients what they want,”
Brad says.
While the
company will always be a custom home designer and builder, the
partners are turning their attention to the aging population. One
new project, Stone Meadows, a one-floor condo community in Zurich,
is geared toward retirees. The development is one of the first of
its kind in Huron County and a first for Oke Woodsmith.
“What
we’re trying to do is provide similar qualities that we offer in a
custom home, but in a smaller square footage and a more economical
package,” Brad says.
Randy
hopes to create other similar communities as the company evolves. He
believes Oke Woodsmith’s future will be in the Oke children who,
like their parents, joined the
company
after working farther afield.
“I’m hoping our growth is in family members – our kids – joining the
team,” Randy says. “That’s where you get genuine interest in the
company and the ability to expand it.”
Randy, Brad, Betty, Wayne and Kevin Oke
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