How did you get started in the construction industry?

Although I was born in Sweden, both my parents were from the Winelands of southern Europe, the small & picturesque country of Slovenia. They kept some of the traditions of their homeland, so when I was born, my dad put a hammer in one hand and a soother dipped in red wine in the other.
My father was educated as a furniture carpenter but never really worked on it once he moved to Sweden. He got into more mechanical things, like factory stuff, but he always did carpentry work at home.
When I was about 13, he bought an older house from around 1926, and it needed a lot of work. The first thing to fix up, of course, was the kitchen, to make sure that my mom could do the cooking properly. The kitchen was renovated first, then the other rooms followed, piece-by-piece. Both my sister and I had to help with everything, but especially me being a boy. I was busy helping pretty much anytime there was work to be done in the house to make sure my dad got the help that he needed, but also because it taught us … you know, common sense stuff.
So, I guess that’s how I got started.

Did you go to school to learn construction?

Schooling in Sweden is quite a bit different than here. When you take a trade, first, you learn a variety of skills; during my first year, we learned everything from masonry, carpentry, cement & steel reinforcement, then insulation, plumbing, and electrical. During the second year, you choose to specialize in a trade, and I decided to go with carpentry.
By the time I completed my schooling, the job market in Sweden mainly consisted of larger construction projects like apartment buildings and condos. Then they had a downturn in the construction industry around that time, so I never really got much into it.

What was it like moving from Sweden to Canada?

When I arrived in Canada, right from the beginning, I realized that there were some major differences between the way building was done here versus in Sweden, especially in the late ’80s and early ’90s. Some things were so different here I definitely experienced “culture shock”, however, when you’re new to a construction crew and also totally brand new to a country as well, you can’t really, and don’t want to tell them “well in Europe we’re doing it this way” because they’re just going to tell you to get the hell out of here… so, you just kind of go with it. I mean, this is a new country so I’m still learning things, right?
Pretty quickly, I got into a partnership, and together with his father, we formed our first company. We did a lot of foundation & framing and a few spec houses—mainly in Nanaimo and Cinnabar Valley.
We did quite a few houses in Rocky Point too as, at that time, it was a really popular area. It was very interesting and challenging work as the foundations were on rock that was quite often very uneven. The complex stuff was good to learn and also to gain more experience.
Have you always lived in Vancouver Island since moving to Canada?

Eventually, towards the end of the ’90s, there was an economic downturn here in BC, especially in the construction industry. Due to the boom in Alberta’s gas and oil industry, there was a huge shift of people going there. Pretty much everyone I knew moved. Within just a short time, there was just nothing left for me to do here, so I ended up going out there as well. However, I didn’t move. I continued living on Vancouver Island as I had a house and family here, but I commuted back and forth. Typically, I’d be there working for a month, then come back home for a week, and that carried on for some time.

Why did you decide to start Avatar Construction on Vancouver Island?

I was in Lethbridge, which is known as a rather windy place. And during winter, we were out there working in -30 temperatures. Every time I made my way home again, I loved the views of the Rockies and all of the other beautiful places along the way, but my absolute favourite was always the coastal mountains and getting into Vancouver; all of the nice, lush greens and other colours, and that was in the winter…!
During one of those depressing trips back to work in Alberta, I realized that I was literally homesick during all of the time I was away from BC. I missed the fresh scent of the ocean in the air…
It’s like nothing else, so welcoming. I knew something needed to change.
During some of my days off here on the Island, a friend of mine mentioned that he had started a village up in the mountains north of Qualicum Beach. I phoned him, and he said “yes, please come out here”; by that time, I could pretty much do anything with a house, any type of construction. I ended up getting into siding, various of flooring and interior finishing.
When working with finishing carpentry you eventually start interacting not only with the boss but also with the clients. Rather than them going and asking my boss every time they wanted to know something, they became comfortable coming to me with what they wanted, and that’s when I learned that people seemed to really like my ideas and what I was doing; over time I got a lot of confidence from the positive feedback that I received from clients through that company. That is when I first realized I eventually wanted to go out on my own.
In 2001, while I worked there, I also renovated the house I had in Nanaimo. Put it on the market, which was pretty good at that time, and when it sold, luckily, I made enough for my start-up. Then I bought some land, grabbed a pencil, paper, ruler, eraser and designed my first house. That was the start of Avatar Construction.

What makes you stand out from your competitors?

I feel what makes me stand out among others is I only do one project at a time. I never take on multiple projects—each house has my full attention, as do my clients. I’m working for them and only them for that time. I also do a fair amount of the work myself, and if I had more than one house on the go, I would have to jump back and forth. That’s not fair to the clients or me. It’s just not worth it.
As our government is pushing the housing industry towards more energy efficiency, it is important to keep up with the changes. In 2016, I decided to build an Energy-Star rated house, mainly to enhance my knowledge in this field and further my capabilities.
I also have my own standards that I abide by; if a job takes a little bit longer to produce desired quality, well, I refuse to cut corners or skip steps. I will redo something over and over until I feel it is the best that I can do.
When hiring additional trades, I prefer to work with smaller companies as I want to speak with the person I am working with. With larger companies, there are often communication issues; if there are too many hands on deck, it gets messy and confusing. I have people I prefer to work with for certain builds, but that being said, if I do come across someone that I think is better, I won’t hesitate to call them for my next job.

There is not much room for error in this industry so I need the best I can get in both work and personality as how we get along on the job site will affect the outcome of a job. Someone who is too busy tends to burn out then gets lazy and sloppy; they start slipping, and I won’t have that. The people I hire as my trades are a direct reflection of myself, and it is my company’s reputation on the line. I don’t take that lightly. I want trades that are not just business associates but friends—people that will treat my company as their own.