equipment that he had – some small
barricades and sign set-ups – and got
a customer list,” Jan said. “We set up a
12-by-20 portable trailer office in front
of our 100-year-old farm shed, which
we stored the materials in. In the beginning
it was just my father, older brother
Gerrit and one employee named Herb.”
Jan said the family took some time
to transition into the business. When
he got involved in 2008, the company’s
total revenue was less than $1
million a year and there were only a
couple employees.
Still, he said there was a lot of optimism
in the industry. Around this time,
the need for safety equipment on a
construction site was becoming greater.
Electronic equipment was becoming
more popular and equipment such as
message boards and battery-operated
illumination was becoming part of the
safety process. Jan said that Barricades
and Signs started to build a reputation
as an extremely hard working company
that could provide any solution.
“We were solving problems just the
same way we were solving problems
with the hay baler,” Jan said. “We had
limited resources but we knew what
the end goal was. We didn’t operate
on a typical nine-to-five. We were
raised farming, where you don’t sleep if
you’ve got an issue. Early on, that service
component and being able to solve
contractors’ problems – that was really
the opportunity for us to give contractors
the protection they needed as we
P R O F I L E
started to implement and use newer
technologies.”
Jan said another factor that helped
Barricades and Signs build a solid reputation
is its in-house manufacturing
process. The company is a 3M-certified
sign fabricator, which guarantees that
the quality of the company’s workmanship
lasts and meets government
Directional signage in the mountains
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