Celebrating Our 50th Anniversary

The Way-Mar team

Celebrating Our 50th Anniversary

Way-Mar is celebrating 50 years in business, but the company’s future leadership took root even earlier, joked founder and former president, Wayne Martin.

“I started training him quite young,” Wayne said of his nephew, Darrell Martin, Way-Mar’s current president. “When we built our house in Yatton in ‘68, I had him hold the tape for me to square up the footings.”

Darrell, who was eight years old at the time, quipped, “The house is still standing.”

That was a long time ago, but it exemplifies what was part of the company’s success in the beginning and continues to play a significant role today. At Way-Mar it has always been a team approach. “Without team relationships, you’re wasting your time,” Wayne said.

The company might have started out of necessity as much as anything. Wayne had been working in construction for a local company for nine years and was dealing with knee problems. “I wanted to get away from the floor work and roof work.”

He took a sales job in Guelph and less than a year later he decided to set out on his own, taking what he described as a “leap of faith.”

Way-Mar Aluminum was founded on Jan. 2, 1973, specializing in windows, doors and siding. Wayne ran the business alone alongside a few part-time employees and it was quick to hit its stride.

“With my carpenter experience, I started doing interior renovation work for the first winter and then migrated into the siding business in the spring of ’73.
It developed from there on its own. Not that I had a particular goal of where I wanted to end up,” he said. “We couldn’t keep up with the work.”

As demand increased, there simply weren’t enough hours in the day. Wayne knew something had to give. “I did well financially in the first two years and just had more work than I could handle. After two years, I knew I couldn’t keep this up, working 14-15 hours a day,” he said. “It was just too hectic to be that busy with family life.”

Within those first few years, partners were brought in to help ease the burden.

The company soon became incorporated, and it hasn’t looked back. Today, Way-Mar employs over 30 people.

Way-Mar’s headquarters have changed throughout its 50-year existence, from Yatton to Conestoga, to what’s now Hawkwoods Furniture & Cabinetry in Hawkesville, to its current home base on Ament Line on the outskirts of Hawkesville, where it has been located since 1985.

The company’s service offerings have expanded as well. Way-Mar operated a successful insulation division from the mid-‘70s until selling that division in the fall of 2016. Today it provides a range of services including doors, windows, exterior cladding systems, roofing and home renovations. Way-Mar has maintained a strong reputation as an industry leader in Waterloo Region and across Southwestern Ontario.

Quality and integrity are at the core of every project.

“We wanted to be known as one of the region’s top renovation contractors,” Darrell said. “So, the things that we do, it’s making sure we provide a quality product at a fair price and treat our employees with respect, and compensate them the way they should be. ”

“I guess it’s trying to put the customer, put the employee, put everybody ahead of yourself in a sense. Are we perfect at it? No. Certainly, you strive toward that.”

It goes back to those relationships with customers and staff, and that’s something Way-Mar views as being of the utmost importance. Way-Mar holds special events such as picnics and golf tournaments for its staff each year and works hard to retain its employees. Whether it’s Wayne inviting his first two employees into his home for Christmas dinner that first year, a regularly occurring employee breakfast meeting at the office, or a project manager bringing coffee to the crew on site, it’s all in the name of connecting as a team, keeping the human element of the business at the forefront.

“Being here has afforded me a lot of opportunities and I would want the same for anyone else following along,” Darrell reflects.

Wayne and Darrell credit both their own faith, as well as that of many within the company, for shaping Way-Mar’s value systems that have been in place from the start.

“I think faith plays a big part. It’s important. It’s part of the conversation,” Darrell said. “Coming here, the culture was just so different. We get that feedback time and time again from customers. They appreciate the way the guys are on site. They’re not using foul language … the typical construction-site language. They’re very respectful. The music is not blaring loudly.”

He added: “It was certainly part of the decision for me (joining the company), knowing what the company was based on and some of the guiding principles behind it. No, you can’t expect that everyone you hire is going to have a similar faith base, but you can model it, and that’s important.” Wayne agreed.

“I want to give God the credit for blessing the company over the years. Giving us direction. Because by ourselves we would not have succeeded the way we have,” he said.

The world has undergone many changes over the past 50 years and Way-Mar has not been immune to having to adapt. One of the more significant changes relates to workplace safety, something the company takes extremely seriously. Several years ago Way-Mar decided to hire an external company to monitor that aspect.

“They do monthly site inspections just to make sure. It’s just a reminder, a checkpoint, to make sure we stay up to date on what has to be done,” Darrell said. “There are definitely a lot more safety restrictions than there once were. It makes sense to do it. For us, it’s a cost, but in the end, it’s worth it.”

Another challenge has been the natural turnover of staff. While some experienced leaders have retired in recent years, a younger generation of gifted employees has proven ready to take on increased responsibilities.

“The one thing that we’re seeing is some of those long-term guys are getting older. They don’t really have a lot of years left. their bodies are just not allowing them to do it anymore,” Darrell said. “So, yes, we’ve seen some of the long-term guys leave. For some of the new ones coming in, we’re trying to get team members who have some depth of experience. It’s not an easy thing to do. We’ve been fortunate in recruiting some of those people. There are some younger employees who have a good skill set and abilities so engaging them and keeping them engaged is important. We see the future being bright from that standpoint because we do have some of those key team members.”

Just as there is confidence within the workplace, the same is true among Way-Mar’s loyal customer base. The company does most of its business through referrals. In some cases, Way-Mar has completed projects for as many as three generations of customers.

“It just emphasizes how important it is to do a good job every time. It’s the word of mouth, that referral which speaks the loudest,” Darrell emphasizes. “You can advertise all you want, but it’s a personal experience with the company that builds customer trust.”

“Honesty, integrity and quality are words we continue to strive for,” Darrell shares. “Respect. Respect for our customers, respect for our employees, respect for each other.”

Wayne adds, “Practical common sense goes such a long way.”

Through five decades in business, there’s no denying Way-Mar’s reputation for customer care. The hope is to keep it up for another 50 years.