Jean-Paul Legault makes for a dizzying high-energy entrepreneur, whose rapid speech and big ideas make way for budding businesses.
Legault, owner of Panels & Pipes Inc. has a number of projects on the go including a large expansion to his industrial business, to the unveiling of entirely new companies, and industrial land leasing space.
"Here in Timmins, we don't mind investing at all, and we're going to make it very, very clear that we'll be investing in Ontario for a long time," says Legault, who is widely known throughout Timmins solely as 'J.P.'
"This is home."
This kind of passion propelled his 12-person mechanical insulation and sheet metal fabricator business into a 50 person company in10 years. Over time, the company's offerings have expanded into other areas such as asbestos removal, custom panel fabrication and scaffolding.
Work has catapulted out of its local office as Panels & Pipes pursued jobs across the province, in places like Oakville, Port Hope and Ottawa, Haileybury, Barrie, Sudbury and North Bay.
The growth hasn't strictly been a local affair, however. Over the last few years, offices have been opened in Edmonton and Fort McMurray, and regularly maintain a staff of nearly 200 though this number can rise to as high as 400 depending on the season. A small office was also opened in Emory, Texas, which acts as a sheet metal depot and service point for the company's American clientele.
Success has been such, in fact, that Legault is now developing a 120-acre industrial park, known as the Panels & Pipes Industrial Park.
Having purchased the land from the city last year, Legault is also using the land for his own business. In March, he will open a 16,000-square-foot sheet metal manufacturing facility, which will be one of the biggest of its kind this side of Toronto. It will manufacture, supply and install virtually anything from siding to square ductwork to spiral ductwork, which will be delivered anywhere in Canada.
This new industrial land will also serve as home to an entirely new business Legault will soon be unveiling. By early February, he will open up a 3,500-square-foot heavy equipment rental company, simply called Rental House.
Ever the entrepreneur, he's even purchased equipment to collect the top soil which needed to be pulled from his industrial land to install service lines. The soil was then sold through a separate business.
Not content to work solely within the realm of industry, Legault is also planning to open a new a convenience store on Mountjoy Street, which he intends to franchise once it gets off the ground.
This move mirrors some of the moves Legault made in recent months to reach out into broader business, having purchased, renovated and rented out various buildings across the city. This included five downtown alone, one location which is slated to be transformed into a lawyer's office.
He's also become a landlord through the purchase of local apartment facilities and condominiums.
His extensive efforts have not gone unnoticed by local business associations and officials, many of which refer to him when discussing the more progressive efforts taking place within the city.
"He's got some really interesting projects underway, no doubt about it," says Mark Jensen, director of development services with the city. "He's doing a lot of good things."
Having begun at Panels and Pipes in human resources, Mandy Tripp has since become a jack-of-all-trades herself, acting as an unofficial assistant to Legault while also handling sales and various managerial roles.
"In the last two years, things have just gone nuts," she says. "J.P. is eager, motivated and very stubborn. He won't stop at something until it's done, and that includes a lot of the things he's working on now."
With this flurry of investment, Legault clearly isn't concerned about the wobbling economy, which he describes as being "mainly a mental thing."
It hasn't much impacted his bottom line, either. Although business dropped off by 20 per cent once the financial crisis began to make headlines, he's already recouped those numbers and then some.
In fact, the renewed explosion of orders began not in Alberta, but in Timmins, he adds with a smile.
Although his construction dance card is already quite full, Legault cautions that he's got even more undisclosed things still in the works.
"The next one," he says with a smirk,"is the big one for Timmins."
www.panelsandpipes.com
