GARDEN CONCRETE SERVICES Celebrates 25 Years Integrity, commitment, safety and teamwork enable Garden Concrete Services’ growth and success By Nerissa McNaughton
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arden Concrete Services is the commercial, municipal and residential contractor of choice for high quality sitework, structural flatwork and decorative concrete in Edmonton and the surrounding area. Owner Brett Garden and his team are pleased to be celebrating 25 years of service.
Garden Concrete has enjoyed many successes over the past 25 years, from working on notable projects to promoting best practices within the industry. One of the many highlights that stands out for Brett was when his father came to work with him. “Many people think I took over my father’s company, but this isn’t the case. I built this from the ground up,” Brett smiles. “Years after I left my father’s company, he came to work for me and handing him his first paycheck was the moment of having my decision to strike out on my own validated. Even better was seeing that he was proud of me. He saw that the work ethic and knowledge he instilled in me paid off, and I was able to pay it back to him, and pay it forward in the industry, to the team, and in the community.” “We do it all,” Brett says, “from curb repair to standalone buildings, FAC and MIA work, sidewalks, curbs, pads, swales, stamped concrete, decorative, remove and replace, maintenance, speciality work, and more. We focus on taking away headaches, not creating them. We put integrity at the forefront of everything we do. With our customer-based focus, our reliability and our experience, we have the ability to see the entire project and how it comes together with other contractors on the job, and we can identify and prevent issues before they arise.” He credits the strength of the company and its rapid growth to the team, noting, “I couldn’t be happier with our long-term employees. In the past some have left in search of other opportunities, but most have returned after discovering how Garden Concrete Services’ methods, quality control, safety, and innovation stand out in the industry. Our high expectations are a source of pride for the team. We have a great corporate atmosphere. We have endeavored to increase employee buy-in, and they have responded. Each year our returning employees show our new employees that Garden Concrete is a great place to work. Safety, respect,
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Brett Garden, owner, Garden Concrete Services. Photo by Rebacca Lippiatt.
training, advancement, and of course, competitive wages and benefits are all reasons why employees stay long-term. I believe that if you treat your employees right, and they will treat your clients right.” Treating clients right is top of mind for everyone at Garden Concrete Services. Brett notes, “Many competitors will quote extremely low, yet fail to show up once awarded the work because a higher margin job came along, or they won’t show up because they are working through a backlog. This puts the general contractor in very tough situation. At Garden Concrete Services, we don’t overbook or turn our back on awarded work. We treat every project as though it is the most important one we have – because we feel each project is equally important. “We were able to expand and grow through the 2008-2010 economic crisis, and 2019 was a record year for revenue even with a terrible provincial economy,” Brett says. We