Cover Story Magnus Construction

Magnus Construction

Business of the Year Award the Magnus Way

The SABEX Awards are Saskatoon’s business community premier recognition program. They honour the city’s businesses and nonprofit organizations that exemplify excellence in operations through such things as safety culture, responsible growth, and community involvement. The Business of the Year Award recipient embodies entrepreneurial spirt, optimism, resilience, high performance and a commitment to making a positive impact in the community. Discover how this year’s Business of the Year demonstrates these attributes.

KPMG presents the Business of the Year Award to Magnus Construction Services

Demonstrating excellence in all facets of planning, execution and operations is a rare and remarkable achievement. It is a feat that Magnus Construction Services achieved this year. The embody success in safety, community investment, Indigenous relations, service quality, growth, entrepreneurial spirit and overall business accomplishments. Magnus Construction Services is the 2022 recipient of the Business of the Year Award. Let’s celebrate the Magnus Way. y!

Magnus offers services that aren’t necessarily top of mind or “sexy” when people think about the construction industry, yet they are essential. The company provides thermal, moisture and fire protection, as well as upgrades and customized solutions for energy efficient envelopes for homes, commercial and agricultural buildings. Its accomplishment as the Business of the Year Award has been 14 years in the making. In 2019, after spending two years completely restructuring the company, they saw an 85% growth over the previous year, it was a new start. Of course, in 2020 along came the pandemic, and we all know the devastating impact it had on many in the construction industry – but not on Magnus. It was the opportunity to stabilize and continue to consolidate their new vision and services. In the past three years Magnus’ revenue has grown by 71%. How did they do it amidst a pandemic? The answer is simple, caring for people. Magnus’ core values are “caring for each other, caring for builders and homeowners, caring for community, caring for suppliers and caring for investors. For joint owners Conrad Correa and Eduardo Chavez, these values translate in three pillars.

Engaged Employees

As part of its restructuring Magnus decided to put the emphasis on recruitment and training, this decision would prove pivotal during and after the pandemic. They had decided to focus their recruitment efforts on young people excited to enter the workforce and people looking to learn a trade with growing opportunities. They opened possibilities specifically to students, Indigenous people, newcomers, and people that others might automatically turn down such as people with past drug and alcohol abuse issues. They saw the potential in people who wanted to work hard. That’s why they created Magnus Academy to “Mpower” (Magnus empowerment) their workforce. The Magnus Academy aims to train and retain a new generation of trades professionals. Not only the academy provides the technical and industry skills one might expect, such as safety training or building science, it also brings to their recruits many “life hacks,” such as body awareness, flexibility and mindfulness. “It’s all meant

to help our people be healthy individuals, better family members and stronger workers,” says Owner, Conrad Correa.

“By encouraging healthy bodies and minds, a positive mindset, and the knowledge of proper work techniques and methods, the Magnus Academy has proven to be effective in terms of maintaining safe work and home environments and delivering quality service,” adds Conrad.

Dedicated Partners

Being able to deliver services such as insulation removal, mold remediation, asbestos abatement, fiberglass and vapour barrier installation to the application of the latest spray technology for thermal, moisture and fire protection systems, requires strong partnerships with others in the construction industry, including builders, renovators, general contractors, subcontractors and suppliers. Conrad explains, “We make a point of developing great relationships with others in the industry. After years of bidding on thousands of jobs with fair and constant rates, keeping our accounts in good standing, and providing good communications and sharing knowledge, people know us, the quality of our work, and our dedication. Our relationships are stronger as we continue to find ways to work together and grow.”

Knowledgeable Customers

The importance of knowledge is a recurrent theme at Magnus. They make a point of sharing their knowledge. In fact, that’s even a skill they include in their Magnus Academy. Giving their employees the information and tools they need to be able to answer questions from customers, whether they are in the industry or individual homeowners, is all in a day’s work. In the last year alone, Magnus’ sales team averaged two and a half hours per week educating homeowners on common issues such as moisture and mold, asbestos, cold areas, attic problems and more. “We know that 90% of these homeowners that call us and to whom we spend time explaining things will never request our services, and that’s OK. In most cases they receive enough information to fix the problem themselves or sometimes they shop around for a lower cost contractor using the knowledge we shared. We’re just happy to provide peace of mind and to contribute to the community that way,” says Conrad. “Teaching others, including builders, contractors and homeowners, how to cost-effectively deal with common issues, while raising the bar for other trades to do their work responsibly is all worth it.”

The Magnus Way

At Magnus, the goal is truly to get people to understand the importance of the building components that they handle. The fact is that although most of their services are hidden by the overall building envelope, they are essential to keep people, their belongings and their environment safe. For that they make a point of always meeting and often exceeding construction codes. That commitment to excellence, to develop a workforce focused on quality and friendly customer service, is the same that also drives Magnus and its employees to be involved in the community. It may mean that they are developing and delivering training sessions with Saskatoon Trades and Skills Centre, and through the Saskatoon Downtown Progress Club sponsoring non-profit organizations such as the Friendship Inn, Big Brothers and Big Sisters, Care and Share, Saskatoon Public Schools Foundation, Haven House for Kids, Help One and many more. Whether it is through their services delivery, knowledge sharing with their pairs and the public, or direct community involvement, caring is the Magnus Way.

“Teaching others, including builders, contractors and homeowners, how to costeffectively deal with common issues, while raising the bar for other trades to do their work responsibly is all worth it.

Conrad Correa, MAgnus Construction