About Us Island Efficient Excavating

Starting on Strong Foundations

Growing up on the lower mainland around my family’s business, I was always around equipment and trades. In school I was introduced to woodworking and carpentry and truly loved it.

Once I completed school, I had to make a living. So off I went to work in the family trucking, concrete, and road building business. Over the next 10 years I obtained my Class One drivers’ licence and operated a huge variety of equipment.

Although I enjoyed the work, I started to miss the creative aspect that I loved so much when working with wood.

So I branched off, started my own landscaping company, and got those creative juices flowing again. I really fell in love with the process of starting with something raw, and transforming it to suit the client’s dreams.

We Move to ‘The Island’

My wife Joy and I moved to Vancouver Island in 1991. Joy had a lot of family here, and we felt it was part of our journey to raise our children in a smaller community and enjoy the support of family.

So we moved to Nanaimo – and loved it. It was just the perfect size for us, with so much green space and so many new places to explore.

Soon after settling in Nanaimo I bought into a local excavating company. They supplied a range of services such as grading, snow removal, and septic field excavation. It certainly kept me busy, but I was itching to get back to my first love: carpentry and furniture building.

After some time focused on custom cabinets, furniture, and flooring, I found myself working on renovations. Joy is a very creative interior designer; with my talents added to the pool, together we produced a wide variety of residential and commercial renovations on Vancouver Island over the years.

A Shift to Building Efficient Homes

Life can be funny. Sometimes we drift, just following the currents, and suddenly find ourselves in new exciting places – almost by accident.

Case in point: when one of our renovation clients wanted a home built, they came to us first. Not ones to shy away from a new challenge, we said yes.

So, we built our first home, and Island Efficient Homes was born.

Before we started, we decided that if we were going to take that step into home building we would design and build the best homes. That meant the building the most space efficient and energy efficient homes possible.

We chose to use the insulated concrete forms (ICF) method for those same reasons. ICF homes meet and exceed all aspects of quality home building, leaving our clients with energy efficient homes to enjoy for years to come.

Like Father, Like Son

Island Efficient Homes started over 10 years ago, and we have now included our son Levi in the business. Levi is now the one taking the lead on home building – and frankly, he’s doing an outstanding job.

Back to the Beginning

Remember how I said life is funny? It also has a tendency to be cyclical. Bellbottoms may not have made a comeback quite yet, but give it time.

And so it is with excavation work. As I step back a bit and watch my son do such a good job, I’ve returned to my roots and now focus 100% on operating equipment. I really do love helping people in Nanaimo achieve their dream landscapes.

So you’ll still occasionally find me in the woodshop, but more often than not I’ve got my hands on the controls of an excavator, skid-steer loader, or dump truck.

But you know what? After all these years working with my hands in different capacities, I think I still bring a piece of that creative woodworker to every job.

Thanks for Reading!

Thanks for taking the time to learn a little more about myself and my background.

If you’d like to chat about your project – or book a free estimate – just send me a message or phone me at 250.755.1865.