For two decades now, the name Ed Penner has been synonymous with construction in the Pembina Valley.
On October 10th, Penner celebrated a new step in the business that he built himself from the ground up — a new facility for Ed Penner Construction (EPC) on Viking Road in Winkler.
A day of celebration
In Penner's view, he is in the business of building “people’s dreams.”
“We take someone's needs, we help them figure out their needs, and build them [something] that suits [these],” he says.
Amid a ribbon-cutting ceremony, opening speeches, and a meal served by Industrial Eats, the grand opening for the construction company was a community affair.
“It's very humbling. We get to work with a lot of really, really good people and we get a lot of really great customers and it's really humbling that they've been out here today to support us,” says Penner.
Construction of the new location began last year. In September, the company moved in. Penner says that the entire process was delayed a year because EPC had too many other projects on the go in the area.
A two-decade enterprise
For Penner, despite hurdles, expansion has always been the intention.
“We've had growing pains for 20 years. It has always been expanding and expanding — more work, more needs, more people — it’s never really stopped. It’s something we continue to do. We continue to put more into our business, and the community seems to keep giving us more work.”
The new facility is approximately 10,000 sq ft, which is an increase from the old 4,000 sq ft building.
The story of EPC
Penner started his business in 2004. He says the decision was not easy.
“I had my wife at home as a stay-at-home mom with our one-year-old son. She'd put her career on hold to make sure our kids would not need daycare; I had a good job and things were stable,” he says. “We just built our new home on evenings and weekends, and I was worn down [and] tired. Multiple times through the build of our new home, I had people drop off house plans to see if I could build them a new home, and I kept saying no.”
The more requests Penner received, the more it made him think.
“Every time I turned someone away, a voice in my head would say, ‘you can do this,’” he says. “Each time someone came by the itch got a little worse.”
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In the summer of 2004, Penner was approached by a former carpentry instructor who wanted to make use of his proficiency in carpentry.
“I went home, talked it over with [my wife], and I thought, ‘this seem[s] to be the right fit,” he says, adding that soon after, he took a position at Dominion Construction.
In his new role, he developed his own business on the side — the rest is history.
“Things were good, but they were also very tough,” he says. “20 years later, nothing has changed . . . . [We’re] always striving to make things just a little better.”
A moment of gratitude
At the grand opening, Penner thanked the community for its support over the years.
“It does mean a lot. This day is not possible without all of you. We are fortunate to have the greatest customer base in Southern Manitoba. And I mean that,” he says. “We also get to work with the greatest tradespeople and suppliers. When a business has success and is in need of expanding because of its dedication and great service, it's a blessing to all of us.”
In the end, as it often does, it all comes back to people.
“As I look back over the last 20 years, we've built some great buildings [and] we’ve really stretched our capabilities at times,” says Penner. “But the greatest thing we have built is relationships, and the trust of [the community].”
To read more about Ed Penner’s story, see the EPC website.
~With files from Alexander Peters~