Kleefeld Construction has been a community fixture for a quarter of a century. Reflecting on the company’s growth over the years, owner Dave Siemens notes that it all began in 1997. He had just graduated from seminary with a master’s degree in counselling… but what happened next was just not in the plan.
“Things weren’t working out the way I had expected them to,” Dave admits. “So I took a construction job. But when that dried up, I looked at my wife and said ‘what should we do?’ We put a flyer up at the post office that said ‘carpenter for hire’. The next morning I got a call, started doing renovations and small additions by myself, and then eventually hired a guy, hired two more, then three, and now here we are 25 years later.”
Dave says he never would have expected the business to grow to where it is today.
“At the time, I just wanted a job to feed my family – but the roots just kept going deeper and deeper. Somewhere along the line we went from doing renovations and additions, to building new homes from start to finish for a general contractor.”
Most people, when they look at Kleefeld Construction, see only their success and a rock-solid reputation. But Dave suggests it hasn’t always been an easy road.
“These last few years have been challenging. But I’m proud to see how we’ve grown, and that my son Chris has joined me. That was a very happy and proud moment for me.”
Chris Siemens had been working for Kleefeld Construction for about a decade before officially joining the company ownership in 2016.
“Over the course of that time I transitioned from leading a framing crew to more of a management role,” explains Chris. “Moving forward, I’m taking a broad look at where we would like to take the company in the future. Just looking at how we can grow as a company in different ways.”
Chris notes that Kleefeld Construction has always prided itself on being a very community-oriented company.
“It’s all about relationships,” conveys Chris. “We strive to make everything work out the best as we can. We're always working at keeping our customers happy, to try and earn ourselves a good reputation as we move the company forward.”
The younger Siemens suggests the company has evolved over the years based on what lands on their plate.
“Dave started as a small builder doing renovations,” reflects Chris. “Then as he grew his reputation, he started taking on larger custom home jobs. That's where we've spent a large chunk of the last 20 years –it’s still the bread and butter of Kleefeld Construction. But in recent years we've taken on new projects and we’ll run with them. For a while we were doing a lot of dental clinic projects, including renovations and new builds. So now people have started approaching us for small commercial projects, rentals, and things like that. But our main work continues to be custom homes.”
Dave points out that one of Chris’s specialties is finding land to develop. “Whether we buy a piece of land and split titles to build or sell, that's something he's doing really well with.”
Celebrating 25 years in business is no small feat, and both Dave Siemens and Chris Siemens are grateful to their past and present clients for helping to make this quarter-century mark possible. That’s why they’re planning to celebrate with those they’ve been connected with over the years.
“This Thursday we’re celebrating with our customers, our support people, suppliers, sub-trades, kids, and everyone that has connected with us over the years,” invites Dave. “Everyone that has played a part in helping us get to where we are today.”
The come-and-go barbecue celebration will take place at Kleefeld Park this Thursday, September 15th as a thank you to everyone that has played a part in getting the company to this 25-year mark.
“Relationships are very big for us,” explains Dave. “It's going to be great to just see these people and shake their hands and say hi, and thank them for the support.”
