How three generations of leadership transformed a small plumbing business into a successful mechanical construction company
'It really catered to residential,' Jack's son, Brian Bird, says of the original logo featuring a bird sitting atop a wrench.
A neighbour across the street happened to work as a commercial artist for Loblaws, so Jack asked them to draw the logo. A vintage matchbook from that era features a bird and a wrench, with the motto: 'Our business is built on service.'
The Bird family's humble plumbing business has come a long way since it first opened its doors. Over the 54-year history, three generations of Birds have served as chief executive officer. The company's direction has evolved with each succession and the name has changed each time to reflect its offerings.
Today, it's called Bird Infrastructure and is run by current-CEO Brandon Bird, Jack Bird's grandson and a third-generation plumber. Over the years, it has shifted from a regional plumbing provider to a multi-service, multi-location company with 200 employees and a state-of-the-art 40,000-square-foot in-house fabrication shop. The company specializes in complex retrofit projects in facilities that need to continue day-to-day operations such as courthouses and hospitals.
The company's first shift happened in 1991 when Brian Bird took the company over from his father. He gradually pivoted to pursue industrial, commercial and institutional (ICI) construction work – a natural interest for him. A hands-on leader, Brian was into complex work, including retrofitting steam and process systems. By the early 2000s, the Gormley, Ont.-based company was so busy it dropped service-side offerings altogether and wholeheartedly embraced mechanical ICI.
To reflect the change, Brian renamed the company Bird Mechanical.
'When we started doing these bigger projects, people were saying, 'Jack Bird Plumbing and Heating doesn't sound like a mechanical company that can do this type of work,'' Brian says. 'So, I changed the name and we started striving towards more industrial, commercial projects.'
His push into this niche was successful. In the early aughts, Bird Mechanical had landed its biggest contract yet – a $7.7-million project to replace the chiller and cooling tower at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children.
Brian's son, Brandon Bird, was a high school student who spent almost every weekend and summer break working for his dad. He ran equipment, moved pipe and loaded trucks.
'He would drop me off in the morning and pick me up every day on site,' Brandon, now 36, remembers. 'My dad always went out of his way to make sure I was exposed to the trade if I wanted it.'
He enjoyed it but didn't think he would join the family business. Instead, he followed his passion, attending Toronto Film School to pursue a career in filmmaking.
In 2008, when Brandon was between movie productions, he was flown down to California on behalf of his dad's company to learn how to run a new pipe-cutting machine. That trip was a pivotal moment – afterwards, Brandon walked into his father's office and said, 'Sign me up. I'll do this.'
'He had a look like he was on Punk'd,' Brandon recalls. 'He was looking around for hidden cameras, like what just happened.'
But it was no prank: in 2012, Brandon completed his Red Seal plumbing certification and gradually took on more responsibilities at the company. By the time Brian stepped into an executive chairman role in 2016, Bird Mechanical was bringing in $28-million in annual sales, and his son, Brandon, was primed to take over as the third-generation CEO.
Anticipating market needs and giving each CEO the freedom to follow their gut allowed for compounding success, according to Kerry Smith, national leader for family office services at MNP.
'Successful business leaders understand the industry and see where that industry is going,' Mr. Smith says. 'In this case, each individual was able to read the market and see where the trends were going.'
The integrated mechanical construction firm has grown significantly since Brandon took over the company. In the last decade, he has made strategic acquisitions, including a civil contractor business and a structural steel company. In 2018, Brandon took a risk and expanded into Atlantic Canada, opening an office in Dartmouth, N.S. with 40 employees.
The push came with its share of challenges. Brandon describes it as 'the biggest and most humbling learning experience.'
He would attend meetings with East Coasters who were wary of the Ontario-based company, despite its nearly 50-year history. But with each job, Bird proved its expertise and, in 2021, it landed a $12.4-million contract to upgrade Cape Breton Regional Hospital's piping to connect heating and cooling systems to new and aging facilities.
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