Select Manufacturing & Supply settles into Hartington

Jeff Green | Oct 23, 2024

It has been exactly one year since Select Manufacturing and Supply Inc. (SMS) moved their sheet metal fabrication business from Sydenham to the former Hartington Equipment site on Road 38 south of Hartington.

The timing of their move was fortuitous, in a way. As they were getting settled in, and preparing to expand production capacity, residential part of their business slowed a bit because of the inflation cycle in the past year, although commercial business has kept progressing.

“The commercial business is its own animal, not tied to the same cycles,” said Paul Outwater, who owns SMS in partnership with his wife Kristen.

They estimate that their sales have gone up by about 50% in the year since they moved to the new, larger location.

“But judging from the way the last month has gone, and the numbers of orders we have been asked to quote on, I think there is intense interest moving forward. In a way it was good we did not have this much going on as we were moving and getting more organised, because if it all came flying at us a year ago it would have been hard for us to cope,” he said.

Before starting SMS, Paul Outwater was operating as Outwater Sheet Metal, doing HVAC equipment installation and ductwork services for various sectors: industrial, commercial, and institutional (ICI) as well as residential.

“I would bid on jobs, and order materials from suppliers, and then do the installations,” he said. “But it was sometimes it was a problem getting everything on time, and my profit margins were tightened up by the pricing I could get for materials, and the market price I had to meet when bidding on jobs.

Gradually, the idea of doing his own manufacturing of custom ductwork became a reality, when Paul and Kristen called the owners of Austin Fox heating in Sydenham to see what they were planning for their building, it turned out to be at the right time.

“They were planning to move their business to their home, and were ready to sell.”

With help from Frontenac Business, SMS was up and running.

But the building in Sydenham was not very big, and it quickly became a scramble to be able to run a complete metal shop, store materials, and ship out product as often as every day, in a highly time sensitive business.

“A friend of mine knew Dustin Prichard from Hartington Equipment, who were in the midst of building out their new space next door, and suggested I call him to see what he was doing with this building and site.”

The two quickly came to an agreement, and when Hartington Equipment completed their move next door, SMS moved in, with the help of a loan from BDC

The business has grown quickly to fill all of the available space, and there are already some plans being developed for changes in the coming years, mainly in terms of storage. The large Quansett hut is currently being used for storage, but it is not ideal. When the plastic shell of the building needs replacing, the Outwater’s are considering tearing it down instead, adding a storage component to the existing building, and then developing that part of the property.

Meanwhile, with a staff of about 12, and a mix of higher tech equipment that automates much of the sheet metal cutting, and more traditional equipment for other work, SMS is able to respond quickly to the market.

“In the mornings we deal with the emergency orders that come in, sometimes overnight, and then we get to our scheduled orders. Like any other business, customer service is essential, as is price,” said Kristen Outwater. “We make sure to do both.

Although there are larger players in the industry, most of them are into many other aspects of the industry as well as the sheet metal fabrication work, and SMS has customers across Eastern Ontario.

With growth areas like Belleville and Kingston, and the greater Ottawa region, the sales staff for SMS has been very busy in recent months, and prospects for sales growth are high.

But SMS is a local company, and walk-in customers looking for help in their own building projects are accommodated as well.

“A woman came in recently, with a sketch, and I ended up going over there and doing some measurements,” Paul Outwater said.

And the good news is, SMS got the job, and delivered the ductwork and fittings the next day.