Batten House Podcast
Batten House Podcast
Batten House Podcast
Ep 3 Building Trust and Quality Renovations
Martin Bellehumeur from Oak Forge Home Renovations shares his inspiring story with us on this episode of the Batten House Podcast. From a career in mechanical engineering to the world of construction project management, Martin embarked on a transformative journey into home renovations. He's driven by a mission to change the negative stereotypes surrounding contractors, emphasizing honesty and professionalism. Hear firsthand how Oak Forge Home Renovations sets itself apart with a commitment to quality and personalized client relationships, tackling the common misconceptions that renovations always blow budgets or that cheaper materials are a long-term solution.
Unpredictable life events often shape our paths, and Martin's story is no exception. The heartbreaking loss of his elder daughter to a brain tumor has profoundly impacted his outlook on life and business. As Martin navigates both work and family life, he shares the powerful lessons he's learned about turning tragedies into opportunities for growth and meaning. Discover how Oak Forge handles unforeseen renovation challenges with creative solutions, transforming setbacks into standout features in their projects.
Beyond renovations, we delve into the importance of education and empowerment for clients, allowing them to make informed decisions about their homes. Martin also highlights the importance of supporting local businesses and craftsmanship in the face of globalized commerce. We encourage you to connect with Oak Forge Renovations through their Instagram and website to gain more insights and inspiration. Celebrate the beauty of local talent and craftsmanship, and consider nominating your favourite local business to be featured on our show.
Oakforge Home Renovations
Martin Bellehumeur
613.606.1021
This is the Batten House Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbours come together. Here's your host, Heather Joy Batten.
Speaker 2:Hello everyone. I've got Martin Bellehumeur here from Oak Forge Home Renovations. How are you, Martin?
Speaker 3:Hi Heather Joy, I'm doing great. How are you?
Speaker 2:I'm well. Thanks so much for being here. Thanks for taking time out of your day to join us and share a little bit more about the great work that you do at Oak Forge Home. We're really glad to have you Tell us a little bit about what you do.
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely. It's my pleasure to be here. Yeah, so the name of the business is Oak Forge Home Renovations and we are a pizza parlor, no.
Speaker 2:Sounds perfect, it aligns exactly, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3:Right, it's a good name for it. No, we're a home renovation business that focuses on the inside of people's homes, so mainly kitchens, bathrooms, basements and other projects like fireplaces and flooring. What I think makes Oak Forge special is its size. We're actually a quite small team, we're a team of four, and I started this business literally taking care of every single aspect of the renovations myself. So not only was I the person that you would meet with to go through the scope of your project, I would go through the estimation, the design process, I would show up and do the work on site and all of the background work as well the finances, the invoicing, everything.
Speaker 2:That's a massive job for one person.
Speaker 3:It is so. Since then, our team has grown. Today, I still take care and pride of taking care of every aspect of the client relationship, meaning you only have to ever deal with one person, but I've also assembled an amazing team of workers who are completely dedicated to providing quality work.
Speaker 2:Awesome. I honour you for that. I think having your own business and certainly as it starts out, having to be the main person, the person who does everything it really compels you to want to carry it forward and and then be discerning about the the people that you have join your team right To ensure that they align with your priorities and and that top top shelf care that you give to your clients.
Speaker 3:Absolutely, and when you start a business, there's at least one aspect that you won't fully know, right? So, being able to take care of everything yourself, yes, we were able to take on less projects and it was a little bit less profitable at the beginning, but I was able to spend that time and focus on the areas that I was less knowledgeable on and grow that site to then be able to bring more people into the fold and have a better understanding and better comprehension of how to, how to tackle those things and and still deliver quality absolutely what brought you here?
Speaker 2:what brought you to oak forge, or the concept, or starting what, what, what brought you to this spot?
Speaker 3:yes, oak forge is a little bit of a second career for me, actually by education and by. My first career was in mechanical engineering, oh wow, where I spent over 15 years of my career working in construction project management, so related to the construction field, mostly for commercial and government, for commercial and government. But after 15 years of sitting behind a desk and seeing contractors trying every trick in the book to pass off subpar work and trying to get more money, I decided okay, that's enough. First of all, I'm sick of being behind a desk all day. I need to get moving and it's time for me to bring the honesty, the integrity and the professionalism of the engineering trade and bring that to the construction industry. So those are really the three strongest driving forces for home launch.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. I honour you for that. I think anyone who's listening, who is a homeowner or has been in that position, can attest to the challenge, let's say, of finding reliable contractors who have integrity in their work and who care about what they do and why they do it. And unfortunately, there are many who give contractors a bad name right, because jobs get walked away from, people get overcharged, work doesn't get finished and it sounds like you're checking all those boxes to ensure that that is not the consumer experience at Oak Forge Home Renovations.
Speaker 3:Absolutely, absolutely, yeah, and Oak Forge, by the way, the name itself is a combination of oak, which is a natural wood, warm, versatile building material, and forge, which represents a you know, a natural wood, warm, versatile building material, and forge, which represents a handcrafted kind of sweat off my brow approach to that. So, putting them together and you have a contractor who focuses on high quality renovations, who cares about the details.
Speaker 2:Absolutely Can you share any like misunderstandings or misconceptions about your industry that you'd like to clear up?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean, and you've alluded to a few there, there's definitely, you know, contractors will try to bleed me from every penny that's in my pocket. I've heard as well. You know I want to, you know, buy cheaper materials, because why would I spend $10 a square foot on a tile when I can spend 99 cents on a square foot on a tile?
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know it's.
Speaker 3:you know cheaper isn't always better and it won't always save you money long term. Right One that you've alluded to renovations always go over budget.
Speaker 3:That's not true. If you have a contractor who tried to get into your house with a small price, then yeah, he knows that he doesn't have a lot of profit, so that he's going to try to get you for extra change orders and everything around is going to be a change With Oak Forge and with any good contractor that that that that's worth their salt. You know there's two reasons for contracts to increase in cost. The first is the client changed their mind of something. You know we didn't plan on a bathroom in the basement, but now we want a bathroom.
Speaker 3:Yeah, there we go yeah, and the second is you know, when we start opening up walls and floors and houses, there are unforeseens. There's just no way to know what's hidden underneath. So you discover major structural damage, you discover water damage.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know that's kind of a scary thing, but it does happen shared really highlights the importance of education for your potential clients and for people who are researching or trying to get a grasp on what a renovation that they're wanting to do will look like. And I think what I understand from what you've shared is that part of what you do is dialing clients in on. Yes, this is, you know what's your budget. Let's work within it. We need to be aware that sometimes there are unforeseen circumstances where, as you mentioned, like water damage or otherwise, where we need to take note and pivot a little bit.
Speaker 2:However, I would also say, based on my experience, you know kind of doing some work in our own home. I did work at a. My experience you know kind of doing some work in our own home. I did work at a hardware store for a period of time when I was younger and learned a lot is that there are always creative solutions, and so if you do find that there's, you know, something that needs addressing that was unforeseen or unplanned, it usually can be addressed in a creative way that still ties in with the project as a whole. Would you say that that's true?
Speaker 3:Absolutely. I call that the Bob Ross happy little mistakes, right? I love that. Yeah, I mean there are spots that you're like. Well, I wasn't anticipating this, but we have an opportunity to turn this flaw into a feature. Let's make it something cool.
Speaker 2:Yeah, beautiful. Well, we've chatted a little bit about what you do and why you do it, but what can you tell us a little bit about you personally? What? How do you spend your time when you're not focused on your business? The very few minutes a week I have to spare Sure, because it's all consuming a lot of the time I expect.
Speaker 3:It is, it is and is, and I have a wonderful partner who has supported me through the last few years and has taken more than her share of the burden. But we do have an eight-month-old daughter at home.
Speaker 2:Oh, congratulations, that's still a very new little baby.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah. So she's just crawling now and getting into all kinds of wow trouble and it's, it's, it's wonderful. So I get to, I, I spend a lot of time with her and you know, being your own, being your own boss, you know, sometimes, you know, tuesday, at two o'clock in the afternoon, my boss gives me an hour break so I get to spend time with my daughter.
Speaker 3:So that's kind of nice yeah and um, and I also have like a full woodworking shop, so I'll usually be working in there on some woodworking project or another. I used to do a lot of back country camping. I don't do that as much anymore, but yeah, I mean I've got the great beard.
Speaker 2:I'm an elder millennial, so I play board games and video games. That's awesome, that's great. I join you. I am an elder, millennial too, so I can, I can. What you're sharing resonates with me. I get it, but I'm also a parent too, so I understand that when, when you have opportunities, some of those hobbies or things that were, you know, at the forefront of of your time and attention once you become a parent, you know, know, there's nothing like gazing into their eyes and just spending some quiet moments together, right, yeah, absolutely yeah absolutely so.
Speaker 3:For the first time in a long time, my daughter's finally letting me put her to sleep. For the longest time, it was my wife only. So I really cherish those moments of like okay, seven o'clock, 7, 15, I get to just hold you and cuddle and let you drift, drift off to sleep and then put you down and that's. That's beautiful, magical.
Speaker 2:I am so touched, I'm tearing up because I know how important that has been for uh, for Sean, for our kids. When you know you kind of make that transition from, um, you know, mommy being the only one and and dad being able to take some of those special moments that you treasure, that's just for you too. That's beautiful. I love that for you.
Speaker 3:Well, I don't think you're done tearing up yet.
Speaker 2:No, I was wondering. Has there been anything in your life, any hardships that have impacted you in such a way that, at the time, of course, might have been unspeakable, but you can say now, today, it's made you stronger for it today?
Speaker 3:Yeah, definitely. So I guess fair warning to listeners this is about to get really, really real.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 3:Without a shadow of a doubt, the hardest life challenge I've ever had was the passing of my eldest daughter, daughter who passed away at the age of 18 months old from a, from a brain tumor. That was just over two years ago now. Oak forage was in its infancy, so that was a heavy blow that completely changed the course of our lives and completely changed also how I approach my business. You know, when you lose a child which is completely a natural aberration like parents should not live long enough to see their children die, like parents should not live long enough to see their children die you start to question the underlying social contract that most everybody abides by, which is do good things and good things will happen to you, kind of like a social karma thing, right? And then you start to think, well, what did I do so wrong that I deserve to lose my daughter? Right, and of course it doesn't work like that, but that's what you think.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And you know you can come out the other side in one of two ways and you either come out thinking I owe society nothing because society has done nothing for me. I owe society nothing because society has done nothing for me. Or you come out the other side thinking I do good things for others not because good things will happen to me, but because it's the right thing to do. And that was my conclusion and that's what I've been doing with O-Forge. We do right by people because it's the right thing to do, and I personally believe in supporting local nonprofit organizations, our biggest being the Roger Nielsen Children's Hospice. If you've never had a chance to meet them, I hope you never do. They are the nicest people that we have ever had the displeasure of meeting.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thank you. Thank you for sharing your heart and trusting me enough to do so.
Speaker 3:I'm just glad I was able to do it without crying myself.
Speaker 2:I think you shared it so, so lovingly when you said that it's so unnatural for a parent to live through the death of their child, and what I heard in the way that you spoke about your daughter. What was her name?
Speaker 3:Our name is Adele.
Speaker 2:Adele. It's a beautiful name and a beautiful girl, and I can sense the love in your heart for her, and what strikes me most as you were speaking was how Adele's spirit has spurred you on, as you said to. You know, you're at this crossroads, where you're faced with what am I going to do with this, and I know that you would have it no other way than to find meaningful and touching ways to honor Adele and the place that she holds in your family, and it doesn't mean that it's easy.
Speaker 3:You know, we've had our fair struggles and we still do, you know, especially with our youngest daughter now growing up and going through the same stages as our eldest daughter. You can't help but compare, you can't help but think about. You know well, I dealt with this, Of course.
Speaker 2:And your second daughter's name, stella. Stella, that's beautiful and you know you're always a family of four and it's a perfect opportunity to live Adele's spirit and love in a meaningful way through Oak Forge and also your family, and and to know that the people who are walking a similar path at Roger Nielsen House have the support that they need, because you make donations a priority for them and I I honor you for it, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 3:It's, in a sense, it allows me to grieve as well. Right, we all grieve in our different ways. Grief is not something that we typically talk about in society very much it's kind of a private thing but it's so important and Roger Nealsen Children's Hospice was so incredibly helpful to us. They were really like a life buoy to us when we grieved our daughter, and now we're doing everything we can to support them. We support Maddie's Gala, which is a charitable black tie event that raises money for Roger Nielsen. I do little, uh, woodworking, and I don't advertise this. This is just, uh, adele's dad who does this. This is not old forage. I do little like wooden stands.
Speaker 3:They have this star ceremony where, where, uh, families get to receive a star with the name of their child child engraved, and so, uh, just this year I started offering, uh, little stands, little wooden stands, so that families would have a place to display their stars, little things like that that we do for Roger Nielsen House that are so incredibly meaningful for us. But we do it not for us, but for them as well.
Speaker 2:It's yeah, that's beautiful, and to know that Stella has a piece of that tradition with her name, Stella, and you know her sister, though Stella, right, your youngest.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 2:And so I think that that's a beautiful connection.
Speaker 3:Exactly, exactly, and that's where her name comes from Actually. It's our gift from the stars. Exactly, and that's where her name comes from Actually it's our gift from the stars.
Speaker 2:I love it. That's so beautiful. Thank you for taking the time to share that and share about Adele. That's so special. Thanks again for trusting me with your story and her story.
Speaker 3:My pleasure Are there other things that you'd like our listeners to know about the work that you do and how you do it. Yeah, you touched on a point earlier that I think was very important that I didn't get to provide more insight on, and I think that part of a job of a contractor or at least I think that part of the job of a good contractor should be to be an educator at the same time. My job isn't to tell the client what is best for them, but it's to give them options and tell them why some people would prefer option A over option B. I find that the better I educate my clients, give them my knowledge, share them my knowledge, the better decisions they can take about their projects and usually the happier they are with the final project.
Speaker 3:My past life and my past career. We call that stakeholder engagement. Right, it's a fancy corporate word. Yes, same premise, though. Right, exactly, it's the exact same premise. So I guess what I want your listeners to take from this is we're always open to answering questions, and if you ever run across a contractor that says, no, I know best, this is how you're going to want to do it, then maybe reevaluate your contractor choice.
Speaker 2:I also honor you for the care, I guess I would say the professionalism, with which you approach things. Like you know, maybe take extra thought before, you know, decide to move forward with that contract. The words that come to my mind are red flag, run, run the other direction. But I think it's important for our listeners to hear the sincerity in your voice about you know you're not in a place of hey pick Oak Forge Renovations. We're the best. You know it's.
Speaker 2:We really care about what we do and why we do it and how we do it. And and that education piece is really paramount for potential clients to realize you're empowering them to make the best decision for them and what their needs are or desires are for the renovation that they're doing. It's not a matter of you coming in with a plan and and bulldozing forward with it, because it's what you do and that's the big name right Like you're really focused on the client experience and really providing individuals or families, whoever it is that you're working with, with the opportunity to have the very best outcome for what they're striving to achieve best outcome for what they're striving to achieve.
Speaker 3:Absolutely and arguably, owning a house is the biggest financial investment that individuals will make, and you want to put more money into your home, into that investment. Making sure that you're making the right decisions will feel better in the long run and and I think that's that's something that's always been really important to us and we're coming in here and we're we're I call construction controlled chaos right coming in, we're demolishing, we're bringing new materials in, we're, we're, we're loud, noises and dust and all of these things.
Speaker 3:And if I can give a sense of control, right, it's all about. You know, we can't control that, but what we can control is the decisions that we make to make sure that we get the end result that we want. So, giving giving the clients that sense of control or not, not the sense of, but giving the clients that control. Yeah, is something that's important.
Speaker 2:Beautiful. How do our listeners find you? Where's the best place to go? Yeah, I'm a little all over the place.
Speaker 3:I am on Instagram. I post some tips, tricks, before and after pictures on Instagram at oakforgerenovations. I also put out some articles, blog posts on my website, wwwoakforgehomes, or you can also send me an email. Info at oakforgehomes.
Speaker 2:Awesome, that's great. Well, we're so grateful you shared with us today. Thanks for being here and thank you for the great work that you do. I think our world needs more authentic contracting businesses that that people can feel good about, and making the decisions. You know, it's not a weekend decision when you decide to undertake a renovation in your home, so I think it's it's. I think the message that our listeners are getting today is don't make a fast decision.
Speaker 3:Do your research and um, and I have no doubt that when they reach out to you, they will not be disappointed well, thank you so much, heather joyce, for, for those uh words of, of, uh, of encouragement and support, and and thank you so much for creating this podcast and highlighting local businesses. I think that's a lost art as well. You know, we spend our time buying things, cheap things from China and outsourcing as much as possible, and I think being able to highlight local businesses, local workforces, is something that's very important. So so thank you for doing what you do thanks, thanks, map day.
Speaker 2:It really means a lot. Thanks for your encouragement.
Speaker 1:I hope you have a great rest of your day thanks you too okay thank you for listening to the batten house podcast to nominate your favourite local businesses to be featured on the show. Go to battenhousepodcast. ca. That's battenhousepodcast. ca, or call 343-308-3606.
