When Alan Havill was a kid, he’d often hang out in the offices of Havill’s. The company was started by his grandfather Walter in 1953 and has always been a family-centred business. He has plenty of fun memories to share. One day in the early 70s, when his mom couldn’t find a sitter he got dropped off with his big sister Sharon who had a summer job at the office answering phones. “It was a slow day, so she and I sat by the phone and listened to 92 CJCH radio. There was a contest at that time where caller number 10 would win a Beatles album. Unfortunately, the phone system that we had then was a rotary dial. This put us at a distinct disadvantage—no matter how hard we tried to pull the rotary dial back to the start position to dial the next number, we were never fast enough, Alan recalls.
By the time he was 10, Alan had his own job for the company business. “I started from the bottom, delivering company calendars to existing homeowners in the Fairview Mobile Home Park,” he says. As soon as he could drive, Alan started working labour jobs in the summer.
“At first I was just painting fences. Then I started cleaning worksites and taking debris to the landfill. But for many summers I worked with Community Service Manager: Bill Bustin in the Woodbine Service Department,” Alan explains, “In this role, I learned how to landscape a new lot, how to work in a trench and install new water or sewer pipes. I also learned how to repair a broken or plugged sewer pipe. After a few years, I had some summer workers working under me. So now I was management (not really). I just had to show up at Bill’s house a half hour before everybody else arrived at work in the morning to get a list of our jobs for the day. It was my first opportunity to organize a team, and gather the necessary equipment and supplies needed to complete jobs. It was a very good experience.”
Alan started selling homes at Havill’s in 1990, and by that time his father Stan was running the show. The industry has changed a great deal since then, with the quality of construction being the biggest change Alan has observed since he first started in the manufactured housing industry. “In the past couple of decades, the government-required building standards have increased at a pace that has resulted in homes being built to a much higher construction standard and finish quality than ever before,” he says. Mini homes these days are every bit as high quality as stick-built homes.
One recent development in this family business is that Alan’s son David has taken on the role of property manager for his dad’s land lease communities and commercial property. “Having my son working with me has been a natural progression. David started working in our Service Department when he was just 15 years old so we’ve had time to get used to being around one another in a work environment,” Alan says.
The thing about family businesses is that responsibility gets handed down, whether you feel ready for it or not, and that comes with challenges. “Fortunately, I have a very strong team that shares that responsibility with me. I am very fortunate to have Viola, Chandler, Jeff, Mike, Kenny, Jonny, and now David, that take the same pride in our business that I do, that my dad did, and that my uncles and Grandfather did,” Alan says. Watching employees grow within the company brings a great deal of satisfaction to Alan’s work life. His favourite thing about his job? “Seeing experienced team members take pride in their work, and the critical role that they each play in turning the dreams of our clients into a reality.”
There are strong reasons why many of Havill’s employees have been with the company for decades, one of them being a leader that encourages them to grow and supports them in their career development. More than just a family business, Havill’s feels like a family for all who work there, and that’s an environment Alan Havill works hard to keep going, just like his father and grandfather did before him.
