Ontario Built

  Hydrogreen Irrigation Inc. was started back in 2008 by Brandon Happeney. They offer irrigation services for residential, commercial and sports fields. They are located in and around Barrie, Ontario, but travel into the GTA for jobs as well. Brandon and a friend started their irrigation business when they were eighteen/nineteen on the side while they were working for another irrigation business. They were using the equipment from their full-time job, but were also compensating their boss completely for the use of equipment. This may have lasted 2 months, and their boss at the time approached them saying that they were basically competition now, and that he would have to fire them. With only a little in each of their bank accounts at the time they put it together and bought a small truck and trailer. They had some tupperware containers on the trailer that held all of their supplies and wondered why clients ever went with them in the first place based on how the business presented i...

Belleville Sign Rentals was purchased in 2022 by Todd Cole and originally started by a friend of Todd’s back in the 80’s. Belleville Sign Rentals rents portable signs to businesses looking to advertise their business at the curbside in the Belleville and surrounding areas. Originally, the name of the business was A1/Gotcha Sigh Rentals. This name was changed by the original owner to Belleville Sign Rentals as a representation of the city in which the business resides. Todd has always had a desire to own his own business, and has educated himself over the years by reading countless books by many high profile business people to try and get a grasp on business principles and ownership.  Todd for the year or so prior to purchasing the business had helped out his friend with the business, taking on changing the letters at multiple sign locations and learning a bit about the business. The opportunity eventually came that his friend was looking to part ways and sell the business. Todd saw...

  Trapworks Plumbing was started in 2021 by Justin Noftle. They offer a wide range of plumbing services for custom homes and residential in the GTA and surrounding areas. Justin has not always been in the plumbing industry. He started off in the trades right out of highschool, taking on a job as an HVAC technician in downtown Toronto. With that job, he had the opportunity to install furnaces, air conditioners, ductless units, boilers, etc. He did that for about two years and then moved on for more money to a commercial company. He was happy to get the learning experience but wanted more. With the commercial company he worked as a gasfitter installing rooftop units and gas piping for commercial developments. He did this for about a year and then had another opportunity to make a change in career paths. That change was him moving into the plumbing trade. He had some prior experience with plumbing. He worked at Lowe’s as a teenager in the plumbing department. He figured this career tr...

  Grey Ghost Productions @greyghost2003 was unofficially started by John Cole in 2003. It has always been a ‘side hustle’ for him, but now with him being retired from his full-time career he might start to ramp things up a little bit. Grey Ghost Productions is a video service company with the bulk of its portfolio being in sports video. Over the years, John has worked with many sports teams, sports organizations and different types of sports. Primarily, the bulk of his work being in hockey video. The name Grey Ghost came from John’s interest in wolves and finding out that they were also known as Grey Ghost’s. He thought that this would be a cool name for a business and went from there.  The idea of getting started in this type of business sparked when he took home videos and sports videos of his son (me) at a young age. He developed an interest in video work and decided to take an editing course at Sheridan College as well as join a video club. Eventually, he decided to volunt...

  Made Electric @madeelectric.ca was started in 2019 by Elber Gamboa and has been serving the GTA as an electrical contractor ever since. Made Electric specializes in residential, commercial and emergency services. They provide services such as panel upgrades, light installation, smoke alarm installation, EV charger installation, generators, surge protection and much more! Elber has been an electrician for the past 18 years, he started the business with a hunger to build something different and out of necessity. All Elber had when he started the business was a second-hand van and his tools. Within the first 3 months of business, Elber wanted to quit. But, he said to us that God sent him the right people at the right moment, and this gave him the push to keep going with the business. Elber has learned that not only do you need to be a good electrician in the trade, but also a good electrical contractor - as running a business is much different than working for a business. The journe...

  Maid in KW Cleaning Co. @maidinkw was started in May of 2021 by Jen Gosling. Just a few days after her birthday. Maid in KW is a completely chemical-free residential cleaning company serving Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge and Stratford areas. They will work with your schedule, whether you choose to be home or away and have a reputation that is immaculate! Let’s dive into more about the business and Jen, shall we? Back in 2018, Jen was diagnosed with cancer. With this diagnosis, she began on working on becoming more natural, which included putting down the toxic chemicals. This has been a journey for her, but when she decided to start her business, she took the same approach with the chemical-free cleaning. Did you know that it only takes 26 seconds for a cleaning product to enter your bloodstream and go directly to your internal organs? No? Neither did I. Her eco-friendly efforts don’t stop there! Maid in KW is part of the One Tree Planted Program. For each house cleaned, there i...