By / Natalie Bruckner
There’s a beautiful saying in French that goes: La famille n’est pas quelque chose d’important. C’est tout ce dont on a besoin, which translated means, family is not an important thing. It’s everything.
This perfectly sums up how Rémi Demers, owner of Isolation Val-Mers Ltée feels about his family. And not just his blood family, but his extended family, his insulation colleagues.
When Demers joined the TIAC board of directors in 1998 he spoke very little English, and was concerned how this would come across. He needn’t have worried. “I arrived at the first board meeting in Winnipeg and met the other six directors at the bar. At 36 years old I was one of the youngest, but they immediately surrounded me and welcomed me to the family. I felt accepted.” That solidified it for Remi. He had come home.
Growing up Demers never aspired to work in the industry and follow in his father’s footsteps as an estimator. “I didn’t know what I wanted to do, but I used to say anything but insulation. My father would tell stories of how tough it could get on the job site. It held no appeal.” But being surrounded by a family in the sector (his mother worked for his father’s business as well), it was inevitable, really.
“I remember during the 70s my mum renting beds to four insulation guys who were in Quebec to help build the Olympic Stadium. We had six beds in a row in the basement for my brother, the four insulation guys and me. I learned a lot about insulation during that time… and playing cards,” he laughs.
At the age of 18, Demers was done with studying and decided to join his father on the building site. It opened his eyes. “I had heard all these terrible stories, but my perception of people changed when one day, working as an apprentice, I was hauling heavy equipment down the subway and a big burly concrete guy came over and asked me if I needed help. That taught me a valuable lesson: not to judge people before you get to know them.”
After his father passed away in 1986 from a smoking related disease, Demers and his mother closed the company. Six months later, after working for another company, Demers was ready to start up on his own and the mechanical insulation company Isolation Val-Mers Ltée was born.
“I started the company with my mum and another partner, Gerald Valiquette, and we invested $5,000 each. I didn’t have the money, so I approached the bank, but they refused me. I had to get my mum on as my guarantor. We bought an old pickup truck and got to work,” he says.
The company quickly gained a reputation as innovators in the mechanical insulation sector. After five years, Demers bought his partner out and a few years later his mother decided to throw in the towel, but the family business was far from done.
“When my son left school he wasn’t sure what to do so he started working with me in the shop doing deliveries for $12 an hour. Soon he showed an interest in estimating, and I began teaching him the trade. Today, he is the general manager.”
Demers’ daughter, Lauri, also joined the business 18 months ago as the accountant, and Demers is extremely proud that she followed in her grandmother’s footsteps. But as for Demers’ wife, she was wise enough to know when to say no. “When my daughter joined the company I said to my wife, ‘There is only one piece missing,’ and my wife told me, ‘No Rémi, I love you too much.’ That’s why we are still happily married!” Demers laughs.
Today, Isolation Val-Mers Ltée employs nine people in the office and anywhere between 35 and 60 guys on the jobsite, where they specialize mainly in commercial builds.
While Demers is extremely passionate about the industry, and speaks with love for his colleagues, in his spare time he makes sure he spends time either with his kids and grandkids, or cycling. Come rain or shine, Demers is peddling an average of 3,000 km a year (during the pandemic he could be seen in his snowshoe gear cycling in five-degree weather). And every year he ventures on a five- to 10-day solo cycling trip, although this year’s trip was cut short due to weather and equipment failure.
“Sports have always been a big part of my life, and cycling for me is a form of meditation, a time to relax,” he says. “It’s such a great way to sort out business problems. There’s something about the fresh air that completely clears the mind.” ▪
