Entrepreneur makes major impact

You’ll likely never set eyes on the work done by Vaughan’s Dependable Mechanical Systems Inc., unless you work in the bowels of one of Ontario’s institutional buildings.

But being an aggressive competitor in the world of HVAC (heating, ventilation, air conditioning) and plumbing systems has landed the fledgling company at No. 7 in Profit magazine’s annual ranking of Canada’s fastest-growing companies.

Dependable Mechanical Systems saw revenue growth of 4,765 per cent in five years, ballooning to $9.7 million in 2010 from less than $200,000 in 2005.

This marks the second time the company has cracked the top 10.

Last year, it sat at No. 9.

“The company is doing very well,” founder and president Raj Ahuja said. “I want to build this up into one of the major corporate giants in Canada.”

Mr. Ahuja, who hails from New Delhi, launched the company about six years ago from his home in Vaughan. And that was just a few years after he moved to Canada from Dubai, where he was working as chief engineer for a hotel chain.

Mr. Ahuja spent his first five months in Canada pounding the pavement, seeking work as a mechanical engineer, while his wife, Radha, worked odd jobs. But he kept getting turned down for jobs because he was overqualified.

“I was getting calls from my (employer) back in Dubai. They were telling me why don’t you come back, we need you,” the 39-year-old said. “I was living downtown, at Yonge and St. Clair, at the time and I always used to go on the balcony and think, ‘What am I going to do with the rest of my life? What have I done to myself? There I was, living the life of a king and now, I don’t even know what I’m going to do here.’”

Mr. Ahuja eventually landed an interview with the owner of an HVAC company in Vaughan.

“Within 15 minutes, he said, ‘You’re the man. Just come and join me tomorrow’. I started at a salary of $40,000 and, within three months, I was leading the whole company,” Mr. Ahuja said. “I streamlined everything, but then I realized the business growth model was not there and I would not probably fit into that set up.”

Mr. Ahuja joined another firm, where he took the lead on a large government-funded project. When that got shelved, he decided to go into business for himself and Dependable Mechanical Systems was born.

“Our first project was only $20,000. It was a tough process,” he said of getting started.

Eventually, the firm, which focuses on institutional buildings, landed larger projects and had enough work to warrant a larger office. So he moved the company to a 1,000-square-foot space on Regina Road and hired Annette Shand to work in the office.

She’d recently lost her job after working at the same company for 27 years. Ms Shand was in her late 40s at the time and didn’t think she’d find another gig.

Despite her lack of experience in the construction industry, Mr. Ahuja offered her a position.

Ms Shand started out doing everything from answering the phones to accounting to dealing with clients. She called the company’s rapid growth and evolution “overwhelming.”

“Day by day, the changes come through and your head just spins,” Ms Shand said. “He’s opened up two separate companies and it’s great … I had no doubt from the first day I met Raj, I knew he’d be out there and doing what he wanted to do. He’s like a rabbit; he just bounces everywhere.”

Dependable Mechanical has moved twice since she started working. It now occupies a 24,000-square-foot building on Four Valley Drive, where it employs about 60 people.

Part of the reason behind the most recent move was to accommodate Mr. Ahuja’s latest venture, 4R HVAC, a custom sheet metal fabrication company that manufactures and stocks all of the sheet metal products used in his projects. It also sells those products to other contractors.

“My intention is to make that company one of the fastest-growing companies in Canada in the next five years,” said the married father of two boys, Rahul and Rishi.

Dependable Mechanical Systems, meanwhile, has blossomed from doing small jobs worth tens of thousands of dollars to multi-million dollar, government-funded projects. The biggest to date is a $10-million GO bus terminal in Oshawa.

The company has also broadened its scope to the point where it handles more aspects of the projects it takes on.

“We are a mechanical contractor, we are the sheet metal contractor, we do the installation work internally (and) now we are focusing towards the design/build work,” Mr. Ahuja said.

He chalks up his company’s rapid growth and expansion, in part, to his devotion to the business.

“I’m religiously dedicated to my work,” Mr. Ahuja said. “I come here with a mindset every day to try to achieve something more than I’ve achieved in the past.”

Mr. Ahuja routinely logs 14 to 15-hour days.

Much of his time is devoted to studying what his rivals are up to.

“Understanding your competition is very important and that’s what I study. Every day, day in and day out, I study my competition,” he said.

Innovation is also a key component of Dependable’s success.

“That’s the fizz in this office, what’s going to happen (next),” he said.

Mr. Ahuja recently set up a research and development cell to explore emerging opportunities and develop new technology aimed at making the company more efficient.

“I’m trying to take Dependable to another level where nobody has been able to reach,” he said.

He also invests a lot of time and energy in finding the right people to work for him.

“Many people who are part of my business have not come from a mechanical background,” he said. “I believe, today, that I can buy skills, but I can’t buy loyalty. A good, loyal person to the company is worth 10 skilled people out there because he will learn. I give him the opportunity to learn.”

He also allows them room to make mistakes.

“Many people out there, a person (makes) a small mistake and they say, ‘You’re fired.’ … They don’t look and say, ‘This guy has learned from his mistake’,” he said. “I made a lot of mistakes as well from which I learned a lot. I’m no different from anyone out there. Why should I be nailing somebody down for mistakes, which are human errors?”

Of course, top-notch customer service is also a key part of Dependable’s success. And it is something Mr. Ahuja continually strives to improve upon.

Currently, he is looking to provide his clients with the ability to monitor their projects through Dependable’s website.

“We are actually being very proactive in understanding what the client needs and trying to react immediately and be proactive,” he said.

The company’s remarkable revenue growth has caught the attention of firms in the United States.

Mr. Ahuja said he has had offers from American companies to buy his business since it made the list of Canada’s fastest-growing companies, but he is not interested in selling at this point.

“All my employees are very excited with the growth in the company right now and my employees are my biggest asset,” he said. “We’ve started getting pre-qualified for most of the major projects in Ontario and the area. So we are coming into the elite class of contractors out there now (and) that’s going to give us an edge. The next step is to take on overseas projects.”

Mr. Ahuja figures the company’s revenues will continue to climb, reaching the $50 million mark in the next few years.

“I foresee myself in the Profit 200 list for the next three years, at least.”

Read the original article at http://www.yorkregion.com/news-story/1417455-making-impact/