For many years, Jamie De Dominicis has thrived as a local business owner in the construction sector, working hard to build trust with customers by delivering on quality service and products.
De Dominicis, who grew up in Brantford, discussed how he has been around construction his entire life.
“My father, Dino, owned a family business called Four Seasons landscaping. I grew up working with him [and] when I was about 19, I went to work for a company called Cecil Shaver Limited…doing sewer and water main projects, and spent just shy of five years with them, learning the business. I was then part of a company called Gedco Excavating. And I was there from 2007 to 2023. They started that company with another partner, back when I was 24 years old,” De Dominicis recalled. “It started with ten employees and grew to about 70 over that time frame, with multiple crews doing multimillion-dollar projects. We mostly did infrastructure work and] civil construction for municipalities. I would go on to become president there, eventually deciding to sell my shares and buy Bell City Paving in 2023 with my new business partner, Paul Viveiros.”
However, De Dominicis has relished owning a smaller company while still managing one of the biggest challenges he has continued to face.
“It’s been much easier for me to manage. I went from working at a company with about 70 people down to about a staff of seven, including Paul and myself, at Bell City Paving. It’s much easier to take care of quality control and keep an eye on maintaining our high standards. It’s also made things easier for me to adjust processes to ensure that customers always get the best service and quality products,” De Dominicis said. “When it comes to challenges over the years…it has become harder and harder to find skilled people in the trades. It’s hard to find machine operators, truck drivers, and laborers, and that’s unfortunate. It’s very rewarding work [and] it pays very well. But we’re always looking to hire younger people who see the potential of working in a trade and thrive learning hands-on.”
However, for the business owner, he has learned that everyone in a company needs to contribute to maintain a balance and ensure success.
“We have to see a willingness in the industry to produce…everyone is entitled to a good place to work with a good wage and benefits and to be respected, but people need to produce for that to work. If everyone is contributing, we have enough to cover the wages and other expenses of the business while making a bit of profit,” he recounted. “Because if that isn’t happening, the equation doesn’t work. It cannot be one-sided. In the past, too much was decided by the employer, and now it’s kind of swung in favor of the employee, but it needs to be a balance where everybody can make what they need to make to keep their job and for the business to keep its doors open.”
Through the years, De Dominicis has learned how to thrive despite the competition.
“Part of what we do is a lot of residential paving. There is definitely competition out there; however, we are small enough that we stay out of the radar of the bigger paving companies. We do a lot of work that they don’t want to do, or they’re not set up to do, and we always make sure to deliver a good product. The company has been doing that since 1990, and since we bought it…we’ve been maintaining that reputation set by the previous owner. [And] I’ve learned one thing in business: you stick to one thing that you’re really good at, and you do that very well….actually, you do that better than everybody else,” De Dominicis noted.
The business has also been defined by a dedication to customer service.
“It’s all about relationships and being a good problem solver. People call you, and they’ve got a problem, whether their driveway needs to be repaired or replaced, or they have a parking lot that needs to be paved. They need it done at a certain price, and they need it done within a certain timeline, and that’s what we try to do,” he said. “We just go out there every day and try to solve people’s problems while providing quality service that we stand behind for years to come. When you do that day in and day out. Success follows, and people aren’t afraid to recommend you because you have delivered on everything you have promised them. Also, people will always respect good communications, and appreciate honesty, and that’s another reason that they will refer you to other people.”
While De Dominicis has been largely self-taught, especially when growing a business, he counts on an important person for the foundation of his success.
“My father Dino has been the most important and influential mentor in my life and still is to this day, providing me with his wisdom and guidance [which has] helped me immensely to succeed as a businessman as well as a person,” he added. “My first business partner, Paul Catania, taught me a lot…working with big developers, cities, and municipalities. And now with my business partner Paul, I’m learning a lot from him, and we are always learning from each other.”
Nevertheless, living and working in Brantford all of his life, De Dominicis has gotten a good perspective on the city’s rapid growth over the last number of years.
“I believe they’re finally doing things right. They’re attracting industry. Industries have always been, and will always be, the foundation of any growing city or municipality. If the city can continue to attract places for people to work, both industrial and commercial, people will buy houses, spend money in the community, and help it grow. I see a lot of that happening right now…a lot of good industry coming in, with more on the way down the road as we are seeing the 403 corridor….and that’s good. When we see that, it means we’re headed in the right direction,” De Dominicis explained.
As for Bell City Paving, De Dominicis discussed both short- and long-term goals for the company.
“Our short-term goal is to continue to maintain, without any compromise, the level of quality that Bell City has been delivering under the previous ownership since 1990. And I think we’ve been doing a good job of that. We’re finishing off our third season, and the reviews are great, and people are very happy with our service,” the construction veteran stated. “For the long term, my partner and I want to keep the company in good hands. Both my partner and I have sons…so we see the potential of the business growing down the road and with their help. We also want to keep investing in the company…maybe to add another division, or just to be able to provide more services for our customers.”
However, De Dominicis is grateful for doing what he loves to do, especially since taking on Bell City Paving, working with customers in the community, and building relationships.
“I started playing with construction trucks when I was a kid, and I’m still doing that today! I get the privilege of doing that every day. I love meeting and talking to people [and] I truly enjoy all the aspects of what I do. Are there days that are harder than others? Of course…at the end of the day, it’s still work, between that and wanting to be a good father [and] provide for my family, those are my motivations. But I’m lucky enough that I get to go and do what I love to do. I love the aspect of small business, of meeting every client, which I like more about what I do now than what I used to do,” the business owner reflected. “What I used to do was part of a tender process. There was very little to no relationship or engagement with the clients. It was pretty much clear-cut before; you submitted the lower price, you won the contract, completed it, and moved on to the next project. What I do now is very much relationship-based. I meet every person [and] do a quote for them. They become clients, and Paul and I are with them through the whole journey. We make sure they are happy with what we delivered to them…and as a result…they refer us to one of their friends or family members. But you develop these relationships with many of these people because they know that we care about them. I simply didn’t realize how much I missed that part of the job until getting the chance to own Bell City Paving.”
