Father, son behind 'Rock Solid Builds' thankful for firm family foundation

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Nothing can divide a house quite like succession planning, the stories of which are often filled with dread, drama or denial.

Siblings showing disinterest, or too much interest, in controlling the family’s legacy, usually put planning on hold inevitably until both the company and the family are on shaky ground.

Surprisingly, for Newfoundland contractors Scott and Randy Spracklin, the father-son team behind multigenerational family business Newfound Builders and the stars of HGTV Canada’s Rock Solid Builds, succession has come fairly naturally, despite a few cracks in the cement along the way.

While they might attribute their success to “just getting the job done,” it is hard to deny that something in their methods could be used as an example to patriarchs and matriarchs approaching the topic with their children.

From their beginnings with local demo projects, to province-wide heritage home restorations and a hit tv show, Scott and Randy say a simple desire to know each other, the willingness to listen to each other despite disagreements, and collaborating with their community through thick and thin, has kept both their family enterprise and their family members on firm foundation, even in the most volatile of economic climates.

How did your company begin, in relation to Scott’s father and Randy’s grandfather’s vision?

Scott: “It was a whole different company back then. Back in those days you did what you could to make a living. They did numerous things. They fished, and the other thing was working on houses. What’s totally opposite of what Randy does is we did mostly demolition. We were tearing down the old houses, [as opposed to] fixing them up like brand new. A lot of changes since then.”

Scott, how did you first begin working with your father?

Scott: “We kind of worked into it. I followed Dad from the age of 13, and my uncle, too. Whatever they were doing, I did. It was not only construction on houses, they were doing work on boats, and of course it just gradually took over, and that’s what I loved to do. The building part of it got to be more and more of what I loved. I wasn’t into the restoration as much as Randy [is now].”

Scott, aside from you and Al who are on Rock Solid Builds, were there other siblings who were part of taking over your dad’s company?

Scott: “It was Albert, me, and my other brother, Aubrey. Albert’s the oldest.”

So was the process of grandfather-son-grandson succession totally natural, or were there family negotiations in terms of who would be part of the company?

Scott: “The way it ended up being was that it was me and my brothers’ company in the beginning, and then my dad was just steady, working with us. Randy was alongside, doing stuff with us, but he wanted to become part of the business, and he enjoyed what we were doing. My brother, Aubrey, wanted to step aside and try something else, and me and Randy got [the business] full-time ourselves.”

In terms of the financial planning side, how have you been able to balance the family dynamic with maintaining the business through changing economic climates?

Randy: “That was the difference of it, when I came into it with Dad. [He and his brothers] were doing it on a little bit of a smaller scale. I’m the dreamer, and I like a challenge to make it actually happen. They had the tools, they had a bit of the equipment, but I figured I could take that equipment, work really hard, and then be able to buy a second group of equipment, and then that means I can have more people working. It grew from there, where you’ve got a building and you’ve got a showroom.”

Did this introduction of modern ideas and new employees pose any challenges within the family along the way?

Randy: “They weren’t really keen on the idea, at first.”

Scott: “Right from my dad’s time, up until Randy came on board, it was pretty much just all family. It was just a family venture. When Randy came on board he had a vision, and he had a dream, and he wanted to go from there, and it grew.”

How did you work through the difference of opinion, where Randy wanted to grow beyond just family members? We see these employees on the show, like Harvey or Nicki.

Randy: “The thing about it is that the people we got hired are people from the community. Like, Harv, I knew him ever since I can remember, because he used to hang out with Father and my uncle. Same thing with Nicki. I know her from back in the day. They’re all from the community so that’s the way it was able to grow. It was a community-based thing.”

Based on what you’re describing, it seems like if you don’t find a way to work with everyone around you, your business is not going to succeed with the next generation.

Randy: “No, definitely not. Look, you’re always going to have problems. There’s going to be financial struggles, there’s going to be weather… You name it, it’s going to be thrown at you. The thing about it is trying to figure out how to get around that obstacle and keep on going. That’s one of the things we’ve been able to overcome and keep growing. The obstacles come in front of us, and you figure out how to get around them, keep on moving. It kind of has grown into a thing that you kind of dream of. We’ve got 14 employees now and it started with just [the family] working.”

Scott: “I always had the few dreams and the few initiatives, and never had the courage to go ahead with them. Randy’s young, so he’s just go, go, go.”

Did you ever bring in financial advisors or counsellors of any kind as the business grew, or did you continue with community members as your support system?

Randy: “We just basically use each other and use other people that are out there in the same field. That buddy system is still a big thing in Newfoundland. If someone’s got an excavator, they can come out and dig a hole, and they might need a window in, so I’ll go and put a window in. The two projects are working together for the people that we’re working for, and at the end of the day, that’s how you can build your business. You don’t need millions of dollars behind you. In Newfoundland we’re good at helping each other.”

Scott: “We’ll put a lot more time into it. If things are a little bit harder, and we need to put more time into it ourselves, we’ll spend a lot more hours at it just to keep it moving forward.”

How has being part of the family business shaped your relationship as father and son? Has it helped you get to know each other?

Randy: “Oh, 100 per cent. I remember when I was younger, I followed them – followed my grandfather, followed Father. If it was out tearing down a house or painting, I would be [there] in the mischief of trying to get into whatever [I could] get into, but [I was also] actually seeing them all really interact with each other. And I’m kind of in the next step of that, because my kids, Grady and Rhiannon [are showing interest]. The other night Grady was out trying to drive the excavator, and Rhiannon was running around picking up rocks. Father was kind of watching them, and I was telling Grady not to do it, and I was thinking, ‘Yeah, Grady’s me right now, and Rhiannon’s probably even worse.”

Scott: “I think we have a tight-knit family all the way through, and we’re always pretty close. Like Randy said, right from the time when I was following my dad and uncle around, and then once Randy got big enough to walk, he was following me and my father around, and it just went on from there. Today, Grady follows me around and tries to do as much as he can.”

Randy: “I find that, I always wanted to be with my grandfather, and it’s the same thing I find in Grady there, now. He always wants to be with Pop, because I guess he gets away with a bit more.”

When did it become apparent that there was a trend among wealthy clients looking to turn traditional Newfoundland homes into modern mansions?

Randy: “I was hearing, ‘Hey, I’ve got this old place, everyone’s saying I should tear it down. It can’t be done.’ And I’m looking at it, like, ‘anything can be done.’ So, going in full steam ahead and getting it done and turning it into an amazing place, and then everybody’s looking at it, like, ‘Oh my god.’ Our business was always built on word of mouth. If you did a good job for this person, they’re going to recommend you to their friends. That’ll travel faster than anything. It’s a little different these days with social media, but that old mentality that I learned from Father is that you have to do a good job. Part of it was my age – I thought I was invincible. Yes, I can fix it; I can build it. Now, that’s what people turn to. We can actually turn it into something. You take [the] Penny Harbour [build] in the last season. They were told by multiple people that they should have torn it down, and we turned it into a beautiful home for them.”

Has the draw to Newfoundland increased as a result of your wealthy clientele sharing their unique real estate experiences with Newfound Builders?

Randy: “We’re definitely underrated for the scenery, and the backdrop we’ve got, and the houses you can have next to the ocean. A lot of the towns are built on the water, because we were a fishing community back in the day and they built the houses where they had to work. The old houses were built by the fishermen who had to work on the boats. [Later, they would tear down a house] not really realizing what you could turn it into. Especially the old-timers: ‘What you put into that; you could probably build a new one.’ But you’ll never get the story and the history and the character out of that. We left the stairs in [the Penny Harbour build], and the guy next door, his mother was born in that house, and he came over talking about how he remembered walking up over those stairs. You’re not going to replace that with something new.”

Randy: “Father and them tore down a lot of old houses because … they needed firewood back then, or someone needed a new window. Now we know we can make that architecturally look really good and last another hundred years and tell a good story with it. That’s what people want.”

Scott: “I think that’s something I’ve learned along the way, too, that Randy’s taught me, believe it or not. Bringing all these old houses back to life. Before Randy came along, yeah, we did a lot of renovations, but nothing to the extreme that Randy’s into now. You can always learn. Never too old to learn.”

Will you expand your business beyond Newfoundland, given the success of the show and the growth of the company?

Randy: “It’s probably early days, but since the show came out … it’s amazing how much outreach we’re getting from Newfoundlanders, and Newfoundlanders are everywhere in the world. But it’s not only Newfoundlanders. It’s people wanting us to go to Ontario, go to Alberta, go to Nova Scotia, because right across the country there are a lot of old towns that need fixing up. But right now, probably not. Maybe that’ll be Grady.”

Responses have been lightly edited for clarity and length.

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