After working in the boom and bust of a big city housing market, contractor and master carpenter Brian Mack is ready to slow down with partner Linda Rawlings-Dolezsar in Grand Forks.
Mack, who moved to Grand Forks in January, recently opened North Fork Contracting to service Grand Forks and area.
After taking a year off after over 30 years in the business, Mack said he started North Fork Contracting because he’s still a little “too young to retire.”
Mack grew up in small-town Saskatchewan, and got into contracting through a friend.
“A friend of mine, his brother owned a construction company, so I started when I was 13, doing it after school,” Mack said. “I took a liking to it and went to school in Moose Jaw to get my journeymans, and went from there.”
Coming from Calgary, Mack built homes worth millions. He said he loved the challenge of building a home where anything was possible.
“When the [oil] money was flowing, sky was the limit, it was $6 million and $7 million homes,” Mack said. “Now, I’m looking to scale down a bit. I want to take it easy. One project at a time.”
Mack has won 15 homebuilding awards, including two national awards. Carpentry has always been a love, he said.
“I just love it, ever since I was a kid. Every day is different, and I don’t like repetition,” he said.
Rawlings-Dolezsar now takes care of Facebook for his business, as well as making sure the neighbours know what he’s up to. Mack built the new sign on the end of the driveway, which Rawlings-Dolezsar said she’s had wild compliments on.
Looking to do any kind of renovations, custom pieces or even new construction, Mack said his background is in building big homes, but he’s happy to start taking things a little easier. Although, he said, retirement probably isn’t in the cards.
“I probably won’t retire, I like to tinker around, I’m planning on the long haul,” he said.
Right now he’s working on a chicken coop for some poultry he bought. Rawlings-Dolezsar calls it the “Chicken Hilton.”
Mack said he anticipants a different kind of market here—but one that will keep him busy nonetheless.
“I’ll do everything,” he said. “We’ll do renovations, decks, rails, in Grand Forks and to the Lake. I think the market will be good here, it’s an up and coming community.”
Mack does projects big and small, ranging from minor renovations to new construction. He can be reached at 250-442-4058.