Brad Popoff is currently serving a two-year term as SMACNA-BC’s Northern Chair Representative. He owns Equity Plumbing & Heating, Ltd., which specializes in new institutional mechanical construction, and is a member of the Mechanical Contractors’ Association of BC and the Northern Regional Construction Association.
Popoff also owns FARR Fabricating Ltd., specializing in fabrication of structural steel, storage tanks, and specialty stainless steel products for the pulp and paper industry and FARR Installations Ltd.—a company that completes field erection of structural steel and storage tanks and tank lining and repair using exotic metals, also for the pulp and paper industry.
He has been in the business for 14 years, but his curiosity about how things worked and are built began when he was a kid. He took computer drafting and CNC programming classes in high school and decided to pursue engineering as a career.
“After high school I attended BCIT and took mechanical engineering—systems option,” he says. “During my time at BCIT I had an instructor who had worked in mechanical contracting and said it was a very rewarding industry and there was lots of opportunity. I applied for a junior estimator position with a large mechanical contractor in the Lower Mainland and was the successful applicant.”
Popoff worked in that shop for three years, during which time he was exposed to all facets of mechanical contracting. He then returned to BCIT part-time and received a Bachelor’s degree in construction management, and the rest is history. Through his years in business he has grown confident in some key business philosophies that have contributed to his success: a company’s best asset is its people, and you can’t manager what you can’t measure.
The greatest challenge the industry faces at the moment, says Popoff, is the lack of skilled tradespersons. “Especially in northern BC, it has been difficult to maintain a consistent level of work to carry an apprentice through their training,” he says. Of course, construction and the workforce in general are constantly changing for many reasons, including technology—with smartphones, for instance, people never really leave the office. Labour mobility and prompt payment are other areas in which the industry will see challenges and opportunities as these important issues evolve.
“Our biggest opportunity is demand from industry,” says Popoff. “Businesses don’t just create jobs because… there needs to be a demand. And with this demand it will allow our industry and businesses to grow.
SMACNA has an important role to play in how the industry and businesses like Popoff’s develop and weather the construction cycle, he adds. “Its role is advocating for the trade in industry and all levels of government,” says Popoff. “Also, the training and educational programs offered by the association are invaluable.”
