Serving up professionalism and skill, Tin Tech is a small company with big ambition.
By / Jessica Kirby • Photos courtesy of Tin Tech
Kody Kucey just wanted to build things. A lucrative career with a great life-work balance was also on the list, but it wasn’t clear right away where he would find it.
He wanted to be a steel fabricator and had planned schooling at BCIT, but a neighbour who owned a small HVAC contracting business at the time offered him a job and told him if he wanted to fabricate and built things, this was the industry to join.
Kucey loved the sheet metal industry right away. The premise that the workforce is trained to build what they install—unlike electricians and plumbers, for example—was a big draw.
“You have to possess a certain amount of fabrication experience, even if you aren’t a shop guy, and it is rewarding to take a flat piece of metal and make from it a square to rectangular piece of duct,” Kucey says. “I like that it is technical and physically challenging, and I love the camaraderie that surrounds the trade, speaking to the association and the union.”
At his neighbour’s company, Kucey fabricated and installed components, and got to see a lot of great work in a very short time. “From there, I moved on to bigger shops, joined the union, and enjoyed the massive build up to the 2010 Olympics,” he says.
The games meant there was work everywhere, and the sharp decline that followed left space and opportunity to achieve schooling, which was exactly what Kucey did. He completed his training in record time, and set out to learn all he could from some of the industry’s larger shops.
“I came up through the recession, so I got to work with some of the big players, and I have seen our local union companies grow,” Kucey says. “I got to see how things are done by the professionals and the high standards they meet in their shops. I never intended to own my own shop, but because bigger companies are becoming more automated, they are coming for my business.”
Kucey founded Tin Tech in 2017. The company is an HVAC sheet metal contractor specializing in commercial and service in the smaller job market. Recently, it has started to expand into the multi-family residential project market.
“We are not fabricators,” says company owner Kody Kucey. “We do installations and partner with local shops for fabrication. We use more than one shop, and we use them to their strengths.”
Tin Tech is currently working on an interesting project that, besides being technically interesting, brings a bit of nostalgia to Kucey’s work day. Gabriola Mansion is a heritage house restoration in Vancouver’s west end. When it is finished it will be a housing project complete with apartments and townhouses, but when Kucey was a child, it was his day care centre. Later, the building was transformed into a pasta restaurant Kucey frequented.
“It is funny to see how things change,” he says. “It is a bit of a flagship project for us because of the nostalgia and because it is rewarding to be part of how our city is evolving.”
When Tin Tech started, it was focused primarily on small jobs and service work, and it has grown organically over the years. He rarely solicits new work, and his staff of eight will likely grow to 10 or 12 by the end of the year, based on upcoming projects.
That means having a solid team is essential, and service work calls for additional skills, since the workforce deals directly with the customer.
“You have to be attentive to what customers are asking of you, and you have to trust your education, experience, and expertise on jobs you would typically see engineered,” Kucey says. “There is a lot of retrofitting, trial and error, and troubleshooting, and we work closely with our partners—electricians, HVAC technicians, and plumbers, for instance, We have to calibrate ourselves to their needs. Every job is unique. There is no umbrella way to be successful.”
Moving ahead, Kucey’s plan is to grow to meet the needs of his workforce and to keep investing in his team for the betterment of the company and everyone who works there.
“For the first three years, I didn’t want to much from the business,” he says. “I wanted to do something every day to make sure it was successful, but I wanted to work on my own schedule and was happy as a service contractor. Fast-forward to today, and it is clear that to maintain a good group of guys and gals, you have to grow.”
When he expands the team, he will be looking to secure some young, ambitious people who share his vision and want a supportive and fun place to work.
“I think I am easy to work with, and everyone seems happy here. Happiness equals productivity, so that is the goal moving forward,” Kucey says. It’s not just about the work, but about enjoying the work, too. I try to make sure I do things for the staff so they enjoy being here. Our Christmas parties are always good, we do a fishing trip in the summer, and lots of ʻpizza parties’.”
Tin Tech became a SMACNA member in 2021 because Kucey appreciates what the association offers in terms of educational tools, networking opportunities, and access to the highest industry standards.
“I want to participate and be a part of something bigger that benefits our industry,” he says. “As long as I have been in the industry, I have worked for SMACNA contractors so I have seen the benefit the association brings and I want to be a part of that and give back to it, as well.” ■
