As a mason with Red Seal certification, which indicates a tradesperson has demonstrated the knowledge required for national standards in that trade, John Byham could have gone anywhere in the country. But he chose to remain in his home town of Shelburne.
“This is where I grew up, this is where my father lives, and this is where my home and my family are.”
The Shelburne area is also the base for Redseal Masonry, a firm which he started a few years after completing a five-year, 1,200-hour-a-year apprenticeship through the Ontario Masonry Training Centre in Mississauga.
With the help of his brother Daniel and occasional assistance from father Ken, he takes on a wide variety of industrial, commercial, and residential projects.
The residential component includes both new home subdivisions and existing homes and this can range from erecting new exterior walls to installing ornate fireplaces.
“We do it all if it (the project) involves brick, block stone, or mortar.”
For the most part, the company restricts its projects to within an hour’s drive of Shelburne, but occasionally will take on jobs further away. If there is a heavy volume of projects, he can call on other masons who work for him on a contract basis.
John says his roots in the trade go very deep. Both his father and grandfather were masons.
“It has been a trade my family has performed for three generations and I started doing it when I was young, so it just came naturally,” says John, explaining he began mixing mortar for his father on job sites at the age of 14.
After graduating from high school, the natural and most obvious progression was to enter an apprenticeship program with the masonry centre, an Ontario government-approved training delivery agent for the brick and stone masonry trade. The apprenticeship combines practical on-the-job experience with classroom instruction.
John was able to obtain a series of jobs through Local 2 of the International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftsman, rising to a lead hand and then eventually to foreman. He worked on a number of high profile projects at facilities such as the Square One and Sherway shopping Centres and two large churches, one in Brampton and one in Milton.
In 2005 he started Redseal Masonry, which he operated on weekends as he was still taking on jobs secured through the union. “I was working seven days a week.”
Two years ago he decided to concentrate solely on his company as the seven-day-a-week grind was becoming too onerous.
By that time he had also built up a client base that gave him the confidence to start out on his own.
“There has been no shortage of work,” says John, referring back to the mix of projects.
Included in that portfolio are the interesting collection of century homes, some of which are designated under the Ontario Heritage Act, which dot the hills of Dufferin County and Caledon.
Of course, those homes come with a list of complications, the largest of which is finding bricks that match the original ones.
“We try to match the existing brick to the best of our ability,” says John, noting the company usually sources brick from Orangeville Precast. Other suppliers include Masons Masonry in Mississauga or King Masonry Yard Ltd. in Caledon.
While working on those older houses, John, his brother, or one of the contract masons will occasionally uncover, “some interesting discoveries” The most common are decades-old newspapers whose purpose was to function as insulation.
Asked about his most challenging project or projects, John says its chimneys, whether repairs to existing structures or erecting new ones. While basically small jobs, chimney installations require expensive-to-rent lift machines for workers and materials. As there are numerous different types of roofs and pitches (or slopes), the set up needed varies greatly, he says.
Masonry work is physically demanding and to perform to a high standard demands a “sense of passion. If you don’t have that passion it’s just another job.”
Another question posed to John is where he finds his passion. His response was that it stems from the satisfaction and sense of accomplishment of knowing some of the buildings he has laboured on will endure for decades, if not hundreds of years.
And homeowners should share that same sense of passion when considering a masonry project, he suggests. “Masonry features make a home.”
Just a few examples include fireplaces which evoke memories and feelings for Christmas and family occasions. Or perhaps the front stone entrance maybe where your daughter’s wedding day photographs were taken.
While material such as wood or siding stands out less over the decades, masonry generally does not change and will remain the focal point of a home, he says.
WRITTEN BY: DAN O’REILLY | PHOTOGRAPHY: ANDI SOLOWKA
