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ENTERPRISE
Many people in Enterprise and Hay River know Don Ironside as a carpenter, but his company offers much more than that.

Don Ironside of Enterprise is the owner/operator of a business which was recently renamed Ironside Construction. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

"My company hasn't expanded so much with people, but it's expanded and diversified into so many different things that we do," he said.

So, several months ago, he changed the company's name from Ironside Carpentry Service to Ironside Construction.

Ironside still does carpentry, but during the fall and winter – usually from October to March – he also works in the oil patch throughout Western Canada.

In particular, his oil patch work involves operating a custom-designed tracked machine which delivers water to seismic drills. The water – which is in a custom-built 800-gallon tank and prevented from freezing by the machine's exhaust – helps loosen hard ground to help drill holes into which dynamite charges are lowered.

"It was just three years ago that I had that machine built," Ironside said. "I initially looked at it for fighting fires up here and then the company that sells them is a seismic business and they said, 'Well, why don't we set it up so it will work in our industry, too?'"

In the last three years, he has worked in various places – British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan.

"If seismic work came up in the Northwest Territories, I'd be doing it there, too," he said.

Ironside also has a number of other pieces of equipment, including a smaller tracked vehicle with a gravel box used to build gravel walking trails.

"It's like a little dump truck on tracks," he said.

There are also a hydro-seeder and a tree mulcher.

Ironside, who is originally from Manitoba, has been a carpenter since 1985.

The 52-year-old first moved to the NWT in 1993 and spent three years in Yellowknife before moving to the Yukon for a few years. When he returned to the NWT, he spent a couple of years in Fort Liard.

"I've been in Enterprise since 2004," said the former hamlet councillor.

Ironside said he expanded from carpentry into the other areas partially because he finds it "just about impossible" to find reliable employees, especially since many potential workers are reluctant to drive to Enterprise when they can get the same carpentry work in Hay River.

Operating equipment is something he can do on his own and something he really enjoys doing, he said. "I love driving that little equipment around and, as long as there is work for it, I'm not relying on three guys to show up in the morning because we're doing a great big concrete pour or something like that, and two of them don't show up."

Right now, when he does carpentry work he is assisted by his partner, Evelyne Aucoin, who helps out by cleaning and painting, along with doing the company's books.

Ironside is a self-taught carpenter.

"I take pride in the fact that what I know and what I can do I've learned basically 100 per cent on my own, rather than sitting in a classroom and having some mentor over you saying you should do it this way and do it that way," he said.

Ironside said it is not difficult to juggle the two different aspects of his working life.

"I've always got to be active, whether it's physically or mentally," he said. "That's perfect for me. I've got to be on the go all the time."

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