Spring 2001
The Modular Wizard
David Poupore saw the potential of factory-built homes and boosted them into the 21st century.
By Norma Kimmins
Six
years ago, David Poupore’s nine-year-old son persuaded him to ditch
his skis and take up snowboarding. "I quickly learned that skiing
and snowboarding are really quite different and if you really want to
succeed, you need to be committed to it from day one and take some lessons,"
says the 47-year-old president of Guildcrest Homes. Now a competent snowboarder,
Poupore admits he’s had his fair share of tumbles along the way.
Still, he always picks himself up, brushes off, and continues the challenging
journey.
Poupore has a similar attitude when it comes to business. He says that while his modular home building company is successful today, it sprouted from the ashes of bankruptcy. "I got a great education and learned a great deal about what not to do," says the Montreal native who grew up in Ottawa.
After getting a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Queen’s University, Poupore spent about 10 years working in the banking industry in Toronto, London and Ottawa where he specialized in estates, trusts and financial management.
It was in 1989 while he was working for Canada Trust in Toronto, that he was recruited by Morewood Industries as executive vice-president and Chief Operating Officer of the fledgling manufacturer of windows, doors and modular homes. "I jumped at the opportunity," he recalls. He was happy to make the move to Morewood, near Ottawa, and work for a smaller firm. "It also meant I could move from working with intangibles to tangibles."
In the beginning
When he arrived at Morewood Industries, there were 365 employees. Fourteen months later the company had downsized to 165 workers, and eventually, it went into receivership. "Basically, the housing market crashed and interest rates spiked," he says. Still, Poupore recognized its potential, and in 1991, he and five other employees put together a package to buy the assets with an eye to restructuring. "The bankruptcy was tragic, but it also provided an opportunity for us to create something from a shell, to literally re-create a business and ultimately be our own bosses."
Recognizing the need to make a fresh start, both from an employee and marketing standpoint, the group gave the company a new identity: Guildcrest Homes. "We wanted to have a name and logo that evoked feelings of craftsmanship and quality. And I’d say we succeeded in that area since we won the Ontario SAM Award for best logo in 1992," says the indoor builder.
Equipped with 100,000-square-foot factory and office, plus a retail sales centre that included a selection of model homes available to public viewing, Poupore and his team of about 60 employees built 72 homes during their first year of operation.