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TheBuzz Erika Engle |
Suitably happy after
a quarter century of
Canaan ConstructionRay Suiter Sr. moved to Hawaii with a Toyota truck and some hand tools and in 1978 he founded Canaan Construction and Decorating.
"We started very small. There were, I think, three or four of us, and I started out actually in the decorating business," he said.
He quickly obtained his general contractor's license and the company's name changed to Canaan Construction Ltd., which now has 26 employees.
Canaan is believed to be the only general contractor that offers a lifetime guarantee on projects it builds from the ground up.
Karen Nakamura, executive vice president of the Building Industry Association of Hawaii, could think of no others.
Canaan's projects were once evenly split between residential and commercial, including high visibility projects such as Waikiki's Local Motion store. It was seen around the world via MTV's "Real World."
The architect was Peter Vincent & Associates LLC. "We've worked a lot with Peter and we were very proud of that project," Suiter said.
The companies have built "a number of award-winning projects," both residential and commercial, Vincent said.
"They really do have a commitment to quality. They are very craftsman-oriented. I think because of that commitment is why they have this warranty, that they feel so strongly about the quality of their work they're willing to guarantee it," he said.
Residential projects now make up 85 percent of the company's work, many of them for media-shy individuals of high net worth.
The son of a builder, Suiter grew up around construction. "I developed a very strong sense that construction was a permanent thing," he said. "So as years have gone by, we're in the era today of disposable houses. People throw them away like washing machines.
"We focus on people that are really looking for quality construction and lasting value."
The philosophy led to an expensive lesson that Suiter turned in to lemonade.
He had no experience with termites, having grown up in Montana where the critters don't survive the winter. Six months after he built a Waialae Iki home, it was infested and he was embroiled in a lawsuit.
"I was very naive," he said.
His attorney and insurance agent advised him that it was a disaster, that he should turn it over to the insurance company and walk away from it.
He did walk, with his wife that evening, and decided, "Nothing is going to take down one of my houses."
Suiter proposed to repair the house, splitting the cost with the architect and homeowner unless the infestation was caused by faulty construction, in which case Suiter would foot the bill. The parties agreed and deconstruction began under the supervision of Elmer Botsai, then a University of Hawaii architecture expert the homeowner's attorney had retained.
A design problem was to blame, Suiter said, but "the architect bailed out." Canaan and the homeowner agreed to proceed and split the cost, but "my insurance company was so impressed they jumped on board and paid my bill, so it was a wonderful experience."
"The greatest part was, I became very familiar with the leading edge of all the termite protection techniques," Suiter said.
Suiter's insurance agent encouraged him to capitalize on the warranty work he had been doing, but not marketing. It was formalized in 1992 or '93, Suiter said.
"We look at our homes like a castle. The moat around the castle is protecting the castle from the enemy. Most homes in Hawaii, they have the moat around and seven or eight drawbridges are down," he said.
Open drawbridges include installation of stucco below ground level, which allows termites to crawl up between the stucco and the foundation where they can get into the framing and gain access to timber, he said. Other opportunities include cracks and electrical and plumbing penetrations through the slab.
"If a house is built right there's no reason a house should get termites into the structure," Suiter said.
Customers are also encouraged to have regular termite treatments.
The company took a hit when Malama Spa, a separate company run by Suiter's daughter-in-law and eldest son, Max, declared bankruptcy after excessively rapid expansion and the downturn that followed 9/11.
Canaan was not paid for design and construction work at the Ala Moana and Manoa spas. "But we're pretty stable and bounced back from that and we're very busy now," Suiter said.
"I don't fault my son and daughter-in-law for doing that. I think most people spend their lives not doing anything," he said. "A man or woman who has never failed is usually a person who's never done anything. I've made mistakes in my career. The important thing is what you learn from it."
See the Columnists section for some past articles.
Erika Engle is a reporter with the Star-Bulletin.
Call 529-4302, fax 529-4750 or write to Erika Engle,
Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210,
Honolulu, HI 96813. She can also be reached
at: eengle@starbulletin.com