2008 brought a lot of hard times for a lot of people. It was the year that Canada had seen record plummeting numbers, businesses fail, homes go up for foreclosure, etc. To say the least, 2008 was NOT the year for people to take the plunge and venture into a brand new business. At least not for most people…
Chris Davies, owner of the successful Chris’s Sign Service (our sister company in British Columbia) talked to his friend John Thomasen about starting up a sign and lighting maintenance company in Alberta. John agreed that this would be a great idea, and the two started a partnership and created Westcan Lighting Inc. They knew that service and maintenance of signs and lighting would always be a thriving industry. When times are tough, most people don’t want to spend large amounts of money on their advertising needs. They’d rather utilize what they have and keep their name alive and bright for the best exposure possible to their respective clients, for the lowest possible price.
Another aspect John and Chris envisioned was combining lighting maintenance, (whether it be interior washroom lighting or exterior pole lighting) with interior and exterior sign maintenance. Doing this eliminated the need for customers having to call 2 different vendors, being able to use simply one company, to cover any sign or lighting issues that may occur.
In September 2009, Westcan Lighting Service Inc. was born. John had a vision at the time to be the largest service provider in Western Canada. Starting with only one service truck and one service technician in Calgary Alberta, Westcan Lighting Service has since grown tremendously. From a one man-one city-one office-administrator company to a national Canadian company servicing clients from the lush west coast of British Columbia, to the golden prairies of Manitoba. Westcan now employs 48 administrative staff including Estimators, Dispatchers, and Technician Team Leaders. Our fleet includes 2 65’ boom trucks, 14 bucket trucks, 4 scissor lifts, and 18 fully trained, full-time Service Technicians. Quite impressive, considering just a mere 10 years ago, it was a one-man show.
Westcan Sign & Lighting Service Inc. has also seen change along the years. Although Westcan’s main focus is sign and lighting maintenance, it’s grown to include manufacturing and signage installs for large Canadian sign manufacturing companies. We are also working hard to bring the term “Green” to all of Alberta through LED lighting conversions. Offering all of these convenient services has helped Westcan Sign and Lighting Service grow the way it has over the years.
Westcan Sign & Lighting Service has constantly continued to expand and impress. With a record showing zero loss of clientele, zero claims, and next to zero employee turnover, Westcan has continued to add new services for clients within our area of coverage and has also gained a proud partnership with an extensive network of subcontractors that offer the same level of service in the places we aren’t on the ground yet. With that said, John has always had the mentality that, unless it is impossible for us to be in an area for a service call ourselves within the allotted time frame (ex. emergency calls in remote areas), we will always service our own customers with our own technicians. Period. We will always use our own technicians to service our client’s needs whenever possible.