December 13, 2021 • 48 mins
Kai Fahrion and Gursh Bal met as electrical apprentices, quickly became friends and are now business partners. The Co-CEO's of Virtuoso Energy are very passionate about environmental sustainability, and that is clear as we discuss the building of their business. We chat about solar PV, electric vehicle charging, green energy rebates and the roles of electricians moving forward during the "Just Transition" movement.
We can also report that Virtuoso Energy has some ambitious plans which include a name change, rebranding and adding more employees! Listen to this episode as we talk about the future vision of the company and stay tuned for more information early in the new year.
Connect with us on Instagram or Facebook - @wattsthewordpodcast
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Zack Hartle (00:00):
Hello, and welcome back to another episode of
(00:02):
Watt's the word and electricalindustry Podcast. I'm Zack
Hartle, and I'm joined as alwaysby my co host, Jason Cox. We're
here to have relevantconversations with members of
the electrical industry here inCanada. We've got a really great
show today, we're going to besitting down with Kai Fahrion
and and Gursh Bal of virtuosoenergy, talking about their
(00:25):
vision for a sustainableelectrical future, and the role
that electricians are going toplay in that future as well as
kind of where how they got towhere they are today in their
business virtuoso energy. Sowith that, let's jump into the
episode and take a listen.
Jason Cox (00:45):
Today on what's the word we're talking with virtual
so energy, we have Gursh Bal andKai Fahrion. Welcome to the
show, guys.
Gursh Bal (00:54):
Yeah, thanks for having us.
Kai Fahrion (00:55):
Thanks for having us.
Jason Cox (00:58):
So real quick, gentlemen, I'm interested how
you both decided to get into theelectrical trade. So give me
just a quick background of howyou guys decided to become
electricians initially, beforebusiness owners, that would be
great.
Gursh Bal (01:13):
Okay, if you want to kick things off, and the place
to start?
Kai Fahrion (01:17):
Yeah, for sure. My electrical journey started back
in 2011. One of my big reasonswas actually I had a choice
between plumber and electrician,I come from a background of five
generations of plumbers thatthen turned into engineers. And
so I want to break that I endedup going into the electrical
(01:38):
side of things. And it wassomething that I really liked.
It was something that maybeallowed me to work with my
hands. A big part of the jobitself was actually being able
to build things, see things cometogether and see complex systems
as well. So tied into a lot ofstuff that I like doing that to
date on a day to day. And thenfrom there, that kind of led us
(02:00):
into, we'll talk about it moreafterwards, but more into kind
of the virtual suicide andbuilding the company itself, and
assist in the sustainabilityspace, the lessons we learned
from the doctoral degree alongthe way.
Gursh Bal (02:13):
My mind isn't necessarily as deep rooted as
Kai, but when, when I was ayounger individual, I initially
started off going in thedirection of computer
engineering. And I quicklydiscovered that it wasn't
something that I was prettypassionate about. At that time,
the person I was with who's mywife now, was really driving me
to be a better person, her and Iwere doing a lot of humanitarian
(02:34):
work together. So you know, it'sbeen spending personal time
going out and helping helpingindividuals who were less, I
guess, more marginalized, and itdidn't have the same
opportunities that we did. So wequickly came to the agreement
that as, as a partnership wewant in the long run, we wanted
to make sure that we were, youknow, retiring at a reasonable
(02:55):
age in which the skills that wegained throughout our youth
would be utilized in abeneficial manner. So we went
through a little bit of anexercise to determine what we
would figure what we figured atthe time would be the most
valuable skill to have from ahumanitarian perspective in
developing nations. So I wentdown, like would it be good if I
was a carpenter? And would it begood if I was a welder, or and
(03:17):
then eventually, we ended uplanding on the fact that being
an electrician would be the bestway to go be and furthermore
discovered that it's one of thekeys to overcoming poverty. So
it was an interesting exerciseto my wife that I went through.
And at that time, I was livingin Edmonton. I packed everything
up, moved down to Calgary andwent through the apprenticeship
program. I said
Jason Cox (03:35):
Gursh, I've heard a lot of people over the years
tell me their journey untilelectrical and I've never heard
one like that before what sowhat a noble foresight so I
commend you on that and Chi manto be able to break away from
that plumbing, family backgroundand get into electrical. I kind
of laugh about that, because asyou guys know, there's always
(03:56):
that ribbing between theelectricians and the plumbers.
So in all those generations,what a what a great introduction
to to our podcast this week.
Thanks for that guys.
Zack Hartle (04:07):
That's a good I don't know a little bit of a
different way into the tradeobviously there came a point
where you guys ran into eachother right neither of your
entries into the trade war witheach other. So I mean, now you
guys are both co CEOs correct meif I'm wrong, virtuoso energy.
So how did that come to be?
Gursh Bal (04:25):
This is a pretty funny story. So the going
further into our roots kinda youboth come from like, I guess
we're where people are the earthwe have like very diverse
cultural backgrounds. Ipersonally come from like an
English Indian roots, and thenchi is Swiss German, and it
(04:46):
provides a lot of diversity inthat the reason why that's
important to note is being inAlberta and the trades one of
the luxuries is having a nicetruck. But when we both pulled
up to a sulfur facility justeast of Calgary, we both
happened to be there. Drivinglike compact European cars, and
everybody else had like raptorsand nice lifted trucks. And Kai
(05:07):
was at, I think at that time wasa fourth year, fourth year
electrician, and I was a thirdyear, a third year apprentice
and walked into the general areadoing the tailgate meeting, and
the superintendent of a site inthe form and basically said,
Akers, you're new to this, Iwant you to go over to Kai, I
walked over to him. And it waskind of an interesting
(05:28):
situation. I think I picked upfor me.
Kai Fahrion (05:31):
Yeah, so we ended up actually working together on
the site, which was ironic thatthey picked us to work together,
not knowing any of that whatgroups just mentioned. And then
yeah, from there, we pretty muchwe worked together on the site
there. First, then on one of ourbreaks, ended up pulling out
these things called energyballs. They were vegan, and
(05:54):
literally an energy ball that hementioned, that he brought to
site. And it was something forbreaktime that he was like, Hey,
you bought one of these gave meone of them. And we started
getting into the details of kindof a little bit more in depth of
how we grew up. What kind ofsome of the things that we
liked, and ended up clicking ona lot of things when it came to
music, when it came to our lovefor cars, a lot of different
(06:16):
aspects like that. So that kindof then shifted into working
together quite a bit. Becausethe foreman on site liked how we
work together and all of that. Idon't know how detailed you want
to go into the story here, yoursmight be you kind of are good at
the high level asked fordilution on ticket.
Gursh Bal (06:32):
Yeah, I mean, to really sum it up, I for the
longest time as well to costquite a bit younger than me. The
best way to explain that is I'mmarried. And I have three kids.
And Kai is in a long termrelationship and has two kids,
but in the form of dog's mind orthe human version. So there's a
pretty big gap from an ageperspective between the two of
us. But the biggest thing is Ialways admired him and looked up
(06:53):
to him because his work ethicwas excellent. And he really
knew what he was doing. So I washis apprentice for a while,
wasn't just at that site, but itcontinued on on to other sites
as well, too. And I was veryhappy working underneath an
individual as skilled as him,which eventually allowed you
know that that piece of you haveto be able to learn how to work
underneath people before you canwork over them. And then but
when that never ended uphappening, we both just rose
(07:14):
together and became equals overtime.
Jason Cox (07:18):
It is fascinating when you start having those
relationships working with apartner in the field, whether
it's a journeyman or anotherapprentice, you definitely do
build some unique bonds thatthat I mean, they last a
lifetime, you still run intopeople from time to time, and
you learn a lot when you'relearning and working together.
And some very strange situationsin the trade.
Gursh Bal (07:41):
That's a beautiful part of the trip, especially
people who like your the titleof journeyman is such an
honorable rule to have. And evenstill, like, well, we'll have
like a barbecue or somethinglike that. And my, there'll be
the odd one where my familycomes down and like, Oh, you
gotta meet this person use myjourneyman, this side. And this
person was a journeyman of thissite, and they they hold a
special place in our lives.
Because without them, you knowthat you're you would have never
(08:02):
gotten your red seal or ticket.
So you're 100%, right, they arevery important. Not necessarily
just from the companionshipside, but also in the ability to
become a skilled individual tobe able to really find your
footing in the world.
Jason Cox (08:16):
And you basically both said that your family, you
guys came to Canada, and I foundthat the opinion of the trades
in Europe is far different thanit is in North America. So that
respect in the Europe culture,towards the trades. I mean, it's
it's they're looking at you likeyou've got a degree or you're,
(08:37):
you're a professional. And soit's nice to see even even as
you were mentioning earlier,your family's in plumbing and
going university, but they stillencourage you to
Kai Fahrion (08:48):
follow the trades.
Yeah, for sure. It was a bigpart of it is like being able to
get kind of that hands on aspectwas, again, like I said,
everybody kind of goes back onthe plumbing side, and then into
the engineering side, wherewe've kind of been able to, you
almost get to learn both sidesof that here, which is nice. You
get to kind of really interactwith the engineers when you're
working on projects as well. Soyeah, I definitely agree that
(09:10):
it's a very sought after areally good group choice.
Zack Hartle (09:16):
So you guys built that relationship together. And
I couldn't agree more. I mean,those bonds between journeyman
and apprentice and then orjourneyman and journeyman or
apprentice and apprenticeworking together. I mean, some
of that are my lifelong friendsor people in my wedding parties,
right are people I came upworking with, you know, through
my apprenticeship into myjourneyman service van years.
(09:37):
When did you guys decide to gofrom working for someone else
into starting virtuoso and whathelped you make that decision?
Gursh Bal (09:45):
This is this is also another interesting story. So at
the time, we were both workingfor Stratis electrical
instrumentation, they're stillgoing strong, could have really
good leadership team. I highlyrecommend them as an employer as
well to chi was kinda we'rerunning around as a two man crew
going and just banging out allthese all these more intricate,
(10:05):
more detailed jobs and reallymaking sure we were doing the
best work that we couldpotentially do. But
simultaneously to that we got aninvitation from sate for a
builder business competition.
This was in April of 2016. So itwas a Dragon's Den style
competition in which you pitchyour business model, we ended up
going forward with a electricalcompany, electrical services
company focused on solar and hadsome really good advisors at
(10:28):
our, at that time in our livesas well, too, that helped us
formulate a really good businessstrategy. And we ended up
winning the competition we won.
What we thought back then was alot of money was five grand and
that gave us enough confidenceto Team quit our jobs. So we
took out our employer at thetime of the individual that we
had a really good relationshipby the name, gentleman's name
(10:49):
was Craig app, took them overlunch, told him like, Hey, thank
you so much for everything thatyou've done for us. But it's
time for us to go on our own.
And we wanted to make sure wewere doing whatever jobs they
wanted us to get done to have tohave that wrapped up and be
really respectful to theirorganization, because we had the
freedom to do what we wanted tonow. So we made sure we left off
on a good on a on a really goodnote, but simultaneously to
(11:10):
making sure we did thatproperly. Ironically enough,
that individual himself who wasa master electrician helped
support our business for thefirst I would say hi, probably
four to six months, give or takearound six months. Yeah, around
six months, he helped us pullpermits until we were really
under we got our feet underneaththat. So it just showed like how
class even individual he was,but also simultaneously spoke
(11:30):
volumes about the industry thatin the trades, like everybody
really works together and helpsupport one another. Regardless
of of kind of where they'regoing, because it is truly a
rising tide. Right. We're allbuilding this province together.
Zack Hartle (11:45):
Yeah, it's so good to hear that having that strong
relationship with him and nohard feelings and you guys
decided to leave helped you guyslaunch your business. One thing
I really liked what that storyis, you mentioned the business
competition at at sait. Which isa polytechnic post secondary
here in Calgary, Alberta. Maybecan you just touch on that a
(12:06):
little bit? That's a pretty coolopportunity. And I think the
fact that you guys even took theinitiative to jump on it is
something that you know, maybeonly one out of 100, people
would even think to jump on. Soyou can touch on that.
Kai Fahrion (12:19):
Yeah, I can expand on that. And it's actually,
we've said this a few timesalready, but is it adds to the
funny story. So it goes back tothat we were working separately
at this time, actually. So I wasworking in Saskatchewan, on our
hometown project. And girl shewere working on camera interview
in Calgary out of town as well.
But we were communicating and Igot an email saying, Hey, we're
doing this save, build abusiness competition, the owner
(12:42):
of rouge is going to be speakingas like the inspirational
speaker for day one. And then ifyou get accepted into the
program after that you can applyafter kind of that speech. And
then you can you can getaccepted into the program to
actually pitch your business. SoI forwarded that email to
Gershon this was I had a jobwhere I was sleeping in a hotel,
it was probably like a $15 nighthotel where you're wearing all
(13:05):
your clothes to the good outtatown, grind, and I afford the
emails like this, I think it's areally good opportunity for us
to, to kind of step out of ourday to day and see if we can
actually kick this thing off anddo something bigger with it. And
so I forwarded that to grish. Weboth agreed it made sense. When
I came back on my days off, weended up going to, to the speech
(13:25):
there to watch it. And then fromthere, I applied for the
competition. And were picked,how many businesses were picked
yours or how many was it eightor 10, that went through the program.
Gursh Bal (13:37):
I think it was, it was a total of eight, that ended
up pitching pitching at theactual night of the events. And
that's sort of Yeah, that's aninteresting point as well, too.
I was touching on somethinginteresting there with the
actual event. The event was onthe night of my TQ and a morning
after was my IP. So myinterprovincial exam and my
(13:59):
actual final exam for my for myto get my journeyman ticket. So
it was it was pretty chaotic.
And that was it, nothing haschanged. So that was a that was
a good night. But Kyle that youkind of carry the carry back to
the story there.
Kai Fahrion (14:14):
Ya know, so that pretty much got us into the it
was through Satan and actus, whothrough their business school,
again, we were paired with anindividual, that funny enough
now we're still really goodfriends with both of them as
well. So people that you meetthroughout these processes, and
these journeys have been a hugeimpact as well. And then yeah,
that went into us building ourbusiness model, and then
(14:35):
pitching to I want to say sixindividuals, and then being able
to win that take that $5,000 Andlike you said, run with it and
kind of create what we'vecreated today.
Jason Cox (14:49):
I think that's an incredible opportunity. So if we
kind of look back at thatproposal, at your presentation
and then kind of jump right towhere we are today. How Have
your let's talk about yourservices that your company is
offering today. And have theychanged very much from those
initial proposals. So we went
Kai Fahrion (15:09):
into the competition with pitching solar.
So looking heavily at SolarSolutions backed by traditional
electrical solutions as well.
And today, our major offering ishome solar solution. So more
dialed in. So pretty much whatwe did from there is we ended up
doing traditional electricalwork to get our footing into the
solar space. And then once westarted kind of working closer
(15:32):
with the solar and thesustainability side of things,
then we transitioned into solarsolutions, electric vehicles,
solutions and led retrofits soreally on like sustainability,
reducing carbon footprint forhomes and commercial. And now
our focus has actually shiftedagain in the last kind of 12
months, where we're heavilyfocused on home solar solutions.
(15:55):
So that's solar electric vehicleinfrastructure and battery
solutions for homes. And theother aspects, like when it
comes to traditional electricalwork, we work with contractors
and partners that do that. So itshifted quite a bit and I was
the last five years
Jason Cox (16:14):
kind of thing. All right, well, I mean, but I mean,
it was a natural progression.
It's yeah, it's, it's, it's notlike you started with vegetables
and move to fruit, it seems likeyou guys are are following a
logical sequence there. Sothat's kind of cool.
Zack Hartle (16:30):
So I've done a little bit of reading about the
company I know. And based onyour story in the last five
year, you guys have grownrapidly, right? You've I don't
know grown a lot. Have you guysmanage that growth from five
years ago, I assume the two ofyou standing on a roof together
installing panels to now beingthe CO CEOs? How did you get
from there to hear?
Gursh Bal (16:50):
Yeah, that's a really good question. So it can be
growth is always something thatisn't ever truly predictable.
Other than the numbers in thespreadsheet, usually the numbers
on a spreadsheet is the guidingthe guiding overview of what it
is that we need to be able toachieve. And the biggest thing
that we understood, and this iscoming from truly a humble place
not from an arrogant position atall is that you have to
(17:13):
understand as an owner of anorganization that people believe
in you. And that's really, thebiggest thing in any interaction
you have in humanity is that ifyou're getting behind something
is because there's somebody thatcreated that something that you
now believe in. And adoptingthat mindset was something that
was a little bit difficult forus. But it's been formulated
into something that we haveinternally and externally, which
(17:35):
are not generally known as corevalues. But our core values are
not like the typical ones, whereit's like safety or integrity or
something. It's very much rootedin who we are, as people, what
we've determined as individualsare the most important
characteristics that we carry,and what we think are required
for our team to be able toexemplify, exemplify in their
everyday interactions with theirclients with each other, and
(17:57):
things of that nature. Butthere's another side of the coin
as well, too, is the ability toactually pull these things off.
And that's, that's about reallycoming down to having the right
people in the right seat. So wehave a really strong management
team, each each representing adifferent part of our company,
whether it be sales oroperations, or marketing, or
finance, we have some reallytalented individuals, a lot of
(18:18):
them are quite young as welltoo, but very hardworking and
very bright. And believing inthose people and giving them the
tools that they need have beenhas been one of the major
reasons where we are continuingsuccessfully and, and have had a
lot of success previously aswell to the last piece of the
growth is really tied to theoperation side of things. So
making really strongrelationships, making sure that
(18:40):
you know, the organizations thatyou're working with externally,
whether it be like vendors,suppliers, distributors, some of
the partnerships we have, forexample, we represent Porsche,
Canada, we work TeslaChargePoint, things of that
nature, some of these reallycool brands, making sure that
they feel that they're a part ofour vision as well too, and
making sure that they alsounderstand that that we're
grateful for having them alongthe ride. That's really what it
(19:01):
comes down to in terms of thecompany's growth, it's chaotic,
it's a lot of the times it canbe really difficult and it's not
fun. But as long as the visionis locked in and everybody feels
like they're part of part of thegreater the greater good of what
we're trying to do and notfilled in feeling like they're
getting run over somethingdoesn't necessarily go right as
has really put us in the rightposition for the future.
Zack Hartle (19:22):
Now what I'm hearing there, I mean throughout
the entire you know, half anhour we've been talking so far
it's it's all aboutrelationships, right your guys's
strengthen your bond with eachother, the relationship with
your management team and thenyour relationship with the
external industry, which I thinkis really important to
understand that this industry isrooted in strong relationships.
(19:45):
I really liked that.
Gursh Bal (19:47):
It makes a lot of sense. It made me really want to
bring it back down to like wherethat comes from. We're from
we're both of us are fromdifferent countries, our class
from Germany. I'm from England,my dad's from India. And there's
this The weird thing that endsup happening is when you come to
Canada, you're not really, in acountry, you're in the best
representation of what humanityhas to offer, we just happen to
(20:08):
be stuck on a cold part of it,which kind of sucks half the
time of the year. But the bigthing is that you also
simultaneously understand thatwe're, we're all in this
together, and everybody'sworking collectively towards
something bigger than ourselves.
Because the opportunities thatyou're afforded in this country
come with a couple differentthings, it can either come with
guilt for all humans, sinto canexperience the Canadian life
because life is short. And here,it's quite sweet. And it also
(20:30):
comes with a lot of motivation,knowing that, because we have
the resources that we have here,we have to work a little bit
harder, and make sure that we'rebenefiting all those that don't
have the same opportunities asus.
Jason Cox (20:45):
So it would seem that one of our questions here is
what are you guys looking fornew employees, I think character
is one of those strongest traitsthat you guys would be looking
for. And then you could developthe skills of your trades
people.
Kai Fahrion (20:59):
Yeah, a big part of what we look for when it comes
to whether it's field office,whatever positions it might be,
is cultural fit and characterand being tied into our vision
for the future. So being able toactually feel and want to make
an impact when it comes tosustainable solutions, and
helping fight climate change.
And like you said, those otheraspects, we actually had, again,
(21:21):
individuals, if they're, we'llcall them no years that start
their apprenticeships with us,right, and work through that and
are able to kind of, then getthe educational side as well.
And then same with individualsthat aren't doing the
apprenticeship, they're able toget that education side from
other individuals on the team orthrough external training and
all that. So it it's a super bigthing when we're looking at new
(21:42):
employees is how do they fitwhen it comes to things outside
of skills that ranks reallyhighly with us?
Jason Cox (21:50):
I've never thought ever heard the term no yours
before, I kind of like, I likehow you take it and you're like,
it's in the past, it's almostlike a negative thing. You start
off green, you don't knowanything. Whereas you're gonna
sculpt this person and you'regonna build, you're gonna,
you're gonna build the employeethat you want out of it. So it's
actually a good thing.
Kai Fahrion (22:12):
Yeah, exactly.
Jason Cox (22:16):
Might not be in the right order of our questions
here. But you guys mentionedthat your business is really
focused in on residential?
Solar. My question is for youguys. Or it doesn't seem like
there'd be a whole lot ofengineered prints for your
projects. When it comes topicking products. Are you guys
kind of loyal to almost onebrand name? Like what? Where
(22:38):
have you guys picked up yourexperience on deciding which
vendors to use for your yourinstallations?
Kai Fahrion (22:47):
Yeah, I can I can touch on that. It's really a
question. A lot of it has someof it or some of it has come
from trial and error. So workingwith different brands that might
have seen better and that endedup being maybe not the best
solutions for us. I think that'sjust again, with growth. Now,
with the vendors that we use, alot of it comes from, what it
(23:09):
what are they doing on thesustainability side. So we look
at our distribution and oursupply network on are they
actually looking at reducingtheir impacts from the carbon
side of, again, manufacturing,transportation, all that, that's
a big part of it. And then alsolooking at product quality. So
being able to have really goodproduct quality was really good
warranties has been a hugeaspect of us actually picking a
(23:32):
few different solutions. Wedon't have it narrowed down to
say one for each, just becausewe don't want to be tied to just
one supplier just because ofdifferent code regulations and
all that. But we have it kind ofto two to three that we use for
the last like couple years thathave been steady. We've been
able to build thoserelationships like garage
mentioned with manufacturer anddistributor to to offer the best
(23:54):
product and the best service.
Jason Cox (23:57):
Yeah, I think you see that I think you see that most
of the time with with a lot ofconstruction trades, they they
narrow it down to two or threevendors just out of convenience
and efficiency for sure.
Zack Hartle (24:12):
Other than working with those vendors that use like
you say have more sustainableactions in their processes and
stuff as a as a constructioncompany, a trade company. I
mean, we know that the tradescan be pretty wasteful at times
in different various aspects ofconstruction. What have you guys
done as a company to kind oflimit your impact on the
(24:32):
environment in your installationprocesses?
Kai Fahrion (24:35):
Yeah, that's a really good question. We can
kind of two part of thiswonders. So from the actual
waste management side of things,again, it looks at partnering
with companies that go furtherthey go above and beyond with
their processes when it comes tolike our disposal and our
recycling bins. So that's a bigaspect of it is so like actually
working with them on seeing,hey, do they actually recycled
(24:57):
products? Do they actually dowhat they're saying? Are they
just going to the landfill wasthe kind of thing that was one
and then working with actuallyreducing material needs when it
comes to the crews on site. Soeducating and chatting with them
and kind of looking at, okay,what what is needed for this
project are we able to mitigateby buying more bulk and being
(25:17):
able to kind of have that withless waste than a good example
is wire, reducing the wire wastewhen it comes to cut offs and
things like that. And thenanother big aspect is also
having a full recycling programwhen it comes to the wire. So
being able to bring that allback, I know there's a monetary
side to that as well. But a bigone is, that's the environmental
side and the monetary side, theykind of drive each other. And
(25:40):
that gives individuals thatability to really make sure they
set that aside and their crews,and then they pretty much one
individual or one crew willbring it all back on a bi
monthly usually every couple ofmonths, they'll bring it back.
So that's the big parts that wedo when it comes to the
construction site and likegarage add anything else when it
comes to like Office and allthat.
Gursh Bal (25:59):
And when it comes down to the the greater scheme
of things in terms of what doesit look like from our from our
organizational perspective, wedo have a goal to become carbon
neutral as an organization. Andthere's different ways that
we're already bringing that intoplay, the first step that we
took was the implementing SDG.
So the Sustainable DevelopmentGoals put up by the UN. So we
(26:19):
subscribed to seven, seven ofthem. And we're making sure that
we're measuring each of thetargets, how are we actually how
are we actually, you know,satisfying the requirements
based on what the UN has setout. And then further to that
we're developing an internal ESGprogram, with some with some in
line with the GRI standards. Somaking sure that there is a
global perspective that we'rebringing into play that we're
(26:43):
hitting the benchmarks from thatside of things, and then
ultimately, me figuring out thegap. So the beautiful thing
about the world that we live innow is trees and solar panels
and other renewable energyresources have an inherent
carbon offset associated withthem. So hypothetically
speaking, let's say, Zach, youwanted to you have a trip coming
(27:04):
up and you wanted to fly toMexico, you now can simply just
go to the like, air Canada'swebsite and buy the carbon
offsets associated with theamount of fuel that's going to
be used for your seat based onhow many people are on your
flight. And you'll be able toenjoy that, that vacation
without any sort of, you know,concerns about your
environmental footprint. So thebig piece about that is where we
have a lot of efforts internallyto make sure we're in alignment
(27:27):
with that, that's also going toinclude a switching over our
entire fleet TV, but where we dohave gaps, we'll make sure that
we satisfy them with differentbrokerage firms that provides us
carbon, or in some cases, we'llwe'll be able to acquire them
from our clients as well, too.
Zack Hartle (27:42):
That's awesome. But guess my next question is what's
next for the company? In thenext you know, 510 years? Where
do you guys see virtual soheaded?
Kai Fahrion (27:51):
Okay, perfect. So one of our big things is our
BHAG we're big, hairy, audaciousgoal. And that is a million
homes by 2040. So a millionhomes and solar solutions by
2040 is our big thing. Now,that's a 19 year Hautelook, we
obviously have that broken downinto quarterly yearly, three
year, and then so on when itcomes to goals, when you're
looking at the actual thingsthat are in a tangible near
(28:16):
future is a is a full rebrand.
So we're actually looking at arebrand when it comes to the
field, the company, the forwardfacing and internal. So that
that's a big exciting thing thatwe've been working on that we're
looking forward to launching inthe New Year as well. And then
I'll like Gursh, kind of expandon that. And a few other
exciting things that are coming.
Gursh Bal (28:35):
Yeah, so I suppose touching on something that has
been a little bit of a delicateprocess. So we are going to be
coming out with a new name, anew look and a much easier to
digest overall experience withour clientele. The biggest thing
about our the industry thatwe're in, so you know,
sustainability as a whole, atthe end user side of things, is
it's an opportunity that hasn'tnecessarily existed in Hume
(28:56):
previously, in whatever thatopportunity is, is to be able to
control control the way thatyour energy is utilized. It's
the most democratic form ofenergy that we have, and making
sure that it doesn't soundcomplicated, like the way that I
just explained that is a littlebit complicated, right? So our
new brand will be able to reallysimplify that down and allow
(29:17):
people to be able to make adecision in a faster, more
confident manner. Because in ourindustry, nobody's really doing
a good job at it right now, fromthat perspective. They're doing
a very excellent job from sayingthat, here's your specs, here's
the technical pieces. here's thehere's the ins and outs, and it
hasn't become a more mass marketproduct in Canada yet. So that's
(29:38):
going to be what we're going toaccomplish in the short term is
we're going to make it make itthat mass market product so that
the impact of humanity'shumanity on the planet Earth can
be reduced. Obviously, solarisn't the be all and end all
solution. It's part of thegreater puzzle piece, but at
least in our industry, we canhelp accelerate that side
forward. And the bigger thebigger side of it from the human
(29:59):
side is To be able to create alot of really good jobs, we're
roughly sitting at about 50people pretty close to about 50
people now, that number is mostlikely going to double quite
easily in the next six months.
And the people that do work withus, like I have a lot of respect
for them, and a lot ofcompassion towards them as well,
too. They're all really greatindividuals. And we want to see
that continue to grow. And wewant to increase the standard of
what electricians can come toexpect in a workplace, whether
(30:22):
it be benefits, whether that bethe they're having their voices
heard the opportunities inorganizations, some of our
project managers started off andstarted off in the field and
work their way up. And justbeing able to make sure that
that opportunity as anorganization and Equal
Opportunity organization, isreally amplified over these over
these next few years. So peopleknow that it's a good place to
(30:43):
work and also expect higherstandards from their current
employer. So hopefully, thatprovides a greater snapshot of
the internal workings of whatour goals
Jason Cox (30:55):
will be looking forward to the announcement in
the new year just to see whatyou guys are up to. Because
it's, it's obvious that you havea plan.
Gursh Bal (31:02):
We're really excited for that as well, too. I mean,
it's been, it's been a labor oflove, in the best of ways
because the it's, it's the mostdoing a rebrand is the
equivalent of like spending,spending less than like an
entire year in a dentist chair,is you don't know which tooth is
gonna get pulled next, right. Soit's a fun exercise to add to
that we're hoping that we have anice set of teeth, and everybody
(31:24):
liked the smile that we put on.
Zack Hartle (31:26):
So I'm going to switch gears a little bit here,
really enjoyed hearing about thebusiness and the forward outlook
of the business. But I want totalk a little bit about, like
sustainability overall and therole that electricians are going
to play in that. So what role doyou see electricians playing in
combating climate change rightnow? And how do you think that's
(31:47):
going to start shifting in thenext, you know, five and 10
years.
Gursh Bal (31:51):
So I can I can touch on this one, from a high level
perspective was kind of zoomingin, on electric. It's obviously
my favorite tree. I mean, I'm anelectrician myself, but it's not
for the reason that a lot ofpeople would think that's all
you gotta to cool work. And youknow, it's it's more from the
perspective that it's an it's avery important trade from the
(32:12):
proceed from the side of thingsthat of you know, making sure
the planet is sustainable interms of humans living on earth,
having clean air and things ofthat nature as well, too. And
where that really comes from is,when when I was going through
the process of becoming anelectrician, I really quickly
discovered there's at that time,there was about 1.2 billion
people that didn't have accessto electricity, the key, the
(32:34):
mote, the single greatest thingthat you can do to overcome
poverty in developing nations ishaving access to electricity,
the ability to charge asmartphone, to have running
water in your home to have alight bulb on at night. I know
those all seem like super, youknow, typical things that we
experienced here. But that isn'tthe case in a lot of countries.
And that's, that's a big thingthere that electricians can look
(32:54):
forward to if they're going tobe part of that forward movement
to sustainability as a whole. Ifit's carbon capture technology,
somebody's got to worry about ifit's a wind generator,
somebody's got to wire that ifit's solar panels, that's almost
exclusively all electrical work.
And where that's being drivenfrom is currently globally,
there's 834 cities, not notcountry cities that have
renewable energy targets. 350 ofthose 834 are located in North
(33:16):
America, the other the other issplit up between Latin America
and the Caribbean, which is 32Europe, which is 357 Asia, which
has 51 Sub Saharan Africa, whichhas 19, and Oceania, which has
16. So the vast majority, andother than by seven cities is in
North America. And due to thetrend of globalization and the
(33:39):
ability to travel easily forwork. The opportunity for
electricians is almostlimitless. If you want to go
jump on a plane and fly down tothe Caribbean and wires and
solar panels based on thetechniques that you learned in
Canada, which our organizationtries to push the highest
standard. You have thatopportunity here. We also have
an individual on our team who,who whose mom stumbled across
her Instagram post saw that wewere still installing in Calgary
(34:03):
and convinced him to come backand Calgary and Edmonton sorry,
and convinced him to come backfrom Australia and start
installing for us. And he wasdown in Australia installing
solar panels. So it is becominga very universal, a very
universal product. It's not likeand please keep in mind, I
really admire oil and gasindustry in the province here. I
used to work in it myself. Butit's not like bitumen or shale,
where it's very geographical andyou're limited on that solar can
(34:26):
be installed anywhere, anytime.
Even if it's in a cloudy placeor on the side of the mountain
that's north facing energy socan can still be produced. If
there's a requirement for it, itcan be done. So that's that's
the big thing that I see therefor the future of the trade is
it's very bright, and it's juststarting to get its heels the
heels dug in. So the opportunityin at least for our lifetime, is
(34:50):
very abundant and variability.
Jason Cox (34:53):
Coupled with that earlier you mentioned EVs and
perhaps your company moving toan Eevee fleet What are your
guys's thoughts of the Evieinfrastructure capabilities of
our current grid? And? And Iwould imagine your installs are
going to help facilitatepowering those evey
Kai Fahrion (35:11):
cars? Yeah, that's a really good question. Yeah. So
when it comes to our solutions,it's actually working in
Thinkorswim. Since thebeginning, some of our
partnerships are heavily heavilyfocused on that it's getting in
at the ground floor withindividuals that are looking at
EVs. So we'll take Porsche, forexample. The reason we have that
partnership is really that we'reable to be that sounding board
(35:33):
for a client that's looking tomaybe get a Thai cat or again,
with her partnership with Tesla,looking at it fully electric
Tesla, and being able to say,okay, looking at their
infrastructure at their ownlevel, and what what's available
here, and how can we actuallysupplement that with solar so
that you're making that electricvehicle truly carbon neutral?
There's always see that thatargument or that conversation
(35:55):
that comes up a lot between, ifyou're plugging into the grid,
how dirty is that grid that thenthat then pushes forward? Is
that electric vehicle actuallyclean? So being able to educate
individuals on that as well onwhat what part can they do to
offset an electric vehicle, it'snot actually a huge solar
system, you're looking atanywhere from eight to 10 panels
that can offset the usage ofelectric vehicle from the
(36:17):
average person, the averageperson drives about 50
kilometers a day. So super, moreand more so on the education
side that people think that it'sthis huge thing, we need to have
40 panels for our electricvehicle, but you can actually do
a fairly small system. And thenhow does that look for actually
offsetting the other loads inthe house as well. And so we do
it really, from a grassrootsperspective, we try to go right
(36:39):
when they're looking atpurchasing the vehicle, making
sure that we're the firstcontact point for that, and then
being able to help them throughthat when it comes to energy
management solutions. So we'lljust say Calgary, for example.
And Max on the distributionside, we did have a chance to
work with them on a pilotproject where they actually are
doing pilots within all parts ofthe city. So each quadrant and
(37:01):
seeing what are the impacts ofelectric vehicle installs on the
grid? And when when are thosebeing charged for they're taking
that data so that they canactually start to adjust for
this, like you said, kind ofthat three to five year plan,
that the infrastructure is therefor, for the electric vehicles
to come online? And they knowexactly where are they going to
be putting public chargingstations? Where can they hit
(37:22):
heavier on kind of like electricvehicles being in everybody's
home, and actually having thatdata. So it's something that's
been ongoing, we've been luckyenough to be heavily involved in
it as well.
Jason Cox (37:33):
And when it comes to these installs in the
residential, you guys, not onlywould you have to be fluent in
the technology, the code theinstallation, but it seems like
there's an endless supply of, ofconversation regarding green
rebates. So you guys would haveto be up to date on the latest
(37:55):
and greatest possible rebatesfor your customer? Can you kind
of give us a quick idea of wherewe are currently with rebates in
the province?
Gursh Bal (38:05):
Yeah, absolutely. So there's a lot of the rebates
that are currently existing onboth the solar and the electric
vehicle side are focused orprovided for the federal
government underneath. So it'snice, it's coming from a single
point, which makes it a littlebit easier to read across the
country. And for solar rightnow, you can get up to $5,000
off from the greener homesgrants, which is which takes a
(38:27):
huge cost off the table for anaverage on average household.
And then for electric vehicles,if you are purchasing it. And I
believe the maximum value ofelectric vehicle has to be
somewhere around 55 grand youcan get, you can get $5,000 off.
So it's an international one.
There's currently no provincialrebates available. But if you
live in the city of Edmonton,there's another $4,000 off for
solar and there's $600 off foran electric vehicle charging
(38:50):
station. But we do have a newmayor in Calgary, and not giving
any positions on her as anindividual or her her platform.
But she has taken a very strongposition on climate change. As
recently as a few days ago, shedid have conversations with
leaders in the industry to beable to determine what does the
future need to look like interms of making sure that
(39:12):
Calgary as a city is fortifiedfor this transit, this
transition that's underway. Sowe'll be seeing some exciting
things coming out from there.
The one thing I do have alwayswarning people with is don't
wait. Every time that peoplehave waited, they come back
prices have gone up, because thesort of the solutions that we're
providing are becoming morepopular. Typical supply and
(39:34):
demand considerations are also afactor prices are going up as
demand is going up. So in somecases, we've had clients that
have reached out from like fouror five years ago, and their
price is exactly the same afterwe did. So that just goes to
show you that everybody's got asort of unique solution. So
again, cheaper. The counterpointto that is electricity prices
are getting more expensive. Sojustification for solar is
(39:54):
payback is faster, but the payis the cost is going up a little
bit. And then electric vehiclesis is becoming a little bit of
an interesting game as well tothe electric vehicle charging.
Station manufacturers understandnow that there's a major demand
because people need electricvehicle charging stations to
drive around. So we'll see someprice increases coming from that
side as well, too. So, I mean,there's no time like now. But
(40:16):
the bigger piece as well, too isit's not coming from the
corporate perspective, it'scoming from the from just
historically, what we've seenfrom price fluctuations. And
obviously, there's COVID Veryability to layer on top of that,
which is always fun as well.
Zack Hartle (40:29):
So the greener homes grant, so my understanding
is that it's still like monthsout, because you have to get an
energy advisor, like theirwebsite is not the best, we have
to get an energy advisorassessment. Do you guys know
what the wait times that peopleare seeing on that right now,
Gursh Bal (40:44):
if you're our clients, two weeks, if you're if
you're going to somebody else,three months. So we have, we've
built that partnershiprelationship in house, we if if
we have a client, and that, youknow is eager, we can push them
through that process a lotfaster. But the solar process in
a residential level still takessome time. So usually what we do
(41:04):
is we launched allsimultaneously, no matter what
solar is approved on singlefamily homes, it's baked into
the space into the greenerchrome homes cancel, there's no
risk associated with that youknow, it no matter what it's
going to get approved. So it'sjust about making sure that you
get your quote done, get the getyour contract signed and get the
microgeneration process started.
Because that part itself usuallytakes three to four weeks.
(41:26):
That's where the delaystypically happen. The greener
homecraft is an easy peasy. Wejust introduced Zillow to the
website, you sign up forcontact, like virtuoso say, hey,
I'm interested in getting solarand then we help fast track the
whole process.
Zack Hartle (41:40):
And then, because I have looked into a little bit,
but how, how much solar are youhaving to put in to get $5,000?
Back? And what's the percentagethat it ends up working out to
be?
Gursh Bal (41:50):
It's $1 per watt. So to get the full five grand, you
simply have to do a fivekilowatt system.
Jason Cox (41:55):
Okay. Are you guys looking at doing any
international installs? Are youbasically trying to stay within
Western Canada?
Gursh Bal (42:02):
We're actually we're actually in the stages of
expansion right now. So we'regoing stateside. And we have
like a grander vision in termsof heading to develop nations
and being able to execute ourexpertise in those regions. I
think I heard this from this wasa public conference. And Elon,
ironically enough, Elon Musk isspeaking at it. And he's one of
the chiefs of Dubai. And shecould apply basically said that
(42:24):
Canada's greatest weakness issimultaneously his greatest
strength is our diversity. Sothe one thing that we can export
as an as a nation is ourexpertise. So we do have, we do
have longer term plans to beable to enter different parts of
Africa, we have already hadthose areas noted, in which we
know that the acceleration ofrenewables is except is at a
(42:44):
different is going to happen ata different pace. And those
areas really do need twodifferent things. One, they need
the opportunity to be able topollute. And I know that sounds
kind of weird to say all nowbeen developed nations, whether
it be like Europe, the UnitedStates or Canada, we've had a
huge amount of time to pollutewithout any repercussions. So
they need that same opportunity.
And simultaneously to that theyneed to be able to enable
(43:06):
renewables at a faster rate aswell based on the rapid
development of their otherpopulation. So I think Africa,
for example, is going to eclipseChina here pretty quickly based
on the number of people. And theaverage age in that country, for
the working force is like 19 to21 years old. So it's a lie
young people completely getrenewables, but they just need
(43:27):
access to it. So that is part ofour longer term strategy.
Hopefully, it happens soonerthan later. Because there's two
sides, the opportunity and thenecessity for us to go out there
is quite big.
Jason Cox (43:38):
Well, from a business standpoint, you can see that
that would be incredible. Andthen obviously, a lot of the
conversations you guys weresaying earlier about providing
energy to that 1.2 billionpeople without power in the
world, obviously, moving to aglobal scale, you guys can start
to succeed in those goals.
Gursh Bal (43:58):
Yeah, yeah. It's all part of it's all part of the,
you know, this isn't reallynecessarily Oracle. This is just
like a goal of humanity's we'vejust figured out which part of
it we fit into race, and we'recommitted to that piece of it.
Jason Cox (44:10):
Fantastic, guys, I'm pretty impressed. I must admit.
So we do some of these. And Iactually, we've been very lucky
so far with all of our guests.
So I've learned a lot. So thankyou so much.
Gursh Bal (44:24):
Well, likewise, you guys have created this platform
for us to be able to share ourvoice so I appreciate it as
well, too. It's not a lot ofpeople say they're gonna do
something and they don't do it.
Right. You guys have taken yourthoughts and turn them into
actions, which is generally 90%of the battle.
Jason Cox (44:38):
Our goal is to is to provide a communication link for
our industry and to educate allof our workers and ourselves as
well. I mean, there's as youboth know, the industry is huge
and, and people get pigeonholedinto one area and then we start
to hear you start to getattitudes and opinions Both
(45:00):
information that you reallydon't know a lot about. So if
you can go out and kind of learna little bit more about every
little part of the industry, Imean, it can't help but make you
better.
Gursh Bal (45:13):
Yeah, yeah, that's that is. No, it's nice that you
put that as well. To me, I thinkthe skin the scariest part about
life is always change. But it'sthe cons, it's the most absolute
constant that we have, right? Isyoung individuals, especially I
think they don't understand verywell enough that there's always
(45:33):
going to be regardless ofwhatever type you live the life
you live, there's always goingto be some form of tragedy, and
some sort of form of elation.
And a lot of people especiallyin Canada are always pursuing
like this happiness that doesn'texist. Anything I was saying
this to kind of the day, have alife isn't necessarily about
happiness, it's aboutexperiencing the range of
emotions in relation tohappiness. And that's that also
applies to our industry as awhole is that we're just part of
(45:55):
something that was naturallyprogressing regardless, and you
can't stop progress. It's, it'sall humans have ever known.
Right? And, and I'm excited I amhoping to see in my lifetime is
Mars chi is going to ditcheverybody that he loves to be
able to see if he can get makingthings. That's just him as a
person. I don't think I mightleave my kids behind. But I
think that's where we'reexciting. I think it's a
(46:15):
possibility as well, too. I knowthat's kind of putting putting
ourselves into the crazy realmof things that humans are
talking about. But we're trulyliving in exciting times, and
good times. I mean, we were,we're really exposed to it on a
high level. So hopefully youguys hear that a lot from your
other speakers as well, too, asto you know, it's not all doom
and gloom. But there's a lot ofpositivity, kind of going around
going around the province rightnow. And just Canada in general.
Jason Cox (46:40):
Yeah, it seems like we're, I mean, everyone's kind
of in this cocoon right now withwith COVID. And with the
downturn in the economy, but, Imean, hopefully, we're starting
to see a change with with thepandemic, and then from the
economy scale to hopefully wherethings are gonna start getting
better. And with people'sattitudes, and, and overall
(47:01):
success will hopefully follow.
Gursh Bal (47:04):
Yeah, for sure.
Iagree.
Zack Hartle (47:06):
Like Jason said, we really appreciate you guys
coming on the show today.
learned a ton from both of you.
Very excited to hear about, youknow, your Outlook upon the
industry and your journey to getwhere you are. I just I'd love
to hear that your your goal andyour vision as business owners
is really a global scale, right.
And you really are just doingthis, to make the world a better
(47:27):
place. And you're using theskills and the knowledge that
you've learned at something. Ihope you guys keep up and I
really appreciate that. So withthat being said, yeah, thank you
guys both so much for coming onthe show.
Gursh Bal (47:41):
Yeah, thanks again, for having us is an absolute
pleasure. Yeah. Thanks
Kai Fahrion (47:44):
for having us. It was awesome. Thanks for making
the podcast. Like it's just likeyou said, it's super cool to see
an electrical focus on because Ithink it's something that was
missing, or this industry isjust had so much potential. So
Zack Hartle (47:56):
thank you so much for listening to our episode
today, where we sat down withthose two was a excellent
episode. And I really got to sayit took a lot away from it. And
I think that their passion andtheir vision for the future of
the industry and a sustainablefuture is one that we can all
admire. So, thank you forlistening to this episode. If
you'd like the show, pleaseshare it with a friend. Our
(48:18):
Podcasts can be found whereveryou listen to podcast, Apple,
Google Spotify. Connect with uson Instagram or Facebook at
what's the word podcast and letus know if you liked the show or
what you'd like to hear infuture episodes. Thank you so
much for listening. You haveyourself a great day
Hello, and welcome back to another episode of
(00:02):
Watt's the word and electricalindustry Podcast. I'm Zack
Hartle, and I'm joined as alwaysby my co host, Jason Cox. We're
here to have relevantconversations with members of
the electrical industry here inCanada. We've got a really great
show today, we're going to besitting down with Kai Fahrion
and and Gursh Bal of virtuosoenergy, talking about their
(00:25):
vision for a sustainableelectrical future, and the role
that electricians are going toplay in that future as well as
kind of where how they got towhere they are today in their
business virtuoso energy. Sowith that, let's jump into the
episode and take a listen.
Jason Cox (00:45):
Today on what's the word we're talking with virtual
so energy, we have Gursh Bal andKai Fahrion. Welcome to the
show, guys.
Gursh Bal (00:54):
Yeah, thanks for having us.
Kai Fahrion (00:55):
Thanks for having us.
Jason Cox (00:58):
So real quick, gentlemen, I'm interested how
you both decided to get into theelectrical trade. So give me
just a quick background of howyou guys decided to become
electricians initially, beforebusiness owners, that would be
great.
Gursh Bal (01:13):
Okay, if you want to kick things off, and the place
to start?
Kai Fahrion (01:17):
Yeah, for sure. My electrical journey started back
in 2011. One of my big reasonswas actually I had a choice
between plumber and electrician,I come from a background of five
generations of plumbers thatthen turned into engineers. And
so I want to break that I endedup going into the electrical
(01:38):
side of things. And it wassomething that I really liked.
It was something that maybeallowed me to work with my
hands. A big part of the jobitself was actually being able
to build things, see things cometogether and see complex systems
as well. So tied into a lot ofstuff that I like doing that to
date on a day to day. And thenfrom there, that kind of led us
(02:00):
into, we'll talk about it moreafterwards, but more into kind
of the virtual suicide andbuilding the company itself, and
assist in the sustainabilityspace, the lessons we learned
from the doctoral degree alongthe way.
Gursh Bal (02:13):
My mind isn't necessarily as deep rooted as
Kai, but when, when I was ayounger individual, I initially
started off going in thedirection of computer
engineering. And I quicklydiscovered that it wasn't
something that I was prettypassionate about. At that time,
the person I was with who's mywife now, was really driving me
to be a better person, her and Iwere doing a lot of humanitarian
(02:34):
work together. So you know, it'sbeen spending personal time
going out and helping helpingindividuals who were less, I
guess, more marginalized, and itdidn't have the same
opportunities that we did. So wequickly came to the agreement
that as, as a partnership wewant in the long run, we wanted
to make sure that we were, youknow, retiring at a reasonable
(02:55):
age in which the skills that wegained throughout our youth
would be utilized in abeneficial manner. So we went
through a little bit of anexercise to determine what we
would figure what we figured atthe time would be the most
valuable skill to have from ahumanitarian perspective in
developing nations. So I wentdown, like would it be good if I
was a carpenter? And would it begood if I was a welder, or and
(03:17):
then eventually, we ended uplanding on the fact that being
an electrician would be the bestway to go be and furthermore
discovered that it's one of thekeys to overcoming poverty. So
it was an interesting exerciseto my wife that I went through.
And at that time, I was livingin Edmonton. I packed everything
up, moved down to Calgary andwent through the apprenticeship
program. I said
Jason Cox (03:35):
Gursh, I've heard a lot of people over the years
tell me their journey untilelectrical and I've never heard
one like that before what sowhat a noble foresight so I
commend you on that and Chi manto be able to break away from
that plumbing, family backgroundand get into electrical. I kind
of laugh about that, because asyou guys know, there's always
(03:56):
that ribbing between theelectricians and the plumbers.
So in all those generations,what a what a great introduction
to to our podcast this week.
Thanks for that guys.
Zack Hartle (04:07):
That's a good I don't know a little bit of a
different way into the tradeobviously there came a point
where you guys ran into eachother right neither of your
entries into the trade war witheach other. So I mean, now you
guys are both co CEOs correct meif I'm wrong, virtuoso energy.
So how did that come to be?
Gursh Bal (04:25):
This is a pretty funny story. So the going
further into our roots kinda youboth come from like, I guess
we're where people are the earthwe have like very diverse
cultural backgrounds. Ipersonally come from like an
English Indian roots, and thenchi is Swiss German, and it
(04:46):
provides a lot of diversity inthat the reason why that's
important to note is being inAlberta and the trades one of
the luxuries is having a nicetruck. But when we both pulled
up to a sulfur facility justeast of Calgary, we both
happened to be there. Drivinglike compact European cars, and
everybody else had like raptorsand nice lifted trucks. And Kai
(05:07):
was at, I think at that time wasa fourth year, fourth year
electrician, and I was a thirdyear, a third year apprentice
and walked into the general areadoing the tailgate meeting, and
the superintendent of a site inthe form and basically said,
Akers, you're new to this, Iwant you to go over to Kai, I
walked over to him. And it waskind of an interesting
(05:28):
situation. I think I picked upfor me.
Kai Fahrion (05:31):
Yeah, so we ended up actually working together on
the site, which was ironic thatthey picked us to work together,
not knowing any of that whatgroups just mentioned. And then
yeah, from there, we pretty muchwe worked together on the site
there. First, then on one of ourbreaks, ended up pulling out
these things called energyballs. They were vegan, and
(05:54):
literally an energy ball that hementioned, that he brought to
site. And it was something forbreaktime that he was like, Hey,
you bought one of these gave meone of them. And we started
getting into the details of kindof a little bit more in depth of
how we grew up. What kind ofsome of the things that we
liked, and ended up clicking ona lot of things when it came to
music, when it came to our lovefor cars, a lot of different
(06:16):
aspects like that. So that kindof then shifted into working
together quite a bit. Becausethe foreman on site liked how we
work together and all of that. Idon't know how detailed you want
to go into the story here, yoursmight be you kind of are good at
the high level asked fordilution on ticket.
Gursh Bal (06:32):
Yeah, I mean, to really sum it up, I for the
longest time as well to costquite a bit younger than me. The
best way to explain that is I'mmarried. And I have three kids.
And Kai is in a long termrelationship and has two kids,
but in the form of dog's mind orthe human version. So there's a
pretty big gap from an ageperspective between the two of
us. But the biggest thing is Ialways admired him and looked up
(06:53):
to him because his work ethicwas excellent. And he really
knew what he was doing. So I washis apprentice for a while,
wasn't just at that site, but itcontinued on on to other sites
as well, too. And I was veryhappy working underneath an
individual as skilled as him,which eventually allowed you
know that that piece of you haveto be able to learn how to work
underneath people before you canwork over them. And then but
when that never ended uphappening, we both just rose
(07:14):
together and became equals overtime.
Jason Cox (07:18):
It is fascinating when you start having those
relationships working with apartner in the field, whether
it's a journeyman or anotherapprentice, you definitely do
build some unique bonds thatthat I mean, they last a
lifetime, you still run intopeople from time to time, and
you learn a lot when you'relearning and working together.
And some very strange situationsin the trade.
Gursh Bal (07:41):
That's a beautiful part of the trip, especially
people who like your the titleof journeyman is such an
honorable rule to have. And evenstill, like, well, we'll have
like a barbecue or somethinglike that. And my, there'll be
the odd one where my familycomes down and like, Oh, you
gotta meet this person use myjourneyman, this side. And this
person was a journeyman of thissite, and they they hold a
special place in our lives.
Because without them, you knowthat you're you would have never
(08:02):
gotten your red seal or ticket.
So you're 100%, right, they arevery important. Not necessarily
just from the companionshipside, but also in the ability to
become a skilled individual tobe able to really find your
footing in the world.
Jason Cox (08:16):
And you basically both said that your family, you
guys came to Canada, and I foundthat the opinion of the trades
in Europe is far different thanit is in North America. So that
respect in the Europe culture,towards the trades. I mean, it's
it's they're looking at you likeyou've got a degree or you're,
(08:37):
you're a professional. And soit's nice to see even even as
you were mentioning earlier,your family's in plumbing and
going university, but they stillencourage you to
Kai Fahrion (08:48):
follow the trades.
Yeah, for sure. It was a bigpart of it is like being able to
get kind of that hands on aspectwas, again, like I said,
everybody kind of goes back onthe plumbing side, and then into
the engineering side, wherewe've kind of been able to, you
almost get to learn both sidesof that here, which is nice. You
get to kind of really interactwith the engineers when you're
working on projects as well. Soyeah, I definitely agree that
(09:10):
it's a very sought after areally good group choice.
Zack Hartle (09:16):
So you guys built that relationship together. And
I couldn't agree more. I mean,those bonds between journeyman
and apprentice and then orjourneyman and journeyman or
apprentice and apprenticeworking together. I mean, some
of that are my lifelong friendsor people in my wedding parties,
right are people I came upworking with, you know, through
my apprenticeship into myjourneyman service van years.
(09:37):
When did you guys decide to gofrom working for someone else
into starting virtuoso and whathelped you make that decision?
Gursh Bal (09:45):
This is this is also another interesting story. So at
the time, we were both workingfor Stratis electrical
instrumentation, they're stillgoing strong, could have really
good leadership team. I highlyrecommend them as an employer as
well to chi was kinda we'rerunning around as a two man crew
going and just banging out allthese all these more intricate,
(10:05):
more detailed jobs and reallymaking sure we were doing the
best work that we couldpotentially do. But
simultaneously to that we got aninvitation from sate for a
builder business competition.
This was in April of 2016. So itwas a Dragon's Den style
competition in which you pitchyour business model, we ended up
going forward with a electricalcompany, electrical services
company focused on solar and hadsome really good advisors at
(10:28):
our, at that time in our livesas well, too, that helped us
formulate a really good businessstrategy. And we ended up
winning the competition we won.
What we thought back then was alot of money was five grand and
that gave us enough confidenceto Team quit our jobs. So we
took out our employer at thetime of the individual that we
had a really good relationshipby the name, gentleman's name
(10:49):
was Craig app, took them overlunch, told him like, Hey, thank
you so much for everything thatyou've done for us. But it's
time for us to go on our own.
And we wanted to make sure wewere doing whatever jobs they
wanted us to get done to have tohave that wrapped up and be
really respectful to theirorganization, because we had the
freedom to do what we wanted tonow. So we made sure we left off
on a good on a on a really goodnote, but simultaneously to
(11:10):
making sure we did thatproperly. Ironically enough,
that individual himself who wasa master electrician helped
support our business for thefirst I would say hi, probably
four to six months, give or takearound six months. Yeah, around
six months, he helped us pullpermits until we were really
under we got our feet underneaththat. So it just showed like how
class even individual he was,but also simultaneously spoke
(11:30):
volumes about the industry thatin the trades, like everybody
really works together and helpsupport one another. Regardless
of of kind of where they'regoing, because it is truly a
rising tide. Right. We're allbuilding this province together.
Zack Hartle (11:45):
Yeah, it's so good to hear that having that strong
relationship with him and nohard feelings and you guys
decided to leave helped you guyslaunch your business. One thing
I really liked what that storyis, you mentioned the business
competition at at sait. Which isa polytechnic post secondary
here in Calgary, Alberta. Maybecan you just touch on that a
(12:06):
little bit? That's a pretty coolopportunity. And I think the
fact that you guys even took theinitiative to jump on it is
something that you know, maybeonly one out of 100, people
would even think to jump on. Soyou can touch on that.
Kai Fahrion (12:19):
Yeah, I can expand on that. And it's actually,
we've said this a few timesalready, but is it adds to the
funny story. So it goes back tothat we were working separately
at this time, actually. So I wasworking in Saskatchewan, on our
hometown project. And girl shewere working on camera interview
in Calgary out of town as well.
But we were communicating and Igot an email saying, Hey, we're
doing this save, build abusiness competition, the owner
(12:42):
of rouge is going to be speakingas like the inspirational
speaker for day one. And then ifyou get accepted into the
program after that you can applyafter kind of that speech. And
then you can you can getaccepted into the program to
actually pitch your business. SoI forwarded that email to
Gershon this was I had a jobwhere I was sleeping in a hotel,
it was probably like a $15 nighthotel where you're wearing all
(13:05):
your clothes to the good outtatown, grind, and I afford the
emails like this, I think it's areally good opportunity for us
to, to kind of step out of ourday to day and see if we can
actually kick this thing off anddo something bigger with it. And
so I forwarded that to grish. Weboth agreed it made sense. When
I came back on my days off, weended up going to, to the speech
(13:25):
there to watch it. And then fromthere, I applied for the
competition. And were picked,how many businesses were picked
yours or how many was it eightor 10, that went through the program.
Gursh Bal (13:37):
I think it was, it was a total of eight, that ended
up pitching pitching at theactual night of the events. And
that's sort of Yeah, that's aninteresting point as well, too.
I was touching on somethinginteresting there with the
actual event. The event was onthe night of my TQ and a morning
after was my IP. So myinterprovincial exam and my
(13:59):
actual final exam for my for myto get my journeyman ticket. So
it was it was pretty chaotic.
And that was it, nothing haschanged. So that was a that was
a good night. But Kyle that youkind of carry the carry back to
the story there.
Kai Fahrion (14:14):
Ya know, so that pretty much got us into the it
was through Satan and actus, whothrough their business school,
again, we were paired with anindividual, that funny enough
now we're still really goodfriends with both of them as
well. So people that you meetthroughout these processes, and
these journeys have been a hugeimpact as well. And then yeah,
that went into us building ourbusiness model, and then
(14:35):
pitching to I want to say sixindividuals, and then being able
to win that take that $5,000 Andlike you said, run with it and
kind of create what we'vecreated today.
Jason Cox (14:49):
I think that's an incredible opportunity. So if we
kind of look back at thatproposal, at your presentation
and then kind of jump right towhere we are today. How Have
your let's talk about yourservices that your company is
offering today. And have theychanged very much from those
initial proposals. So we went
Kai Fahrion (15:09):
into the competition with pitching solar.
So looking heavily at SolarSolutions backed by traditional
electrical solutions as well.
And today, our major offering ishome solar solution. So more
dialed in. So pretty much whatwe did from there is we ended up
doing traditional electricalwork to get our footing into the
solar space. And then once westarted kind of working closer
(15:32):
with the solar and thesustainability side of things,
then we transitioned into solarsolutions, electric vehicles,
solutions and led retrofits soreally on like sustainability,
reducing carbon footprint forhomes and commercial. And now
our focus has actually shiftedagain in the last kind of 12
months, where we're heavilyfocused on home solar solutions.
(15:55):
So that's solar electric vehicleinfrastructure and battery
solutions for homes. And theother aspects, like when it
comes to traditional electricalwork, we work with contractors
and partners that do that. So itshifted quite a bit and I was
the last five years
Jason Cox (16:14):
kind of thing. All right, well, I mean, but I mean,
it was a natural progression.
It's yeah, it's, it's, it's notlike you started with vegetables
and move to fruit, it seems likeyou guys are are following a
logical sequence there. Sothat's kind of cool.
Zack Hartle (16:30):
So I've done a little bit of reading about the
company I know. And based onyour story in the last five
year, you guys have grownrapidly, right? You've I don't
know grown a lot. Have you guysmanage that growth from five
years ago, I assume the two ofyou standing on a roof together
installing panels to now beingthe CO CEOs? How did you get
from there to hear?
Gursh Bal (16:50):
Yeah, that's a really good question. So it can be
growth is always something thatisn't ever truly predictable.
Other than the numbers in thespreadsheet, usually the numbers
on a spreadsheet is the guidingthe guiding overview of what it
is that we need to be able toachieve. And the biggest thing
that we understood, and this iscoming from truly a humble place
not from an arrogant position atall is that you have to
(17:13):
understand as an owner of anorganization that people believe
in you. And that's really, thebiggest thing in any interaction
you have in humanity is that ifyou're getting behind something
is because there's somebody thatcreated that something that you
now believe in. And adoptingthat mindset was something that
was a little bit difficult forus. But it's been formulated
into something that we haveinternally and externally, which
(17:35):
are not generally known as corevalues. But our core values are
not like the typical ones, whereit's like safety or integrity or
something. It's very much rootedin who we are, as people, what
we've determined as individualsare the most important
characteristics that we carry,and what we think are required
for our team to be able toexemplify, exemplify in their
everyday interactions with theirclients with each other, and
(17:57):
things of that nature. Butthere's another side of the coin
as well, too, is the ability toactually pull these things off.
And that's, that's about reallycoming down to having the right
people in the right seat. So wehave a really strong management
team, each each representing adifferent part of our company,
whether it be sales oroperations, or marketing, or
finance, we have some reallytalented individuals, a lot of
(18:18):
them are quite young as welltoo, but very hardworking and
very bright. And believing inthose people and giving them the
tools that they need have beenhas been one of the major
reasons where we are continuingsuccessfully and, and have had a
lot of success previously aswell to the last piece of the
growth is really tied to theoperation side of things. So
making really strongrelationships, making sure that
(18:40):
you know, the organizations thatyou're working with externally,
whether it be like vendors,suppliers, distributors, some of
the partnerships we have, forexample, we represent Porsche,
Canada, we work TeslaChargePoint, things of that
nature, some of these reallycool brands, making sure that
they feel that they're a part ofour vision as well too, and
making sure that they alsounderstand that that we're
grateful for having them alongthe ride. That's really what it
(19:01):
comes down to in terms of thecompany's growth, it's chaotic,
it's a lot of the times it canbe really difficult and it's not
fun. But as long as the visionis locked in and everybody feels
like they're part of part of thegreater the greater good of what
we're trying to do and notfilled in feeling like they're
getting run over somethingdoesn't necessarily go right as
has really put us in the rightposition for the future.
Zack Hartle (19:22):
Now what I'm hearing there, I mean throughout
the entire you know, half anhour we've been talking so far
it's it's all aboutrelationships, right your guys's
strengthen your bond with eachother, the relationship with
your management team and thenyour relationship with the
external industry, which I thinkis really important to
understand that this industry isrooted in strong relationships.
(19:45):
I really liked that.
Gursh Bal (19:47):
It makes a lot of sense. It made me really want to
bring it back down to like wherethat comes from. We're from
we're both of us are fromdifferent countries, our class
from Germany. I'm from England,my dad's from India. And there's
this The weird thing that endsup happening is when you come to
Canada, you're not really, in acountry, you're in the best
representation of what humanityhas to offer, we just happen to
(20:08):
be stuck on a cold part of it,which kind of sucks half the
time of the year. But the bigthing is that you also
simultaneously understand thatwe're, we're all in this
together, and everybody'sworking collectively towards
something bigger than ourselves.
Because the opportunities thatyou're afforded in this country
come with a couple differentthings, it can either come with
guilt for all humans, sinto canexperience the Canadian life
because life is short. And here,it's quite sweet. And it also
(20:30):
comes with a lot of motivation,knowing that, because we have
the resources that we have here,we have to work a little bit
harder, and make sure that we'rebenefiting all those that don't
have the same opportunities asus.
Jason Cox (20:45):
So it would seem that one of our questions here is
what are you guys looking fornew employees, I think character
is one of those strongest traitsthat you guys would be looking
for. And then you could developthe skills of your trades
people.
Kai Fahrion (20:59):
Yeah, a big part of what we look for when it comes
to whether it's field office,whatever positions it might be,
is cultural fit and characterand being tied into our vision
for the future. So being able toactually feel and want to make
an impact when it comes tosustainable solutions, and
helping fight climate change.
And like you said, those otheraspects, we actually had, again,
(21:21):
individuals, if they're, we'llcall them no years that start
their apprenticeships with us,right, and work through that and
are able to kind of, then getthe educational side as well.
And then same with individualsthat aren't doing the
apprenticeship, they're able toget that education side from
other individuals on the team orthrough external training and
all that. So it it's a super bigthing when we're looking at new
(21:42):
employees is how do they fitwhen it comes to things outside
of skills that ranks reallyhighly with us?
Jason Cox (21:50):
I've never thought ever heard the term no yours
before, I kind of like, I likehow you take it and you're like,
it's in the past, it's almostlike a negative thing. You start
off green, you don't knowanything. Whereas you're gonna
sculpt this person and you'regonna build, you're gonna,
you're gonna build the employeethat you want out of it. So it's
actually a good thing.
Kai Fahrion (22:12):
Yeah, exactly.
Jason Cox (22:16):
Might not be in the right order of our questions
here. But you guys mentionedthat your business is really
focused in on residential?
Solar. My question is for youguys. Or it doesn't seem like
there'd be a whole lot ofengineered prints for your
projects. When it comes topicking products. Are you guys
kind of loyal to almost onebrand name? Like what? Where
(22:38):
have you guys picked up yourexperience on deciding which
vendors to use for your yourinstallations?
Kai Fahrion (22:47):
Yeah, I can I can touch on that. It's really a
question. A lot of it has someof it or some of it has come
from trial and error. So workingwith different brands that might
have seen better and that endedup being maybe not the best
solutions for us. I think that'sjust again, with growth. Now,
with the vendors that we use, alot of it comes from, what it
(23:09):
what are they doing on thesustainability side. So we look
at our distribution and oursupply network on are they
actually looking at reducingtheir impacts from the carbon
side of, again, manufacturing,transportation, all that, that's
a big part of it. And then alsolooking at product quality. So
being able to have really goodproduct quality was really good
warranties has been a hugeaspect of us actually picking a
(23:32):
few different solutions. Wedon't have it narrowed down to
say one for each, just becausewe don't want to be tied to just
one supplier just because ofdifferent code regulations and
all that. But we have it kind ofto two to three that we use for
the last like couple years thathave been steady. We've been
able to build thoserelationships like garage
mentioned with manufacturer anddistributor to to offer the best
(23:54):
product and the best service.
Jason Cox (23:57):
Yeah, I think you see that I think you see that most
of the time with with a lot ofconstruction trades, they they
narrow it down to two or threevendors just out of convenience
and efficiency for sure.
Zack Hartle (24:12):
Other than working with those vendors that use like
you say have more sustainableactions in their processes and
stuff as a as a constructioncompany, a trade company. I
mean, we know that the tradescan be pretty wasteful at times
in different various aspects ofconstruction. What have you guys
done as a company to kind oflimit your impact on the
(24:32):
environment in your installationprocesses?
Kai Fahrion (24:35):
Yeah, that's a really good question. We can
kind of two part of thiswonders. So from the actual
waste management side of things,again, it looks at partnering
with companies that go furtherthey go above and beyond with
their processes when it comes tolike our disposal and our
recycling bins. So that's a bigaspect of it is so like actually
working with them on seeing,hey, do they actually recycled
(24:57):
products? Do they actually dowhat they're saying? Are they
just going to the landfill wasthe kind of thing that was one
and then working with actuallyreducing material needs when it
comes to the crews on site. Soeducating and chatting with them
and kind of looking at, okay,what what is needed for this
project are we able to mitigateby buying more bulk and being
(25:17):
able to kind of have that withless waste than a good example
is wire, reducing the wire wastewhen it comes to cut offs and
things like that. And thenanother big aspect is also
having a full recycling programwhen it comes to the wire. So
being able to bring that allback, I know there's a monetary
side to that as well. But a bigone is, that's the environmental
side and the monetary side, theykind of drive each other. And
(25:40):
that gives individuals thatability to really make sure they
set that aside and their crews,and then they pretty much one
individual or one crew willbring it all back on a bi
monthly usually every couple ofmonths, they'll bring it back.
So that's the big parts that wedo when it comes to the
construction site and likegarage add anything else when it
comes to like Office and allthat.
Gursh Bal (25:59):
And when it comes down to the the greater scheme
of things in terms of what doesit look like from our from our
organizational perspective, wedo have a goal to become carbon
neutral as an organization. Andthere's different ways that
we're already bringing that intoplay, the first step that we
took was the implementing SDG.
So the Sustainable DevelopmentGoals put up by the UN. So we
(26:19):
subscribed to seven, seven ofthem. And we're making sure that
we're measuring each of thetargets, how are we actually how
are we actually, you know,satisfying the requirements
based on what the UN has setout. And then further to that
we're developing an internal ESGprogram, with some with some in
line with the GRI standards. Somaking sure that there is a
global perspective that we'rebringing into play that we're
(26:43):
hitting the benchmarks from thatside of things, and then
ultimately, me figuring out thegap. So the beautiful thing
about the world that we live innow is trees and solar panels
and other renewable energyresources have an inherent
carbon offset associated withthem. So hypothetically
speaking, let's say, Zach, youwanted to you have a trip coming
(27:04):
up and you wanted to fly toMexico, you now can simply just
go to the like, air Canada'swebsite and buy the carbon
offsets associated with theamount of fuel that's going to
be used for your seat based onhow many people are on your
flight. And you'll be able toenjoy that, that vacation
without any sort of, you know,concerns about your
environmental footprint. So thebig piece about that is where we
have a lot of efforts internallyto make sure we're in alignment
(27:27):
with that, that's also going toinclude a switching over our
entire fleet TV, but where we dohave gaps, we'll make sure that
we satisfy them with differentbrokerage firms that provides us
carbon, or in some cases, we'llwe'll be able to acquire them
from our clients as well, too.
Zack Hartle (27:42):
That's awesome. But guess my next question is what's
next for the company? In thenext you know, 510 years? Where
do you guys see virtual soheaded?
Kai Fahrion (27:51):
Okay, perfect. So one of our big things is our
BHAG we're big, hairy, audaciousgoal. And that is a million
homes by 2040. So a millionhomes and solar solutions by
2040 is our big thing. Now,that's a 19 year Hautelook, we
obviously have that broken downinto quarterly yearly, three
year, and then so on when itcomes to goals, when you're
looking at the actual thingsthat are in a tangible near
(28:16):
future is a is a full rebrand.
So we're actually looking at arebrand when it comes to the
field, the company, the forwardfacing and internal. So that
that's a big exciting thing thatwe've been working on that we're
looking forward to launching inthe New Year as well. And then
I'll like Gursh, kind of expandon that. And a few other
exciting things that are coming.
Gursh Bal (28:35):
Yeah, so I suppose touching on something that has
been a little bit of a delicateprocess. So we are going to be
coming out with a new name, anew look and a much easier to
digest overall experience withour clientele. The biggest thing
about our the industry thatwe're in, so you know,
sustainability as a whole, atthe end user side of things, is
it's an opportunity that hasn'tnecessarily existed in Hume
(28:56):
previously, in whatever thatopportunity is, is to be able to
control control the way thatyour energy is utilized. It's
the most democratic form ofenergy that we have, and making
sure that it doesn't soundcomplicated, like the way that I
just explained that is a littlebit complicated, right? So our
new brand will be able to reallysimplify that down and allow
(29:17):
people to be able to make adecision in a faster, more
confident manner. Because in ourindustry, nobody's really doing
a good job at it right now, fromthat perspective. They're doing
a very excellent job from sayingthat, here's your specs, here's
the technical pieces. here's thehere's the ins and outs, and it
hasn't become a more mass marketproduct in Canada yet. So that's
(29:38):
going to be what we're going toaccomplish in the short term is
we're going to make it make itthat mass market product so that
the impact of humanity'shumanity on the planet Earth can
be reduced. Obviously, solarisn't the be all and end all
solution. It's part of thegreater puzzle piece, but at
least in our industry, we canhelp accelerate that side
forward. And the bigger thebigger side of it from the human
(29:59):
side is To be able to create alot of really good jobs, we're
roughly sitting at about 50people pretty close to about 50
people now, that number is mostlikely going to double quite
easily in the next six months.
And the people that do work withus, like I have a lot of respect
for them, and a lot ofcompassion towards them as well,
too. They're all really greatindividuals. And we want to see
that continue to grow. And wewant to increase the standard of
what electricians can come toexpect in a workplace, whether
(30:22):
it be benefits, whether that bethe they're having their voices
heard the opportunities inorganizations, some of our
project managers started off andstarted off in the field and
work their way up. And justbeing able to make sure that
that opportunity as anorganization and Equal
Opportunity organization, isreally amplified over these over
these next few years. So peopleknow that it's a good place to
(30:43):
work and also expect higherstandards from their current
employer. So hopefully, thatprovides a greater snapshot of
the internal workings of whatour goals
Jason Cox (30:55):
will be looking forward to the announcement in
the new year just to see whatyou guys are up to. Because
it's, it's obvious that you havea plan.
Gursh Bal (31:02):
We're really excited for that as well, too. I mean,
it's been, it's been a labor oflove, in the best of ways
because the it's, it's the mostdoing a rebrand is the
equivalent of like spending,spending less than like an
entire year in a dentist chair,is you don't know which tooth is
gonna get pulled next, right. Soit's a fun exercise to add to
that we're hoping that we have anice set of teeth, and everybody
(31:24):
liked the smile that we put on.
Zack Hartle (31:26):
So I'm going to switch gears a little bit here,
really enjoyed hearing about thebusiness and the forward outlook
of the business. But I want totalk a little bit about, like
sustainability overall and therole that electricians are going
to play in that. So what role doyou see electricians playing in
combating climate change rightnow? And how do you think that's
(31:47):
going to start shifting in thenext, you know, five and 10
years.
Gursh Bal (31:51):
So I can I can touch on this one, from a high level
perspective was kind of zoomingin, on electric. It's obviously
my favorite tree. I mean, I'm anelectrician myself, but it's not
for the reason that a lot ofpeople would think that's all
you gotta to cool work. And youknow, it's it's more from the
perspective that it's an it's avery important trade from the
(32:12):
proceed from the side of thingsthat of you know, making sure
the planet is sustainable interms of humans living on earth,
having clean air and things ofthat nature as well, too. And
where that really comes from is,when when I was going through
the process of becoming anelectrician, I really quickly
discovered there's at that time,there was about 1.2 billion
people that didn't have accessto electricity, the key, the
(32:34):
mote, the single greatest thingthat you can do to overcome
poverty in developing nations ishaving access to electricity,
the ability to charge asmartphone, to have running
water in your home to have alight bulb on at night. I know
those all seem like super, youknow, typical things that we
experienced here. But that isn'tthe case in a lot of countries.
And that's, that's a big thingthere that electricians can look
(32:54):
forward to if they're going tobe part of that forward movement
to sustainability as a whole. Ifit's carbon capture technology,
somebody's got to worry about ifit's a wind generator,
somebody's got to wire that ifit's solar panels, that's almost
exclusively all electrical work.
And where that's being drivenfrom is currently globally,
there's 834 cities, not notcountry cities that have
renewable energy targets. 350 ofthose 834 are located in North
(33:16):
America, the other the other issplit up between Latin America
and the Caribbean, which is 32Europe, which is 357 Asia, which
has 51 Sub Saharan Africa, whichhas 19, and Oceania, which has
16. So the vast majority, andother than by seven cities is in
North America. And due to thetrend of globalization and the
(33:39):
ability to travel easily forwork. The opportunity for
electricians is almostlimitless. If you want to go
jump on a plane and fly down tothe Caribbean and wires and
solar panels based on thetechniques that you learned in
Canada, which our organizationtries to push the highest
standard. You have thatopportunity here. We also have
an individual on our team who,who whose mom stumbled across
her Instagram post saw that wewere still installing in Calgary
(34:03):
and convinced him to come backand Calgary and Edmonton sorry,
and convinced him to come backfrom Australia and start
installing for us. And he wasdown in Australia installing
solar panels. So it is becominga very universal, a very
universal product. It's not likeand please keep in mind, I
really admire oil and gasindustry in the province here. I
used to work in it myself. Butit's not like bitumen or shale,
where it's very geographical andyou're limited on that solar can
(34:26):
be installed anywhere, anytime.
Even if it's in a cloudy placeor on the side of the mountain
that's north facing energy socan can still be produced. If
there's a requirement for it, itcan be done. So that's that's
the big thing that I see therefor the future of the trade is
it's very bright, and it's juststarting to get its heels the
heels dug in. So the opportunityin at least for our lifetime, is
(34:50):
very abundant and variability.
Jason Cox (34:53):
Coupled with that earlier you mentioned EVs and
perhaps your company moving toan Eevee fleet What are your
guys's thoughts of the Evieinfrastructure capabilities of
our current grid? And? And Iwould imagine your installs are
going to help facilitatepowering those evey
Kai Fahrion (35:11):
cars? Yeah, that's a really good question. Yeah. So
when it comes to our solutions,it's actually working in
Thinkorswim. Since thebeginning, some of our
partnerships are heavily heavilyfocused on that it's getting in
at the ground floor withindividuals that are looking at
EVs. So we'll take Porsche, forexample. The reason we have that
partnership is really that we'reable to be that sounding board
(35:33):
for a client that's looking tomaybe get a Thai cat or again,
with her partnership with Tesla,looking at it fully electric
Tesla, and being able to say,okay, looking at their
infrastructure at their ownlevel, and what what's available
here, and how can we actuallysupplement that with solar so
that you're making that electricvehicle truly carbon neutral?
There's always see that thatargument or that conversation
(35:55):
that comes up a lot between, ifyou're plugging into the grid,
how dirty is that grid that thenthat then pushes forward? Is
that electric vehicle actuallyclean? So being able to educate
individuals on that as well onwhat what part can they do to
offset an electric vehicle, it'snot actually a huge solar
system, you're looking atanywhere from eight to 10 panels
that can offset the usage ofelectric vehicle from the
(36:17):
average person, the averageperson drives about 50
kilometers a day. So super, moreand more so on the education
side that people think that it'sthis huge thing, we need to have
40 panels for our electricvehicle, but you can actually do
a fairly small system. And thenhow does that look for actually
offsetting the other loads inthe house as well. And so we do
it really, from a grassrootsperspective, we try to go right
(36:39):
when they're looking atpurchasing the vehicle, making
sure that we're the firstcontact point for that, and then
being able to help them throughthat when it comes to energy
management solutions. So we'lljust say Calgary, for example.
And Max on the distributionside, we did have a chance to
work with them on a pilotproject where they actually are
doing pilots within all parts ofthe city. So each quadrant and
(37:01):
seeing what are the impacts ofelectric vehicle installs on the
grid? And when when are thosebeing charged for they're taking
that data so that they canactually start to adjust for
this, like you said, kind ofthat three to five year plan,
that the infrastructure is therefor, for the electric vehicles
to come online? And they knowexactly where are they going to
be putting public chargingstations? Where can they hit
(37:22):
heavier on kind of like electricvehicles being in everybody's
home, and actually having thatdata. So it's something that's
been ongoing, we've been luckyenough to be heavily involved in
it as well.
Jason Cox (37:33):
And when it comes to these installs in the
residential, you guys, not onlywould you have to be fluent in
the technology, the code theinstallation, but it seems like
there's an endless supply of, ofconversation regarding green
rebates. So you guys would haveto be up to date on the latest
(37:55):
and greatest possible rebatesfor your customer? Can you kind
of give us a quick idea of wherewe are currently with rebates in
the province?
Gursh Bal (38:05):
Yeah, absolutely. So there's a lot of the rebates
that are currently existing onboth the solar and the electric
vehicle side are focused orprovided for the federal
government underneath. So it'snice, it's coming from a single
point, which makes it a littlebit easier to read across the
country. And for solar rightnow, you can get up to $5,000
off from the greener homesgrants, which is which takes a
(38:27):
huge cost off the table for anaverage on average household.
And then for electric vehicles,if you are purchasing it. And I
believe the maximum value ofelectric vehicle has to be
somewhere around 55 grand youcan get, you can get $5,000 off.
So it's an international one.
There's currently no provincialrebates available. But if you
live in the city of Edmonton,there's another $4,000 off for
solar and there's $600 off foran electric vehicle charging
(38:50):
station. But we do have a newmayor in Calgary, and not giving
any positions on her as anindividual or her her platform.
But she has taken a very strongposition on climate change. As
recently as a few days ago, shedid have conversations with
leaders in the industry to beable to determine what does the
future need to look like interms of making sure that
(39:12):
Calgary as a city is fortifiedfor this transit, this
transition that's underway. Sowe'll be seeing some exciting
things coming out from there.
The one thing I do have alwayswarning people with is don't
wait. Every time that peoplehave waited, they come back
prices have gone up, because thesort of the solutions that we're
providing are becoming morepopular. Typical supply and
(39:34):
demand considerations are also afactor prices are going up as
demand is going up. So in somecases, we've had clients that
have reached out from like fouror five years ago, and their
price is exactly the same afterwe did. So that just goes to
show you that everybody's got asort of unique solution. So
again, cheaper. The counterpointto that is electricity prices
are getting more expensive. Sojustification for solar is
(39:54):
payback is faster, but the payis the cost is going up a little
bit. And then electric vehiclesis is becoming a little bit of
an interesting game as well tothe electric vehicle charging.
Station manufacturers understandnow that there's a major demand
because people need electricvehicle charging stations to
drive around. So we'll see someprice increases coming from that
side as well, too. So, I mean,there's no time like now. But
(40:16):
the bigger piece as well, too isit's not coming from the
corporate perspective, it'scoming from the from just
historically, what we've seenfrom price fluctuations. And
obviously, there's COVID Veryability to layer on top of that,
which is always fun as well.
Zack Hartle (40:29):
So the greener homes grant, so my understanding
is that it's still like monthsout, because you have to get an
energy advisor, like theirwebsite is not the best, we have
to get an energy advisorassessment. Do you guys know
what the wait times that peopleare seeing on that right now,
Gursh Bal (40:44):
if you're our clients, two weeks, if you're if
you're going to somebody else,three months. So we have, we've
built that partnershiprelationship in house, we if if
we have a client, and that, youknow is eager, we can push them
through that process a lotfaster. But the solar process in
a residential level still takessome time. So usually what we do
(41:04):
is we launched allsimultaneously, no matter what
solar is approved on singlefamily homes, it's baked into
the space into the greenerchrome homes cancel, there's no
risk associated with that youknow, it no matter what it's
going to get approved. So it'sjust about making sure that you
get your quote done, get the getyour contract signed and get the
microgeneration process started.
Because that part itself usuallytakes three to four weeks.
(41:26):
That's where the delaystypically happen. The greener
homecraft is an easy peasy. Wejust introduced Zillow to the
website, you sign up forcontact, like virtuoso say, hey,
I'm interested in getting solarand then we help fast track the
whole process.
Zack Hartle (41:40):
And then, because I have looked into a little bit,
but how, how much solar are youhaving to put in to get $5,000?
Back? And what's the percentagethat it ends up working out to
be?
Gursh Bal (41:50):
It's $1 per watt. So to get the full five grand, you
simply have to do a fivekilowatt system.
Jason Cox (41:55):
Okay. Are you guys looking at doing any
international installs? Are youbasically trying to stay within
Western Canada?
Gursh Bal (42:02):
We're actually we're actually in the stages of
expansion right now. So we'regoing stateside. And we have
like a grander vision in termsof heading to develop nations
and being able to execute ourexpertise in those regions. I
think I heard this from this wasa public conference. And Elon,
ironically enough, Elon Musk isspeaking at it. And he's one of
the chiefs of Dubai. And shecould apply basically said that
(42:24):
Canada's greatest weakness issimultaneously his greatest
strength is our diversity. Sothe one thing that we can export
as an as a nation is ourexpertise. So we do have, we do
have longer term plans to beable to enter different parts of
Africa, we have already hadthose areas noted, in which we
know that the acceleration ofrenewables is except is at a
(42:44):
different is going to happen ata different pace. And those
areas really do need twodifferent things. One, they need
the opportunity to be able topollute. And I know that sounds
kind of weird to say all nowbeen developed nations, whether
it be like Europe, the UnitedStates or Canada, we've had a
huge amount of time to pollutewithout any repercussions. So
they need that same opportunity.
And simultaneously to that theyneed to be able to enable
(43:06):
renewables at a faster rate aswell based on the rapid
development of their otherpopulation. So I think Africa,
for example, is going to eclipseChina here pretty quickly based
on the number of people. And theaverage age in that country, for
the working force is like 19 to21 years old. So it's a lie
young people completely getrenewables, but they just need
(43:27):
access to it. So that is part ofour longer term strategy.
Hopefully, it happens soonerthan later. Because there's two
sides, the opportunity and thenecessity for us to go out there
is quite big.
Jason Cox (43:38):
Well, from a business standpoint, you can see that
that would be incredible. Andthen obviously, a lot of the
conversations you guys weresaying earlier about providing
energy to that 1.2 billionpeople without power in the
world, obviously, moving to aglobal scale, you guys can start
to succeed in those goals.
Gursh Bal (43:58):
Yeah, yeah. It's all part of it's all part of the,
you know, this isn't reallynecessarily Oracle. This is just
like a goal of humanity's we'vejust figured out which part of
it we fit into race, and we'recommitted to that piece of it.
Jason Cox (44:10):
Fantastic, guys, I'm pretty impressed. I must admit.
So we do some of these. And Iactually, we've been very lucky
so far with all of our guests.
So I've learned a lot. So thankyou so much.
Gursh Bal (44:24):
Well, likewise, you guys have created this platform
for us to be able to share ourvoice so I appreciate it as
well, too. It's not a lot ofpeople say they're gonna do
something and they don't do it.
Right. You guys have taken yourthoughts and turn them into
actions, which is generally 90%of the battle.
Jason Cox (44:38):
Our goal is to is to provide a communication link for
our industry and to educate allof our workers and ourselves as
well. I mean, there's as youboth know, the industry is huge
and, and people get pigeonholedinto one area and then we start
to hear you start to getattitudes and opinions Both
(45:00):
information that you reallydon't know a lot about. So if
you can go out and kind of learna little bit more about every
little part of the industry, Imean, it can't help but make you
better.
Gursh Bal (45:13):
Yeah, yeah, that's that is. No, it's nice that you
put that as well. To me, I thinkthe skin the scariest part about
life is always change. But it'sthe cons, it's the most absolute
constant that we have, right? Isyoung individuals, especially I
think they don't understand verywell enough that there's always
(45:33):
going to be regardless ofwhatever type you live the life
you live, there's always goingto be some form of tragedy, and
some sort of form of elation.
And a lot of people especiallyin Canada are always pursuing
like this happiness that doesn'texist. Anything I was saying
this to kind of the day, have alife isn't necessarily about
happiness, it's aboutexperiencing the range of
emotions in relation tohappiness. And that's that also
applies to our industry as awhole is that we're just part of
(45:55):
something that was naturallyprogressing regardless, and you
can't stop progress. It's, it'sall humans have ever known.
Right? And, and I'm excited I amhoping to see in my lifetime is
Mars chi is going to ditcheverybody that he loves to be
able to see if he can get makingthings. That's just him as a
person. I don't think I mightleave my kids behind. But I
think that's where we'reexciting. I think it's a
(46:15):
possibility as well, too. I knowthat's kind of putting putting
ourselves into the crazy realmof things that humans are
talking about. But we're trulyliving in exciting times, and
good times. I mean, we were,we're really exposed to it on a
high level. So hopefully youguys hear that a lot from your
other speakers as well, too, asto you know, it's not all doom
and gloom. But there's a lot ofpositivity, kind of going around
going around the province rightnow. And just Canada in general.
Jason Cox (46:40):
Yeah, it seems like we're, I mean, everyone's kind
of in this cocoon right now withwith COVID. And with the
downturn in the economy, but, Imean, hopefully, we're starting
to see a change with with thepandemic, and then from the
economy scale to hopefully wherethings are gonna start getting
better. And with people'sattitudes, and, and overall
(47:01):
success will hopefully follow.
Gursh Bal (47:04):
Yeah, for sure.
Iagree.
Zack Hartle (47:06):
Like Jason said, we really appreciate you guys
coming on the show today.
learned a ton from both of you.
Very excited to hear about, youknow, your Outlook upon the
industry and your journey to getwhere you are. I just I'd love
to hear that your your goal andyour vision as business owners
is really a global scale, right.
And you really are just doingthis, to make the world a better
(47:27):
place. And you're using theskills and the knowledge that
you've learned at something. Ihope you guys keep up and I
really appreciate that. So withthat being said, yeah, thank you
guys both so much for coming onthe show.
Gursh Bal (47:41):
Yeah, thanks again, for having us is an absolute
pleasure. Yeah. Thanks
Kai Fahrion (47:44):
for having us. It was awesome. Thanks for making
the podcast. Like it's just likeyou said, it's super cool to see
an electrical focus on because Ithink it's something that was
missing, or this industry isjust had so much potential. So
Zack Hartle (47:56):
thank you so much for listening to our episode
today, where we sat down withthose two was a excellent
episode. And I really got to sayit took a lot away from it. And
I think that their passion andtheir vision for the future of
the industry and a sustainablefuture is one that we can all
admire. So, thank you forlistening to this episode. If
you'd like the show, pleaseshare it with a friend. Our
(48:18):
Podcasts can be found whereveryou listen to podcast, Apple,
Google Spotify. Connect with uson Instagram or Facebook at
what's the word podcast and letus know if you liked the show or
what you'd like to hear infuture episodes. Thank you so
much for listening. You haveyourself a great day
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