If you've seen a difference in the buildings of downtown Chatham, it's likely you've noticed work done by JP Contractors.
The owners refer to the company as a "pipe dream in progress."
JP Contractors is comprised of brothers, Martin, Joel, and Dave Horneman, their uncle Ron Nydam, and their crew.
The brothers' father, Albert Horneman, started a construction company called Jemtec in the 1970s. Nydam worked at Jemtec for about 12 years before starting his own company, Pyramid Construction.
After Albert passed away in 2005, Martin, who was only 21 at the time, started running Jemtec, with plenty of help from his uncle.
In 2007, Jemtec and Pyramid Construction were combined to become JP Contractors.
While they do take on regular construction work, their passion is in restoring historical buildings.
"We just love old buildings," Nydam said. "We love the craftsmanship." He explained that anytime they travel they take the time to appreciate and be inspired by historical buildings.
"There's a lot of history here in Chatham, a lot of old buildings that over the years have been destroyed," Nydam added. "Our goal is to bring it back to what it should be."
The crew at JP Contractors are not only trying to bring those buildings back to life, they're trying to do it accurately. They often use the knowledge of local historians and old photographs to see what the buildings used to look like and what they used to be.
They are responsible for a number of restorations in the downtown, including:
a majority of the work on the Retro Suites
the Sons of Kent Brewery
the Dutch Market
140 King Street West (AOM. Exordia and apartments)
144 King Street (FX Decorating, Revolve, and All that Jazz)
68 King Street (Myrtle Flower Market and patio behind)
164 King Street (formerly Glitters restaurant)
146 Wellington Street West (Nest Realty)
85 Queen Street (the red building next to Nest Realty)
90 King Street (Kogelschatz block)
"It's not always 100 per cent perfect," Nydam said. "We try to bring back that old look, that nostalgia, that beauty, that craftsmanship."
Their passion also meets practicality. Nydam explained that, at first, they would purchase a building to restore as a winter project, to keep their crews working during the slower months.
While the company tries to use original materials for building restorations it's not always possible.
"We always try to work with what's there and salvage what we can," Horneman said, but when it comes to things like windows, mouldings, and cornices, modern materials often work better.
Often, a restoration project can take a bit longer than a regular construction project.
"In order to support our bad habit, we do have to take on other projects," Nydam said.
"Obviously, our customers come first," Horneman said, adding that their own projects will get worked on after their clients'.
Of the buildings JP Contractors does own, Horneman explained that they often lease them out once they've finished restoring them.
"I firmly believe that if you have a beautifully crafted building, with that flair and that workmanship, tenants tend to appreciate that, build their business around that, and seem to prosper better and become a long-term tenant," he said.
Profits made by the company are usually reinvested into other buildings in Chatham-Kent, especially those that are underutilized, vacant, or have a story to tell.
JP Contractors does have a few projects on the go, but one they plan to tackle in the future will come a long way to realizing their dream.
"[We] and three other partners bought the Downtown Chatham Centre," Martin explained. "We want to bring some of the old architecture back to it... elevators, escalators..."
They plan to refurbish the facade of the entire mall, to make it look more like it fits into the area.
"We can't change what the past has done, but in the future maybe we can repair some of the damage," Martin said.
The company hopes to have renderings of the project ready in the next few months.