The Ecclestone Financial Group (EFG) building expansion – a project 10 years in the making – has finally come to fruition.
EFG, along with tenants of the 5,600-square-foot addition (Rafferty Insurance Brokers, The Farquharson Team with Remax Real Estate Centre, the Mortgage Centre, Simply Bookkeeping and First Capital Financial Corporation), will celebrate the building’s official opening on Oct. 14 at 12:30pm with a ribbon cutting.
The beginning
Ted Ecclestone started EFG in 1993 and bought the original house at 245 St. David St. N. in Fergus in 1999. The structure previously served as a doctor’s office, a veterinarian’s office and, prior to Ecclestone taking possession, it housed about 18 people.
“It was a mom and her boyfriend and their daughter that were taking kids in,” he explained.
At that time, Ecclestone gutted the building and renovated it to suit the business. He owned the structure, the lot and the parking lot.
About a decade ago Ecclestone first had the idea for an expansion. He found a partner who was going to buy half of the red brick house and half the lot – and split the cost of the new building.
“He got cold feet and I couldn’t financially handle it on my own,” Ecclestone said. The project never happened.
Legislation
Industry regulation changes led Ecclestone to reconsider the expansion.
In December, new legislation, phase two of the Client Relationship Model, will make it mandatory for all financial firms, including banks and advisors, to disclose the exact dollar amount of every investment that’s going towards management fees, Ecclestone explained.
He added right now it is mandatory to disclose the value as a simple percentage on the bottom of clients’ year-end statements.
EFG, on the other hand, has always had disclosure with its clients, Ecclestone explained. He anticipates the company will see increased business in the future and will need the addition to accommodate new investors.
“We’re already way ahead of where we normally would be in a year and it’s because this community sees this building and it knows we’re not going anywhere,” Ecclestone said.
Tenants
In addition to expanding the building for EFG’s purposes, he also wanted to make it a one-stop shop for clients.
“We have mortgages, house insurance, mortgage insurance, bookkeeping services; real estate fits in there because somebody sold the house,” Ecclestone said.
“If we could have all of those similar services that all kind of … feed off each other, then this would be an incredible building for everybody to work in because it’s just referrals all over the place.”
EFG marketing assistant Kevin Herder said he’s looking forward to building relationships with the new tenants.
“The ability to refer … it’s a nice option to offer everything in house under one roof where they can have a one-stop shop and cover all their needs,” he said.
EFG is located on the top floor, along with First Capital Financial Corporation. Rafferty Insurance Brokers is on the middle floor, while the Farquharson Team with Remax Real Estate Centre, Brad Slater with the Mortgage Centre, and Cheryl Calro with Simply Bookkeeping will share the bottom floor.
Maureen and Jim Farquharson and their daughter, Emily Rawson, brokers with Remax Real Estate Centre, moved into the building due to networking opportunities.
“It just would be a good opportunity to work alongside these people that we respect and we refer people to anyway,” Maureen said. “It’d just be nice to be closer to them and it’s worked out really well.”
She added, “We try to keep all our business local so we don’t typically deal with someone outside the area, so this is very local and it’s very convenient,” she said.
The old red brick house is undergoing renovations once again, to create four accessible meeting rooms that will be shared by everyone in the building.
“All the meeting rooms are wired for internet and they’ve got monitors … and a telephone,” Ecclestone said. “So if we need anything we don’t have to go anywhere.”
The meeting rooms are where EFG is planning to see clients because they’re accessible and it helps keep other client information confidential because the public will not have access to the advisor’s work space, Ecclestone said.
Team atmosphere
The building is designed to facilitate an inclusive atmosphere.
There is one main kitchen where employees from all the different businesses can gather for lunch. It is outfitted with a dishwasher, microwave, convection oven and fridge.
The middle floor also has a deck for employees to use the barbecue to make lunch. Ecclestone also said he’s hoping to get all of the teams together to officially name the four common meeting room areas.
Construction
The construction officially began on Feb. 11, 2016.
“All it was really for about the first month … was a hole with the footings and foundations up,” Ecclestone said.
“That was it and then very early in March the guys showed up and they started framing it and it was just like ‘holy.’”
All the water in the building is filtered and it is a bottle-free zone. The lights are motion and thermal detecting. The floors, outdoor steps and sidewalks are heated by water.
“So we don’t have to shovel any snow or we don’t have to worry about slips and falls, we don’t have to worry about salt and sand coming into the building,” Ecclestone said.
“We’ve tried to think of everything we could possibly put in here as long as [it won’t] break the bank.”
In addition to the expanded building, Ecclestone is also repaving the parking lot outside of the office.
In total there will be about 20 people sharing the expanded 7,400-square-foot building.
