FWS Group of Companies: Celebrating 70 Years in 2023

Corporate Member NewsAnniversaryPress Release

Frank Wiebe Sawatzky founded the organization in 1953 under the company name of F.W. Sawatzky Ltd. At that time, the company focused its efforts on home renovations following the great flood of 1950 in Winnipeg. 

In 1960, the company expanded to include general contracting services for commercial construction projects like construction of restaurants, gas stations, banks, etc.

The company continued to expand adding:

- The Ag-Industrial division (building grain elevators, 1985), 
- Sunstone Resort Communities (residential building construction, 1990), 
- A small office in Calgary, Alberta (both residential and commercial construction, 1998),
- Exploring more applications for slip forming projects (both in mining and processing plant industries, 2000), 
- Expanding the Ag-Industrial Division further (took on larger projects, adopted combined construction management and integrated the design build approach to project development, 2010), 
- FWS Bulk Material Handling Ltd. (expansion of their Vancouver office and the addition of new personnel with senior level experience in Built Material Handling, 2014), 
- Moved and expanded to their state-of-the-art facility at 275 Commerce Drive in Winnipeg (2015), 
- FWS Energy Ltd. (incorporated FWS’ integrated Design – Build approach to Canada’s Oil and Gas sector, 2015), 
- Confidence Crane Ltd. (with a small fleet of high-quality machinery for the express purpose of meeting FWS’ varied project needs and providing improved project controls and inherent cost savings for their clients, 2017), 
- KPIC Maintenance Services Inc. (able to offer complete project development and ongoing maintenance services to their clients, 2017).

At the same time, large positive changes were also happening internally in the company:
- Rick Chale (appointed President and first Chief Executive Officer, 1994)
- Brent Clegg (appointed President and Chief Executive Officer, 2012)
- One of Canada’s Best Managed Companies (awarded the distinction of becoming one of - - Canada’s Best Managed Companies and has retained this designation ever since then, 2013)
- FWS performed a brand refresh (launched a new logo with corporate colours and a brand story, 2018)

Through their 70 years of growth and their integrated approach, FWS has changed the construction industry forever, moving it to am much more efficient, client orientated era. 

Today, FWS has over 550 employees across Canada, utilizing a fully integrated, in-house approach specializing in storage and material handling, be it agricultural goods, bulk, liquid, or gas, FWS can expertly design, engineer, construct, commission and maintain the facilities they build.

FWS Group of Companies: Celebrating 7...