Murals in Metal founder Jim Dawe, centre, with his son-in-law Jordan Skinner, left, and his son Cory Dawe, who now co-own the metalwork business in Lucan, Ont.Geoff Robins/The Globe and Mail
At the end of his day as a sheet-metal foreman at an electrical company in Southwestern Ontario in the late 1990s, Jim Dawe would relax in his backyard shed with a more creative endeavour: cutting and forming decorative wall art from metal.
He loved working with his hands but his job had him travelling a lot. He was “missing out on time with my family,” Jim says, so when it looked as though there might be commercial demand for his art, he took the leap. By 2004, the hobby had become a full-time business, Murals in Metal.
Jim moved operations to a studio near Lucan, 150 kilometres west of Hamilton. Today, the enterprise turns the ideas of homeowners and businesses across the country into reality – making everything from privacy screens and custom signage to large outdoor sculptures. The company is particularly well known for its metal palm trees.
But the path has not been straightforward. Like many small family businesses, Murals in Metal has had to adapt several times and another reinvention is on the horizon.
“We started out doing a lot of wholesale,” says Jordan Skinner, 43, Jim’s son-in-law, who took over the business alongside Jim’s son Cory Dawe, 35, in 2020. “At one point, probably half the business was supplying stores across Canada.”
For years the company travelled to large gift shows in Toronto to secure retail clients and more than 200 stores stocked its products – from garden decor to decorative wall art.
Murals in Metal makes everything from privacy screens and custom signage to large outdoor sculptures.Geoff Robins/The Globe and Mail
But the pandemic in 2020 forced the business to rethink nearly everything. COVID-19 shut down trade shows and halted travel, cutting off the wholesale channel that had driven much of its sales. At the same time, the price of raw materials soared. Steel sheets suddenly “cost nearly three times as much,” Jim recalls.
The numbers stopped making sense. Rather than preserving the old model, the business shifted its focus.
The family noticed that homeowners were spending more time at home and investing in renovations and decor. Custom work and direct sales became Murals in Metal’s new revenue stream because of the stronger profit margins. Customers started bringing their ideas directly to the business and ordering pieces online on the company’s new website.
The transition had some risk. Wholesale had provided predictable volume for years, while custom work required more time, collaboration and design input for each piece. But working from patrons’ sketches or rough ideas gave the enterprise greater control over pricing and let it showcase the craftsmanship that had drawn clients in the first place.
That hands-on approach has become Murals’ differentiator. “You can’t get that kind of customization from Amazon,” Cory says.
Today, custom and retail work make up the majority of its revenue, while wholesale represents about 20 per cent. Jim’s wife, Lynn, serves as the bookkeeper and works part-time in the on-site store. The company’s two full-time employees move between design work, computerized cutting, welding and powder coating.
“We keep it pretty hands-on,” similar to an apprentice system where younger staff gain experience on the job, Jim says. “Everybody here can do a bit of everything.”
Passing Murals to the next generation was always at the back of Jim’s mind. As a kid, Cory would help his father after school and on weekends. Mr. Skinner joined in 2008 after going to stay with Jim and Lynn, initially pitching in and discovering he had a passion for the work.
Cory Dawe welds together a fire pit.Geoff Robins/The Globe and Mail
Cory and Mr. Skinner gradually took on larger roles. Jim encouraged them to stay with the business by promising that if they committed to it long term, they would eventually take it over. “We kind of made a little deal that if they both worked and stuck with it, within 10 years basically it’d be theirs,” says Jim, who at 66 is still involved in all aspects of the company.
For family businesses, those kinds of transitions often require careful communication and clearly defined responsibilities, says Wendy Sage-Hayward, a family-enterprise adviser and member of the Family Business Consulting Group in Vancouver.
“Families move from relationship-based decisions to needing more structure,” she says. “You need clarity around who is making decisions, who is responsible for what.” Otherwise, misunderstandings about authority and expectations can create tension between relatives who work together.
Murals’ owners say one key to avoiding that problem has been maintaining a separation between work and family. “You can argue about something at work, but you leave that there,” Mr. Skinner says.
Cory adds that he and Mr. Skinner, who are equal partners, are aligned on all major topics. “We have a great working relationship and have been able to talk over and work out any minor issues.”
The company is known for its metal palm trees.Geoff Robins/The Globe and Mail
Right now, the business is shifting again, this time because of changes in technology and the retail environment. Murals is considering concentrating solely on custom orders, dropping its store altogether. Up until a few years ago, “foot traffic [at the shop] was non-stop,” Mr. Skinner says. “Now it’s here and there” and the property is much more space than they need.
One factor is that fewer customers today seek utilitarian items from Murals, such as address signage for residences or businesses, because the machines to produce smaller-scale objects are now easy to buy, unlike when the company first started.
Both generations reached a “family decision” a few weeks ago to sell the Lucan property – not the business – and to explore another reinvention, Mr. Skinner says. That could be anything from relocating closer to the owners’ homes to shorten their currently lengthy commutes and focusing exclusively on creative custom work; or selling the company along with the land and remaining involved in a teaching role.
“Nothing is off the table,” Mr. Skinner says.