Spearheading innovation

Spearhead is steering the market in manufacturing for the building industry, contributing to projects around the world

1 of 4This project currently being built in Procter on Kootenay Lake incorporates beams by Spearhead. — Colin Payne photo

2 of 4Spearhead staff got together for a photo with some of their products. — Colin Payne photo

3 of 4This is the interior view of a home in Procter being built using Spearhead beams. — Colin Payne photo

4 of 4This home under construction features beams by Spearhead. — Colin Payne photo

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The dynamic manufacturing company Spearhead is run by partners Ted Hall and Randy Richmond. Hall brought his business to Nelson, B.C., from Vancouver in 1998, and Richmond joined him in 2001. Since then, through the marriage of their skills, the business has developed with growing success and extended its reach into international markets.

Spearhead is a value-added company specializing in the design, project management and fabrication of timber and steel. Richmond said their multifaceted company operates on a collaborative basis.

“We have the design, millwork and timber-frame departments,” said Richmond. “Typically most of our work is high-end and very architecturally driven. We take a concept and redesign it to manufacture it.”

Virtually anything's possible

The customer's needs are the foremost consideration. Richmond said they ask the question "How do you want the details and the architectural concept of the job to flow through?" And because Spearhead utilizes three components of production, they can become really integrated according to the nature of the design.

“This is our strength and niche, and the market we go after,” said Richmond. “For us, our employees are by far our biggest asset, because a lot of them are so interchangeable.”

Multi-talented people

Richmond said that no other company has the employee and skill base for all three facets of production.

With about 35 people on staff, Spearhead has developed an incredible inspired team in which everyone works together, said Richmond. And Nelson has proven to be a great place when it comes to recruiting, he said, as people want to live here and raise their family.

Leading the way

Spearhead works hand in hand with a lot of architects, and this allows the company to apply its own uniqueness to a product.

“My business partner and I dabbled in the higher end stuff because we really appreciated architecture and design,” said Richmond. “We have always pushed the envelope and been able to really understand where the market was going—and in a lot of ways, steering it.”

Richmond said for them, recognizing when to use technology has been beneficial. Often components are manufactured just in time for construction, allowing for elevated efficiency and reduction in costs. 

Spearhead is LEED-certified, and is working more and more on commercial products. Currently, the company is involved with working on the new Aspen Art Museum (in Aspen, Colorado) designed by Shigeru Ban architects.