Download The Keith Beedie Story - Beedie Group

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THE KEITH
BEEDIE STORY
PART 2: BUILT TO LAST
“One look at us in our
costumes, mine complete
with a little hatchet, sent
him screaming back to
phone the police.”
CHAPTER 8: IF IT WASNʼ T FOR BAD LUCK, Iʼ D HAVE NO LUCK AT ALL …
Keith was stuck with a big crane bill, but worse, he wasn’t sure how to
proceed with the building. Th e ground was not at all what the owner
had promised. Keith was building in a marsh. Th e owner went out of
town and Charlie and Keith got creative in his absence. “We dug some
sloppy trenches and laid down 3- × 12-inch cedar planks to make it
level,” says Keith. “Th ey were basically fl oating.” Th e plan was to then
pour the foundation on top of the planks. But fi rst, they had to pass an
inspection. “We made sure it was a rainy day, so the inspector wouldn’t
want to climb down into the mud for a closer look,” says Keith. “He
looked down from street level and he could see the forms, so he passed
it.” Keith and Charlie lost no time in pouring the concrete and putting
in the drain tile. By the time the client returned to town and came by
the building site, he was shocked to fi nd them already
framing his house. “Th e whole place was balanced on
the mud. It wasn’t how I did things, but at that point we
just wanted to fi nish the thing and get the hell out,” says
Keith. Due to the lies, he had already lost money on the
deal and he wanted it complete.
When the house was done, Keith went to the client for
the fi nal draw on the contract. As they walked around
the house together for a fi nal inspection Keith was
furious as the owner started pointing out little fl aws in
the fi nishing. “He said he didn’t like the placement of the
electric outlets,” says Keith. “He insisted that wall plugs
had to be moved because his iron cord wouldn’t reach
the area he wanted to iron in, that kind of stuff .” He
refused to hand over the fi nal payment. Keith couldn’t
believe it. Keith got a lawyer, demanding payment and
complaining that the client was crooked and crazy. Th e
contract had gone through the CMHC, so they launched
an investigation to get to the bottom of the matter.
One evening, while the lawyers were still looking into
the client’s contract with regards to fi nal payment, Keith
and Charlie went with their wives to a masquerade
party. Keith had rented a Native Indian costume and
Charlie was dressed as a cowboy. “We were so frustrated
by the situation,” says Keith. “We got a few drinks in us
and since we weren’t far away, we decided to pay him a
visit.” It was aft er two o’clock in the morning when an inebriated Keith
and Charlie arrived on the owner’s doorstep. Th ey banged on the door
to wake him up. He came to the back door and peeked out the window.
“One look at us in our costumes, mine complete with a little hatchet,
sent him screaming back to phone the police. He was terrifi ed,” says
Keith. While he bolted, Keith and Charlie ran laughing back to their
car. Th ey fi gured it didn’t help the situation, but they had fun scaring
the owner.
Th e next day, Keith received a phone call from his lawyer. “He told me
that the client had called the bank to complain about us,” says Keith.
“He said that we had appeared at his place in the middle of the night,
dressed to kill and waving an axe. ‘Now we know why you thought
he was nuts,’ the lawyer told me.” Eventually, Keith got all the money
owed him on the deal. “And that guy got a cheap house on a crappy
piece of land,” says Keith. “Th at, and the scare of his life.”
“Keith can have a bit of fun. I remember one time I came into the
Beedie offi ce to talk business and I showed Keith a little $9 fake camera
I picked up, the kind you screw onto the outside of your building
to trick people into thinking there’s surveillance. I asked Keith if he
would play along with me. I went downstairs to the lower offi ces and
pretended I was trying to fi nd a spot for the camera. I was getting some
evil glares, but I said ‘Hey, don’t shoot the messenger. I just do what
the big guy says.’ I made a big show of it, even getting Keith on speaker
phone at one point saying move the camera to the left a bit. People
were really getting worried, so I fi nally let everyone in on the joke. It
was very funny. Keith was a very good sport.”
—AXEL GRINGMUTH, ETS ELECTRIC LTD.
Two of the very fi rst projects taken on by Beedie Construction Ltd.
had not gone according to plan, but Keith wasn’t discouraged. He was
breaking ground on building the 30 lots he had originally purchased
at Central Park Garden Village. Other than the septic issue on the
Th ompson property, construction on the subdivision in Burnaby
was going well. Keith noticed that his split-level houses were selling
better than most of his competitors’ homes. “Th ey were selling these
regular basement bungalow places,” says Keith. “Mine were selling like
hotcakes.” Keith was pleased that the lots he had purchased at $1,100
and $1,200 had turned out to be the prize locations in the subdivision.
He had bought them because they fi t his split-level design, with a
carport on the side of the house. Th ey were all corner locations or wide
lots with no lane, and all had views, unlike most of the lower-priced
properties he had passed on. Th ose appeared to be more diffi cult to
unload. “Th e other builders didn’t like it that I had all the corner view
lots tied up,” says Keith. “It taught me a lesson: tie up the land if you
can. I still do that today.”
Eventually,
Keith got all
the money
owed him on
the deal.
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