Entrepreneur of the Year 2024: Etro Construction founder Mike Maierle crafts a sense of place

THE KICKOFF: Mike Maierle always knew he’d be in construction. Born and raised in Burnaby, he worked jobs re-finishing decks and painting fences during the summer before enrolling in BCIT’s construction management program and, upon graduation, getting a job at the Downtown Vancouver office of construction giant Ledcor.

Maierle spent some 13 years with Ledcor, becoming its go-to shopping centre/commercial retail project manager in Metro Vancouver and running projects like the $70-million Pacific Centre Holt Renfrew redevelopment. Then the company enlisted him to go to the Bahamas and build a $370- million airport in the country. The project took four years. It was there that the seeds of something new started to grow.

When Maierle got back, he decided he would go out on his own. The company was planning on making him the president of its construction group. “I wanted no part of that,” Maierle says. “I had two young kids; I knew I’d be on a plane all the time. I couldn’t see it.”

Years before, he had registered a corporation under the name ETRO Construction to do odd jobs. So, on October 1, 2015, he put in his notice at Ledcor. “At the end of the month they threw me this incredible going away celebration—60 clients showed up, a lot of people,” says Maierle. “I think they thought I was going to go renovate houses and do small stuff. But I had a whole different plan.”

ACTION PLAN: Maierle set up two folding tables, a chair and a couple of screens and started ETRO (which stands for Ethics, Teamwork, Relationships and Optimism) in his basement with $100,000 of his own savings and, as he puts it, “a loan against my house.”

The projects started coming in slowly as Maierle spent his time knocking on doors and calling people up. First, there was a tenant improvement project for $500,000. Then a three-unit heritage renovation. Then 10-unit projects. Then 20, 50, 200, 500 and 1,000. And then the commercial stuff started rolling in.

Even for Maierle, who envisioned big things when he left Ledcor, the growth has been staggering. “I’ve got this little sheet in my office from the first month when I set my revenue projections,” he says. “I projected in our 10th year we’d do $40 million.”

CLOSING STATEMENT: Turns out, he undershot it. ETRO, which was based in Burnaby at press time but had plans to move its head office to East Vancouver, has some 150 employees and will do around $200 million in revenue this year. The scope of the work ETRO is doing has grown alongside the company—it recently won the renovation contract for BC Place in preparation for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

At 41, Maierle isn’t close to done—and he wants to bring his company with him. “Some of our young employees are going to take on leadership roles with us now, whether it’s in the Bahamas [where ETRO is building a Four Seasons resort], at BC Place or in Victoria [where ETRO is expanding],” he says. “There are opportunities for people to grow in places where there’s a ceiling at other companies.”

Q+A

What’s the best leadership advice you’ve ever received?

If you’re going to take a job,  take one where you know there’s a mentor who will  support you and your goals and is a people-first person.

Do you have any embarrassing obsessions?

Lining my kids’ baseball fields. My older kids are too good for me to coach but I still love  lining the fields.

What’s an odd job you’ve had?

I drove a Zamboni for a few years in Burnaby. They used to put me on the night shift.

After work we can find you…

At a baseball diamond with my kids.