by TANNIS HOGUE
Founded in 1975, Shindico has $2.7 billion in assets under management with a 12.6 million square foot pipeline and over 4,700 residential and commercial tenants. Inside 50 years, they’ve continued to reinforce their value and expand offerings to clients which currently include: development; asset and property management; brokerage; and most recently, construction management via its sister company, SNR Construction.
The purpose of my visit was to talk to Sandy Shindleman, Shindico’s Founder and Chairman, to learn about the reasons behind Shindico’s continued growth and long-lasting success. Being one of the few people in this industry who’d never met Sandy, I had only heard stories of his unique character, “straight-shooter” manner of speech, and that for sure I was going to leave with a memorable story (or ten) in my pocket. And I did.
Sitting in Sandy’s office before he arrived, my eyes floated over the sea of photos surrounding me. I’m not sure if it was the way they were positioned, but together, they seemed like a collective embrace of support from people past and present who each, in some way, contributed to the astounding success of this commercial real estate firm.
Once he took his seat and we got to talking, I could see how Sandy was not only a builder of buildings, but even more, a builder of relationships. Instantly, he drew me in.
His eyes danced as he recalled memories when he figured out the mechanics for how to go at a particular deal; or seeing the sign light up on the first day a business was opening, knowing the part Shindico played in its existence. Through each story, however, was thread the name of a person or partnership that Sandy felt made all the difference.
He stressed that it was largely due to the kindness of others taking a chance on him in the early days, in Portage La Prairie, Manitoba, that enabled him and his brother Robert to grow Shindico into what it is today. Out of his gratefulness for the opportunities he was given, he has made a point of helping others over the years in ways not so common in the industry. This has led to the company’s vision statement: “Succeeding by helping others succeed.” And have they ever. Over five decades, this foundational philosophy has cultivated a reputation of trust which led to efficiency in their efforts and a boom in business.
For example, Sandy shared of a business relationship with what’s now known as Pre-Con Builders Ltd., doing three-quarters of a billion dollars of business together, never having signed a contract between them.
“Relationships have been the lifeline of our success,” noted Sandy. “That, and being incredibly intentional about how we do things, things we’ve done when I was starting out, things we still do to this day.”
I asked Sandy to share what he felt those key factors were, especially thinking about those who are currently working in commercial real estate or looking to join the profession.
“First, talk to as many people as possible,” he said. “From family gatherings to anyone in business or otherwise. Every person has something to teach you. You can’t be a generalist until you are first a specialist in learning. Be humble about what you don’t know, educate yourself, talk to people. You’ll be surprised how that knowledge will give you a leg up in the industry.”
He continued, “For me, I was especially intentional about learning the ins and out of a variety of businesses. From the macros to the micros. This learning helped me put myself in the shoes of potential business partners and ultimately their customer —getting a sound understanding of the experience their customer would have in the space we were developing or supplying. Once I understood this, it empowered me to create bullet proof business investment proposals, where most of the details the decision makers were having to hash out were already considered.
“Our knowledge base got to a point where the decision to proceed with Shindico was a no-brainer, and often we would provide additional information of value about aspects our clients needed to carry out for their venture that they hadn’t thought of yet. It’s a bit opposite thinking in a competitive commercial marketspace, but I believe sharing what you know will always come back to you in business success.”
In that moment, Sandy gave me a taste of what it may feel like to be a potential tenant or business partner. He illustrated a sort of blueprint on a piece of paper and began to share his wisdom regarding a sample scenario of me as a potential client wanting to open a pizza shop. “What I do is, draw a circle and put the client in the middle. From there I build an airtight investment for the client. Let’s say it’s someone who wanted to be in the pizza business. I’d first ask myself, what could sales of a pizza restaurant in this location be? In a conversation I had once I heard them say $1 per address per week in the serving area. When I did the math — I could see in that one case $780,000 in sales per year could be feasible — then I’d round up to $800,000 in sales thinking ahead to a future date after the build was complete, subtract 25% food costs, maybe $100,000 for a franchise package, royalties 10%, some other quick math and it became apparent what they could afford to pay to lease and still make favourable profit. They may have come in asking for $22 per square foot, but I could show them how they could afford to pay us $25 per square foot and make the operation more successful than they thought coming in. The moment clients understand that I understand their business – we not only become business partners but often mentors to some of these tenants who in turn spread the word, and that’s one of the main ways Shindico has just continued to grow.
“Another thing we do that seems counter productive but isn’t, we say ‘no’ more than others in the biz. When we know the venture their thinking of won’t be a good investment for them, we say no. Some people have called me crazy to turn business away, but in the end, you must do the right thing, and it has ended up creating an extra level of trust.”
I asked Sandy to share more about some other key factors responsible for Shindico’s success. He offered this: “Another key aspect is to be intentional about thinking what’s best for the client during every milestone of your contract with them.
“For example, I remember 40 years ago, when Winnipeggers were really excited about Pizza Hut coming to Winnipeg. To assist in the marketing and spreading the word, making the best use of time, the first thing we built even before the building, we made a pylon Pizza Hut sign first, six months before they would open. We continue to try to find ways to think about the client in how we execute our work.
“Today, especially with tariff threats and commercial construction becoming more expensive, it takes more work to show a sense of your company’s value to potential clients. That’s why we created SNR Construction and remain committed to coming alongside clients to think through the best ways to carry out a project.”
Sandy went on to share about how this mindset is present in the current build of the next Costco, part of Shindico’s Westport development located near the intersection of the Perimeter Highway and Portage Avenue opening late this year.
He shared about how Costco is very particular in how they want to provide an optimum experience for their customers. In Costco’s case — one major barrier to a positive customer experience at the other locations has been the lack of parking.
“At this next location,” he noted, “not only have we developed the plans to include a huge number of places to park, but we’re making the spots bigger, factoring in customers who drive trucks who may have gone elsewhere to shop to avoid the parking headache.”
Sandy then told me a related and humorous personal story when he told me he was repeatedly visiting Costco for almost a decade but would never go inside because he could not find a spot to park. Then, this one day recently, someone “magically” pulls out in front of him and even though he was not there to shop, rather to do some parking reconnaissance, he found himself calling his wife and asking what they needed bragging ‘I finally got a spot, I’m in – I’m here, so what can I get us?’
Finally, I asked Sandy what his advice would be to commercial REALTORS® to increase their success, to which he passionately replied, “I’d like to pass along a general reminder to commercial REALTORS® about how they are carrying out their business by looking to the residential REALTOR®. They market themselves. They market their services. And they call back quickly. I’m not sure how it became acceptable along the way, but generally when a residential REALTOR® gets a call from a potential buyer, the REALTOR® calls back in 10 minutes, even for a $70,000 house. There is a sense of urgency. But generally, when a commercial REALTOR® gets the same inquiry for a 20,000 square foot commercial property, they tend to wait a few days before providing the information and a decent response. Doing the work to get clients the information they need with a timely call-back still matters.”
Last, he told me about the thing that really keeps him and the Shindico team motivated, which of course was wrapped in another engaging story.
Sandy recalled sitting to write a blog some years back at their head office, looking out of a second-floor window overlooking Taylor Avenue at the time Shindico was involved in building the Walmart down the street.
In a one-minute time span he saw about 10 trucks — semis or service vehicles all heading in the direction of the build to contribute their service to that Walmart. Sandy recalled, “From the sign guy who was going to etch the letters of the hours of operation on the doors to materials to complete the build, I remembered how proud I felt that Shindico was playing a part in providing work for these people. Then it made me think also about the people who would find work as a greeter or cashier in that Walmart and how that Walmart would be paying taxes, and the tax base will expand and that would go into bettering the community.
“Our guiding light when thinking about whether to embark on developing or being part of a project is to direct our thoughts to the people who will be inside those buildings. Thinking about who we’d be helping to succeed as we succeed. It’s real, our vision and the notion of it makes its way into every project we’re a part of.”
Finally, it’s worth noting that Shindico’s success is not just present where their buildings are but is realized in their incredible support in our local community. Shindico and the Shindleman family are proud supporters by way of countless generous donations to organizations like the Health Sciences Centre Foundation, the Shindleman Aquatic Centre in Portage La Prairie, the Willow Tunnel at Assiniboine Park & Zoo, the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, as well many other initiatives that are dear to their hearts.
It was at that moment as our time came to an end that Sandy shared with me he was waiting in anticipation for two things to arrive at home that would both be placed on his front lawn — the first being the black Pony Corral horse from a recent charity auction, and a sign declaring loyalty to the “party who’ll get the job done” in the then upcoming Federal election.
To watch their 50th anniversary video and learn more about Shindico and their continued success visit the website: http://shindico.com/