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Capacity Crane’s Aaron Pelletier on lifting up and giving back

Since founding Abbotsford, B.C.’s Capacity Crane in 2010, the evolution of Aaron Pelletier’s company has rewarded him with more than just success – in talking to Pelletier, it’s clear that every opportunity for growth is also a chance to share his success with the wide range of influences across his industry and community that have brought him to where he is today.

Adding to Capacity Crane’s success story is the company’s status as the only Indigenous-registered heavy lifting company in the country, with this heritage – along with his faith, family and fellow crane operating professionals across the province – fuelling Pelletier’s unwavering commitment to giving back.

To learn from Verne

Pelletier’s enthsiasm for sharing his success is evident even minutes into speaking with him, with no opportunity missed in shouting out or crediting the many people who have shaped both him and Capacity Crane into what they are. This impressive gratitude, he says, was imparted on him by one man who gave him a life-changing opportunity.

“That gentleman’s name is Verne Brown – he always liked to be called ‘Verne with an E’ Brown,” said Pelletier. The owner of his own crane company, Brown invited his son-in-law to come watch him perform a crane job one day and the rest, as they say, is heavy lifting history.

Aaron Pelletier had experience in the construction and manufacturing sectors, but one day spent on-site during a crane job is all it took to get him hooked on heavy lifting.

“One day Verne asked if I wanted to come and watch a job. After, he took everybody out to lunch and paid for everybody’s meal. That was the first time that I had ever witnessed somebody pay for everybody’s meal, and I was so very thankful,” said Pelletier.

Pelletier had experience in the construction and manufacturing sectors, but that day showed him he could be a part of an on-site family in the heavy lifting industry. Within a year and a half, Pelletier had begun his journey to being a crane operator, guided by his mentor’s support, kindness and second-generation crane knowledge.

“So, I began the journey of becoming a crane operator, and there was a lot to learn,” said Pelletier. “It was a big learning curve. I started out in a boom truck, and eventually I wrote the exam to get my unlimited tonnage ticket.”

After cutting his teeth working with Brown, Pelletier decided it was time to begin his own crane operating company. Following a journey of stops and starts in purchasing what would be Capacity Crane’s first boom truck, fate found him just down the road from his own house, and once again in touch with the grace of “Verne with an E.”

“I finally found this crane in Abbotsford, literally three or four kilometres from my house. I was going to look at it and they said someone else was coming in to look at it, so I better get there quick,” Pelletier shared. “I’m setting the crane up, and who rolls into the yard but my father-in-law. He said he was there to look at another crane, but I already knew he had come to look at this one.”
“In true Verne-ian style, he went and bought the other one and I bought the one I was testing,” Pelletier said. “They still have that crane, it’s been in use until this day, and I just recently got rid of mine.”

Building up to Capacity

In the beginning, Capacity Crane focused on trusses, steel and rebar delivery, with Pelletier overseeing all aspects of the business as a solo operation over its first five years.

Since its founding in 2009, Pelletier has grown Capacity Crane into a major player in the lower mainland’s heavy lifting sector.

“I started out just running that boom truck. If it broke down, I’d be up at four in the morning fixing it in the yard,” he said. “I’d never say no to work – whatever came in, I would always take it. I’d work until eight or nine at night sometimes, because when you’re always available, your phone keeps ringing.”

Capacity was eventually offered a contract for a steel erection job on Vancouver Island, with the scale of the operation requiring Pelletier to bring another set of hands on board. This was not just an opportunity to scale up the company, but a chance for Pelletier to pass along his knowledge and mentorship to another, much like Verne had.

Pelletier’s counsel paid off, with his new hire, Randy Wall, staying with the company for nine years and growing into what Pelletier described as one of the best crane operators in the province.

“I was able to teach Randy on the spot in real time, like how to set these cranes up, how to make them work and what to do, which was awesome, because it was one-on-one training,” said Pelletier. “He became an amazing operator, and we ended up staying on that job for seven months.”

After their work on the island, “that’s when things kind of took off,” said Pelletier. Capacity Crane took another step toward the company it is today when Pelletier took a taxi job for Levitt Cranes; with this chance meeting creating a bond between the companies that continues to thrive.

“We picked up this machine and they said, ‘Hey, you know, we liked your service. We’re moving yards. Do you guys want to share yard space with us?’ And I said, ‘that would be awesome.’”

Capacity continues to share a yard with Levitt Cranes today, and is also responsible for handling the load-in and load-outs for Levitt’s tower crane operations. The relationship between the two companies has grown beyond mere yard-mates, with the bond between the two operations turning into its own heavy-lifting homestead.

“We became such good friends, they’ve become like family – over the last two years, I’ve even held the Christmas parties for Levitt and Capacity Crane. I do a big barbecue, I go out and buy all kinds of prizes and we have a big bonfire; it’s a great time,” Pelletier said.

Lifting Indigenous voices

Despite the kindness and penchant for giving back that Pelletier had built Capacity Crane on, it wasn’t until meeting Claire Bélanger-Parker, executive director of the Canadian Crane Rental Association, that he was inspired to align his business with his culture and begin to see Capacity Crane as a platform for building up Indigenous voices.

“We’d already been a part of the Canadian Crane Rental Association for quite some time, about a year and a half, but when Claire found out we were an Aboriginal company, she was shocked,” Pelletier said. “She had been looking for an Indigenous crane company for years to help bridge the gap between the government, crane companies and these joint ventures.”

Pelletier is committed to using his status Canada’s only Indigenous-registered crane service business to increase representation and ease stakeholder relationships.

Pelletier credits Bélanger-Parker with giving him the push to lean on and find pride in his Indigenous roots, a change in approach that inspired him to register his business with the Aboriginal Council of Canada and the Canadian Centre for Aboriginal Business.

“When I started learning about Indigenous issues, and the responsibilities this identity gives us in the sector, that’s when we decided to declare, yes, we’re an Indigenous company.”

Holding the mantle of being the sole Aboriginal-registered crane business in the country, Pelletier is committed to using his platform to cultivate a relationship between people of his heritage, the construction industry and project stakeholders that prioritizes growth and learning for all parties involved.

“Just like in any good relationship, things can’t work unless both sides are good communicators: they understand each other, are honest and don’t take advantage of one another,” Pelletier said. “We need to have these relationships for the right reasons. Don’t do them because it only helps your bottom line – do them because you want reconciliation, from the bottom to the top.”

Another figure that Pelletier credits with motivating him to see the pride and responsibility that comes with being a successful Indigenous business owner is his father. His father’s Aboriginal childhood entailed the hardships common to such an upbringing decades ago. In his position as a voice for Indigenous workers in the construction industry, Pelletier hopes to inspire and show what is possible to others across Canada.

“I spent my life listening to all of these stories from my dad’s family, and I want to break that generational thing with my own family – I don’t want to see those same hardships for them,” he said.

In continuing to honour both his heritage and his late father, Pelletier began a scholarship in honour of him, the Marcel Pelletier Memorial Scholarship, awarded to local Indigenous youth with an interest in sports or the trades.

Major lessons from the minor league

Even with the success of Capacity Crane, Pelletier remains a busy man. He is launching another company, HoistSafe; a mechanical service and crane repair company that is an equal-ownership endeavour with two of his closest friends. He has also recently partnered with former employee, Luke Clifford, to use Clifford’s knuckle boom services as he grows his own company, Predator Crane.

Despite his range of responsibilities, Pelletier manages to find time for his passion of coaching minor league hockey. Having coached more than 20 teams in the last eight years, calling the shots on the ice is more than just a hobby for Pelletier – rather, it has been a source of leadership lessons that continue to help him in all aspects of life.

“I’m at that age where I’m starting to think about life differently, to be honest with you. For me, it’s not about making money anymore, as much as it is helping others and seeing yourself grow, even in my own business. I would give credit for that to some of the coaching I’ve done in hockey,” he said.

The most positive impact that Pelletier has seen coming from the rink is not only learning how to fail, but more importantly, learning how to get back up again and keep moving forward.

“You learn how to fall down and how to get back up again, you learn how to fail, and then hopefully, potentially succeed,” he said. “There’s lots of life lessons that are in hockey, and I feel like part of why I’ve been able to accomplish what I have is because of those life lessons.”

For someone as motivated to give back and share his success as Pelletier, he has plenty of reasons for picking himself back up after any setbacks, but the most important are his five children – Chantelle, Avery Aryn, Savannah, Taylor and Tristan – their mother Melissa, and the blessings he finds in his own faith.

“I want to make sure God gets the credit for my success, because that’s the truth for me,” he said. “Verne used to say, ‘God is my dispatcher.’ Verne didn’t worry about the next day necessarily, because he knew God was going to take care of him.”