Before those vegetables ripen, or even before those plants get put into the dirt, a potential gardener is going to need the right tools for the job.
That’s where 108 Building Supply comes in.
While they leave the selling of actual plants to the other garden centres in town, 108 Building Supply has everything else anyone could ask for when it comes to setting up or maintaining a garden for the season.
The shop will help gardeners through the entire process of setting up a garden or greenhouse, right through to making sure a gardener has the supplies they need to keep their garden in shape, from hoses to clippers right down to the fencing to make sure pesky deer don’t get at the flowers.
108 Building Supply doesn’t actually do the building themselves, but the in-house experts are willing to help anyone through whatever project they’ve got their mind on.
The crew at the shop will help people determine the size of their space, figure out what they need to get their garden started - whether it’s a greenhouse or ceder raised beds - and send them on their way.
“We just guide them along the way and hopefully their green thumb works,” says owner and manager Noel Thompson.
He says that customer service is the hallmark of the store.
“We tease, we joke, we try and get the product that they need,” he says.
“A lot of people come in and say, ‘How do I do this?’ so you gry and figure out how they’re going, whether they are making a greenhouse — so we have some greenhouse poly or some fiberglass panels and the lumber to build your greenhouse.”
He says if the shop doesn’t have what people need, he’s willing to order it in.
This is the time of year the 108 Building Supply gets busy, as people come to pick up lumber for docks in the lake, start doing renovations on their houses or start on their yard work, says Thompson.
He says one of his recomendations from the supplies in the store is a good quality hose.
“I’ve used the other ones and my dog eats them,” he says with a laugh. “But I like the heavy duty ones, they’re a little more money but they last forever.”
That’s where Thompson says a lot of the recommendations from staff in the store come from — personal expereince.
“We buy something, try it out, say this works, and then half the staff buy it,” he says.
Thompson says he’ll work with anybody to try and sort out their gardening issues.
“We just work with everybody that we can.”