Our Progress
November 27th - the anniversary of the fire that destroyed our main facility. Today the Township of Oro-Medonte issued us a Provisional Occupancy Certificate for our new 11,200 sq. ft. Motorhome Showroom. Within the week we expect to be granted occupancy for the entire building - all 35,000 sq. ft.!
Motorhome Showroom
With the Hitch House Motorhome Showroom now complete we will be moving in shortly. All that remains is cleaning and polishing. We are working with flooring specialists to enhance the final finish of our floor. Chris McKee has completed the layout for the showroom that can accommodate up to 20 motorhomes. All four of our manufacturers (Thor Motor Coach, Newmar, Roadtrek & Pleasure Way) will have their products displayed inside. READ MORE...
In many areas we are entering the final phase of construction. Painting, tile, architectural stone and landscaping are all in progress. Ever since November 27th 2012, the date of the fire, the entire Hitch House team has been working towards the day we would be in our new home. That day is coming soon.
Motorhome Showroom
The Hitch House motorhome showroom is nearing completion. It was very satisfying to watch the new concrete floor being poured. It is now covered with a protective sheathing until the end of the construction. With all the overhead doors, man doors, insulation and framing complete we are nearly there. The painter from Tri-Star Interiors has already primed the massive block wall that separates the Motorhome Showroom from the Parts & Accessories Store. Two of the three 16' wide by 14' high overhead doors that access the showroom require exterior ramps. The footings and retaining walls for these ramps have been poured, backfilled and Eisses Landscaping Services will meld them into the new landscaping. READ MORE...
Our new headquarters is really taking shape. There has been a huge volume of activity recently and the building progress is exciting for all of us here at The Hitch House. The light is clearly at the end of the tunnel.
Motorhome Showroom
Barrie Glass and Mirror has finished the installing all of the showroom windows that make up the curtain wall. A+ Garage Doors are in the process of setting up the tracks for the three overhead doors that will allow us to load and unload the Motorhome Showroom. READ MORE...
At this point we are just over 50% finished. Hopefully the hardest parts are behind us. Right now, the structural steel framework is complete. The steel studs for the framing of the outside walls are also nearing completion. Barrie Glass & Mirror have installed the window frames to support the glass curtain walls for the motorhome showroom. A new 42' concrete service pit has been prepared in the service bays. The concrete for the service pit has been poured and cured, the forms have been removed and the area has been backfilled around it. READ MORE...
The foundation has now been finished for over three weeks. The concrete block bearing walls as well as the concrete core slabs that make up the second floor of office space, boardroom, file storage and Parts' storage are place. These concrete bearing walls provide us with a glimpse of the height of our new headquarters as it appears to dwarf our existing Service Centre.
The excitement of the construction continues, we took delivery last week of the steel trusses that will carry the roof structure. This week we are witnessing the installation of the steel posts that will surround the perimeter of the building and provide the support for the steel trusses. In a very short period of time the steel skeleton will be in place and will provide Highway 11 motorists with a new visual attraction. READ MORE...
We are definitely going through the typical Canadian seasons: Winter and Construction!Our new Storage Facility (Building S) is now complete. We have had occupancy for nearly a month! The property leading up to the new building was paved earlier this week. Thanks to Gerald Sullivan and his team from K. J. Beamish Construction Co., Limited for their attention to detail, timely execution and professionalism during the paving. READ MORE...
It has been a while since our last update. The last several weeks have been exceptionally busy with a tremendous amount progress. Our focus has been on our operations and continuing as seamless as possible. As such, we hosted our 2nd Annual Spring Motorhome Show & Sale (April 27 - May 12) which proved to be very successful. I want to thank all of our customers that attended our sales event. I would like to welcome all the new members to The Hitch House Presidents' Club. Thank you for choosing The Hitch House to purchase your motorhome. We have been exceptionally fortunate and are happy to have you join our family. Bruce Baier, our Parts' Manager, led several seminars on flat towing, dolly towing, satellite and internet solutions for the RV and Motorhomer. Special thanks to all of our manufacturers and distributors that attended our Show: READ MORE...
Since our last update most of our progress has been behind the scenes. The necessary permits have been applied for and most of them are now in hand except for the most important one - the building permit from the Township of Oro-Medonte. Dave, Hiedi and Tom have been investigating new and improved equipment such as: large vehicle hoists, pressure washers, safety equipment, air compressors, audio/visual equipment, and more.
Our new 2,500 sq. ft. Storage Facility is enclosed, the doors and windows are installed and the ground has been heated to remove the frost to prepare for the pouring of the floor which is scheduled to be completed this week (April 1st). The building will also accommodate our lawn & garden equipment. We have always considered the appearance of our 15 acres facility as important. Our Service Centre housed a storage bay to keep our lawn and garden equipment organized. After the fire, space for our operations was in scarce supply. We had no choice but to use every inch of our Service Centre. All of our lawn and garden equipment was placed in temporary storage and this storage bay was retooled to accommodate necessary appliances: electrical panels, hot water heater, washer/dryer, laundry sink plus a refrigerator for our staff. This space also doubles as our lunch room since we lost our original one in the fire. READ MORE...
Since the fire, we have received a tremendous amount of support for which we are truly thankful. Many have said to us, "It must have been just horrible, I don't know what I would do." As we watched the fire blaze it was without a doubt surreal. The next few days were a torrent of activity and we ran on pure adrenaline. Every member of our team pulled together to make things better. Here's the good news - it does get better each day. We found ourselves being very excited about little successes; things that we just took for granted before the fire. Reflecting back on the nearly 3 months since the fire we consider ourselves to be quite fortunate and our situation has gone, in our estimation, as smooth as possible under the circumstances.
Our 2,500 sq. ft. Storage Facility is under construction and the walls are framed now. The roof trusses will be installed shortly. We now have an artist's rendering of the new Storage Facility that we are happy to share with all of you. READ MORE...
Two weeks ago we received building approval for a 2,500 sq. ft. storage facility to be built near the northwest corner of our property. Construction started on January 29th. Our general contractor, Don Eagles of Eagles Building & Construction, expects it to be completed by the end of March. This facility will allow us to free up space in our 10,000 sq. ft. service centre that is currently being used for Parts & Accessory storage. READ MORE...
The improvements continue. It has been an exciting week with lots of progress. The main building has now been entirely demolished. By the end of last week Shelswell & Sons removed the concrete floor and foundation. The removal of the building has affected each of us in different ways. There were a lot of memories and experiences attached to our headquarters and it had a nostalgic quality to it. In fact, this is where Dave McKee proposed to his wife. Many people from the community commented in the days following the fire that The Hitch House building was a landmark. But the burned out shell and debris was difficult for us to look upon day after day. Now that it has been removed there is a feeling of a new beginning. READ MORE...
The holiday season was very full for all of us at The Hitch House. We continued operations throughout the holidays in order to prepare for our rebuilding after the fire. The Barrie area receives its fair share of snow and this holiday season did not disappoint us. The snow accumulation did hamper the demolition efforts. At this time, the remains of The Hitch House main building have been completely stripped. The roof of the Motorhome service bays were removed on New Year's Eve day along with most of the remaining walls. As I write this update the demolition crew is sorting the debris for appropriate disposal. Over the next several days the concrete floor will be lifted and removed. The Hitch House's main building was built over a period of 40+ years so the original concrete floor will pose some challenges for the demolition crew. In 1972 when the original concrete floor was poured the building code required reinforcing bars to be laid in the concrete. Now with improvements to building materials that type of structure is no longer required in concrete floors. Hopefully within a week or two the entire floor structure will be completely gone. READ MORE...
Wednesday December 19th, 2012 -
Demolition Begins... Out With Old.
Although the fire we experienced was difficult it pales in comparison with the recent tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Our hearts and prayers go out to the families and the community affected by the horrific shooting that occurred there last week. We received support from all over and I can tell you that it was very comforting. I urge you to reach out to the community of Newtown, Connecticut and give them your support. READ MORE...
Saturday, December 8th, 2012 -
Patience, Co-operation, Hard-Work
First of all I would like to thank all of you for your patience. This week has been exceptionally busy. We have had tremendous progress. We have 3 new temporary trailers moved onto our property to aid us in managing the business while we wait for new building to be in place. Our Sales Team (Don Karas, Mike Barton, Darrell Karas and Chris McKee) as well as our Receptionists (Ashley McKee & Kaleigh Leithbridge) and finally me, Tom Stoate, will be located in the Sales Office. The Sales Office is positioned near our Hwy 11 entrance to the right of our bridge. The Parts' Office is located near our Service Centre to the right of the main building. Our Parts' Office will house our Parts' Manager, Bruce Baier and the members of the Parts' Team: Mike Drane and Andrew Mountain. Now the third trailer is critically important to our day to day operations - Real Bathrooms! Unfortunately our bathrooms were lost in the fire and the "Johnny on the Spots" that we currently have are falling out of favour. READ MORE...
We have to thank all of you for your kind emails, texts and phone calls that continue to come in. Your support is greatly appreciated. We are committed to this business and our resolve has never been stronger. We are putting all the pieces in place to rebuild our facility. The support we have received continues to lift our spirits and strengthen our motivation. To all of you who have reached out to us over the last few days we are extremely grateful. READ MORE...
Wednesday November 28th, 2012 - Sad, But True: Fire Destroys our Main Building
In the early afternoon of Tuesday, November 27th we experienced a fire in our main building that originated in the motorhome showroom. Fortunately and most importantly all staff members were evacuated without injury. Our main facility was completely destroyed by the fire, but our Service Centre that houses: Service Reception, the RV Body Shop (Paint Booth), Pit Bays, and our Metal Fabrication Bay was untouched. Our main objective is to get back up and running as soon as possible in order to meet our customers' requirements. As I write this our Management Team is working with the local fire department, fire marshall and our insurance company to provide us with temporary office facilities and infrastructure to continue our day to day business. Our phone service was interrupted but we are working on a temporary solution where our phone number is forwarded to a cell phone. Our email service is hosted off-site so we can continue to receive emails but please bear with us as our access to desktop computers does not exist at the moment. We will attempt to keep you up-to-date via our website. READ MORE...