Business View Magazine | January 2021

43 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE JANUARY 2021 ELEMENT5 that name because wood has such a history in construction and we wanted to tie in what we do with the ancient traditions, and values, and craftsmanship.” Element5’s passionate and highly-skilled team of designers, craftspeople, and assembly experts is committed to helping achieve positive outcomes in communities, the environment, and future generations by advancing awareness of the benefits of mass timber construction. In that cause, the firm provides cost consulting, design consulting, engineering, fabrication, and assembly services to a growing community of visionary architects, owners, developers, and general contractors – with all the 3D modelling, shop drawings, and manufacturing of component parts done inhouse. Chouinard is a dedicated advocate for timber construction, having gained valuable industry knowledge in the manufacturing and service provider sectors before establishing Element5. He originally worked at Structurlam (a pioneer in the mass timber manufacturing industry in North America) as their representative in Quebec, Ontario, and Atlantic Canada. While there, he learned the business from a manufacturer’s perspective. Then he joined Spring Valley Architectural Innovations – a provider of consulting, engineering, and design services from the early stage of a project through to completion. After spending two years there, learning the business from a service provider’s perspective, Chouinard recognized the tremendous opportunity for prefabricated offsite mass timber manufacturing in the commercial construction industry and left the company to start his own firm. That was in late 2015. Within six months, Element5 had taken on two new business partners to help fund growth and expansion. One year later, they purchased the assets