Courtesy photo
Drew Gendreau, general manager of LeDuc GoNano — a subsidiary of LeDuc Bult Construction — applies a “Shingle Saver” treatment to a roof.
EDITOR NOTE: The Daily Press will be featuring a series of articles on local businesses, highlighting their history and what makes them unique. The series will run on a regular basis in the Daily Press.
— — —
ESCANABA — A construction company that’s been growing for the last several years achieved two major milestones in 2024, both of which are sources of pride for owner and founder Eric LeDuc, who says that the recent certification and partnership stand as testaments to the dedication of his team and the quality of work carried out by LeDuc Built Construction.
Prior to the formation of the business, Eric said, he gained experience on job sites and school. From the age of 10, he accompanied his father, Robert LeDuc, to work installing septic systems for A-1 Septic, which Robert continues to own and operate. By the time Eric was 14, he was assisting with the physical work and the management of crews.
Eric pursued education in building trades at the Intermediate School District (ISD) while attending high school in Rapid River. While enrolled in the ISD program, he and the other students received hands-on learning — Eric said that the rewarding act of building a house from the ground up with his classmates remains one of his fondest memories.
Following graduation in 2003, Eric explored a few avenues before honing what would become his niche. He enrolled in a couple business law classes at Bay College and began an irrigation company, then spent about five years operating heavy forestry equipment for a large company.
In 2016, after deciding which industry sector he belonged in, Eric registered a DBA (doing business as) for LeDuc Built Construction. Over the next several years, he worked full-time at the Escanaba paper mill — it was owned by Verso at the time — while building his own name and operation.
In 2020, LeDuc Built Construction was building a lot of garages, something that continues to be a large part of the business. But while they previously outsourced the concrete portion to contractors who specialized in that, there was a dearth of concrete workers during the pandemic, so LeDuc Built began to pour concrete themselves.
“So pretty much ground up,” said Eric. “We do the excavating, pour the concrete, build the garage.”
In 2021, the company had grown enough for Eric to be able to leave his job at the mill and devote his efforts completely to LeDuc Built Construction. By 2023, it became an LLC with five employees.
Garages and decks are popular asks from clients, as are roofing jobs. Eric and staff were pleased to share that this year they became a certified contractor for GAF, one of the largest manufacturer of roofing materials — namely, shingles.
“With that certification, it more or less states that GAF trusts us to do the craftsmanship properly,” said Hunter Couillard, sales and marketing manager for LeDuc. “Anybody can go buy (the product), but now for GAF to actually out their name on the work we do — it’s definitely a niche there, where you have to prove yourself to them before they’ll actually accept you on. Along with that, we’re able to offer longer and better warranties to our customers.”
The team at LeDuc Built Construction is especially excited about a new line of products from GoNano, a company with whom they’ve partnered to provide treatments that extend the life of shingles, concrete and wood.
GoNano applications are a form of weatherproofing that is contrasted with other types of sealants that just sit on top as a coating.
“It’s nanoparticles that actually penetrate and changes the shingle on a molecular level. So the shingle’s still able to breathe, and it turns hydrophobic,” said Eric. Repelling water means that it’s less prone to damage by freezes and thaws and can inhibit growth of moss.
Before entering the market, Couillard explained, GoNano sent their products to be field-tested by a number of third-party providers. Deemed a success, they partnered with companies like LeDuc Built Construction, who created a branch called LeDuc GoNano specifically to supply these treatments and has seen massively positive results so far.
LeDuc GoNano General Manager Drew Gendreau relayed that impact testing showed that shingles treated with GoNano withstood being shot by a steel ball, which imitates hail, when untreated ones couldn’t. Such strength, combined with the inherent wind-resistant and waterproof qualities advertised, leads the LeDuc team to believe the products will do very well in the Upper Peninsula.
“So far, all the jobs we’ve done with GoNano, we have nothing but super positive feedback from all the customers,” he reported. Describing one popular job, Eric said, “We treat the concrete, and then they go out there and pour water on the floor, and they have, like, the biggest smile.”
The line includes a few different products for various materials at the moment, and Eric expects rapid growth. Treatments are said to not only extend the life of new roofs and floors but rejuvenate older ones — and a shingle treatment costs a fraction of what a new roof would.
LeDuc Built Construction and LeDuc GoNano has a booth in the Ruth Butler Building at the fair this week and will be demonstrating with samples of three materials both untreated and treated with GoNano.
LeDuc Built Construction covers primarily the central U.P., but they take jobs across the peninsula. They do roof inspections for free, and Eric says they are working on a maintenance package that will include things like gutter cleaning — and that money spend on maintenance can also count as payment towards a roof replacement when such action is necessary.