I fix houses, build things with my hands, and I'm learning to talk about the stuff most guys keep locked up. I lost my dad in 2020 and it knocked me sideways. This is where I'm at now: building a company in his name, chasing a dream, and being honest about the hard parts.
I've spent years running operations up north, and just as long with a tool belt on. I can plan the job, and I can do the job.
I look at your house the way I'd look at my own. You get the truth, and a report within 24 hours.
Decks, framing, renos, sheds, cabins, cabinets. I learned from some really good carpenters and I still love the work.
Taking something from "this is a mess" to "this is done," including the people, the schedule and the money.
Years of procurement and logistics in Nunavut. When shipping's slow and the season's short, you learn to plan.
I know my way around grants and funding, and I like helping good projects get paid for.
Government, operations, remote communities. I've led teams where almost nothing goes to plan.
One thing that pays the bills, one thing I'm working towards, and one place where I'm just honest.
My company, named for my dad. Forever Hatch. Inspections, building and project work in the Yukon.
I try to understand the problem before I swing a hammer, and leave every place better than I found it.
This one's a dream I'm working towards. Clothing for people whose lives didn't run in a straight line.
Not every grain runs straight. Neither does every life. Once it pays for itself, it gives back to mental health.
My personal account. Some of it's just life: the shop, the dog, the North. A lot of it is grief and mental health, because keeping it in didn't work for me.
I'm not an expert and I don't give advice. I share what I've lived so the next guy knows he's not alone.
Never was. Here's the short version.
Where I started. Corpus Christi, the school where Dad coached volleyball.
Years in leadership, government and operations. Procurement, logistics, funding. Up there you figure it out, or it doesn't get done.
Picked up the trade working under some great carpenters. Gutting houses, framing, decks, cabins, tiny homes.
Everything changed. I didn't handle it well at first. More on that below.
Building full time under our family name, with Shawna, my rock, in my corner.
The dream. I'm working towards it.
Not slogans. Just how I try to live and work.
Every job, every house, every person I deal with. If I was there, it should be better when I leave.
I don't show up with the answer already in my head. I look, I listen, then we fix it.
I'd rather you understand what's going on with your place than just hand you a number.
Small job or big job, you get the same honesty.
Took me a long time to believe that. Take a break if you need one. Just keep going.
My dad, Emile, was sharp and well spoken. The kind of guy who could hold a room.
In April 2020 he was diagnosed with cancer. He went home to Newfoundland to enjoy whatever time he had left. It wasn't much. I rushed out there and got to see him awake one more time. A few days later, he was gone.
I wish I could say I handled it well. I didn't. I was angry, a lot, and I didn't even see it. The people around me did.
So here's where I'm at. I don't hold it in anymore. I own my stuff. I'm learning what I'm feeling and what to do with it. I'm learning I'm not alone. And somewhere in all of that I met Shawna.
She's the best girl ever, and she's my rock. She changed everything for me.
It's okay not to be okay. Take breaks, but keep going. You're not alone.
Reach out. Seriously. It's the strongest thing you can do, and these people are there for exactly that.
michael@hatch.nu