Changing the way we worked

Having our own shop changed the dynamics of running Imagination Corporation in a big way. Now we could invest in bigger, non-portable tools at last. New welding machines and a hand held plasma cutter were among the first tools we bought. Every tool got a permanent home and we were truly organized at long last. After working out of a small garage, trailers and on customers sites for decades, the idea of working in a spacious shop was all brand new.

We built workbenches along with tool and material storage racks to keep everything organized. Sturdy workbenches and a heavy duty welding table were also early items to be done. The shop lighting was state of the art and the ceilings were high enough to build anything we could transport. 

Having a shop meant we could hire employees full time. Work could be done in an orderly fashion, not controlled by what the weather was going to do that day. The new shop also meant we could build our projects largely at home. We had to devise ways to allow us to easily lift, transport and install on site when we shipped them. We could work much more efficiently. Best of all the new shop allowed us to sleep in our own beds much more often rather than living out of a suitcase while we worked at a site far from home. Having a shiny new shop of our very own was amazing!

In the next years we would add robotic tools to our way of doing things. These awesome tools took the drudgery out of many tasks while still allowing us to do our favourite parts by hand, thus keeping the magic intact. We also got very good at building very large and heavy features in manageable pieces so we could move them in the shop and transport them to our customers around the world.

All through the past twenty-five years our strength has been our people. It has been a most excellent adventure. We look forward to the next twenty-five years with great anticipation!

The shop of dreams

In 2004 Imagination Corporation had been in operation for twelve years. With the success of Giggle Ridge, word was rapidly spreading and we were getting calls from folks who wanted similar facilities. We desperately needed some land for a real workshop, with room to grow in the future. We found the perfect small acreage in the tiny farming community of Yarrow, British Columbia (actually part of the larger city of Chilliwack) The property had an old farmhouse in which we would live until we could build a new one. Most importantly, it had plenty of room for the new shop. I quickly drew up the plans and showed them to Janis.

Janis took a quick look at the drawings and shook her head. I was at first disappointed but then surprised at her comments which followed. She told me to go back to the drawing board and make it bigger, make it better and make it the shop of my dreams. The new house would wait a little longer.

We opted for a poured concrete structure, using insulated concrete forms. This would make the new shop fireproof, energy efficient and most importantly soundproof. Inside and out, the studio and shop would be a showcase of our work. We finished the inside of the shop in September, 2004 and moved in. The outside would be finished the following year, after we did some more customer's work.

Dreaming even bigger

With Giggle Ridge Adventure Golf up and running successfully it was time to dream once more. We took serious runs at two adjacent properties with the idea of building a good sized mountain surrounded by a themed railroad and bumper boats. Hidden inside the mountain would be our house, studio and workshop. Along with these plans we considered renaming Imagination Corporation to Giggle Ridge Studios. Because we were busy much of the year on our own projects, the plan was to do only concept design for our clients from that point on. But, as with many of our previous plans in years gone by that dream was not to be.

We were disappointed but not for long. Instead we began dreaming in a new direction and with brand new ideas. The train would survive as a private railroad but everything else would change. But I'll save that tale for the next post. Stay tuned...