Putting out fires across the world from North Bay.

Dave Aspin believes automatic sprinkler systems in homes will someday be as commonplace, and as mandatory, as smoke alarms.

The 27-year-old entrepreneur works as a freelance designer as owner of Gridlinedesign, a fledgling North Bay company specializing in fire sprinkler systems for commercial, residential and industrial buildings.

"I provide an outsourcing service for sprinkler installer companies," says Aspin, whose clients include Toronto's General Sprinklers Inc. and North Bay consulting engineers Anrep Krieg Desilets Gravelle.

Six years ago, with aspirations of being a firefighter, he enrolled in the three-year Fire Protection Technology Program at Seneca College to enhance his chances.

The course, which featured computer design work and the installation of sprinkler systems, opened an exciting new door for some budding opportunities south of the border.

"I kinda took a liking to it and there was this job fair at the school where it turns out there was a great need for these design professionals in the U.S."

He jumped at the opportunity to move to Houston and spent two years working for Western States Fire Protection and Universal Sprinkler Corporation.

In Texas, he took part in design work on mega-projects including the construction of Reliant Stadium, the home of the NFL's Houston Texans, and later was involved in converting the Compaq Centre, a former hockey and basketball arena, into a tele-evangelist church.

"The construction industry in Houston is crazy. The places I was working at were so busy, I was spitting out a job a week. The number of jobs I've done is comparable to at least five years in the field here."

Lake fever

The diversity of work proved invaluable and lucrative, but his quality of life suffered.

He tired of battling a one-hour commute to work each day and not living anywhere near a lake. His social life contained more acquaintances than actual friends, which all factored into his decision to return home to North Bay to work freelance.

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"Anywhere you live in North Bay, you're about five minutes from a lake."

Through his home-based business, he still maintains long distance virtual ties with his former employer. Universal, as one his clients.

He is also considering going global having recently established contacts with the Canadian Embassy in Great Britain to secure work abroad. "With the exchange rate of the British pound, I figure I can offer my services fairly cheap."

Two other sprinkler companies, one in New Jersey and another in Winnipeg, are attempting to lure him away as a full-time designer.

Clients courier or e-mail him project drawings featuring all the architectural, structural, mechanical, plumbing and electrical renderings. With the aid of AutoCad and a special piece of design software, he can lay out a system without having to visit a project site.

"I design around the duct work and figure out what's the best way to hang the pipe," says Aspin. "It's all pretty involved work."

But with technology, it's work that can be done anywhere, he says.

"Probably the biggest thing is to establish relationships with these companies and deliver things in a timely manner."

He relies heavily on networking with other Seneca grads to develop contacts and pursue project leads through this small, but well-connected, niche industry.

Depending on how the sprinkler industry develops over the next decade, he may expand into installation work.

"In the next five or ten years, these sprinkler systems are going to become mandatory in new residential homes."

A task force known as the Home Fire Sprinkler Coalition is lobbying governments to make these systems mandatory.

In British Columbia and parts of Alberta, all new homes, both single and multi-family units, are required to have systems, as well as new additions occupying more than 20 per cent of the home's space.

"It may be coming to Ontario fairly soon."

www.homefiresprinkler.org

By IAN ROSS 

Northern Ontario Business