Page 34 - INSIGHT MAGAZINE_April2025

MEMBER PROFILE

It may be call called Average Joe’s
Contracting, but there is nothing
average about this Cambridge-based
business which for nearly 20 years
has continually set itself apart in
the world of home renovations and
transformations.
“Being a small business, we can be big hearted,”
says Joe Sears, seated next to his wife and
business partner, Jennifer, at the kitchen table of
their Winterhalt Avenue home which has served
as company’s home base since 2010. “I don’t
usually charge for the little stuff.”
It’s a customer-centred approached that has
served him well since he ventured out to start
his own business, building on a deep-rooted
interest in woodworking which began when he
was about six and took shape as a teenager in
his hometown of Hamilton.
“It was basically in my blood,” he says, noting
his grandfather was also a skilled woodworker.
“In high school, I was one of the top students
(in woodworking) and at one point when I came
back for Grade 13, I was actually teaching some
Grade 9 students during my spares. I would just
go in and help out and I’m sure the teacher had
to jump through some hoops to allow me to do
that.”
That experience led Joe to a career in
construction, first working for a company that
specialized in spray foaming, followed by
another that did hotel remodels. A car crash
injury created a new opportunity after a massage
therapist at the Mississauga physiotherapy
clinic Joe was attending introduced him to her
brother who was working for a company that
installed IKEA kitchens. He would spend nine
years working for that company, doing his own
contract work on the side. During his first few
months on the job while recovering from his
injury, he found himself behind a desk doing
estimation work in their office.
“It wasn’t where he wanted to be, but it was
better than being at home without being paid,”
‘Being a small business, says Jennifer, adding that experience helped
lay the groundwork for when Joe decided to
eventually strike out on his own full time. “He
we can be big hearted’ realized if he could estimate a job for someone
else and earn only a certain amount, then why
didn’t he try it on his own?”

The couple, with their then four-year-old
- Average Joe’s Contracting daughter Kayla in tow, eventually left the GTA
and settled in Cambridge in 2005 where Average
Joe’s Contracting took root.
PHOTOS BY AVERAGE JOE'S CONTRACTING

34 Spring 2025 www.cambridgechamber.com