Help and a Cardan Truck are Only a Phone Call Away

Cardan Group
Written by Pauline Müller

When it comes to road cleaning, excavation, and waste management, this super-friendly team is always ready to save the day. And they make no bones about getting the job done, committing to immediate assistance and a measured response inside 24 hours.

With its head office and two fleet facilities in Bowmanville, Ontario, in Canada, Cardan Group is best-known for its accessibility, versatility, and speed. “We’re like a one-stop-shop for home builders,” says Kendra White, Office Manager.

“This is exciting for us because we see the start of projects and then work [alongside] them to [completion].” The company happily travels around the greater Toronto area (GTA) and southern Ontario for its clients.

From digging foundations for large projects, providing and collecting garbage bins, to cleaning roads and parking lots, Cardan Group prides itself on its long-lasting relationships.

Comfort and ease
Based on its commitment to customers, everything about Cardan Group’s service delivery revolves around providing ease and comfort for its clients. The team’s signature rhino logo on their orange trucks is only ever a phone call away. Customers are guaranteed immediate assistance backed-up by custom solutions.

This is a responsive team, answering even the toughest requests within 24 hours, maximum. “Our main goal is to make [doing business with us] easy for our customers. We don’t want clients to be put on hold or passed around between different people. We want them to make one easy phone call and we’ll make [the rest] happen,” says Kendra.

Safety forms a significant part of the company culture. Everything about the company’s activities indicates that it goes above and beyond to ensure health and safety compliance throughout the organization. Regular toolbox talks take place with a specific focus on its drivers’ traffic etiquette.

Kendra is also certified by the Ministry of Labour to conduct a fully recognized Working at Heights course, which allows her to train all construction site employees in-house.

Its operations comprise several divisions located in the same facility. First up is Cardan Road Cleaners.

Cardan Road Cleaners
This division runs three fleets of equipment and trucks that have become well-known and trusted parts of the GTA landscape. One fleet comprises street sweeper trucks, another offers water trucks, and the third consists of hydro-vac trucks.

The company’s fleet of street-sweeper trucks is specifically at the service of excavation and earthworks companies, and for those who need to keep parking lots pristine. These vehicles are also handy – and frequently in use – for ensuring that road surfaces are sufficiently clear of dust and debris before lines are painted. They are also typically called out to clean subdivisions, before water trucks are sent in.

Its customers benefit greatly from the added value of Kendra’s personal advice on how to get their specific job done effectively the first time. Just one of the ways in which its tailor-made solutions prove the company’s dedication to customer care – its greatest commitment.

Cardan Road Cleaners’ water trucks are called flusher trucks by some. They flush away dirt with high-pressure water jets and are mostly used to power-clean subdivisions, parking lots, and roads.

Other uses are to assist in drenching soil before compacting and watering sod. Then there are jobs like pressurizing fire hydrants for safety testing, filling up swimming pools, and irrigating sports fields like those of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Ltd. (MLSE) in Toronto.

Completing the list of vehicles in the road cleaning fleet are hydro-vac trucks, named for their hybrid capabilities. Equipped with a high-pressure water wand strong enough to cut through hardened soil, the dirt is broken up and vacuumed up through a suction hose. These trucks are often utilized to excavate safely in sensitive areas where vulnerable utility lines are a concern, as well as used for water box and curb stop replacements/repairs.

And finally these trucks are ideal for use in repairing water infrastructure, and trenching, especially in urban areas.

Cardan Waste Management
The company’s waste management division operates a fleet of roll-off and front-end trucks. These trucks can deliver a range of garbage bins (15, 20 and 40-yard) for waste collection on building and restoration sites, taking everything from construction debris and building rubble to scrap metal.

The smaller bins are especially popular with restaurants, daycare centres, condominium complexes, and the like. The service includes removal of waste according to the clients’ agreed schedules.

Cardan Excavation
This dynamic division is fully equipped to take on large-scale excavation projects with a large range of heavy-duty construction vehicles and equipment.

Its clients are mainly developers and home builders who hire the company to dig multiple foundations and basements. This division also undertakes earthworks with a fully-equipped and knowledgeable team.

In addition, Cardan Excavation offers a fleet of heavy-duty tri-axle dump trucks for material haulage and rubble and dirt removals. This fleet is supplemented with a full complement of specialist excavation machinery like bulldozers, rock trucks, graders, excavators, compactors, stone slingers and everything else required for any size of excavation job.

Team Cardan, rhinos, & orange trucks
Weighing in at just over 100 team members, Cardan Group is no lightweight. “The nice thing about a large team is each individual has a great quality that brings something different to the team. We have a really nice atmosphere, here,” says Kendra. The result is the close-knit family environment unique to teams that work together for years.

So far, the growth of this friendly, hard-working family business has been entirely organic. And it is still driven by its founder’s well-tuned capacity for responding to clients’ needs with custom services.

Dana White, company President, brings years of experience and knowledge to the construction industry. Today, this hands-on and visionary man continues to run the excavation side of the business, while keeping a close eye on everything else.

Kendra White, Dana’s daughter, virtually grew up in the business, grasping its intricacies at an early age. Kendra joined the company full-time a couple of years ago on completing college. Today, she runs the road-cleaning division.

“My father has taught me so many valuable lessons. It has come with hard work. He has moulded me into almost an extension of himself. I am definitely grateful for that,” she says.

In honour of its rhino mascot, the company very aptly supports the Lewa Wildlife Conservation in Northern Kenya through the Toronto Zoo’s wild rhino projects. These include the One-Horned Rhino Species Survival Plan® (SSP) and the White Rhino Species Survival Plan® programs. The company even has a glittery butt print contributed by a baby rhino displayed in its offices.

But it is more than the rhinos who benefit from the company’s generosity. Cardan Group recognizes its community as a large part of its success and for this reason, especially enjoys supporting organizations that work with young people and children. This includes sponsoring kids’ activities, sports teams, and whatever contributes to fostering the positive development of local youth.

Projects and projections
One of its largest recognized projects this past couple of years was Cardan’s work on the extension of the ON-407 that connects the ON-401 to the ON-115, toward Peterborough, Ontario. For this project, the company provided water trucks that were used for cleaning and compaction, street sweeper trucks, and garbage bins. “It was so rewarding seeing all the Cardan trucks working on the ON-407 when driving on the ON-401,” Kendra says.

And it is not just its trucks that are shiny. The whole Cardan team shines, too. “To see the growth and development happen is really quite rewarding. For us, the greatest achievement is making customers happy,” says Kendra.

As actress Lily Tomlin said, “The road to success is always under construction.” And, as we see this company already on the road to success (a very clean road!), we expect we will all be seeing even bigger and better things in future.

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