The Family

The James Dick Group has been an integral part of the great community of Caledon for many years. Alongside his wife Anne and son’s Kenneth and Greg, James continues to lay a solid foundation to build and grow from.

The Dick family has been in Caledon for seven generations. Jim is integrally involved in all aspects of his businesses and is a renowned expert on mobile and aggregate equipment. He is joined in the business by his wife, Anne, his son Kenneth and his son-in-law Greg Sweetnam. Jim enjoys riding inexpensive horses, working, collecting antique trucks, working, going to equipment auctions…and working.

The Company

We are producers. With our wits and with hard work we process what we dig from the ground and we change it into the house that you live in, the street that you drive on, the hospital that your children were born in. We create civilization by building systems to clean your water, carry away your waste, and transport your food. Everything built by modern man depends on aggregates to lay a solid foundation, to provide structure, create shelter and provide security. We are custodians of our lands, where aggregate extraction is but a blink of an eye on a geologic time scale, we restore and enhance where we have taken resources. We are innovative thinkers, not doing exactly what others did before us, but improving old ideas, imagining new ones and dreaming of ideas yet to come. We are determined and do not back down from challenges. We are lean, built of muscle and brain and steel. We are fair, both with those who rely on us and with those upon whom we rely. We are fathers, mothers, daughters and sons. We are community minded and have responded to those who have asked for our help. We are a proud private Canadian company.

The History

In 1964 Mr. James Dick went into business for himself, forming James Dick Construction Limited,and purchasing a D-6 bulldozer and a single axle dump truck. Understanding that “he who controls the raw source, controls the industry”, Mr. Dick secured two properties, the Adjala pit and the 20th side road pit in Albion township to supply his road building business as well as other contractors who needed sand and gravel. The company functioned at this moderate
level through the rest of the 60’s.

In 1970 Mr. Dick began building the James Dick Group, by forming Albion ready Mix, and entering into the ready mix concrete business, supplying it the required sand & gravel from the pits and thus becoming his own biggest customer. The first plant was purchased for future extraction. Following in 1971 was Plant # 2 strategically located at the corner of highways 50 and 89 outside of Alliston. In 1973 Plant # 3 Orangeville was opened.

In the mid 70’s the James Dick Group ventured into the east end of the GTA market by acquiring the Mara Limestone Quarry which was and remains the closed quarry on the Carden Plain. Also the Myrtle Pit, just north of Whitby was leased and a stone depot was set up at this location, which also as a sand & gravel source. The company became aggressive, launching ventures in the asphalt and wall forming industries. Only marginally successful, these offshoots became a valuable lesson as cash flows were difficult to maintain as the labor force ballooned to over 400. After a short time the Group divested itself of these labor intensive businesses to concentrate on the core of business of concrete and aggregates. The asphalt equipment, most of the road building and the slow Orangeville plant were sold.

The recession of the early eighties was hardly noticed as the Group surged forward to fill the gap left from the depleted pits in the Brampton area. Rapid growth in the north and west of the GTA let the James Dick Group in 1985 to acquire Caledon Sand & Gravel Inc. and its major assets, the 825 acre Caledon Pit is one of the largest pits in the country. This acquisition turned out to be nothing short of spectacular as the economy escalated towards the building boom of the late eighties. The James Dick Group purchased the Manvers Pit in the East End as a huge source of sand & Gravel. Also purchased was a 800 acre Erin Pit property from Telephone City Gravel Limited consolidating the Groups dominance of in the west GTA market. Goodwood and Queensville were added as stone deposits in the east. Land holdings for future pits were secured in the Oro Moraine north of Barrie and in Rama, Flo’s and Eramosa townships.

Leaders in Safety

• Annual Award Winner of the Aggregate Producers Association of Ontario Safety Award for no lost time accidents
• Individual Safety Awards for outstanding contributions to health and safety.