BridgeBusters Founding Story

The Foundation for Success

Jim McConnell is a natural born trouble-shooter. Fittingly, his path to becoming one of Ontario’s most respected authorities for professional demolition has been hard and full of obstacles. Son of a firefighting father, Jim learned at a young age that success is reached by persistently battling through challenges. His vocational foundation started taking shape when his dad bought a small hobby farm for horses north of Toronto. Jim instantly fell in love with mechanical equipment and working outdoors. He knew his future career would include these elements.

 McConnell was repeatedly taught the importance of hard work, the value of an earned dollar, and that nothing was ever going to be given to you. Jim bought his first piece of equipment at the age of 15 - a well-used farm tractor costing $1,500 that he and his father equally split. However, when its engine was nearly shot it became the young owner’s sole responsibility to fix. McConnell drove his failing machine to his high school automotive shop where he re-built the motor. “Students could see this country hick coming from a mile away,” the now middle-age man admittedly laughs, humbling adding, “They never missed a chance to remind me of it.” But McConnell was keenly focused on end results and not fancy appearances. The determined teenager and his tractor were once again sweetly humming by 3 a.m. on winter mornings earning money plowing snow from drives around Buttonville.

Jim eventually gravitated to big rigs and the trucking business during his twenties serving as both a cross-Canada owner/operator and vehicle mechanic. These hands-on experiences would prove invaluable throughout his professional evolution.

At 27, McConnell ventured into the earth moving business by starting with a used drag line. Counselled by a well-respected veteran in the field, Jim later added a 35-ton excavator and bulldozer to his equipment arsenal. He clearly saw the opportunity to serve as an independent sub-contractor and was undeterred by existing 16% loan interest rates. “When you are prepared to work, you don’t let obstacles stop you,” he plainly states.

 The pivotal turning point in McConnell’s career was a random inquiry from a businessman involved with bridge removal. To keep pace with growing project demands, he asked if Jim would be willing to sell one of his refurbished DP machines. That expressed need planted the seed for McConnell to investigate potential opportunities within the niche demolition market. Jim quickly discovered there was no competition for this specialized service and the existing monopoly resulted in greater project costs and delays for developers. With a solid decade of versatile construction experience under his belt and a “whatever it takes” attitude, McConnell was professionally ready to go all in on demolition.

He proactively scanned the trade news, tirelessly worked construction company phones, and competitively bid on any bridge project he could find. From project to project, his dynamic breadth of practical experience soon enabled him to intuitively identify common critical control points and expedited action plans to safely remove compromised or unwanted structures. McConnell literally and figuratively then wrote the book on structure dismantling, by developing in detail the engineered procedure template that now serves as the industry standard for bridge demolition.

After 30+ years of sustained construction business experience - including his now 13 year run exclusively specializing in professional bridge demolition - Jim McConnell has assuredly arrived at his distinguished place within the construction/deconstruction industry.

 Today, McConnell is an industry trusted and recognized demolition expert who provides both professional counsel and valued sub-contractor services on multi-faceted development projects through his solely-owned Canadian company.

With an impressive proven demolition record that includes above ground and in-water structure elimination, he and his Bridge Busters team are more than field tested and technically ready for their next operational challenge. The completely confident and ever straight-shooting McConnell leaves no doubt about his tactical unit’s capabilities on any sized project, “We can take down any target, guaranteed.”