A passion for working on RVs was the last thing on Mitchell Grondin’s mind when he came to Alberta.
Seven years ago, the Ontario native moved to Morinville, searching for a job as an automotive apprentice. But the local dealerships had no jobs available and referred him to RV City instead.
He said he never looked back since and has now opened his own business – Sturgeon RV Ltd. – in Riel Business Park.
“I like the variety of work. Every day it’s different,” he said. “It’s more of an old-fashioned mechanical work where you have to troubleshoot more to come up with ways to fixing the issue.”
It may sound unlikely, but RVs require work year-round, he said.
In the summer, most repair shops work on smaller, short-term problems. But larger maintenance issues are kept for the fall and winter months, when people don’t use their units as much, he said.
That’s when he gets into insurance-related work and structural repairs. Those will sometimes take up to 30 hours to complete, he said.
And considering how many RVs are used across the province, most dealerships don’t have the luxury of tying up a technician for a full week in the summer to fix these issues, he said.
“The quantity of trailers that are being sold in Alberta every year, you can be looking at a dealership that sells anywhere in excess of 500 to 600 trailers in a season,” he said. “There’s only so much a location can handle.”
Sturgeon RV will fix all makes and models except Class A motor homes and anything exceeding 35 feet long.
Grondin said he also sells more than 20 different bike and boat hitches at his shop, after partnering with another business, Ben’s RV Boat Hitches Ltd.
While the repair shop is not equipped to perform any chassis or mechanical repairs related to the automotive portion of a motor home, Grondin is happy to refer customers to another location for that type of work, he said.
He added that he opened the shop because he wanted to work independently from the dealerships and dedicate the right amount of time to any kind of repair.
“This gives me an opportunity to do things as I see they should be done,” he said.
Sturgeon RV opens Wednesday, April 16, in Bay 12 at 7 Riel Dr. in St. Albert.
The business services and installs everything from aluminum siding to appliances, batteries, flooring and water systems, and performs general maintenance issues. An hour of service costs $118, not including parts.
For more information go to sturgeonrv.com or contact 780-243-3709.
