Much of New Brunswick's history is carved in stone, and indeed sandstone from the province's quarries can be found in historical buildings halfway across the country, including the Royal Observatory in Ottawa and the Ontario Legislative Building at Queen's Park in Toronto.

So it's fitting that a stone mason from the "old country", in this case Germany, landed here and has made a name for himself in new stone construction and the restoration of various historic buildings and residences in the province. Today, he's set to take his company, Old World Masonry, to new levels, thanks to a series of loans from federal government agencies totalling $344,000.

Ludwig Hartmann learned the craft of stone masonry in his native Germany, where he completed his apprenticeship in 1976. Working in 1982 in Washington, D.C., he met Ruth Hope, who hailed from New Brunswick, and three years later, now married, the couple set out for New Brunswick.

Hartmann says that when he arrived, there was a lack of understanding of what a stone mason really does; because of that he couldn't find a job. For the next seven years, he did a variety of jobs; he was a labourer for a carpentry company, he sold life insurance, and eventually he got work with a construction company doing job costing and estimating. Through that position, he met a lot of architects and engineers. When he told them of his profession, they were positive, and encouraged him to give it a try in New Brunswick. In 1992, he decided to take the plunge.

"I had to prove myself really hard," says Hartmann. "It was really tough financially. For the first year, all I made is about $15,000 gross, and I thought I'd made a big mistake." But slowly and surely his name got out and people saw his work and realized what he was capable of. "Now, when spring comes, I'm already busy," he says.

He and Ruth had moved to a beautiful rural property overlooking a bay off the Saint John River on New Brunswick's Kingston Peninsula. There, they raised three sons (and a bevy of rottweilers), while Hartmann built his business, earning restoration commissions on public projects as well as creating stone walls, facing, walkways, mantelpieces and sculptured fountains, birdbaths, sands and other landscaping details for homeowners.

In Saint John, he provided cobblestone work on the Loyalist Burial Ground. Armed with hammer and chisel, high above the ground, he restored the ornate pinnacles of Saint John's Stone Church. And at Saint John's Trinity Church, he restored the limestone walls and duplicated and installed a stone in one of the pinnacles of the church tower.

During the winter, Hartmann spends a lot of time in the workshop on his property, sculpturing mantelpieces, and preparing and tooling stone for steps, pillar copings, lintels, sills and other pieces. Come the warmer months, the work is installed onsite.

Ruth works part time as a graphic designer for a printing company, and designed Old World Masonry's website. In their spare time, the Hartmanns devote themselves to their teens and their kennel, known as Steinplatz, which means "stone place" in German.

Hartmann saw an opportunity to both increase production and start looking at markets further afield, such as in the New England states. He called the Business Centre in Saint John, who referred him to the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC). They saw merit in his plan, but didn't want to carry the entire risk; instead, they said they'd agree to commit a third of the financing if he could get other agencies involved. BDC referred him to the Charlotte-Kings Community Business Development Corporation (CBDC), who in turn referred him to the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA). Initially, ACOA said they'd commit to a third of the funding on acceptance of Hartmann's business plan, but in the end they committed more.

In the end Hartmann received $152,000 from ACOA in an interest-free loan; a term loan of $100,000 from the BDC and $92,000 from the CBDC.

One of Hartmann's first purchases was a piece of equipment worth about $100,000. In the past, when he had to recreate a piece of stonework from an existing building, he would need to make a template of the stone's profile and then cut it by hand. The profiler allows him to program a profile saw with the template information, and the saw does the work instead, speeding up the process substantially. Hartmann still needs to do some hand work after the saw is done. "The profile saw is not perfect, of which I'm glad," he laughs. "It still requires skill."

The money has also helped to fund a marketing plan, and at press time, Hartmann was about to hire a marketing and sales manager. The new manager already has his work cut out for him. A recent trip to a trade show in Boston yielded 180 leads, says Hartmann. "It was just phenomenal. I couldn't believe the response."

www.owmasonry.com

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