Company Info

Barber Construction was incorporated in the 1930's by the Barber Family; this was during the earlier years of tennis in Canada. They established the company and led it into a well respected and reliable business; we read in their daily journals that some customers had to wait for a year to acquire a Barber built tennis court.

Many Barber built courts were installed throughout southern Ontario and especially in the Muskoka and Parry Sound areas. Courts were built for prominent Toronto business people, these estates and their tennis courts are still very much in use today.

Upon retirement in 1978 The Barber Family sold the company to Disher Farrand a progressive construction company at the time, the smaller satellite company was renamed Barber Tennis Courts Limited the control of which was left in the hands of Wally Shaw and a business partner, learning all the skills of construction and customer satisfaction from the original Mr. Barber and his nephews, it was a successful transition and the company grew into a vital operation.

Wally Shaw together with a partner purchased the tennis court company from Disher Farrand in 1982, this ownership change had no impact on the construction or credibility of the company and all customer relations, warranties and guaranties remained intact.

During this period of time major inroads were made into the construction of tennis courts for Commercial and Municipal organizations in Ontario and some work was done in Alberta and the United States, at the same time maintaining the lead in tennis court construction for the private sector.

Early in the 1980's the future of Artificial Grass and Turf for tennis and other sports became evident, the mid 80's saw 30 to 35 grass tennis courts installed each year and as a company Barber Tennis Courts Limited kept three crews busy for the entire construction season.

Every year our manufacturer produces new fibres and new methods of manufacture, staying well ahead in the industry.

1993/4 saw a bigger shift from the hard asphalt tennis courts to the artificial grass surface and at the same time more interest was being shown in Soccer, Baseball and other sports being played on artificial grass. The name, Barber Tennis Courts Ltd. did not properly reflect the various types of playing surfaces being installed and at this time the company name was changed to Barber Sport Surfaces Ltd. still maintaining the name of the founder.

Barber Sport Surfaces Ltd. installs artifical grass surfaces for tennis, golf, cricket, bocce, putting greens, soccer and field hockey. We have also become the Ontario distributor / installer for Sport Court Inc. for their virtually maintenance free products for sport decks, tennis, roller hockey floors and basketball courts. We are also exclusive partners for Global Sports Systems wich include artificial turfs for Soccer, Football, Tennis and many other applications.

Facilities today are designed and constructed to accomodate multi sport activities, encompassing as many sports as possible, it is not uncommon to see Soccer, Tennis, Golf Driving and Putting, Lacrosse, Volleyball, Badminton, Lawn Bowling and Bocce Ball all being played at designated times on the same surface.

Our installations to date include all of the following.

• 280 plus artificial grass tennis courts.
• 700 plus Asphalt courts with Plexipave® colour surface.
• 30 plus Bross® Slide, textile matting tennis court surfaces in North America
• 25 Multi Sport surfaces (soccer fields and field hockey fields).
• 10 plus cricket wickets.

Co-operative installations of Edel Grass turf include.

• 22000 square yards in Vancouver, Andy Livingstone Park.
• 12000 square yards in Kitchener, Seagram Stadium.
• 17000 square yards in Halifax, Dalhousie University.

Co-operative installations of Astroturf include.

• 12250 square yards in Nepean, Nepean Sports Park.
• 16000 square yards in India, Indian Hockey Federation.
• 12000 square yards in Coquitlam, Coquitlam Sports Park.

For the past couple of years we have been actively producing and installing a Playground Safety Surface (a cushioned base with durable surface), an eye appealing surface which is virtually indestructible, fire retardant and will not freeze in the winter, this surface meets the critical fall height requirements that even exceeded our greatest expectations.

Within the last two years Barber Sport Surfaces Ltd. became a Shaw Family enterprise, the only appreciable change was the buy out of a business partner. Customer service, sales, and follow up together with the personal family approach to business will continue to be our focus.

Barber owners pride themselves in the degree of quality of workmanship and customer satisfaction, their reputation precedes on every project.

Barber owners and staff are qualified to make recommendations regarding site, base, type and quality of surface and type of sport or variety of sport to be played on each surface. A prime example of these qualifications is the situation when Barber owners were invited to visit a site in Windsor to propose and sell an inexpensive green golf turf. Within five hours of the initial contact the owners' thoughts were changed and the much larger picture was shown to him. Within two weeks he was open for business playing Soccer, Lacrosse, Baseball and of course his original game Golf, he allows that the changes made during the planning stages were intelligent ones which he claims affords him a very successful ongoing business.

Barber Sport Surfaces Ltd. maintains a full compliment of staff and keeps the office open year round, thus enabling them time to keep abreast of new surface products being produced, new facilities being introduced and use the construction down time to visit the manufacturer, promote the product and gear up for the next season.

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