History of Commercial Emergency Equipment

Our founding company, Commercial Body Builders Ltd. (CBB) was established in Vancouver BC.

For the next 50 years, the company thrived in manufacturing and modifying truck bodies for BC based telecommunication, hydro, mining, construction, forestry, retail and service companies. We also supplied many truck components, such as cranes, man lifts and winches. CBB designed, engineered and produced over 2,000 different truck body variants over its 60 years under the name.

The story is often told about a forestry contractor in the 1950’s who wanted to take his crew to the work site with a truck that could carry 4 men and their chain saws. To accomplish this, the engineers at Commercial modified the contractor’s pickup. By extending the cab and creating 4 doors, they may have created the world’s first “crew cab” pickup truck.

As one of the earliest players in electric vehicles in Canada, Commercial acquires Dynasty Electric Car Corporation. Although sold in 2008, Dynasty provided our engineering and production teams valuable experience with electric drive trains. Commercial now offers fully electric options for all it’s major equipment lines across multiple industries -mounted and installed in the same production facility where Dynasty electric cars were manufactured.

Expanding with new locations in Ontario and Alberta, Commercial’s acquisition of Unisource dramatically increases Commercial’s parts and service offerings in the utility industry and adds top industry veterans to Commercial’s team.

Initially partnered as the Canadian rental dealer for Nesco utility vehicles, the rentals business has since flourished from coast to coast with hundreds of utility vehicles of all types and configurations on rent.

Commercial’s largest acquisition to date increased our geographical reach with four new branches. This expansion dramatically increased our customer servicing capabilities, parts distribution, and truck equipment offerings across Western Canada.

Danco Equipment opened its doors in Calgary in 1969 to meet the growing demand in Alberta’s resource and industrial sectors for truck equipment including cranes and winches. By 1973, operations had expanded to locations in Edmonton, Regina, and Surrey. The product line grew with the company and by the early 1980’s it included a broad line of complementary products such as drive shafts, drive systems, dump bodies, tailgates, and lighting. While the full product line was available across Western Canada, each branch also developed regional expertise servicing a variety of industries.

Acquired Renn Truck Equipment of Calgary. Formerly known as D & G Truck Equipment, Renn was the leading supplier of both Southland and Cancade gravel boxes and trailers, and specialized in the installation and servicing of gravel boxes, pups, quad wagons and end dumps. The Renn brand lives on today, with Southland Trailer Corp still manufacturing equipment under the brand, and Commercial still selling and building around Renn boxes.

To better serve the needs of customers in Quebec and the Atlantic Provinces, Commercial expands its branch network further with the Quebec City Branch.

Owing to strong sales and demand from customers in the Prairies, Commercial significantly grows its footprint in Regina, SK with an expansive new branch that caters to the needs of the local area in Tow and Recovery, Hydraulics, Driveline, and other Work Truck lines. The new facility is completed with 27,400 sq. ft., 14 bays, and 13 total bay doors. The facility is subsequently renovated and modernized over the coming years making it the centrepiece for the region.

A banner year for Commercial begins with securing the Western Canadian dealership for Pierce Manufacturing, immediately catapulting Commercial to the forefront of the emergency apparatus dealer landscape in Canada. Commercial would add Ontario to its territory by the end of the year, shortly becoming Canada’s largest emergency apparatus dealer by both territory and volume.

Commercial is appointed the Canadian dealership for Oshkosh Airport Products. This major new partnership provides the Oshkosh Striker – the world-leading ARFF vehicle and other industry-leading Oshkosh products to airports across Canada.

Pushing to meet customer demand for the market-leading tow and recovery equipment from Miller Industries, Canadian Towing Equipment acquires additional surrounding buildings, bringing Canadian Towing Equipment’s Ayr, ON footprint to 45,000 square feet on 7 acres.

Due to British Columbia parts demand, the Surrey facility expands by completing a 10,000 sq. ft. auxiliary parts warehouse. This expansion adds to our already impressive quantity of locally stocked parts for our BC customers.

Spurred by continued growth and significantly constrained by the existing Edmonton facility, Commercial plans and builds a new 50,000 sq. Ft. facility in Strathcona County. The new Edmonton facility has 19 double-long service and production bays, a 12,000 sq. Ft. floor-to-ceiling parts warehousing area, 17 offices and a beautiful open concept showroom.

Entering the refuse and recycling collection market in a major new partnership, Commercial is awarded the exclusive dealership for McNeilus Truck and Manufacturing Inc. Leveraging our industry leading branch network and unmatched customer servicing capabilities, Commercial will be providing refuse sales, service and parts distribution from BC to Ontario including all three territories.

Today, The Commercial Group of Companies is the largest and most dominant entity in the Canadian truck equipment space. 100% Canadian owned and operated with 350+ employees, 13 total locations across the country and 120+ market-leading product lines available to the first responders and essential workers that help save lives, keep the lights on, keep the roads clear, and keep Canadians connected.