From the Escanaba Daily Press – February 3, 2025
ESCANABA — A local business whose products and services satisfy customers far and near is entering a new era: ownership is transitioning from one of the original founders to a man who started with the company 12 years ago as a laborer.
Many locals know them for Delta Fence, which makes up only about 10% of the business. The work of its parent company, L&C Enterprises, is the iceberg beneath the surface with an impressive story.
L&C Enterprises, which manufactures products that ship around the continent and also operates Delta Fence, began when two workers in the 1980s wanted to make their jobs easier.
Jeffery Lancour and Ron Chouinard worked for a road construction company and were tasked with installing a mile of six-foot-high chain link fence. At the time, Chouinard explained, fence installations were done by unrolling 50-foot rolls of chain link fencing on the ground, standing them up with a forklift, temporarily tying the material to posts and then permanently tying it afterwards. It was a lengthy, awkward, tiresome process, especially for large jobs.
Lancour and Chouinard had the idea to patent an efficient machine that could unfurl the rolls of fencing in place along the posts, eliminating the need to lay them out on the ground first, and called it the Installink. To create and sell the invention, the duo created a company — L&C Enterprises-USA, Inc. — for which the Articles of Incorporation were signed on April 29, 1988.
Local welder Bob Walker made the prototype of the machine. Carl Wick, who received his degrees in mechanical engineering from Michigan Technological University and had worked for Harnischfeger Corporation’s Construction Equipment Division, re-engineered the Installink’s design, and Express Welding produced the first ten machines.
For startup money, Chouinard said his parents mortgaged their house and lent him $30,000. Chouinard and Lancour were also fortunate that the other original parties involved didn’t ask for payment upfront: the engineer just wanted royalties, and the manufacturer made ten machines at a time and didn’t invoice L&C until they were being sold.
“It was pretty neat how everybody just was on board with us to get this company started,” Chouinard said.
L&C attracted interest in their product by bringing the Installink on a trailer to job sites and demonstrating its efficiency. However, in ’89, a big shift moved to skid steers from tractors (for which the Installink had originally been designed), so the first ten machines went back to be re-engineered to fit skid steers instead.
From that point on, the Installink was a hit. Workers saw how much easier use of the machine made their tasks, and companies recognized the impact it had — saving time, manpower and money.
Chouinard proudly described one instance in which L&C brought the Installink on a trailer to a site where a company was installing fencing 15 feet tall around a prison. After L&C rapidly used their machine to rig up a 500-foot-long section as a demonstration, Chouinard said, the owner came out and handed them a paycheck for the work.
“He had six men out there getting 100 feet up a day. We went out there and did 500 feet in three hours,” Chouinard said.
Growth developed “organically” for L&C from its early days until today, said Marketing Director Aaron Deiter. L&C continued to gain traction at trade shows. The fence installation arm of the company, which does business under the name Delta Fence, began roughly a year after L&C did.
Another product group from L&C that aided in making fence setup easier was the ties — pieces of wire in the right shape and size for securing lengths of fencing, called fabric, to the posts.
L&C gets enormous spools of wire that feed into machines that cut and bend pieces into fence ties, which operators then pack into boxes of either 500 or 1000.
Today, L&C makes several varieties of ties for different types and sizes of posts and mesh, and they come in galvanized, aluminized, and vinyl-coated — which is available in multiple colors.
Vinyl-coated chain link fence has become a popular choice in recent years for residences where people want the benefits of the fence without the cold look of a metallic finish.
In the business of improving the job experience for fence installers, L&C now makes a handful of other types of machines that aid in that mission, in addition to the Installink. There is also the Rapid Roller, which rolls up lengths of fabric; a barbed wire dispenser, which applies three rows of barbed wire at a time atop chain link fencing; and post-pullers that remove old poles from the ground from previous installs. All attach to skid steers.
The vast majority of L&C’s business comes from the sale of fence ties. Boxes, pallets, and trucks of them ship to customers in the lower 48 states and to parts of Canada. Some customers are fence installers; others are large companies that redistribute the ties under different brand names to consumers in yet other reaches. Stephens Pipe and Steel, American Fence, and Master Halco are examples of big suppliers that buy from L&C.
In 2024, L&C Enterprises was listed as one of Michigan’s “50 Companies to Watch.”
L&C is enjoying its growing success, and “we’d love to continue that momentum,” Deiter said.
Continuing demand and the fact that so much manufacturing is done in-house means that employees of Delta Fence aren’t laid off in the winter, despite fence-installation work being seasonal. Instead, they pivot to the L&C side, helping to produce parts that will either be shipped out to customers or put to use when spring comes.
“I never like to lay anyone off, because I know what it’s like being laid off and not having a full paycheck,” said Kevin Sodermark, vice president. “So everyone has a multitude of jobs that they do.”
There are 15 full-time employees of L&C and Delta Fence combined. Six of those are office staff.
Sodermark was hired in 2013 as a laborer and said that he learned a lot from Chouinard and Lancour from working under them. Before Lancour retired from presidency of the corporation in 2022 and passed away later that year, he was able to impart a great deal to those who worked with him.
Chouinard has been preparing for retirement, too. Though he’s technically the president currently, he’s stepped back and allowed Sodermark to handle a lot of the business lately.
Sodermark said that the impression Lancour made helped make his transition to a more responsible role pretty smooth. As vice president, “I’ve hired great people that have helped me grow it, too,” Sodermark said, pointing to Deiter as one of those hires.
“The best thing anyone can do is — hire people smarter than you at what they’re doing,” Chouinard quipped. He was referring to a component that had been built in the shop, but the sentiment also applies elsewhere, too.
In L&C’s earliest days of manufacturing, their fence ties were made in a small garage that couldn’t even fit all the equipment inside; Chouinard recalled the spools of wire outdoors under a tarp. As the business expanded, facilities also improved; this happened a few times over.
Now located at 6652 N. 75 Dr., L&C and Delta Fence have room to spread their wings.
A recently built addition to the premises gives L&C room to hold more stock, and a garage space is going to house a new welding shop.
One change to Delta Fence in more recent years is that they try to take more local jobs. Business primarily used to be larger commercial jobs, but it’s pivoted to being about half residential now, which allows workers to stay local more often.
Significant past work that’s been close to home has been for Enbridge, DTE, City of Escanaba, City of Gladstone, and Delta County Airport. Upcoming projects include the perimeter fence of the solar panel project in the St. Nicholas area and the tennis courts at the Rapid River and Big Bay de Noc Schools.
Sodermark will take over the role of president and sole owner when Chouinard officially retires in June. It’ll be the start of a new era — until now, the joint companies of L&C and Delta Fence have always been shared by the hands of two individuals — first Lancour and Chouinard, then Chouinard and Sodermark.
An open house is planned for the spring. Management is looking forward to welcoming the public to an after-hours event on May 21 from 5 to 7 p.m. The occasion will serve as a celebration of Chouinard’s career, bring together other organizations L&C works closely with, and offer a facility tour to the public.
A Case Study
A Pickle of a Project: Eight-Court Pickleball Complex
From Fence News 2025 February
In today’s commercial chain link fencing industry, a well-trained, well-equipped fence crew has several advantages. With any size crew, a 10-foot-high, 600-foot perimeter fence poses many logistical hurdles. Proper planning, organization, and professional fencing equipment can help overcome many of these hurdles. The Delta Fence and Construction Team recently completed a chain link fence installation at an eight-court pickleball complex in Gladstone, Michigan. Using the correct fence tools, working as a coordinated team, and leveraging professional fencing hardware for the heavy lifting enabled the job to be completed on time and under budget while exceeding their client’s expectations. Delta Fence Owner Ron Chouinard provides insight into each of these factors:
Efficient Use of Fencing Tools
Time on site is important when working on any sized chain link fence job. With the posts placed and set, the 10-foot-tall, 50-foot-long fabric rolls were laid out in advance, so the crew didn’t have to get off the line to load back up. They used L&C Enterprises-USA’s Installink (chain link fence dispenser) to stretch the fence. “When we run out of fabric, we turn the cage down, load another fabric roll, and keep going,” says Chouinard. This coordination keeps the heavy equipment operation, and fence crew working forward around the outside of the facility.
“Using hangers on top to hold the fabric up, we stretch the fence with the Installink, allowing us to adjust and control the tension,” he explains. “We then tie the whole fence as we go with Easy Twist Ties, also from L&C Enterprises. As long as we have the hangers holding the fabric in place, we start with a tying crew, on the inside, behind the stretching crew.”
Crew Coordination
During installation, Delta Fence utilized a crew of four to stretch the chain link fabric, followed by a crew of two to tie the fabric. Even with Easy Twist ties spaced out every 18 inches, the crew was able to keep pace with the fabric stretching team. Working in tandem, one tying high and one low, the crew anchored the fabric to the posts. With the breakdown of tasks and the use of Easy Twist Ties, the tie crew made quick work of the 8-court pickleball facility. With coordination, both fence crews completed stretching and tying the entire 600 feet of 10-foot-tall fabric, minus the gates, in a full day.
Hardware Operation
With a scissor lift and hand drills, the crew worked quickly up and down the fence line. By using proper equipment, the tie crew made quick work securing the fabric to the posts.
Results
“Completing this project for our local pickleballers and the community to enjoy has been a three-year dream come true,” says Gladstone Area pickleball board member Rich Beauvais. “The fence installers came in, got their job done quickly, and got out of the way so others involved could do their part.”
By speeding up many of the mundane processes while eliminating technical hurdles, like loading fence fabric, Chouinard says their crews are highly productive on-site while focused on completing the tasks at hand. “These factors allow Delta Fence to tackle decent-sized jobs quickly and remain competitive in today’s fast-paced fencing industry.”
For additional information, videos, and resources visit lcenterprises-usa.com.
L&C is “Around the Corner” in the September edition of the Escanaba Express (monthly City of Escanaba publication). A couple of highlights include the recent IT infrastructure expansion, coupled with switching IT vendors, updating the business website (Delta Fence was also updated) and a decent sized building expansion to accommodate the growth in fence tie sales. To read the full edition visit Community Newsletters 2024 | Escanaba MI
Quality Work and Community Involvement Leads to Business Success
Weekly Podcast Featuring Kevin Sodermark, Owner L&C Enterprises-USA & Delta Fence
On this episode of the SBAM Weekly Podcast, Michael Rogers talks with Kevin Sodermark, Vice President of L&C Enterprises-USA d/b/a Delta Fence & Construction. They were recently recognized by Michigan Celebrates Small Business as one of the Michigan 50 Companies to Watch for 2024. “We support many different things around the community, and then doing quality work, I think, is one of the main things,” he says. “They’re happy with our product. They tell their neighbors, they tell their family to come to us. We do work all over the UP into northern Wisconsin, and a lot of that is you’ve done work for my sister, you’ve done work for my mom. I mean, we get a lot of that. So with quality work comes more work, and our name is respected in the community for that. So it’s if you do good work, you have good customer service, the work will find you.”
Connect with Delta Fence & Construction on social media:
L&C Enterprises-USA to be honored at the 20th Annual Michigan Celebrates Awards Gala.
5.21.24 (Escanaba, Michigan) – Long-time Escanaba business, L&C Enterprises-USA, parent company of Delta Fence and Construction has been recognized as one of the 2024 awardees for the Michigan 50 Companies to Watch Award, presented by Michigan Celebrates Small Business. L&C Enterprises will be acknowledged on-stage at the awards ceremony during the 20th annual Michigan Celebrates Small Business Gala on May 21, 2024. The event will be held at the Breslin Events Center on MSU’s campus. Over 800 guests are expected to attend and celebrate the 50 Companies to Watch in 2024. The Escanaba business is one of six Upper Michigan Businesses to receive the award in 2024. Previous local awardees include Race Driven (2018), Delta Force PI (2020) and Independent Machine Company (2017). See the full history of Award Winners HERE.
Together, the 2024 Michigan 50 Companies to Watch have made a substantial collective economic impact, responsible for over $400 million in total annual revenue during 2023 and projected to increase their revenue by 18% in 2024. As a whole, they provide over 1,500 full-time equivalent employees, with the majority living within the state of Michigan, and are projected to create over 330 new jobs in 2024.
Hired in 2013 as a laborer and working his way up to Vice-President, Kevin Sodermark recounts, “coming to this company and then seeing a future in it is very encouraging. To be able to be a part of one expansion and then now another expansion. Being a part of bringing people in, training people, and seeing them succeed has been very good,” said Kevin. “We are fortunate to have 15 full-time dedicated staff, most have younger families.” Kevin continues, “This award is great recognition for our staff, an exciting time for all of us.”
To be nominated for the Michigan 50 Companies to Watch Award, companies must be second stage, defined as having 6 to 99 full-time-equivalent employees while generating between $750,000 to $50 million in annual revenue. Additional requirements include, that the companies must demonstrate the intent and capacity to grow, be privately held and located in Michigan.
Michigan Celebrates received over 500 nominations for the 2024 Michigan 50 Companies to Watch Award. The businesses who are selected by the judges go through a vetting process prior to the final decision.
Judges from economic and entrepreneurship development organizations across the state annually select the winners. The judges evaluate the applicants’ demonstration of intent and capacity to grow based on the following:
- Employee or sales growth
- Exceptional entrepreneurial leadership
- Sustainable competitive advantage
- Other notable factors that showcase the company’s success
The natural growth of the fencing business contributed to early L&C successes. Ron Chouinard, President of L&C Enterprises-USA/Delta Fence & Construction adds, “we started out trying to stay an hour from the office. This keeps us mostly in the UP. We have branched out into Wisconsin, northern and western parts of the UP. I do want to express that we do such good quality work that people request us to come out there. They call us up because they heard of our reputation and we strive for quality work, we get the job done and the customer is always happy.”
“As we celebrate our 20th Anniversary of MCSB, we’re reminded of the incredible resilience and innovation within Michigan’s small business sector. This year’s winners demonstrate the collective entrepreneurial spirit that drives our state’s economy forward,” said Jennifer Deamud, MCSB Board Chair. “Congratulations to this year’s awardees. To all the winners, your dedication and leadership inspire us all, proving that success truly is best when shared.”
Additional information and ticket information can be found at MichiganCelebrates.org.
L&C Enterprises-USA is honored to be selected as an award recipient to be recognized at the 20th Annual Awards Gala! Thank you to everyone who has been part of our journey, this achievement is a shared success. Let’s celebrate together! The Awards Gala will take place on May 21st at the Breslin Center in East Lansing. We are thrilled to join the ranks of Michigan’s finest small businesses!
2024 Michigan 50 Companies to Watch Awardees List
Learn more here: michigancelebrates.org.
Michigan Celebrates Small Business (MCSB) remains on the forefront of championing small business and fostering the entrepreneurial spirit in Michigan. The MCSB’s role is to serve as a catalyst for creating an entrepreneurial culture while inspiring the next generation of entrepreneurs. The mission of MCSB is to honor and recognize Michigan’s small businesspeople and those champions and advocates that support them. MCSB brings together the resources of collaborative partners and supporters so that they may raise the profile of small businesses in Michigan, build a network of entrepreneurial companies, and tell the stories of successful, growing Michigan entrepreneurs.
Delta Fence owner is Top of the Chain!
ESCANABA — Ron Chouinard, president of Delta Fence and L & C Enterprises was recently featured on the cover of Fence News, a Fencing Industry Trade Publication.
He was featured in the Fence News article, “Top of the Chain.” Fence News is a monthly publication dedicated to providing current fencing information, products, industry trends and successes.
For more than 40 years, L & C Enterprises-USA, parent company of Delta Fence & Construction, an Escanaba based company, has been a leading provider of fencing equipment, hardware and parts in the fencing industry.
People ‘always need fences:’ Delta Fence & Construction is expanding.
ESCANABA, Mich. (WLUC) By Published: Feb. 16, 2024 – The owner of Delta Fence & Construction and L&C Enterprises USA said people will always need fences.
“I think the economy’s changing, definitely things are getting more expensive,”
Ron Chouinard said. “But people do realize also that they have to protect what they have. So, the fencing industry ain’t going nowhere.”
Chouinard and a partner started Delta Fence 37 years ago after being told to install a mile of 6-foot-tall metal fence by hand.
Five years ago, Chouinard’s employees were putting out 7.5 million ties a year. Now, they’re producing more than 15 million. In the next six months, a third tie machine will be added as part of an expansion.
An expansion that includes a new partner after the company’s co-founder Jeff Lancour passed away several years ago.
About his new partner, Chouinard said, “He’s got new ideas and new things, and I realized that if I’m going to be part of Kevin’s growth, we have to expand.”
For more information visit – FULL ARTICLE HERE
Fence News – Top of the Chain with Ron Chouinard
Our very own Ron Chouinard, President and Owner of L&C Enterprises-USA and Delta Fence is featured in the February 2024 issue of Fence News! LINK HERE
“A few years later we found ourselves in another situation that required a little outside the box thinking. This time the same Lower Michigan company contacted L&C Enterprises-USA to do a job for a prison but this time they also wanted the fence tied. They wanted us to tie the prison fence with old military fence ties. We asked if there were ties made for this. Was told no. So, we once again went back to the drawing board, got an engineer, developed our own ties, had them machined and tried them. That is where Twist Tight Ties came from”.
“There has to be an easier way,” was a common question during the early years. Learn more about the near 40-year history of an Upper Michigan business through the development and sales of fencing hardware and tools.
READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE
This article appeared in Fence News. It details the early beginnings of L&C Enterprises-USA and the development of fencing tools and hardware used in the industry today.
“We said isn’t there an easier way to do this, were not going to be able to do this by hand, we have swamp to go through”. My business partner and I talked about it and decided, “were going to make something to do this for us”. So, we drew something up on paper, built a machine that would be able to stretch, carry, and roll fabric out all this with a tractor. That’s how we came up with the Installink fence dispenser. We brought it to a welder; the welder built it. After we made the first one, we did the job with it. The 1st Job was a 1 mile of 6-foot tall 6ga material, weighing in at roughly 310 pounds per 50ft roll!
This article appeared in the World Fence News. It describes how the Barbed Wire Dispenser was used on a commercial chain link installation project shortly after it was developed.
Snow Job: Fighting Mother Nature all the way ~ March, 2005
Fighting Mother Nature all the way, a combination of the right equipment and dedicated crew helps Delta Fence complete major airport job.
Completing a 27,000-lineal-foot chain link job in 60 days would be fairly routine for most sizeable fence contractors. Delta Fence and Construction of Escanaba, Michigan agrees, unless the job was located in the snow country of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and you couldn’t start the job until September, which is the usual onset of the area’s “Arctic style” winter…