Scaling with Systems. Jenny Gayfer on Culture and Automation

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Mar 18, 2026

Jenny Gayfer, owner of Top 40 Woodworks and former vendor rep-turned-owner, led a deliberate transformation of a commercial millwork firm. She discusses cultural overhaul, interviewing every employee, leadership reshuffles, implementing an ERP for visibility, and pairing EOS meeting rhythms with systems. She also talks about forecasting, capacity planning, and how automation and service will reshape the industry.

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ANECDOTE

From Vendor Rep To Owner Through Consulting

Jenny started as a vendor rep supplying decorative surfaces and tracked Top 40 as one of her top three accounts for over a decade.
She later wrote a nighttime proposal to consult and sell national contracts to Top 40, which led to a ten-year consulting relationship before acquiring the company.

INSIGHT

Organic Growth Left Dangerous Knowledge Silos

Top 40 had grown organically like a cabin with lean-tos, leaving no intentional internal systems or layout for scale.
Jenny compared the shop to a grandfather clock with interdependent cogs and said lack of scheduling lived in one employee's head.

ADVICE

Make Culture The First Project

Prioritize culture before tools by interviewing every employee to understand strengths, mindset, and growth potential.
Reward growth-minded staff, give others tools and expectations, and let toxic behaviors atrophy rather than immediate firing where possible.

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In this episode of Verify In Field, host Jacob Edmond sits down with Jenny Gayfer, owner of Top 40 Woodworks, an OAC certified commercial millwork company based in Canada. Jenny shares her unconventional journey from vendor representative to consultant to ultimately acquiring the very company she once supplied materials to.

With more than two decades of industry exposure, Jenny brought a rare perspective into ownership. She had seen the best and worst of millwork operations across Canada, understood the competitive landscape, and knew exactly where Top 40 stood in the market. What followed was not a quick overhaul, but a deliberate transformation focused on culture, systems, visibility, and long term strategy.

About Our Guest

Jenny Gayfer is the owner of Top 40 Woodworks, a predominantly commercial architectural millwork company with long standing national contracts and a growing multifamily presence. Before acquiring Top 40, Jenny spent over 10 years as a decorative surface and materials vendor representative, working closely with millwork shops across Canada. Top 40 was one of her largest accounts, giving her deep operational insight long before she stepped into ownership

After years of consulting and business development for the company, Jenny and her husband acquired Top 40 and began a comprehensive internal restructuring. Since then, she has led the implementation of an ERP system, adopted EOS from the book Traction, redefined the leadership team, and repositioned the company for scalable growth.
What You Will Learn

Why culture must come before systems
Jenny’s first priority was not software or machinery. It was people. She personally interviewed every employee to understand strengths, mindset, and growth potential before making structural changes.
The underestimated challenge of change management
Implementing an ERP system while restructuring a company revealed that the hardest part of transformation is not technology, it is helping people adapt.
How visibility changes everything
Before ERP implementation, scheduling lived in one employee’s head
The power of combining ERP and EOS
Energy provided operational control and data visibility. EOS provided communication rhythm, accountability, and alignment. Together, they created structure across both production and leadership.
Why automation alone is not the competitive edge
Jenny believes automation will become standard across the industry. The real differentiator will be communication, collaboration, and understanding general contractors, developers, and integrated project delivery systems.
From technician mindset to strategic leadership
Drawing from The E Myth and Traction, Jenny explains the difference between being an excellent technician and becoming an effective manager or visionary leader.
Forecasting as a survival tool
With long lead times in commercial projects, the ability to analyze market trends, housing cycles, tariffs, and political shifts is critical to steering a millwork company toward stability and growth.
Why custom millwork i

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