Mike Bierman would have turned 72 on May 22 this year.
Tragically, the head of the island’s oldest construction supply company died in December, but his daughters Alexis and Emily Biermann have a plan to celebrate their one-of-a-kind father and the 80th anniversary of the family business that day.
Alexis, 38, the eldest of the two, explained that the company was incorporated on Boxing Day 1946, but their dad’s birthday felt like a more fitting date for a party.
“We’re very honoured to get to be part of a really massive legacy on the island,” she said.
“We’re the third generation of Biermanns who are involved in the company now.
“We’re really, really excited to see where we’re going in the future.”
She added: “Our dad was a very interesting and wonderful guy, but he was also very old school.
‘He had a way of doing things and Emily and I come from a very different background and a very different world.”
Emily, 36, who recently took over as CEO of Bierman Concrete Products, said the anniversary celebration was still at the ideas stage.
“We’re brainstorming with a marketing agency. Nothing is fixed at this point, but I think as soon as we have a more clear idea, we’ll definitely make a big deal of it.”
Family affair
Neither sister planned to join the family firm, which was launched by their grandparents Herbert and Stella, as construction on the island ramped up after the Second World War, and then run for many decades by Mike.
The firm, which mined its own aggregate for many years, was the “central tent peg of the whole family structure” during their childhood, according to Alexis.
She recalled “fond memories” of sledding down the “ag pile” at its headquarters on Lolly’s Well Road, Smith’s.
Both women — who, like their mother Gale, use the traditional German spelling of Biermann — moved to North America, where they forged lives and careers, but they remained close with their parents.
When Mike became ill with cancer, they pitched in to help and it soon became clear that they did not want to let go of everything their formidable dad had built.
Emily said: “My husband and I made the tough decision to move back to the island [from New Hampshire] and really dive just headfirst into the day-to-day operations of the company.”
Her husband, Bermudian Dylan Robinson, is now facilities manager at Bierman’s and Alexis, who lives in Canada, is a director of the company.
Alexis said: “The real act of passing the torch has been within the last year or so as dad got sicker.
“We have felt really happy to be able to come on board and help with that.”
She stressed how pleased she was to see her younger sibling take over the reins of Bierman’s, while she will retain “more of a high-level involvement” from overseas.
“A lot going forward is going to be Emily’s vision and I couldn’t have more faith and excitement to see how things unfold if I tried,” said Alexis.
Bouncing back
Emily explained how Bierman’s, a major supplier of concrete block, “used to be an absolute bull in this industry, but within the last couple of decades, it’s sort of slowed down a lot”.
That is set to change, according to the sisters.
“We are in the middle of growing our workforce again and growing our fleet again,” explained Emily.
“Right now, we only have two trucks, but we have a third one coming … Bierman’s itself only employs four people, with a fifth starting in February.”
The firm also works closely with a company called Precision, run by Frank Fagundo, which supplies a lot of its labour force.
Alexis said: “We’re very much in a growth mindset right now. There’s going to be a lot of upgrades, a lot of new equipment, a lot of new faces.”
One idea is to build precast concrete housing to assist with the lack of affordable homes on the island.
Emily said: “You essentially have the precast frames that you fill with poured concrete, versus the traditional [concrete] block and rebar and mortar.
“It is a tad bit less individualised, but I’ve seen some really cool technology of how you can slot the modular pieces together and build a structure that’s all your own.”
She added: “Dad had a couple of examples, one specifically right next to the company, of precast concrete housing, so I would love to revitalise that again and see if that would be an option to get Bermudians to be first time home buyers or builders.
“I would really like Bierman’s to have a legacy in helping alleviate those challenges for not only Bermudians, but young Bermudians.”
Another hope is to get the company’s quarry permit reinstated.
“We’ve quarried our own limestone aggregate for the majority of the life span of Bierman’s being open and operating, but it’s only really been in the last decade and a bit that we’ve not been able to do that,” said Emily.
She said “there been an eternal struggle up here on the Smith’s property” about what the company should be allowed to do, but they planned to approach the issue in a gentler way than their dad.
Alexis added that with hefty construction costs in Bermuda, the plan could benefit the wider community, as the company could pass along savings to customers from quarrying its own aggregate.
Alexis said 2025 was “hell” for the family, due to their father’s illness and death, but taking on his business had been healing.
“It gives me a lot of peace and a lot of joy to be able to know that we, as a family, we really came together, we really rallied, and we were able to give dad the peace of mind to know that we got this,” she said.
“[We showed him] you have done all the work you were meant to do in this lifetime and you can rest in peace, truly.”
