Cleanup is well underway at McMunn and Yates Building Supplies in Steinbach, and so are the plans for the future.

Now more than a week after a devastating fire tore through the building’s storefront, Manager Corwin Penner says a team of engineers, insurance adjusters, and salvage experts are sifting through the rubble to determine what can be kept and what needs to be rebuilt.

“We’re for sure going to be keeping the warehouse and everything to the back because that was really just affected by smoke. As well, there are a few outlying buildings that we have that were left completely untouched which is a testament to how hard the fire department worked. But, as far as I know, any of the retail portion is probably going to have to get replaced.”

As the structural integrity of the storefront is more than likely compromised, Penner says the announcement of a rebuild looks immanent.

“All indications are that we are going to be building bigger and better,” he says. “A brand new store, that looks like a Rona or a Home Depot, the traditional lumber store you are used to seeing everywhere else.”

Right now, restoration companies are rummaging through what used to be the office space at McMunn and Yates, and removing any products or equipment damaged by fire, smoke, or soot.

The Office of The Fire Commissioner earlier this month put the total damage estimate in the range of $10 million. As Penner’s most recent inventory suggests, that figure is made up of about $1 million in merchandise, $2 million in assets like shelving and computers, and $7 million in building damage.

Once the store is cleaned out and all of the legal paperwork is filed, Penner says that is when the ruins will really start to change shape.

“I wouldn’t be at all surprised if we see some demolition of some sort in the next few weeks, but that all depends on insurances and how fast the situation move.”

Meanwhile, the fire seems to have only caused a small hiccup on the business end of things. Since mere days after the blaze, the store has been providing for all contractor needs. Penner adds a mobile trailer is being placed in their lumber yard next week that they can cater to walk-in customers as well.

“We will be stocking all kinds of things again,” he notes, “toilets, moldings, glues, fasteners, nails, screws…”

It will be many many months before the McMunn and Yates wreckage resembles a regular business again, but Penner expects the store itself will be operating at 80 per cent of regular capacity, including retail, by the New Year.