Meet Joel Camassar, Marketing Manager at Trailer Depot

For the past three years, Joel Camassar has been the marketing manager at Northford’s Trailer Depot, which is owned by Steve and Suki Duhamal, who opened the business in December 2000. They have seen their family business grow to include their kids, Mike and Kelli.

The Duhamal’s were previously involved in the landscaping business but realized there was a need for a full-service trailer dealership and Trailer Depot “crosses a broad range of industries,” according to Camassar.

While Camassar admitted there are people right in New Haven and around the block that “don’t even know we’re here,” he did say that Trailer Depot draws customers from all over New England.

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“We have anything you need in order to haul anything from horses to 30,000-pound excavators to garden tractors to antique cars, but we also carry a lot of big-ticket items,” he said. “In addition to landscaping trailers, we have horse trailers with living quarters and have done a lot of custom work for corporations.”

Camassar said one of the company’s biggest projects was the creation of a custom helicopter trailer complete with living quarters in the front with a $260,000 price tag. While there are the big-ticket custom items, he said that most of the business comes from small-business owners, including landscapers and builders.

The company’s Northford location is key, according to Camassar, as it not only is central to Hartford, Boston and New York, but allows for a large lot to display the inventory.

Suki Duhamal is also happy with the backdrop of her family’s business. While the Duhamel’s have lived in Branford for the past 35 years, they are very connected to the town after being in business here for more than a decade with Mike and his wife living just around the corner from Trailer Depot.

“The people here are great – it’s really country,” said Suki. 

While Suki and Steve are semi-retired from the business, they still help out from time to time.

“We travel a lot so we’re not always here, but when we are, they utilize us – I help two days a week in the office and my husband is the gopher,” said Suki.

She said that while her kids, just 17 months apart, didn’t always get along when they were younger, Suki is happy to have seen their relationship grow. Kelli now handles the business’s financials, while Michael is the manager.

“They get along so great now and they work very well together,” said Suki. “It’s been a blessing a lot of ways.”