Category: People

Key Takeaways:

• The ICBA is expanding in Alberta with a new suite of services for members.
• ICBA Alberta will be led by Mike Martens who spent the past eight years working for Progressive Contractors Association of Canada.
• ICBA Alberta will focus on advocacy, group health benefits, training, and wellness programs designed for Alberta’s open shop contractors, builders, and entrepreneurs.

The Whole Story:

The Independent Contractors and Businesses Association (ICBA) is expanding in Alberta.

Building on the growth of its Alberta group health benefits business which has been offering health, dental and retirement plans to contractors and businesses for nearly a decade, ICBA is rolling out a suite of new services for its members in Alberta.

Mike Martens, one of the province’s top advocacy leaders, has been selected to head up ICBA Alberta, ICBA president Chris Gardner announced today.

“Founded 48 years ago, ICBA has grown into the country’s largest construction association with more than 4,000 members and clients and 150,000 people on one of our group health benefit plans,” said Gardner. “Today, I’m proud to announce that we are expanding in Alberta and that Mike Martens has joined us to lead the roll-out and growth of the suite of new member services we will be offering to ICBA Alberta members. Mike is a dynamic, respected advocate, and is focused on growing the construction, building, and resource development industries in Alberta.”

Martens was director of public affairs (Western Canada) for the Progressive Contractors Association of Canada for the past eight years. Working out of ICBA’s Calgary office as ICBA Alberta President, Martens will work with the ICBA Alberta team to expand its member service offering in areas related to advocacy, group health benefits, training, and wellness programs designed for Alberta’s open shop contractors, builders, and entrepreneurs.

According to ICBA, some 88 per cent of the more than 220,000 people who work in Alberta construction make up the open shop sector.

“It’s an honour for me to be able to help build on ICBA’s incredible platform in Alberta,” said Martens. “We’re going to be offering some very exciting services to help merit and open shop construction contractors grow, and we’re going to give them a strong voice in public policy advocacy.”

When it comes to federal advocacy, ICBA Alberta is a member of Merit Canada, joining Merit Saskatchewan, Merit Manitoba, Merit Ontario, Merit Nova Scotia and ICBA. Through Merit Canada, the partnership of open shop construction organizations advocates on issues important to open shop contractors in Ottawa.

“Mike and the team at ICBA Alberta will be working to help construction companies grow and support their workers with the best benefits, training and advocacy possible,” said Gardner. “They will be supporting the reduction in unnecessary red tape and the creation the economic conditions necessary to attract investment, build the infrastructure and harness our energy resources in a way that secures our long-term prosperity.”

Martens encouraged all merit-based, open shop construction companies doing work in Alberta, to send him me a note at mmartens@icba.ca so they can meet to discuss how our ICBA Alberta can help. 

“I’ve hit the ground running with meetings and introductions, and I can’t wait to share what ICBA Alberta can do to help construction companies,” said Martens.

*Editor’s note: This article contains very strong language & describes graphic harassment

Marcia Braundy never planned to make history as B.C.’s first female Red Seal carpenter. 

It was out of necessity. Things needed to be fixed and built. So she learned. 

“I had Volkswagens in the 60s and I had to be able to fix them but I didn’t have work that paid me any real money,” she said. “I had to do all of that myself. I found wonderful men who would let me use their tools and give me direction if I needed it.”

She got so proficient that she was able to rebuild two entire engines. 

Marcia’s main passions were feminism, environmentalism and alternative schooling. While organizing for the National Student Association in the U.S, she began to uncover a skillset that would be invaluable her whole life. 

“Chuck Hollander, who hired me there, gave me the gift of learning what I am really good at in this world,” said Braundy. “I am a community organizer, and I am an activist, and I am really good at identifying issues and helping people find ways to solve them.”

Finding home in the valley

Born in Massachusetts and raised in Pleasantville, New York, Braundy’s travels eventually brought her to B.C.’s Slocan Valley.

“I knew immediately that this was my home,” she said. 

She founded the Slocan Valley Free School, which still exists today as The Whole School, a community-supported, non-profit, independent, elementary school. Its program focuses on outdoor learning, multi-age, small class sizes, independent education planning, and student-driven learning.

In the early 1970s, an effort was made to build a community centre in the valley. But there was little money for the project, so residents rolled up their sleeves and got to work, including Braundy. 

“I ran the volunteer crews and I would sit down once a week with someone who knew more than me,” said Braundy. “The men seemed busy most of the time but they would come and we would draw pictures on 2x10s of the work that needed to be done.”

Braundy and other women in the valley wanted to learn but soon found they were being sidelined by the men. 

“I noticed that the guys kept taking the tools out of the women’s hands, saying ‘here, honey, let me show you how to do it’ and then they didn’t give the tool back,” she said. “So I started having women’s work days where we could come, teach each other and learn. It was wonderful.”

The centre eventually became the Vallican Whole Community Centre which still serves the region to this day.

Starting pre-apprenticeship training 

After several years of working on the community centre, Braundy decided to learn more about carpentry to earn a better living. But after a year of asking the province’s apprenticeship counsellor in Nelson to get into pre-apprenticeship training, she had been ignored.  

“At that point I called the director of apprenticeship,” she said. “And I said ‘I think I am being discriminated against and I am really unhappy.’” 

She was told a course in Dawson Creek started in three days so she made her way to Northern Lights College.  She very quickly found out that all of the other women who had tried to take training in the male-dominated programs had left.

“I heard about them every day and people would tell me women couldn’t make it here,” she said.  

Despite these stories, made a promise to herself that no matter what, she would give four years of her life to becoming a carpenter.

“An apprenticeship was four years,” she said. “And whatever happened in that period of time, I would keep going. And if at the end of four years it was too icky, I gave myself permission to walk away.” 

Things got icky fast. “Marcia’s tits” was scrawled on the blackboard, “Fuck you, miss” was on the tool room door and “Marcia’s potty seat” was written in the bathroom. 

To keep herself motivated she would play song tapes recorded by her friends back in the valley and look at architectural plans of an upcoming Slocan Valley project on her wall. 

“They were fabulous plans,” she said. “They had three octagonal bays on them. I had them on my wall because that was the job I was going to do when I got out of school. I had reasons to keep me there.” 

Everyday she erased the crude messages on the blackboard in class but finally she called her instructor over and told him about the harassment. He erased the board and never said anything to anyone.

When the school was creating posters to welcome a local MLA, some of them were also adorned with crude messages or sexualized depictions of nude women. Braundy objected, telling her classmates that she would not let those images represent the carpenters.

“I grabbed a can of paint and threw it all over their poster. They picked up a can of paint and threw it all over me. I didn’t care. That poster wasn’t going up,” she said.

Braundy had been documenting all the harassment and misogyny on campus and after six months she decided it was time to take action with school officials. 

“I have to speak up,” said Braundy. “I have to. And I did. I let them know what was happening and called it to attention.”

The result shocked her. 

The college president, Barry Moore, went around to every single male dominated trades training classroom on campus and told them that their language and actions were inappropriate at an institution of higher learning and if it continued they would be thrown out of school and would not get an apprenticeship anywhere in British Columbia. 

Getting experience

Braundy graduated with the highest grade in the class on her final exam and took her certificate back to the valley to begin her apprenticeship. She worked in various woodworking shops, helped with Nelson’s first Victorian renovation and did some homebuilding projects. But the real money and opportunity was in the carpenter’s union. 

After months and months of being ignored she finally showed up to the union office and demanded a copy of the constitution and standard collective agreement. After she reviewed the documents with a lawyer and found nothing that would prevent her from becoming a member she showed up at the next meeting. She discovered that she had be accepted as the first woman member of B.C.’s carpenter’s union, local 2458.

Now a third-year apprentice, her first union job was the Chahko Miko Mall in Nelson and her business agent told her this: “Marcia, you don’t have to take any shit from anybody. You’re a union member now.”

Her crew was doing concrete flooring work and she made fast friends with the other workers. When she eventually left the job, the team threw her a party and gave her a 15-year-old bottle of rye whiskey in a velvet case. 

While working on the Hume Hotel she became a miter joint expert, learning how to precisely chisel the joints so that even to this day they have stayed intact without cracking. 

“There’s a pride that comes from doing the job that is thrilling,” said Braundy. 

She soon found herself living in a work camp doing larger, more complex jobs. Braundy was part of a 70-person team doing form work on two side-by-side coal silos, each 278 feet tall. Day shifts were 13 hours and night shifts were 11 hours. Typically, carpenters would be paired up for long periods of time but the foreman bounced her from man to man. After 25 different partners, she learned the foreman wasn’t punishing her. 

“Each of the guys that I was with there, it was the first time they had worked with a woman,” said Braundy. “And he wanted as many men there as possible to have that opportunity. I am forever thankful to him. I felt great on the site with all of them.”

But those good feelings were shattered when a crude joke began circulating the camp and was eventually told to her. 

“I can say that I have no memory of exactly what the joke was, but I remember that I felt like I had been punched in the stomach and I couldn’t breathe,” said Braundy. “And I was horrified that all these people who I had thought were my friends had known about that joke and were walking around with that thought in their minds. I suppose I should have written it down, but it was so horrible and awful I just couldn’t even think of writing it down. I had to get through the rest of the day but I was barely functional.”

Her friend, a carpenter from Cranbrook, found her in her room crying and she made him promise to never tell anyone what he had seen. He agreed. 

“I had to get up the next day, go to work and put all of that away,” she said. 

Making history

In 1981, Braundy was in her fourth year of apprenticeship and traveled to BCIT to complete her trades education. She was met with more disturbing behaviour. Her classmates regularly posted explicit pornographic images on the classroom wall. When she finally brought it up with the instructor, he took the images down but never said anything to anyone. 

On the last day of class, one of the students put a particularly explicit pornographic image on the back wall of the classroom and declared, “this is for the guys in the next class, we hope there aren’t any women in it.” 

She quietly shredded the image, threw it in the trash and went to return her books as she prepared to take the final exam. She left her Frederickson Metric Square in the room. The carpenter’s square was designed by carpentry instructor Paul H. Frederickson to help builders, and he had signed Braundy’s. When she returned, it had been destroyed.

“My signed Frederickson square had been twisted into a knot and dropped on my desk,” said Braundy. “‘CUNT’ was written in pencil below it in big letters.”

Emotionally shattered, she began the half mile walk across campus to take the test that will determine if she will be a Red Seal carpenter or not. A classmate of her’s told her not to pay attention to the bully. She asked him one question: “Where were you when it was going on?”

She later found out the bully had failed his exam, but she had passed. She was informed by the school that she was the province’s first ever female Red Seal carpenter

The story doesn’t end there. Here projects are almost too numerous to mention. Braundy even worked with 13 other women to develop EMMA’s Jambrosia, a food manufacturing business to support chronically unemployed women in the West Kootenays.

In addition to to being on BCIT’s board of governors and holding PhD from University of British Columbia, Braundy is a community development worker, social change activist, independent research scholar, multimedia project manager, archivist, teacher, and was the founding national coordinator of Women in Trades and Technology National Network (WITTNN). She curates and manages KootenayFeminism.com and has been active in the Canadian women’s movement since 1972. 

Braundy is currently building a freely-available, full-text digital archive of equity in apprenticeship and technical fields, with a focus on initiatives for under-represented groups.

Key Takeaways:

• Coast Capital’s donation will create the Road to Red Seal Program.
• The program provides individualized assessment and support to Red Seal students in B.C.
• Officials say one-on-one support can be critical to give students the tools and confidence they need to pass exams.

The Whole Story:

Failing a Red Seal exam can be devastating. 

But it’s a common reality in Canada. Completion rates for Red Seal trades are on average below 50 per cent nationally and below 41 per cent in B.C. Often, the decision to quit a program is a direct result of educational barriers that face many trade students related to the academic portion of their training.  

“Imagine what that does to an apprentice when they fail,” said Michelle Anderlini, Construction Foundation of B.C. project manager. “All of a sudden you have no self esteem, you’re nervous, you’re scared to get back and write that exam.”

Anderlini has worked with countless students during her career. She explained that many who enter the trades do so because they excel at working with their hands, but are often dismayed at the thought of going back to school.  

“A lot of the challenges that apprentices face is the educational background they came from,” she said. “They do well working with their hands. So for the most part, the way they learn is very visual and kinaesthetic. So when they get into the trades, it’s very scary for them to go back to school.”

To support trades students in B.C., Coast Capital has made a one-million-dollar investment that will fund a new, no-fee, educational support program, Coast Capital Road to Red Seal. The program focuses on addressing educational barriers faced by many trade students.

The initiative offers a suite of tools and one-on-one support directly to students to address their specific challenges and support their continued progression in their program.

Anderlini said that student needs are often unique to them so one-on-one support is especially crucial. This is also helpful for those who are too shy to ask for help in a group setting. Whatever a student’s issues may be, Anderlini said that these kind of supports all provide a crucial ingredient for success: hope.

“It’s about building hope. It’s about building self confidence that they have got it,” she said.

Anderlini is currently working with a trades student who failed his exam eight years ago and hasn’t been back since. 

“He is scared to go back but he wants to start his own business,” she said. “So it’s about talking with them, and encouraging them. Telling them that they got this. Giving them all the tools they need so they go write the test and nail it.”  

Officials with Coast Capital explained that they believe supporting trades students is the right thing to do for B.C. 

“As a federal financial cooperative and social purpose organization, Coast Capital is committed to helping create a better, more equitable, financial future for everyone,” says Maureen Young, vice president of social purpose at coast capital. “With this initiative, we are so proud to be able to contribute to and advocate for a community where everyone has the skills and opportunities to thrive. Coast Capital’s Road to Red Seal initiative, broadens and personalizes the tools accessible to trade students to empower them in completing their certification so they can confidently enter the industry, grow their careers and shape their better future.”

Key Takeaways:

• The line features a maternity button-up work shirt and maternity cargo pants.
• It comes from Ontario-based Covergalls Inc. which specializes in workwear for women.
• The company says they not only hope the gear can make pregnant workers more comfortable but also keep them safer.

The Whole Story:

A new workwear option for women has just been born in Ontario.

Covergalls Inc. – a Sudbury-based company specializing in creating inclusive personal protective equipment for women – has announced the launch of their new maternity workwear. 

The apparel collection, made up of a maternity button-up work shirt and maternity cargo pants, aims to provide personal protective equipment for pregnant women in the workforce.

Alicia Woods, CEO and founder of Covergalls Inc. says she sees the launch as an important and long overdue step towards helping working women in Canadian industrial sectors be safe, comfortable and heard. 

“I’m really excited for this new addition to our collection. So many women have had to create makeshift solutions due to lack of options and inaccessibility to proper PPE, myself being one,” said Woods. “Creating maternity workwear that companies and suppliers can provide to their employees? It’s a step in the right direction towards greater workplace equality.”

The launch of the maternity workwear line has been a passion project that Woods and her team at Covergalls have been working on since a visit to Yamana’s Jacobina Mine in Brazil in December 2019. In the Spring of 2022, Covergalls began to work on the designs for the maternity workwear and engaged with pregnant workers to trial the apparel and get boots-on-the-ground feedback. 

Since then Covergalls has worked together with uniform provider CINTAS to make these pieces available for their clients.

“The partnership with these women has been wonderful, and an example of the amazing solutions that can be found when industry leaders and companies partner with individuals to try and make a difference in the workwear industry,” added Woods.

The Covergalls Maternity Workwear Collection:

• The Covergalls Maternity Button-Up Work Shirt is designed to fit the unique needs of pregnant women in the workforce. The design features a longer front to safely cover a growing belly and a tab hem with 2 snaps that allows the wearer to adjust the shirt waist as their body grows. 
• The Covergalls Maternity Cargo Pant is designed to provide full and flexible coverage for pregnant women in the workforce. Using a rib knit front panel and high waist design, the pants securely pull over a growing belly. 

Made in Canada, both workwear pieces meet OHS safety standards and use 3M Scotchlite 4” yellow/silver/yellow retro Reflective Tape to give workers high-visibility. 

Woods noted that while the design for the collection includes important special features, they are also purposefully made to fit standard safety workwear guidelines and looks.

“Our design choice to make these pieces was very intentional,” said Woods. “Women in the workforce do not want to be stereotyped or gendered. Rather, they want creative solutions to the current limitations of safety gear. We have to meet the needs of a diversity of body shapes and pregnant women happen to be one body type underrepresented – and that changes over time.” 

The maternity workwear release comes at the start of an important month for women all around the world: Women’s History Month. The company stated that Ill-fitting safety gear is dangerous for any worker. Historically, however, designs have not been considered to accommodate the heights and curves necessary for women who are pregnant and at work. 

Woods hopes that by launching this collective she is able to reach women across industrial sectors who are having to create their own makeshift solutions to ill-fitting equipment. 

“I’ve struggled with ill-fitting workwear. It’s horrible – not just for safety reasons but for also making you feel like you don’t belong in your field. You don’t fit the ‘norm’,” said Woods. “My hope is that this new apparel opens up more discussions around what current and future corporations can do to step up and help improve diversity and belonging in the workforce, pregnant or not.” 

The collection will be available and sold on Covergalls’ e-commerce site beginning this month. 

Whether it is generous benefits for new parents, access to gyms, funding for mental health or large bonuses for recruiting others, these companies are raising the bar when it comes to employee treatment. Each company was recognized last month as part a larger list by BC’s Top Employers, an annual competition organized by the editors of Canada’s Top 100 Employers.

Companies are chosen by editors of Canada’s Top 100 Employers using the same eight criteria as the national competition: workplace; work atmosphere & social; health, financial & family benefits; vacation & time off; employee communications; performance management; training & skills development; and community involvement. The judges also compare candidates to other organizations in their field to determine if they are ahead of the pack.

Canfor

Established in 1938, Canfor has a long history in Canada and they are one of the world’s largest producers of sustainable lumber, pulp and paper. For employees, they cover up to 100% of tuition per year. They also offer apprenticeship/skilled trades programs, in-house training, online training, mentoring, paid internships. Canfor pays up to $1,000 each year for mental health practitioner and allows hybrid work for eligible roles.

Ausenco Engineering

Ausenco Limited is a multinational engineering, procurement, construction management, and operations service provider to the energy and resources sectors. Last year, Ausenco implemented a new parental leave program, offering a top-up of 100 per cent of salary for 12 weeks for primary caregivers. New parents also have the option to phase-in their return work or prolong their leave to an unpaid leave of absence. The company also recently established a women’s employee resource group and rolling out training and networking sessions — the company also launched a reconciliation action plan, with six action areas including cultural awareness training, internships and scholarships

Beedie

Beedie is a private real estate development, investment and property management company who’s president, Ryan Beedie was recently honoured by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce as Canadian Business Leader of the Year.. Not only does Beedie assist workers in saving for the future, they provide a year-end bonus program and up to $5,000 in referral bonuses for employees who help recruit new talent. Employees have access to a free onsite gym at its Burnaby office. The gym has free instructor-led classes and even personal training. Beedie also has a digital well-being education platform with resources on mental health, financial well-being, family and relationships.

West Fraser Timber Co. 

West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. is a Canadian forestry company that produces wood products, including lumber, laminated veneer lumber and plywood. West Fraser offers a flexible health benefits program, mental health coverage, a $3,000 annual health spending account, They also allow the transfer of unused health credits to salary, savings or additional time off. The company designates a portion of its pre-tax profits for charitable and community giving. Where most donations go is decided by employees. New employees with three weeks of paid vacation and considers previous work experience when setting individual vacation entitlement. Salaried receive an additional paid week above their regular vacation after five years of service, as well as a bonus week of vacation every fifth anniversary thereafter.

TYBO Contracting 

Tybo Contracting Ltd. is a civil contracting company based in Langley and it operates throughout the province. Tybo gives workers retirement planning assistance services and matching RSP contributions. It also helps employees transition out of work with flexible, phased-in retirement options.

Tybo offers $1,000 to $5,000 for successful hire referrals. It supports expecting mothers with maternity and parental leave top-up. Parents with children pursuing post-secondary education can receive $2,500 academic scholarships for each child per year. 

SkilledTradesBC

SkilledTradesBC, formerly Industry Training Authority, is the government organization that advances B.C.’s trades training system. It offers employees an annual spending allowance on items related to personal health goals such as fitness equipment, classes and gym memberships. It supports new parents with extensive maternity and parental leave top-up payments for a full year of paid leave and provides parental leave top-up for new dads and adoptive parents, for up to 35 weeks. New employees start with three weeks of paid vacation, moving up to four weeks after three years.

Ventana Construction Corporation

Ventana is a full-service construction partner based in Burnaby. It supports a group of in-house Wellness Champions in partnership with the Independent Contractors and Businesses Association. Wellness Champions share online materials on a range of topics, from physical fitness to emotional intelligence, and the company recently worked with the Canadian Men’s Health Foundation in support of Men’s Health Week. Ventana also provides variety of financial benefits, including profit-sharing for all employees, signing bonuses for some, and referral bonuses as an incentive for employees to recruit from their personal networks, from $800 to $5,000 depending on the position. Employees can also receive subsidies for job-related courses and professional accreditation. 

Turner Construction Company

Turner Construction opened its Vancouver office in 2011 with the goal of increasing reach and providing construction services across Canada.Turner offers paid volunteer time and matching charitable donations, up to $500 annually, to encourage employees to give back to the community. Employee referral bonuses can get as high as $14,000. Employees can enjoy a reduced summer hours program that includes a company-paid early shutdown every Friday afternoon, from the end of May to the end of August.

Perkins & Will

Architecture firm Perkins & Will offers discretionary compassionate leave top-up for those caring for a loved one (to 80 per cent of salary for up to 52 weeks). It also invests in ongoing professional development with tuition subsidies for courses both related and not directly related to an employee’s current position, subsidies for professional accreditation and financial bonuses (up to $2,000) for some course completions. The company offers paid internships, summer employment, apprenticeships and formal mentoring programs to attract new people into the field.

Ledcor

Ledcor Group of Companies is an employee-owned, diversified and vertically-integrated construction company operating primarily in Canada and the U.S.. Ledcor recently doubled its mental health coverage to $1,500 annually per employee, which includes visits with psychologists, social workers, certified Canadian counsellors, or registered clinical counsellors. Ledcor employees who have over five years of service are enrolled in the Savings Time Annual Reward program, which offers a choice of an additional 40 hours of paid time off or the equivalent dollar amount deposited into a Ledcor RRSP account. Ledcor also supports ongoing employee development throughout an employee’s career, from co-op placements, apprenticeships and mentoring programs to tuition subsidies for courses taken externally.

Jacob Bros Construction 

Jacob Bros Construction, based in Surrey, is a family-owned general contractor operating across Western Canada. The company supports a number of charitable initiatives each year and matches charitable donations made by employees, to a maximum of $500 per year. It also organizes an awards program for employees with five years of service, allowing them to choose between a trip for two, an RRSP contribution, or a cash reward for their tenure. Employees can receive tuition subsidies for job-related courses (to $2,500 per year), subsidies for professional accreditation and a range of in-house and online training options, including apprenticeships.

Hudson Pacific Properties

Hudson is a Vancouver-based real estate developer. It supports new birth moms with maternity leave top-up, to 100 per cent of salary for 16 weeks. Hudson extends parental leave top-up payments to biological parents, same-sex spousal equivalents and new adoptive parents (to 100 per cent of salary for 12 weeks). Referral bonuses go up to $5,000. Hudson also encourages employee volunteerism, providing up to four paid days off to volunteer each year. It also matches employee charity donations up to $1,000 per employee per year.

ETRO Construction 

ETRO Construction is one of Vancouver’s fastest growing construction management and general contracting firms. It offers a fitness subsidy of $500 annually to support employees in achieving their health and wellness goals (can be used for gym memberships and classes), and offers subsidized group personal training weekly at a nearby gym. It provides maternity and parental leave top-up payments, to 100 per cent of salary for up to 26 weeks.

ETRO also recognizes employees  through its Wall of 100 display at head office, showcasing plaques and photos of employees who have achieved their five year milestone with the company.

Concert Properties

Concert Properties is a Canadian real estate company based in Vancouver. It is owned by 19 union and management pension funds and its commercial assets are valued at over $8 billion.

Concert supports a peer-to-peer recognition program and offers up to five additional paid bonus days off per year for employees as a reward for exceptional performance. Concert provides commuters with a public transit subsidy of up to $1,000 per year. Additionally, employees get free access to a fitness facility, a community garden, and regular deliveries of fresh fruit

Concert supports ongoing employee development through in-house and online training initiatives, as well as tuition subsidies for courses related to their current position.

Wesgroup Equipment

Wesgroup Equipment is an award-winning full-service construction equipment and material handling dealership operating with eight locations across B.C. Wesgroup supports ongoing employee development with tuition subsidies for courses at outside institutions along with a range of in-house training options throughout their careers, from mentorships and apprenticeships to leadership training and financial bonuses for certain course completions. Wesgroup offers matching RSP contributions, retirement planning assistance and phased-in retirement work options that allow employees to gradually reduce their hours.

RF Binnie

Binnie delivers civil engineering, surveying and project management services to the public and private sector in Western Canada. The company offers referral bonuses up to $5,000 depending on the position and helps employees save for the future with RSP contributions. Some employees can get profit and deferred profit sharing plans. The company surveyed its employees to help design its return to work program and developed a formal Return to Office Guide that provides support for onsite, hybrid and flexible work options.

Rick Welch is the new president of Nomodic, a modular construction company based in Alberta. Welch has nearly 30 years of experience in modular construction. Most recently he served as strategic sales director, affordable & social housing programs at NRB Modular Solutions, where he oversaw the development of housing projects for BC Housing, municipalities, non-profit societies and First Nations.

Jeremy Robinson has been tapped to lead Kinetic Construction’s new environmental services subsidiary, Kinetic Environmental. Robinson’s expertise includes over 15 years of experience managing large-scale environmental contracting teams responsible for delivering complex projects that have consistently achieved cost, quality, and executional objectives.

David Murphy has started a new position as talent acquisition specialist at Pomerleau. He held the same role at Modern Niagara before his new role.

Mario Villeneuve, vice president of Villeneuve Construction, has been elected president of the Ontario Road Builders’ Association (ORBA). His priorities include furthering ORBA’s work to develop a sustainable and inclusive road building workforce, more transparent and effective highway maintenance contracts, more environmentally sustainable industry practices, the need for a road to the Ring of Fire and further improvements to Highways 11 and 17. The association also thanked outgoing president Kevin Machej of Dufferin Construction Company.

Haley Wark is the new brand marketing & communications specialist at Third Space Properties Inc. Previously she worked at Slide Clear Inc. and Longboard Products.

Calvin Carlick will be joining Tahltan Nation Development Corporation (TNDC) as director, partnership and business development, beginning March 20. In his newly created leadership role, Carlick will be responsible for increasing TNDC revenues and growing business partnerships between TNDC and other organizations.

Stephen Walls has started a new position as senior construction and product delivery manager at M Moser Associates for its Vancouver office. The design firm specializes in creating workplace environments. Prior to this position, Walls worked as a project manager with Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated in Melbourne, Australia.

Daniel Fournier will take over as executive chair of Oxford Properties on April 1. He is a real estate veteran who was previously chairman and chief executive officer of Ivanhoé Cambridge, the property subsidiary of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, from 2010 to 2019.

Mark Becker has been appointed CEO of Dexterra Group. Previously, Becker held executive positions at Suncor Energy in operations, major projects, and corporate strategy. Becker started his career with Dow Chemical across a range of progressive roles in Canada and the U.S. 

Ashwin Vadivelu, director of strategy & origination, EllisDon Community Builders, has made the Tamil Canadian Center for Civic Action Top 30 Under 30 list. The centre’s mission is to work towards the success of all Tamil Canadians in the social, political, economic and cultural spheres of Canada through education, documentation, engagement, training, mobilization, research, policy change and collaboration.

Sean Strickland, executive director of Canada’s Building Trades Unions (CBTU), has been appointed to the board of directors of the Canada Development Investment Corporation. Strickland joined the CBTU after spending the previous three years as the director of business development and industry relations with a large general contractor.

Darryl Vanderwoude has started a new position as manager of pre-construction at Bird Construction. Vanderwoude’s expertise includes estimating, subcontracting, process scheduling, construction, pre-construction, and Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED).

Sean Stevenson has been promoted to building operations supervisor at Low Tide Properties. In his new role, Stevenson is responsible for overseeing the maintenance duties for the building operations department and providing guidance and support to the building operators and property managers.

Jeremy Boldt and Sterling Oram have officially joined Bird Construction‘s 25 year club. Over 140 coworkers, family, and friends honoured the pair’s milestone with a gathering at Heritage Park Historical Village in Calgary. Boldt is vice president and district manager. Oram is a construction superintendent.

Kendra Dyke has started a new position as assistant controller at Moss Development Corp. Prior to this, she worked in various roles at accounting firm PwC. Moss has been one of the largest local commercial construction management firms in Labrador and Newfoundland since 2018.

Pat Anderl has joined the AmbiMi team as its new business development manager. Anderl has 20 years of sales experience under his belt. His focus will be on the Kitchener-Waterloo Region, helping AmbiMi expand its reach and bring AmbiMi’s skills-based job matching platform to even more organizations in need of top-notch talent.

Richard Snow has joined Impact Engineering as associate and senior electrical engineer. Snow will support Impact’s engineering and decarbonization projects on both a building and campus level, leveraging his extensive experience across multiple sectors.

David Hubner has a new title at Infrastructure BC. Hubner is now vice president, projects. Hubner holds Master of Business Administration (Finance) and an economics degree and spent ten years in the banking sector and corporate finance area prior to his work in procurement. Over the past fourteen years, David has been involved in a number of major capital projects in the transportation, energy and accommodation sectors.

Gavin Lee has joined Wales McLelland as a development manager. Lee brings more than six years of experience in real estate and construction development. He has a proven track record of overseeing and managing projects all across Western Canada. From working on commercial and industrial projects to his time with mixed-use residential developments and brokerage, Lee is well-versed within multiple aspects of the space.

Symone Parera, senior project manager at EllisDon, has been awarded the Toronto Construction Association’s 2022 Best of the Best Sean P. McKenna Young Construction Leaders’ Award. The award is presented annually to a rising star in the Toronto construction industry.

*Editors note: do you have a hiring, promotion or retirement announcement you want to make? Let us know at hello@readsitenews.com. Be the first to get People Moves by subscribing to our newsletter below.

After spending 17 years honing his technical skills as a mechanical engineer, estimator and manager, Angelo Suntres wants to talk about another side of construction: relationships.

He recently took it upon himself to write a whole book about the subject, “The Human Side of Construction: How to Ensure a Successful, Sustainable and Profitable Career as a Contractor, Project Manager, Estimator or Superintendent”. 

The goal is to help construction professionals be the best they can be through developing the human principles of connection including effective communication and fostering healthy relationships.

Getting into the industry by accident

His own journey started back when he was studying to be an engineer. 

“I never saw myself getting into construction,” he said. “Like most people back then, through high school and university it wasn’t presented as an opportunity for a viable career path. Even now we have a marketing problem. The general population doesn’t have an appreciation or understanding of what we do.”

During school he began to hone in on HVAC as an area of expertise and became determined to be the best HVAC engineer the world had ever seen. But soon after graduating, he ran into challenges. 

“Life doesn’t always work out how you planned,” he said. “When I graduated there was a recession and jobs weren’t easy to come by.”

Suntres was living in Halifax applying for consulting jobs and wasn’t getting any bites or interviews. He was running out of money but ended up finding work with Black & McDonald. 

“I ended up in construction by fluke but I am glad I did,” he said. “I love working with people and solving problems and to me, that’s the essence of what construction is.”

Going beyond the technical side of construction

The first decade of Suntres’ career was spent honing the technical skills in estimating, planning, budgeting and more. 

“I realized early on that it was a very technical industry,” he said. “But you never take classes on how to communicate effectively or how to solve conflicts. That was never part of the curriculum and it was always brewing in the back of my mind.”

Part of his own education with people skills developed while working at his family’s restaurant. 

“I realized that the people who came in could have gone anywhere in town to get a burger, milkshake or coffee,” he said. “But they came to us because it was like a community.”

Suntres saw how customers spoke with his dad. People who were having a hard time would share their struggles. There were relationships that had been formed. 

As his career progressed, Suntres found himself in leadership roles where more of his time was spent managing teams and dealing with people. 

“We do lots of things right but there is lots we can improve in, especially on the human side of construction,” he said. 

After hearing from others in the industry about a desire to change how business is done and trying his hand at getting his thoughts out in social media posts, Suntres decided to channel his passion for leadership and the industry into a book. 

“My goal is to highlight the good and bad and ugly about construction,” he said. “I am putting it all out there: what’s good, what I think works well, and challenges I’ve encountered. My hope is to validate people’s experiences and get them to think critically about how we can all improve. This is a great industry but there is a lot of work needed to bring it up to 2023 standards.” 

Forming a foundation of real connection

He explained that one of the book’s major themes is forming real human connection beyond firm handshakes, grabbing drinks or exchanging business cards. 

“Before you can layer on the complexities of money, stress or other aspects of a business or romantic relationship, you need to connect on a fundamental human level where you develop trust and respect for each other,” he said. “If you express that and they express it back, you have a foundation. You can layer on issues. Without that foundation, once you apply pressure, it is going to crack.”

The book also highlights what Suntres believes are the industry’s main challenges: 

• The gap between design and construction
• Diversity, equity and inclusion.
• The Generational divide between younger and older workers.

The book can be found on Amazon.

When it comes to growth in any area of Canadian business, construction companies are leading the way. In a list ranking 430 of Canada’s fastest growing companies, a B.C. builder took the top spot. We pored over the list to find other innovative construction-related companies that ranked high and figure out what they are doing different.

12. RAM Engineering

When it comes to engineering, procurement, project management and construction management, RAM is a powerhouse. Some of their recent projects in just Western Canada include New St. Paul’s Hospital, Centerm Expansion Project and South Shore Access Project, removing debris following historic B.C. flooding events. RAM was incorporated in 2007 and is a privately owned B.C.-based company, with offices in Downtown Vancouver and Calgary. It has roughly 300 employees.

Ace of Decks is exactly what it sounds like. They do one thing and they do it well. The Montreal-based company specializes in the design and construction of made-to-measure decks. The company says their team began building decks when at 14 years old. They were too young to drive so they biked to jobs while balancing bags of tools. Their portfolio features decks that cleanly wrap around trees, form complex pyramid stairs and create cozy homes for hot tubs.

2. Banyan

1. Orion Construction

No wonder this company’s name references the stars. Its growth is blasting off to new heights. From the 430 companies featured on the Globe and Mail’s list, the full-service contractor for light industrial and commercial developments came out on top. In the past three years they have seen revenue growth of more than 12,000 per cent. What’s their secret? Orion told SiteNews that a major part of it has been mastering the design-build model and assembling a high-quality team. 

Kiewit is hitting the ice with the NHL. 

As part of a multi-year sponsorship, Kiewit will become the official helmet decal sponsor of the Colorado Avalanche home, away and alternate uniforms appearing during all practices and games. Kiewit will appear prominently at Ball Arena and the Colorado Avalanche practice facility. 

Kiewit stated that the partnership extends its brand, demonstrates the company’s commitment to the Rocky Mountain Region, and will help it attract and retain the best engineering and construction personnel. The company called the partnership a great fit for Kiewit and its deep commitment to safety and supporting mental health awareness – what’s “under the hat” – in the construction industry and beyond.

“Kiewit is excited to be the Official Construction and Engineering Sponsor of the Avalanche, an organization – like our company – committed to excellence, teamwork and making a positive impact in our communities,” said David Miles, executive vice president, Kiewit Corporation. “It’s exciting to have our brand displayed on Avalanche helmets, much like the Kiewit name on our people’s hard hats and protective equipment that help keep them safe on the job – because nothing is more important. Our company looks forward to supporting this elite hockey organization and making the most of this strategic partnership in Colorado and across North America.”

Michael Ceilley, SVP of partnership marketing & media sales for Kroenke Sports & Entertainment stated that Kiewit is renowned within the construction and engineering industries for building innovative projects and communities, including their new regional headquarters in Denver. 

“The Kiewit core values of people, integrity, excellence, and stewardship, align with the attributes of our talented Colorado Avalanche hockey club, and their continuous pursuit of excellence on and off the ice,” said Ceilley. “We look forward to furthering this community and Colorado-based sponsorship for many years to come.”

Kiewit noted that throughout the life of the sponsorship, they plan to develop and implement fan-facing marketing and community programs that celebrate hockey and support the local Colorado community.

Kids now have another way to learn about construction in Canada. 

You’ve heard of PAW Patrol, but are you ready for Rubble & Crew? 

Spin Master and Corus Entertainment have premiered Rubble & Crew on Corus’ top kids network Treehouse and STACKTV. The show is a spin-off series from preschool franchise PAW Patrol that follows the adventures of fan-favorite English bulldog Rubble and his construction crew family.

“As a proud member of the PAW Patrol, Rubble has stolen the hearts of preschoolers around the world with his loyal, optimistic nature and penchant for treats,” said Jennifer Dodge, Spin Master’s president of entertainment and executive producer. “Our new series expands Rubble’s world with storytelling that digs into amazing construction projects and the importance of family, combined with high-stakes action, fun adventures and messy demolition that preschoolers will love.”

Set in the community of Builder Cove, a neighboring town to PAW Patrol’s Adventure Bay, Rubble & Crew centers on Rubble, the funny and optimistic leader of the construction crew. In the small, quickly growing town, lots of things are still needed for the community to come together, including a bigger airport, train station, bridges, tunnels, schools, fire stations, parks and more. Rubble and his construction pup family – his pup cousins Mix, Wheeler, Charger, Motor, along with Grandpa Gravel and Auntie Crane – must work together to tackle and build all the projects the town needs.

“For the last decade, PAW Patrol has won over the hearts of families everywhere and established itself as a beloved pre-school favourite,” said Jennifer Abrams, senior vice president of networks and programming at Corus Entertainment. “As we warmly welcome Rubble & Crew to Treehouse, we look forward to continuing to showcase the best in Canadian animation for our viewers.”

I wanted to reflect on some sad news we received over the weekend about the loss of an icon in our industry, someone who gave much to the Independent Contractors and Businesses Association (ICBA), the construction industry, the open shop movement, and to British Columbia.

Over the weekend, Lark Group founder and ICBA Life Member Larry Fisher passed away after a courageous battle with cancer.

Larry was an incredible supporter of ICBA and open shop construction from our earliest days. When he formed Lark in 1972, he quickly became a strong and outspoken advocate for free enterprise – for the investment, jobs and opportunity that result from open and fair bidding on government tendered projects and on an economy founded on free markets.

Not one to stand on the sidelines, Larry’s passion for getting things done and building B.C., led him to unapologetically support Social Credit and, later, the BC Liberal Party.

It’s impossible to overstate how important Larry and Lark Group have been to open shop construction. Larry was one of the leaders who successfully pushed to open EXPO 86 to non-union construction companies. It was a simple proposition – if companies and their workers had the skill and experience to get the job done, why shouldn’t they have an opportunity to work on taxpayer-funded projects? And he practiced what he preached: Lark sites have a healthy mix of open shop and building trades sub-contractors working on their projects. It was hard work and results that mattered to Larry.

His affection for ICBA never wavered, and he always looked back fondly at his work in the 1980s: “Convictions were so strong that we just believed in what we were doing and if you ran across a concrete wall, you’d step back, go sideways and find a hole in the wall and just keep marching on,” he told ICBA in 2016.

I first met Larry in 1990, when he invited Kevin Falcon and me, university students at the time, to meet with him at 6AM in his office in Surrey to talk about politics. Not one for small talk, he got to the point, and our meeting was over in half an hour. While short, it’s a meeting I will never forget.  I will also never forget Kevin and I, who lived on the North Shore and in Vancouver, looking at each other following the meeting and one of us saying, “It’s 6:30AM in Surrey – now what do we do?”

From that first meeting onward, when it came to discussions about construction, building the province or what was happening at City Hall, in Victoria or in Ottawa, Larry’s voice was never too far from the conversations.

In 2019, ICBA wanted a long-term solution for its head office, and we were looking at sites in Burnaby (where we had been for more than 20 years) and Surrey, (where, in our early days, we had a single room office in a basement), so I called Larry. Lark Group was building City Centre 3 across from Surrey Memorial Hospital. And, two weeks before the COVID-19 lockdown, we signed an agreement to purchase the 8^th floor of the new building. The timing was interesting to say the least, but like Larry, we never looked back.

In the summer of that year, Larry called us with the idea for a photo opportunity that only he could have come up with. After workers poured the 8^th floor of our building, he had a desk craned up and placed in the exact location where my new office was to be located. I will always cherish that amazing photo of he and I, in full PPE, proudly standing behind a desk in the open air, with the Lark Group CC1 building looming behind us.

A couple of months ago, as he was fighting cancer, he called me. “Chris, I’m just on hold waiting for the results of my most recent tests, so I thought I would give you a call. I want to talk about what’s happening in Victoria and Ottawa.”

That was Larry – ever driving, persistent, principled, and always fighting for what he believed in.

As I think about Larry now, I am so glad that I answered his call and had an opportunity to speak with him for a few minutes. I will think of him often as I pass by ICBA’s Builders’ Wall and glance up at his name.

Our thoughts and prayers are with Larry’s family, the Lark Group team, and his many friends. He was an incredible builder and a remarkable person. We mourn the loss of a true icon.

It’s hard to imagine what we did on long drives or flights before podcasts. They can be informative, entertaining, funny, short, long and everything in between. Here’s a quick list of some of the podcasts people in our sector are listening to.

Rory Kulmala, Vancouver Island Construction Association CEO

The Way I heard It – Mike Rowe

He tells some great stories that include unknown facts and some surprising endings in a way that only Mike can do!

– Kulmala

Michael Scott, building division vice president, Impact Recruitment

Beautiful Stories from Anonymous People – Earwolf and Chris Gethard

Every human has a story and people have some really ‘odd’ things happen in life. By being able to talk about your life things anonymously for an hour and not be judged is a great healing thing and helps us all to realize that weird stuff happens all around us and to all of us.

– Scott

Yasir Ali, Self Perform Operations at Turner Construction Company

Acquired – Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal

This podcast is a long format episode ~3 hours each compared to the traditional 30-40min episodes of most podcasts. It does a really good job doing a deep dive behind the inception of a business/start up to where it is today with a focus on the people behind it. Would really recommend for an in-depth understanding and behind the scenes decision making that happens when businesses get acquired to also understanding multiple pivots that businesses make in being sustainable and relevant in an ever-evolving market.

– Ali

Shane McKernan, director of construction at Chard Development

Vancouver Real Estate Podcast – Matt and Adam Scalena

This podcast has had great insight to local market conditions and forecasts. They have some really good guests on too that’s worth a listen.

– McKernan

Erik Backstrom, Senior Planner for City of Edmonton

The Ezra Klein Show – Ezra Klein

A podcast with deep, insightful conversations about a wide variety of meaningful issues. 

– Backstrom

Nicholas Tountas, sheet metal worker at Orzech Heating and Cooling

Spitten Chiclets – Barstool Sports

As a huge sports fan I love the Spitting Chiclets Podcast. I love the other side of sports commentary (the absence of cookie cutter responses) and enjoy personal recollections of athlete’s journeys. Dark Topic is a podcast my girlfriend recently got me into. It’s a true crime genre where the hosts cover 911 calls and provide humour to obviously unsettling circumstances.  The banter is great, the stories are often quite disturbing, and the delivery of the show itself always keeps me wanting to hear the next episode.

– Tountas

Thomas Bamber, Air + Light technical lead, Integral Group

Crackdown – Crackdown Productions

It’s a podcast made by and about people in the downtown east side. I have lost track of how many people I’ve recommended this too. I just really admire the people who’ve made it. It has generated a lot of momentum towards helping people like me be less ignorant about the downtown east side community.

– Bamber

Sebastien de Ghellinck, SkillSignal founder and owner

Business Wars – Wondery

I love Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History, but you never know when the next series will come out… so I’ll also mention Business Wars. It makes business history accessible and we can even listen to it as a family on road trips.

– de Ghellinck

Mary Van Buren, Canadian Construction Association president

How to speak so that people want to listen – Julian Treasure

We are all bombarded with communications and much of it is ignored.  In this TED Talk, the speaker points out some simple ways to be more effective.

– Van Buren

Russell Hixson, SiteNews Editor

More Perfect – WNYC Studios

If not for Sebastien mentioning it, I would have chosen Hardcore History which is far and away the greatest podcast of all time, in my opinion. However, as a former crime journalist who spent countless hours in courtrooms, I have a soft spot for anything that digs into the legal system. More Perfect does this.

– Hixson

SiteNews’ very own editor Russell Hixson joined The Site Visit podcast to talk about his background in investigative journalism, joining the publication and his forecast for the 2023 construction season. 

Before reporting on Canada’s construction sector, Hixson spent years in the U.S. as an investigative crime reporter, writing about murder, drugs and disasters. 

“I just got burnt out,” he told hosts James Faulkner and Christian Hamm. “I didn’t know anybody here in terms of the industry. I applied for everything and a construction publication called the Journal of Commerce were the only ones who wanted to hire me.”

After covering Western Canada for the publication for over eight years, he was given the opportunity to help lead SiteNews.

“Over the past nine years I have grown to love it,” he said. “I have met so many cool people, I have learned so much about how the machinery of how the nation works and how the economy works, and about all the wonderful people who build our country and keep it running.” 

Having written at daily, print publications for years, Hixson noted that it was excited to try something new with a completely digital offering.

“Every other publication I’ve worked for has always had one foot in traditional journalism,” he said. “When I heard [SiteNews] was going to build a digital publication from scratch for a more modern consumer, I was really excited to be a part of that.”

Hixson also spoke about his reporting on what industry leaders are thinking going into 2023.

“Despite a lot of the doom and gloom in the general media space around the country, our industry is optimistic,” he said. “Maybe you could couch that as ‘cautious optimism’ but everyone I am talking to is busy. They are still going through backlogs of work and they have lots of work booked for 2023.” 

The conversation also touched on the labour shortage and technology trends. He even shared his experience restarting someone’s heart while writing a story about a paramedic in Stillwater, Oklahoma.

Listen below to get the whole conversation.

You can’t celebrate someone’s promotion, retirement or major career change if you don’t know about it.

That’s why SiteNews is introducing ‘People Moves‘. On the third week of every month, we are rounding up all the career announcements we can find and putting them in our newsletter. The inaugural installment of People Moves features announcements from Bird Construction, Infrastructure BC, Kinetic Construction, Tahltan Nation Development Corporation, Wales McLelland, DIALOG, Gensler, COWI North America, Revay and Associates, the British Columbia Institute of Technology and the Ontario Skilled Trades Alliance.

This month’s moves:

Dom Costantini, vice president of operations for Bird Construction’s buildings division, announced he is leaving the company. He wrote that he plans to take some time to reset and begin searching for a new career opportunity. He joined Bird in 2004 as a project coordinator. His role focused on strategic initiatives for the company, particularly leading its special projects division and deep energy retrofits.

Mindy Henyu, Brianna Quock and Edward Van Mierlo have all been appointed to the The Tahltan Nation Development Corporation (TNDC) board of directors. TNDC is one of the biggest Indigenous companies in B.C. It provides heavy construction, earthworks, camp services, air support, aviation, forestry, transportation and fibre-optic communications services.

George Kyriakelis has been promoted to assistant vice president, transportation at Infrastructure BC. He previously was project director, focusing on the health, transportation, and energy sectors. George has been involved in the planning, procurement, and implementation of several health, education, transportation, and energy projects, in various roles.Infrastructure BC supports the public sector by providing leadership in the procurement of complex capital projects.  Before joining Infrastructure BC, Kyriakelis worked with Peter Kiewit Infrastructure Group in various management capacities. 

Mark Liudzius, executive vice president at Kinetic Construction, is retiring after 25 years at the company. He joined Kinetic in 1988 and worked his way through several positions including branch manager and director of operations. Mark also sat as board chair for four years. His retirement is effective Jan. 31. Kinetic was founded in 1894. It employs close to 200 people across three branch offices in B.C. and has over 40 active construction projects in the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island

John Surabathula has been promoted to senior consultant at construction consulting firm Revay and Associates. He has amassed more than 25 years experience in construction, construction management, and program management in LNG, transportation, mining, transmission, hydro and building projects

Ash Kumar has joined Wales McLelland as director of operations. Kumar has more than 25 years of experience in project management, operational efficiency, and business development. He has led teams for work in the commercial, retail, education, healthcare, industrial, hospitality, and institutional sectors. Wales has been operating in the Vancouver area for more than 50 years as a general contractor. 

Sanja Boskovic is the new associate dean of industrial and mechanical trades at the School of Energy at the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT). She not only holds a PhD in engineering, she also has a Phd in educational technology and learning design. Programs at the School of Energy range from machinist to telecommunications, and chemical and environmental technology to mechanical engineering, electrical engineering and smart grid systems and technologies master program.

Steven Crombie has been appointed chair of the Ontario Skilled Trades Alliance (OSTA). Crombie stated that with Ontario’s labour shortage at an all-time high, it’s more important than ever to break down every barrier that prevents workers from achieving their career goals. Crombie has extensive government relations experience at organizations like the GreaterToronto Sewer and Watermain Contractors Association and the Ontario General Contractors Association.  

14 new associates have joined DIALOG, a Vancouver-based architecture firm: Kyle Auch, Karel Brozik, Gerard Dourado, Amrinder Gill, Mania Javadipour, Rachele Gunderson, Michael Mochulski, Kimberly Russell, Mike Torjan, Mona Lemoine, Edel Naughton, André O’Neill, Steven Prozniak, Holly Shandruk.

John Westphal has joined COWI North America as head of section/associate project director to support the growing southeast transportation team. Westphal has more than 18 years of experience in engineering design, construction, contract administration and construction materials testing. 

Bob Weis, former president of Walt Disney Imagineering, has joined global design and architecture firm Gensler as global immersive experience design leader. Genlser stated in an announcement that Weis’ experience in pioneering large-scale groundbreaking and story-driven experiences further expands its ability to drive design innovation.

*Editors note: do you have a hiring, promotion or retirement announcement you want to make? Let us know at hello@readsitenews.com. Be the first to get People Moves by subscribing to our newsletter below.

Orion Construction is growing – a lot. 

In the past three years they have seen revenue growth of more than 12,000 per cent. This earned the full-service contractor for light industrial and commercial developments the number one spot on the Globe and Mail’s Top Growing Companies list in 2022.

What’s in the secret sauce? Orion says a lot of its success has to do with mastering the design-build model. They explained that the model is an efficient in-house system where all team members collaboratively work together to design and build the project. This helps to manage cost uncertainty and provide efficient delivery to clients.

Laying the foundation

“Design-build has been the foundation of Orion,” said Cameron Archer, Orion’s director of sales and marketing. “It’s where we started and the model we felt would be most supportive to the industry. There are a lot of things that it provides that more traditional models don’t.”

Archer explained that the model removes much of the conflict that can arise between parties in more traditional models where owners, managers, consultants and contractors are separated. 

“What design-build does is it brings a single source of accountability to a complex process. With that single source of accountability, it becomes incredibly collaborative and offers a very team-based approach,” said Archer. “It puts everyone on the same page to get a desired result.”

He noted that this team-based approach means faster designs and higher quality drawings. This all leads to fewer change orders.  

Early engagement 

Archer explained that another huge advantage of design-build is the inclusion of construction and development experts from the very beginning. This is particularly important to succeed in the highly complex and competitive Lower Mainland industrial market. 

“We are in a situation where the land product available is becoming increasingly more complex to navigate,” he said, noting that this includes sites with waterways, wetlands, difficult topography and environmental concerns. 

He explained that having the whole team on board from the beginning allows good data to be gathered and more informed decisions to be made on what solution to implement for a site. 

“We are really having to think outside the box for solutions that better support projects,” said Archer. 

One of the early conversations that happens is around a risk matrix that can be forecasted for a project. For Orion and its market, the risk matrix often includes long lead times on materials due to supply chain constraints. Mitigating that means working closely with clients so there is a high level of trust. 

“When they are seeing it work right in front of them, it allows us to push the envelope even further,” he said.

This trust means Orion has been able to purchase materials earlier than usual to ensure the overall health of a project.

Putting the pieces together

The design-build approach paid off in spades during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Orion was working at the Pacific Corporate centre, a large format project that anchors the north east corner of the Campbell Heights business park in Surrey. 

With intense pressure on supply chains, the design-build approach enabled the team to purchase steel, roofing materials, drywall and mechanical units in advance to store near the site. 

“That gave us the opportunity to ensure that our schedule and budgets were going to be met in such an uncertain time,” said Archer. 

In September of last year, years of effort was put into perspective when the company found out they had topped the Globe and Mail’s list of fastest growing companies for 2022. 

“It was an amazing feeling being recognized for a tremendous amount of work that had been put in four years prior,” said Archer. “We worked diligently and stayed focused through COVID – the most uncertain of times. The foundation of Orion is staying focused and accountable to what we say and what we can deliver and I believe those are the two main reasons for that success.”

Assembling a successful team

Archer said these values have been adopted by Orion’s staff. He noted that this is critical for a successful design-build approach. 

“There must be a strong sense of teamwork and collaboration to be successful in a design-build process,” he said. “Because collaboration is so important, all team members must work together to reach a collective project goal. Everyone has to have the ability to do their best work without relying on gatekeepers for information and pool expertise instead. This allows us to priortize meeting those project goals.”

Archer explained that putting together the right team has been important from the beginning of Orion and few have left the company. 

“We have incredible employee retention,” he said. “In five years we haven’t been faced with the loss of a project manager mid-stream on a project which can be so detrimental. You have to have a team of experts who enjoy what they do and that’s what we facilitate here.”

Key Takeaways:

• Indigenous people are far more impacted by the lack of affordable housing in Surrey than non-Indigenous people.
• At least 635 Indigenous individuals are estimated to have experienced homelessness in Surrey in the 2020 regional count.
• The city is calling for immediate coordinated action by the federal, provincial, and municipal governments to create deeply affordable housing.

The Whole Story:

Indigenous people urgently need affordable housing in Surrey, a new report shows. 

According to research by the Surrey Urban Indigenous Leadership Committee (SUILC), at least 635 Indigenous individuals are estimated to have experienced homelessness in Surrey in the 2020 regional count, a rate of 1 in 26 Indigenous people compared to 1 in 239 non-Indigenous people.

“Surrey has one of the largest and fastest growing Indigenous populations in B.C. and I commend the Committee for its meaningful work in identifying priorities to help address the urgent housing need,” said Mayor Brenda Locke. “This information supports our collective efforts to create affordable and appropriate housing for Indigenous people in our City. The City is a proud partner of the Surrey Urban Indigenous Leadership Committee and looks forward to continuing to work together to find solutions.”

City officials noted that housing is an urgent and immediate need for many Indigenous people living in Surrey, but Indigenous homelessness goes beyond being housed. The report, titled “Finding Our Way Home”, noted that the issue is an experience of isolation and interruption from their spiritual, relational, and cultural Indigenous ways of being, including access to land, community, Elders and Knowledge Keepers.

City officials stated that they support SUILC’s two priority recommendations:

• Priority 1: Immediate coordinated action by the federal, provincial, and municipal governments to create deeply affordable housing, with and without supports, in Surrey to offer an exit strategy for Indigenous people experiencing homelessness and to prevent individuals and households from falling into homelessness. Housing is needed for single Indigenous men and women, and low-income families in crisis, especially single-parent families.
• Priority 2: Create and implement a strategy to increase local Indigenous capacity to develop affordable housing in Surrey.

“Finding Our Way Home acknowledges that preventing homelessness is more than helping Indigenous people through individual circumstances, but also addressing societal systems including education,” said Lyn Daniels, co-chair of SUILC. “Indigenous people leave their communities and come to urban centers for educational reasons, however, the desire for education can lead to homelessness because of the lack of affordability and support within Surrey. As an educator, I am committed to working with the city of Surrey and all levels of government to advocate to prevent Indigenous homelessness.”

Samantha Jack, co-chair of SUILC explained that Canada has a long history of apprehending children and placing them in care with non-Indigenous families and disconnecting them from community, culture and language.

“Once they age out of care, our youth experience housing insecurity and are at risk of homelessness. Finding Our Way Home is a great report that addresses the immediate priorities of helping our homeless youth in Surrey,” said Jack. “I am committed to working with the City of Surrey to support our urban Indigenous youth in accessing culturally safe housing to combat Indigenous homelessness.”

The Surrey Urban Indigenous Leadership Committee (SUILC) is a coalition of organizations that have come together to advocate for the urban Indigenous people living in Surrey. 

Are you a proud employee, company owner, or just someone who knows of a construction company office that is a cut above the rest? SiteNews is on a mission to discover the 10 nicest construction company offices in Canada, and we want your help.

From sleek and modern designs to unique and innovative features, we want to hear about it all. It could be an office with a green roof, exposed mass timber, or an innovative layout that promotes collaboration and creativity. Perhaps it’s headquarters that incorporates sustainable building practices, has a storied history or utilizes an iconic architectural style. This is your chance to show it off to the world. 

To submit an office for consideration, send us an email at hello@readsitenews.com with the following:

• Your name
• The construction company you’re nominating and their website URL
• What makes this office so special
• High-resolution photos of their office (the more the better)

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It started out as a team of two holding meetings in coffee shops.

Ten years later, Metric has grown into a civil contractor with multiple offices that performs work across B.C. and beyond.

The company founders, Marlon Hall and Chris Veenstra attribute Metric’s success to the strength of its team and its use of technology. While success doesn’t happen in a day, Metric began sowing the seeds early on. 

“When we started, it was just Marlon and I,” said Veenstra. “There was no equipment, no projects on the books, no employees. We really just hit the ground to market Metric, ourselves and the services we could offer.” 

As the first few projects came in, Metric purchased its first excavator and hired a handful of workers. Hall spent much of his time supervising sites while Veenstra did estimating and project management.

“Within the first two years, we grew to the point where we had three to four crews doing bigger jobs,” said Veenstra. “We grew organically by completing projects, getting repeat clients and consistently doing quality work right the first time.”

Doing it right the first time

Metric’s first project came in January 2013 from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. Hall, Veenstra and one labourer worked to complete a fuel storage upgrade for the Pacific Biological Station in Nanaimo. 

“Over the next few months, we were awarded other civil projects working for general contractors that helped cement our reputation and capabilities. As we continued to execute and complete each new project, it gave us the confidence to bid on larger projects with varied scopes similar to what Marlon and I had executed at previous civil companies,” said Veenstra. 

Another significant for Metric was c̓əsqənelə Elementary School in Maple Ridge. The $8 million civil scope for the new school project had extremely tight timelines that required calculated coordination. Work included large cut-and-fills, retaining walls, utilities, roadworks, a municipal sanitary pump station and more. 

“It was a big team effort,” said Veenstra. “For significant portions of the project, we had up to three separate crews working in different areas to complete it on time to meet the required school opening date.” 

Metric also was part of the massive effort to repair and clear roads on Highway 1 following historic rainfall and landslides in 2021. 

“That was a lot of teamwork as logistics were changing by the hour for us and our partners, but we helped get it done safely and efficiently,” said Veenstra. 

Cultivating a high quality team

Building a quality team and supporting them has been instrumental in Metric’s success and part of its values since the beginning. 

“We treat our employees the way that we would want to be treated,” Veenstra said. “Marlon and I were both employees of civil companies before Metric, so we understand what it takes to keep employees happy. If employees are happy, they will reflect that in the work they do, and with the clients, which will foster an environment where we can all grow together, as a company but as individuals as well.” 

Metric’s multi-faceted workforce comes from a variety of backgrounds and they are encouraged to advance their careers at the company. 

“We have been successful at retaining employees by the work that we do, having a robust safety program, providing competitive compensation and benefits, creating an atmosphere of teamwork and offering opportunities to grow,” said Veenstra. 

Metric has had employees advance from labourer to pipelayer, foreman and supervisor roles. Others have shifted from field work into the office. Retaining employees that are motivated, understand Metric’s systems and who can implement the company’s systems and strategies has been critical.  Hall and Veenstra recognize that employee development will remain a vital component of their growth into the future with today’s labour shortage within the industry.  

“The reason we can do what we do is because of the quality of our people,” said Veenstra. “We hire and retain great employees and then allow them to thrive and grow.” 

Embracing technology 

Technology has also helped the company’s streamlined team get work across the finish line. From day one, Metric was set up so technology could support its growth. The company started by purchasing the critical tools needed for success; 3D cut and fill software for estimating, as well as GPS rovers so it could conduct its own layout and grade control rather than relying on surveyors. This allowed their team to be more efficient and have a high degree of quality control. Metric has since added 3D GPS units to its equipment in the field. They continue to utilize 3D cut-and-fill takeoff software to ensure accurate take-offs, estimates and construction in the field. 

Metric has digitized as much of its business as possible. Cloud-based systems are used for accounting and payroll which allows information and decisions to be made from anywhere. The company’s COR-certified health and safety system also utilizes the cloud to go above and beyond what is required. 

“We have always wanted to get away from paper as early as possible,” said Veenstra. “It makes us more efficient, you aren’t losing information and you can track stats to see where improvements can be made.”

Metric was also careful to choose technology that was scalable from the start, so as the company grew, the team wouldn’t have to constantly be switching over to different systems.  

Known in the industry and community

In addition to their success as a company, Metric’s founders have received dual and individual recognition for their achievements. In 2019, Hall and Veenstra were awarded Young Entrepreneur(s) of the year by the Chilliwack Chamber of Commerce. In 2021, Veenstra was recognized as one of the Top 40 under 40 In Construction by On-Site Magazine / Site Partners. In 2022, Hall was honoured as one of Canada’s top entrepreneurs by being selected as a Quantum Shift Alumni at the Ivey Academy. This prestigious program recognizes up to 50 of the country’s top leaders who have demonstrated exceptional leadership and innovation in their respective fields.   

Part of Metric’s core values are giving back to the communities that they work in, both in time and in a financial capacity.  Hall is currently a VP of the Board at the Chilliwack Chamber of Commerce and Veenstra is currently the VP of Chilliwack Community Services, one of Chilliwack’s oldest and largest non-profits, as well as VP of Chilliwack Bowl’s Hope, which focuses on feeding approximately 900 children in 24 schools every day. 

Expanding beyond the coast 

Metric conducted light civil work in the Fraser Valley and the Metro Vancouver area for most of its first two and a half years. But in 2015, they began to widen their net by taking on a project in Saskatchewan and a two-year project on Vancouver Island. 

Now, Metric not only has offices in Chilliwack and Kelowna, but it has formed a variety of partnerships to carry out work in B.C.’s north, particularly with First Nations groups.

 For its next ten years, Metric will continue with civil works in the lower mainland, but they are focusing on significant growth executing both light and heavy civil projects in the Western Canadian region. 

“In the first year of Metric, if you told us that after 10 years, we would be the size we are with the number of employees we have executing work in all these areas, I would not have expected that,” said Veenstra. “But now that we are here and we have strong team members around us, we are poised for growth as we move forward.” 

Veenstra encouraged anyone interested in working with Metric to visit their website. 

–Sponsored by Metric Civil

Influencers are on the front lines of culture, advocating for construction by being its face.

For the uninitiated, they showcase what the industry is actually like and highlight what makes it great. For the initiated they offer solidarity by sharing their own struggles and help them improve with their wisdom.

Some of the faces on this list you will know, but many of them are so niche that they may have slipped past your radar or they have just begun to take off. If you want high quality construction content and commentary, these are some of the people to follow.

Jamie McMillian

McMillian is a complete and total kicker of ass. Not only is she the founder and primary spokesperson of KickAss Careers, she is a motivational speaker, journeyman ironworker, apprentice boilermaker, outreach specialist and author. Is there anything she can’t do? McMillian spends roughly 30 weeks a year providing keynote presentations and workshops to more than 50,000 students, parents, educators and employers each year across North America. There isn’t enough space to list all the things she does, but it’s important to note she has a cat named Spud Wrench.

The Essential Craftsman

The Essential Craftsman is like that uncle you never had who always knows the smartest way to solve a problem, has hands like thick leather gloves and always seems to finish work early despite never rushing. Scott will teach you how to properly sharpen your chainsaw, the trick to wrapping extension cords and why nails are better than screws when it comes to resisting shear. This is a man that has the confidence of decades in the industry.

Shannon Tymosko 

Tymosko, aka “Lady Voltz”, is a social media whiz. How many electrical apprentices do you know with a TikTok account? The Hamilton, Ont. tradeswoman is constantly producing content showing the daily life of an electrical apprentice, giving her thoughts on tools and encouraging other women in the industry. She is an ambassador for various brands and offers her services as a motivational speaker. 

Adam Savage

Likely the most famous person on this list – and for good reason. Special effects guru Adam Savage became famous for his long run as a host for “Mythbusters” on the Discovery Channel. But long after the show ended, he’s been a staple of the maker community, teaching aspiring builders how to use a lathe, the benefits of jigs for a table saw and why his hammer is so extensive. What drew me in to his channel wasn’t his Star Wars props or cosplay builds. It was years-long journey to hone his machining accuracy to within a few thousandths of an inch. His entire channel is a love letter to tools and the possibilities they present. Heck, he loves tools so much he even makes his own.

James Behnam 

When it comes to intersection of technology and construction, it’s hard to find someone more passionate than Benham. His company JB Knowledge created SmartBid, SmartCompliance, SmartReality and SmartInsight software and mobile apps for construction and risk management. He also launched The Con Tech Crew podcast, wrote a book about how to grow your business and is a sought after speaker. 

Aaron Witt

This man loves to get dirty. Witt, a self-described “Chief Dirt Nerd”, is completely cuckoo for huge machines and what they can do. In 2018 he quit his job to photograph construction and mining projects across the U.S. 

“While I didn’t grow up in the dirt world, I’ve been drawn to it like a bear to honey since my sixth birthday party at our local Caterpillar dealership,” he said. 

His company BuildWitt has morphed into people-centric media, services, and software dedicated to making the earth moving sector a better place. 

“By that, I mean inspiring the next generation, modernizing how blue-collar companies invest in their people, and educating society on what it takes to meet their basic needs,” wrote Witt. 

Sherry Holmes

Sherry has not only followed her father, Mike Holmes, into the trades. She also is a TV star and social media personality in her own right, advocating the trades and helping viewers out with common contracting problems. She also mentors young women through Conestoga College’s Jill of All Trades and acts as an ambassador for Habitat for Humanity’s annual Women Build event, a program that calls on women to help build stronger, safer communities.

MattBangsWood

Matt does indeed bang wood. His YouTube channel, which boasts 286,000 subscribers, offers insight into his job sites, tricks for other contractors and highlights how technology performs in the field. One of his recent videos walks aspiring contractors through how start finding, bidding and winning work. His most popular video, with 3 million views, simply teaches the most common framing methods.

Mary-Anne Bowcott

Since 2015 Bowcott has been running her all-female company, Westcom Plumbing and Gas Ltd., on Vancouver Island. She’s a journeyman plumber, class B gasfitter, and certified steep-slope roofer. On Instagram, where she is known as @the_ladyplumber, she opines on tankless water heaters, shows how to adjust a gas range and gushes over her favourite tools. Bowcott is already an icon for the industry. In 2019 she was named Construction Person of the Year by the Canadian Construction Association and is a founding member B.C. Tradeswomen Association. The business owner even finds time to visit Girl Guides’ events to inspire the next generation of tradespeople. 

Mike Rowe

While everyone knows Rowe from his hit TV show “Dirty Jobs” where he highlighted the everyday working people who keep society moving, but following it’s nine season run, he’s become a fierce advocate for trades careers. He started the mikeroweWORKS Foundation which champions blue collar jobs and calls for government to rebuild America’s infrastructure. He is often using his platform to elevate blue collar leaders so they can share their wisdom.

Blacktail Studio

This is one of my guilty pleasures – watching master woodworkers craft massive tables I could never hope to afford. Much of the drama centres around the skill it takes to transform these rare hunks of live edge slabs into the client’s piece. The slabs often costs thousands so the stakes are high. You also get to learn the difference between softwoods and hardwoods, the best tools for prepping a piece and how to prevent common woodworking injuries.

Roger Wakefield

If you like your construction content with a Texas drawl and filtered through a handlebar mustache, Roger Wakefield is your man. Known as “The Expert Plumber”, Wakefield shares plumbing tips and tricks, DIY plumbing, how to become a plumber videos and more to help you grow as a plumber or save some money if you’re a homeowner. He has more than 40 years experience and he wants to help get people into the trades and help them build successful careers.

Colin Furze

Forget “The Lord of the Rings”. One of the greatest epics of all time is Furze’s months-long slog to dig a series of secret tunnels beneath his home. The amount of engineering, problem solving and determination to pull off just that project alone is astounding. ​Furze school at 16 to start his journey to become a plumber – a career he worked at until 2011. That’s when his content making career took off. His goal is simple: inspire the audience to get up and make something.