The most important annual international event of the year for concrete and masonry professionals, WOC 2018 expects to attract 60,000 professional registrants and 1,500 leading suppliers from around the world. Taking over the Las Vegas Convention Centre from January 22…
You always want “the right tool for the job,” and that includes one of a contractor’s most important tools, the work vehicle. It can be hard to choose with so many on the market, but that also gives you a…
The primary defense against margin erosion is the project contingency. Construction is not a predictable business, and the project contingency is that all encompassing pool of capital dedicated to each project, which provides much needed funding when the unexpected happens.…
One of the basic elements in builders lien law in British Columbia is the 10 per cent mandatory holdback. Anyone making a payment on account of a construction contract or subcontract is entitled to retain, from those payments, 10 per…
In late October, just in time for Halloween, a Finnish security company, F-Secure, released a study involving the CEOs of 200 of the world’s largest corporations. Results show that 30 per cent have had their log-in credentials exposed, and 81…
You can’t blame business owners for feeling like they’re being bombarded by government. Increased EI premiums, new environmental levies, minimum wage hikes: announcements about new taxes and regulations became a common occurrence in 2017. But perhaps the most significant tax…
Downtown office vacancy rates in Calgary were as high as 27 per cent compared with just 4 per cent in Toronto and 8 per cent in Vancouver this past fall. Altus Group, a real estate services firm, tracks real estate…
From Sea to Sea may be a Canadian motto and unifying force. However, economic conditions vary considerably across the country. On-Site looks at prospects for 2018 region by region. British Columbia Vancouver and the province are faring quite well. However,…
Michael Atkinson met in late summer with a group of Canada’s top construction leaders to gauge the state of the industry. With another year-end in sight, the now-past president of the Canadian Construction Association recounted a range of concerns —…
With scientists forecasting increasingly turbulent weather, builders developers and governments can expect heightened pressure in 2018 to green their infrastructure. The Ontario Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, for instance, is developing new measures for stormwater run-off volume control. “It…
All eyes are on the year ahead, as a tumultuous 2017 winds down. Oil prices remain low, edging towards a mild recovery but not expected to come close to the highs of 2013-2014. And prospects for pipeline construction remain mixed,…
“When people tell me they don’t believe in climate change. I ask them: ‘Do you believe in gravity? The destructive power of climate change is the same as the strength and reality of gravity,” stated climate change guru Christian Figueres…
The mobile generator you choose for your job site needs to be able to provide the dependable power your job requires, plain and simple. And because applications vary so widely, mobile generator selection should be taken on a case-by-case…
Everyone has seen the graphs that show construction on a downward productivity trend while other industries boast solid productivity gains. The following is a productivity graph that was produced by McKinsey & Co. that compares productivity in construction to that…
Advances in information systems have been cited as a catalyst for higher productivity in many sectors.
Boehmers is a concrete block producer in Cambridge, Ont. with a new, carbon-dioxide (CO2) infused product said to be great for the environment and superior to traditional concrete blocks. The company has been selling the Carboclave block, as the product…
Ask any operator, and they will tell you: everyone has a favourite piece of equipment. There are lots of factors that contribute to one’s fondness for a specific piece of machinery, but its most often related to comfort, familiarity, and…
Rome wasn’t built in a day. A trite expression, perhaps, but one which might comfort builders and other construction sector service and material providers wondering when infrastructure money the federal Liberal government promised in its two most recent budgets might…
How do we prepare the next generation for construction jobs that don’t even exist yet? That’s a tough one. According to a recent report entitled An Apprenticeship Skills Agenda, we had better figure it out soon – 65 per cent…
A recent Ontario court decision illustrates the expected – and unexpected – challenges that arise when one party wishes to end a contractual relationship. In Bombardier Transportation Canada Inc. v. Metrolinx, 2017 ONSC 2372, Bombardier had entered into a $770-million contract…
