November 10, 2009

The Leaders | 2009 Edition

Contractors cautiously optimistic for 2010

The past year has been a rough one for the Canadian construction industry. But Aecon Group’s chief executive John Beck says his company has avoided serious damage by maintaining a diverse portfolio of projects in a variety of locations. “In the last 12 months, our activity in oil sands and industrial dried up, but our infrastructure group picked up,” Beck says in the 2009 edition of The Leaders, Reed Construction Data’s annual publication ranking the Top 40 Canadian general contractors.

>> Download a PDF version of The Leaders here.

Rankings are based on self-reported 2008 gross revenues from Canadian operations, as verified by company officials.

Toronto-based Aecon is third on this year’s list, with approximately $2 billion in projects under construction in the past year.

>> Read The Leaders profile on Aecon Group.

Edmonton-based PCL family of companies took the top spot, with $5.8 billion in projects under construction.

EllisDon Corp. came in second with $2.3 billion in projects under construction.

Graham Group Ltd. ($1.63 billion) and Carillion Canada Inc. ($1.1 billion) rounded out the Top 5.

>> Check out the 2009 Leaders survey results here.

The Leaders also includes a Top 40 leaders in construction list for Western Canada and Eastern Canada.

Calgary-based Stuart Olson Constructors – which generated $574 million in revenue in 2008 and is ranked 10th in this year's Leaders – has managed to weather the economic storm and is bullish on Western Canada going forward.

“We still see Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan as the places to be – the drivers of Canada’s economic engine,” says Stuart Olson’s vice-president of business development Paul Polson

>> Read The Leaders profile on Stuart Olson Constructors.

Back east in Ontario, Vanbots, which recently became a division of Carillion Construction Inc., has had a good 2009, all things considered.

But the Concord-based company – which reported 2008 revenues of $612 million – still sees government infrastructure spending as the driving force of the construction industry in the year ahead.

“The private sector is relatively dead for 2010,” says Matt Ainsley, the firm’s executive vice-president. “We’ve got private sector work on board, but the private sector is still having trouble borrowing money.”

>> Read The Leaders profile on Carillion/Vanbots.

Copies of The Leaders report are available to subscribers of Daily Commercial News and Journal of Commerce, both publications of Reed Construction Data, and to attendees at the Construct Canada conference.

Visit The Leaders website where you'll find links to rankings, articles and survey results.

You can download a PDF version here.

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