32 Canadian builders dominating the Best Managed list

Deloitte Canada has announced the winners of the 2023 Canada’s Best Managed Companies awards. The program is the nation’s longest-standing initiative to recognize leading privately-owned Canadian companies. The 486 recipients included dozens of companies that build Canada’s infrastructure, homes, offices, industrial facilities and more.

“I am always amazed by the fortitude of our Best Managed Companies, who continue to act as global beacons for all of the talent and innovation Canada has to offer,” says Lorrie King, national co-leader of Canada’s Best Managed Companies program and partner with Deloitte Private. “With their bold vision, resilience, and inventiveness, these distinctly Canadian companies represent the bedrock of our nation’s current and future economies.”

To attain Canada’s Best Managed Companies standing, candidates apply annually and go through a rigorous assessment led by a multi-disciplinary judging panel. Companies are evaluated on their level of maturity on four core pillars: strategy, commitment, capability, and financials.

New this year, applicants were awarded bonus points for demonstrating leading-edge practices in the realms of ESG (environmental, social, and governance) initiatives, with particular attention on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, limiting waste, improving energy efficiency, and cultivating diversity.

Below is a list of Platinum Club construction companies, meaning that not only were they honoured this year, but who have maintained the title of Best Managed for seven years or more.

Graham Construction

We will let some of Graham‘s numbers do the talking. It is a 100% employee-owned construction solutions partner with revenues exceeding $4 billion annually. The company has over nine decades of experience, and offices throughout North America. It has more 2,200 employees and more than 500 active projects.

ITC Construction Group

The ITC team creates residential high rises, mixed-use developments and select commercial projects that range in size from $1 million to $600 million.  Over the past 40 years, ITC’s approach has led to the successful construction of over 200 residential, institutional, and commercial projects. ITC has been instrumental in enhancing the skylines in major urban centres such as Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Kelowna, and Nanaimo. Last year, Pomerleau announced that it had entered into an agreement for the acquisition of ITC. It was the largest acquisition in the company’s history.

Shaw Group

The Shaw Group is one of Eastern Canada’s leading community developers, residential builders and natural resource manufacturers. It’s roots of making bricks go so far back they pre-date the founding of Canada. The company operates on a decentralized basis through a number of divisions and subsidiaries: Shaw Brick, Shaw Precast Solutions, Shaw Resources, Clayton Developments Limited, Prestige Homes Inc., Ven-Rez Products Limited, Shaw Living, and Shaw Lifestyle.

Strike Group

Strike Group is a leading energy service and construction company supporting the oil and gas industry throughout Western Canada. Based in Calgary, the employee-owned company has more than 900 employees in 15 locations in the region and provides services to a long list of well-known energy clients.

DPI Construction Management

Diversity and inclusion aren’t an afterthought for DPI. It’s a key part of its strategy to drive innovation. They were the first commercial construction company to join the Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion (CCDI). The company provides construction management oversight for commercial interior projects throughout the Greater Toronto Area.

PCL Construction

PCL, the largest construction company in the country, has been recognized by the Best Managed Companies program 28 times. This is its 21st consecutive year in the Platinum Club. Company officials stated that they don’t take recognition for granted. 

“In fact, it’s proof that our commitment to management excellence across our company’s footprint continues to shine,” said president and CEO Dave Filipchuk.

Omicron

Omicron was born out of a dinner conversation in the 1990s. The founders were discussing how to find a more efficient way to deliver projects. Their solution? Getting architects, designers, engineers and builders to work together in a more integrated way. This is the 14th time it has been included in the Best Managed Companies list. It is one of the largest integrated development, design and construction firms in Western Canada. In the past few years, Omicron started collaborating with Nexii on sustainable building solutions. This collaboration deepened in July 2021, when Omicron was acquired by Nexii.

Morrison Homes

In 1961, cabinetmaker and carpenter Frank Morrison started building homes on a simple promise: treat every customer as you would a friend. Over 50 years later, Morrison has grown into a major homebuilder for Calgary and Edmonton.

Pomerleau

This Quebec giant was founded in 1964 by Hervé Pomerleau, an entrepreneur at heart, went into business with five employees. Two years later, he founded his company, Hervé Pomerleau Inc. Now it has nearly 200 active project sites across Canada and over 4,000 employees. Pomerleau even has the bragging rights to say they were the first construction company in the world to welcome a Boston Dynamics robot dog onto its job sites.  

Borger Group of Companies

Borger Brothers Ltd. was founded in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The company came to Alberta in 1949. In addition to being a leading contractor in underground, earthmoving and transportation, the company says it takes pride in being a good corporate citizen by giving back to the community. Borger Group believes its unique production methodology, its substantial equipment reserves of more than 300 pieces and a team of more than 400 employees, combine for the quickest project turnaround in the industry.

CANA

Alberta-based CANA boasts seven decades of experience executing commercial construction projects under a myriad of delivery methods. They’ve gained experience on some of the most iconic projects in Calgary including the original Saddledome, TELUS Spark, and the Calgary Courts Centre.

Chandos Construction

Chandos is a leader. They are one of only a handful of Canadian builders to earn B Corp. certification, they are pioneers of integrated project delivery and an early adopter of social procurement. They recently partnered with Bird Construction on Building Good, a thought leadership initiative that aims to catalyze owners and industry partners to change how the industry designs and builds for the betterment of people and the planet.

Pennecon

Pennecon is a provider of integrated solutions across a diverse portfolio: heavy civil, industrial, services & maintenance, and marine. Their capabilities go from breaking new ground to commissioning and ongoing site maintenance. The Atlantic-based company says it is powered by a diverse team, from coast-to-coast across Canada.

Dancor

Dancor is a construction and development company based out of Brampton, Ont. with building contractor services in London, Toronto, and across Southwestern Ontario. Their motto is “People like doing business with people they like.” The company stated that this means building relationships with the same level of dedication, attention to detail, transparency and quality that it puts into building projects.

Govan Brown

After more than decade of experience, John Brown and Ralph Govan decided to branch out independently from the old-school model of how construction had been done. In 1994, Govan Brown set up its headquarters in John’s dining room on Pacific Avenue in Toronto. The company has since opened seven offices across the country. The company specializes in commercial, retail, and hospitality construction.

EBC

Quebec-based EBC is active in the building, mining, and major civil engineering sectors. In collaboration with its business partners, EBC carries out ambitious and diverse projects of the highest quality. We apply the most stringent safety and quality standards while focusing on customer satisfaction.

Fillmore Construction

Fillmore Construction is an Alberta-based general contractor serving Western Canada since 1991. Headquartered in Edmonton, they service clients throughout Alberta, B.C., Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Northwest Territories and the Yukon. In 2021, the company opened its second permanent branch in Kelowna, B.C.

Trotter & Morton

In 1927, Trotter & Morton began its journey as a plumbing and heating company, employing Alberta’s first ticketed plumber. Today, it is a diverse group of building trades experts from Vancouver to Winnipeg and Seattle to San Antonio. The company offers an integrated solution for the client—beginning with site preparation, advancing through all aspects of construction, and continuing after the build with ongoing maintenance.

Maisons Laprise

Maisons Laprise has been player in the Quebec housing industry since 1989. The company designs and manufactures high performance energy-saving prefabricated home systems and building components for the residential, commercial and utilitarian markets segments, in Canada and abroad. Laprise’s head office and manufacturing sites are located in Montmagny, Que.

Cahill Group

Cahill’s construction & fabrication and technology & services divisions, along with with its affiliated companies, offer single-source solutions for managing multi-trade industrial, commercial, and institutional projects. Cahill says its integrated approach utilizes the resources of the entire Cahill Group, including cross-functional teams, advanced project management systems, and state-of-the-art fabrication facilities to streamline even the most complex projects. It is one of the largest multidisciplinary construction companies in the country.

FWS Group

Starting as a small General Contractor in 1953, FWS has grown its capabilities to serve an industry-spanning and global customer base. From potash mines to canola crush plants to container transload terminals, FWS specializes in integrated design-build construction.

Grascan Construction

Grascan Construction is a heavy civil and infrastructure contractor in Southern Ontario. For 35 years Grascan has successfully completed complicated infrastructure projects and built a strong foundation of knowledge and experience. They are currently one of the few approved Metrolinx (GO Transit), Canadian National Railway (CNR) and Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) contractors. Grascan says that its experience and reputation with safety and hands on approach to constructibility have garnered it a reputation as one of the best.

Trico Homes

Calgary-based Trico Homes’ team has built over 11,500 single and multi-family homes in Western Canada. In 1982, a mechanical engineer named Wayne Chiu immigrated to Calgary from Hong Kong to start his career and build a new life for his family. It was founded In 1992, by mechanical engineer Wayne Chiu who wanted to create a homebuilder that cares about the community. The company is now one of only a tiny handful of Canadian builders that is a certified B Corp.

MONTONI Group

MONTONI has been on the list of Canada’s Best Managed Companies for more than 20 years now, which makes it the real estate company in Quebec with the longest history for this title. The company’s focus is on developing , building and managing industrial, institutional, commercial and residential buildings. To date it has completed more than 400 projects totalling 20 million square feet of property.

IWCD

Nanaimo-based IWCD is a full-service construction company that provides construction management, general contracting, design build, pre-construction, tenant improvements, tilt up construction and civil construction services across Vancouver Island and beyond.

Jayman BUILT

Jayman BUILT has been creating homes in Alberta for 40 years and is is one of the largest homebuilders in the province. They have been building energy efficient homes for decades and have won too many awards to list here. This year they announced standard solar panel features for their 2023 homes aimed at reducing the carbon footprint and providing up to 50 per cent in electrical savings per year. The company has also made donations to help set up scholarships for trades students.

Lindsay Construction

Lindsay Construction is a locally owned and operated that has been building in Atlantic Canada for more than 60 years. It has grown to more than 500 employees and has completed more than 5,500 major projects. Lindsay says that its self-performing capabilities, including in-house design, engineering and structural construction (carpentry, roofing, cladding, concrete formwork) enable it to deliver a cost-effective and integrated building experience.

Wildstone Construction Group

Founded in 1995, Wildstone is a lean self-perform general contracting and engineering group serving the Western and Northern Canadian markets. Whether EPC (Engineer-Procure-Construct), IPD (Integrated Project Delivery), Design Build, Lump Sum, Construction Management or a hybrid delivery method that, Wildstone can adapt. The company states that its team can tackle greenfield water treatment facilities, design-building substations for remote mining operations, remote bridges, wineries and more.

Logel Homes

Logel Homes was launched in 2017, but the origins of the company date back to 1978, when President and CEO Tim Logel began working in the real estate and housing sector. Today the company is a multi-family homebuilder in Calgary that prides itself on being a homebuilder at the forefront of energy efficiency and sustainable practices. Their team has overseen the construction and sale of over 2,500 condos and townhouses in the region.

Maple Reinders

Maple Reinders is an award-winning construction services provider that has been solving problems and delivering creative solutions in ICI buildings and environmental construction for over 50 years. Their team has successfully delivered projects under every procurement model, from traditional construction management to complex public-private partnership arrangements. To date, they have built more than 2,900 projects.

Sullivan Construction Company

Maurice Sullivan founded the company in 1914. It has since become a versatile general contractor with over 100 years of experience at the forefront of bespoke ICI construction across Eastern and Northern Ontario and Quebec. Sullivan serves a range of sectors using collaborative delivery models, including general contracting, construction management, design-build, and IPD.

Lorneville

New Brunswick-based Lorneville is an expert in facility construction and plant expansions for large industrial sectors — building safe, modern facilities of varying sizes and technical demands for more than 40 years. Lorneville’s expertise has been utilized on significant projects, including constructing Canada’s very first liquefied natural gas terminal.