Canada’s fastest growing builder says ‘no’ to greed and ego

Key Takeaways:

• Canzone achieved 3,217% three-year revenue growth—making it Canada’s 12th fastest-growing company—by prioritizing low-ego teamwork, strong communication, and hiring collaborative people who fit the right roles.
• After bootstrapping with basic Excel spreadsheets, the company scaled into enterprise software and now builds in-house AI tools to boost employee efficiency rather than replace jobs.
• Founded by a mechanical engineer and an architect, Canzone differentiates itself by consistently delivering intricate commercial, institutional, and government renovations inside fully operational facilities.

The Whole Story:

North Vancouver-based Canzone construction is blasting off. 

This year, the Globe & Mail recognized them as the 12th fastest growing company in Canada and the highest ranking construction company on the list. 

Some of their top advice right off the bat: Don’t get greedy, don’t have an ego, hire good people. That’s it. And that strategy is working, creating 3-year revenue growth of 3,217%.

We spoke with Houman Alijani, Canzone’s Business Development Manager, to learn more about the company’s origins and the secrets behind their rise. 

Canzone was started in 2019 by two partners, a mechanical engineer and an architect. It has become a general contractor that specializes in commercial and institutional projects, including fully operational spaces.

“We try to be where construction gets complex, and deliver the expertise and partnership that’s needed to bring each project into harmony,” said Alijani. 

He believes that their biggest differentiator is the high quality team they have assembled.

“That’s what makes us different from everyone else, that we make sure we have the right people on the bus and make sure they’re sitting in the right seats,” he said.

From day one, everyone involved at the management level was eager to be innovative and brought with them knowledge, experience, and successful strategies from previous companies. They have slowly grown into doing institutional, commercial, and government-type of projects, including public tenders. Houman explained that as the projects got more complex, their team became more skilled, and could add more value.

But starting from scratch isn’t easy. Canzone didn’t have the capital to immediately invest in sophisticated software and tools. They started with basic Excel spreadsheets until they could unlock better things. 

“Now we are getting similar larger-scale companies, successful general contractors, and use Procore for all of our projects and we use Monday.com for tracking,” he said.

They’ve also begun building in-house AI tools to solve their specific problems and provide the services they want. But as Canzone has embraced AI, its philosophy has been to make its team more efficient, rather than replacing roles. 

“It’s not being driven by one person or just one department. We have a dedicated person who’s involved in innovation, including myself, but everyone else, they’re welcome to bring ideas, suggestions, any tools that we use, how can we improve it, is it beneficial, should we get rid of it or keep it,” said Alijani. “From day one, that innovation was part of the team, and it’s still to this day.”

He explained that new hires can be industry veterans or total novices, but the important thing is that they work in harmony with the team and bring harmony to projects.

“You can average 20 to 25 stakeholders on each project, on average. So you’ve got to be able to communicate with every single one and keep that harmony. And you know, that’s the most important thing for us, and we’ve been lucky so far that we got the right people on our bus.”

Some of their recent projects include passport offices in Nelson, Quesnel and Richmond. Their team was also instrumental on multiple projects at the University of British Columbia, including the newly renovated Wall Collaboration Centre, renovations to the Forest Sciences Centre building, and library renovations.

But none of it would be possible without some of the keys to success that Canzone adheres to: Being consistent in the services they provide, avoiding ego and greed and communicating well with project teams. 

“What we’ve done in Canzone is a result of teamwork, the effort that the team put together,” said Alijani. “We are very innovative, we make sure we have the right people on the bus and make sure they’re sitting in the right seats, and we’re not afraid of making changes on our way. For us, where the bus is going is important, but making sure to have the right people and providing the same consistent service to the clients, it’s also important to us.”