Digging In Podcast: Robo-Made Housing

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Transcript: I am SiteNews editor-in-chief Russell Hixson and I’m speaking to you right now from our Abbottsford podcasting studio during a very soggy Lower Mainland day. While the skies may not be sunny, we do have some bright construction stories that are sure to make your day. So stay tuned. And here’s what we have in store. First, a new study is shedding a lot of light on attitudes toward the trade. We have a big robotic partnership between a big home builder and a cool robotics company. And we have some steely determination from the federal government to help Canada’s domestic steel industry. Rounding out the top headlines, we have a historic government investment in a massive, massive forestry sector project. And if you stick around to the end, you can check out our bonus story where a hard hatwearing hero saves the day in Nova Scotia. Let’s get into it.

A new study of more than 1,500 Canadian adults is shedding light on why people are not starting trades careers. So about 15% of respondents say that they currently work in a skilled trade. And the good news is that is up from last year and about 43% have considered a trades career. So who’s interested? Well, interest is interest is strongest among men, younger adults, bipok residents. And generally people say that they believe these jobs pay well, that they offer stability, and they also create opportunities for small business ownership. So, that’s more good news. About 3/4 of respondents said that they would encourage their children or others to start or consider a trades career. I mean, that’s pretty that’s huge. I think that’s also a huge change from at least when I grew up. However, the leading reasons for why people aren’t pursuing trades careers are interesting, and that is there’s a preference for white collar jobs.

There’s a lack of awareness of opportunities and perceptions that the trades are too physically demanding. So, younger and university educated respondents are more likely to cite several of those deterrence. So, I think there’s several interesting takeaways from this. I think the good news is is that we’re moving past this perception that trades are bad, dirty, horrible jobs. I think growing up I was taught that go to university or you’re punishment, you will have to work on a construction site. And I think people are becoming more aware that these are good, high-paying jobs, that you can have an awesome middle class life, and that there’s opportunities to make even more money by starting your own business. However, I think there is a disconnect that people still think that going to university and having a white collar job is a lot better. And I also think that people believe that they’re I I think they have a narrow view of the scope of construction jobs.

I don’t think they understand that you could be a drone pilot, you could be an estimator, you could be a project manager. There’s a lot of jobs that aren’t necessarily, you know, lifting bricks and, you know, nailing nails. And I think that maybe that is the next frontier is kind of educating people about there’s a lot of high-tech jobs in construction. There’s a lot of very cerebral jobs in construction. Not every job in construction is is picking up a giant load of lumber. So, next up, let’s talk about promise robotics. So, Promise Robotics has signed a multi-year partnership with Madame Holmes Alberta division to bring artificial intelligence and robotics technology into largecale residential construction. So, they say that their factory as a service platform will be integrated into Madamese operations in Calgary, supporting the delivery of single family, semi- detached, and multifamily homes in two master plan communities.

So, officials say that this system is essentially allows builders to adopt a pushb button home manufacturing process. I think this is really interesting. This is part of kind of a larger movement to industrialize the construction process. I mean look at the automobile sector and how you don’t have just people putting together parts one by one. It’s it’s a very automated process that integrates robotics now. And I think we’re going to see closer integration of technology companies and building companies kind of blurring those lines as kind of the tech sector and the the AI technology sector kind of turns its gaze towards construction. I think this is really really interesting and also I think this is partially due to the heavy support that government has given to the industrialized construction movement. I know Prime Minister Mark Carney and others have given their endorsement to this kind of approach and even put a lot of dollars behind it.

And it seems like Madame is one of the early adopters. So, we’ll see how those subdivisions go and see how that process works out for them. So, next up, the federal government is throwing a major life preserver to the steel sector. So, Al Steel has secured $500 million in federal and provincial loans to help it weather the US steel tariffs, which have severely cut down on its orders. And so, you have $400 million coming from Ottawa’s large inter prize tariff loan program and about $100 million are coming from the province of Ontario. So Al is Canada’s only independent steel maker and its sole domestic producer of military steel plate. And so these funds will help Al phase out its blast furnace earlier than expected and also accelerate its adoption of electric arc furnaces to reduce production costs amid ongoing trade pressures.

And the funding also is going to help it maintain liquidity, support the company’s long-term transformation, and the government obviously it wants to safeguard Canadian steel production. The CEO, Michael Garcia, said that he’s pretty confident the company can survive even if high US tariffs persist. And it seems like investors agree. So shares rose about 8% when they heard about the news. So why does this matter?

I mean, obviously we’ve had a huge buy Canadian movement in the wake of these US tariffs and even before then I would see a lot of projects you know source their steel particularly from Asia like Korea and China. And while that’s particularly a lot cheaper you know sometimes there’s quality issues and you’d have to send people over to oversee the production and also you know I think companies have become a lot more aware of ESG environmental goals and also treating workers fairly and and paying them well and making sure safety conditions are correct. And it’s become a huge reputational risk. And I think having a domestic steel supplier provides an option for companies who want to keep their dollars in Canada who want to make sure that employees are given, you know, proper wages and that Canadian safety standards in the workplace are are upheld. For our final headline of the week, we are going from steel to wood.

The Canada infrastructure bank is providing $660 million in loans to support Irving Pulp and Papers $1.5 billion project nextgen. It’s a modernization of their St. John Mill. And this is historic. It’s the largest forestry investment in Canada since 1993. For context, I was 3 years old when that happened. I’m 35 now. So it’s been a while. The upgrades will place aging equipment. It’ll boost pulp production by over 70% and make the mill energy self-sufficient. So, it’s it’s good for the environment. It’s going to cut emissions per ton by half and eliminate heavy fuel oil use. So, what does this mean for the economics? Well, the project is expected to generate $539 million in construction income, create more than 2,200 person years of work, and add over 600 long term jobs across the forestry supply chain and it’s also going to reinforce the mill’s role as a global leader in environmental performance and serve as a big economic driver for New Brunswick. So why do we care?

Well, forestry has been been hit really hard over the years from multiple angles. Obviously we’ve had massive forest fires. You know there was the pinewood beetles that decimated many forests. Of course you have the the current tariffs. But also there’s been a massive softwood lumber dispute that has been raging for many many years. The list goes on. And we’ve seen a lot of mills close. I think mills have a very narrow window in which they can operate profitably. They have to be running at almost full capacity and if there’s a lot of volatility in the market for a prolonged period of time, they just can’t hack it. And this is really tragic because these mills are often in smaller, more remote communities.

So the impact on the community and people who have jobs and mortgages and and all sorts of other things that that depend on even peripheral businesses like restaurants and you know mechanic shops all these things depend on these mills to keep them afloat and so it’s great to see some investment from the government in this. All right, dear listener, you’ve made it to the end. Congratulations, your prize, our bonus story. So, not all heroes wear capes. Some wear hard hats and construction vests. And when a shed fire in three Fathom Harbor, Nova Scotia, threatened to engulf several homes, a quickinking construction worker happened to be passing by with a water tank truck and they sprang into action. They hosed down the flames before they could spread. And neighbors have held them as a hero. And even the Halifax Fire District Chief credited their fast response with making a real difference. So kudos to you and thanks for listening. We hope to catch you next time.

Time and don’t forget for more construction stories go to readsitenews.com and get every single headline we put out and subscribe to us on Spotify and we are on Apple podcast now and subscribe to our newsletter also you can do that at readsitenews.com we will catch you next week have a good one.