SiteSummit: Executives say ‘don’t panic’, crisis is opportunity

Key Takeaways:

• The current real estate downturn should be treated as a strategic reset rather than a reason to panic because housing demand is a fundamental human need that will inevitably return. Competitive firms are utilizing this slower market phase to optimize internal structures and systematically prepare for upcoming industrial and institutional demand.
• Canada is losing a global capital race to the U.S. because capital naturally pursues the best risk adjusted returns and timeline certainty. To prevent domestic capital flight, policymakers must guarantee that the rules established at the start of a project remain identical until the finish line.
• The primary bottleneck stalling the industry at scale is a broken approvals apparatus rather than a lack of supply chain or construction capability. The current development system functions poorly because navigating bureaucratic red tape to reach the starting line takes longer than the actual physical construction of the asset.

The Whole Story:

Executive leaders in the residential development and industrial supply chain warned Canadian policymakers at this year’s SiteSummit conference, declaring that regulatory unpredictability is actively throttling domestic capital investment. In a hard-hitting executive roundtable moderated by Rodrigue Gilbert, President of the Canadian Construction Association, the nation’s building elite urged the sector to stop fixating on current macroeconomic friction and instead mobilize for an inevitable wave of industrial and institutional demand.

While a prolonged real estate downturn has dampened near-term housing starts across the country, panelist Brad Carr, CEO – Canada at Mattamy Homes Canada, insisted that competitive firms must structurally adjust rather than panic. Carr reframed the current market pressures through a lens of strategic opportunity, invoking a classic corporate mantra.

“What I would tell you about where I see us right now is that classic saying that we all know as never waste a good crisis,” Carr stated. “We are in the midst of a transformational period in the housing space and probably in the construction space at large. But the opportunity… it’s never been greater.”

He brushed off fears that structural changes in society would diminish the fundamental human need for shelter. “Housing is not the Sony Walkman,” Carr noted. “It hasn’t had its lunch eaten by the Apple iPod. There will be demands for housing tomorrow, next week, next month, next year, next decade.”

He challenged developers to focus heavily on managing the challenging present while systematically preparing their operations for an accelerating future.

The core conflict detailed during the roundtable centered on the aggressive shifting of development funds away from domestic projects. Carr revealed that Canadian infrastructure is currently losing a critical global “capital race” to international markets—specifically the United States—due to systemic municipal gridlock and shifting provincial policy parameters.

“Capital is agnostic, and it will chase the best risk-adjusted return,” Carr warned. “The pull of our own capital every day into the United States… is because the clarity of the environment in which we work down there is more certain.”

He implored policymakers to bring immediate clarity to local timelines so firms can deploy assets with absolute confidence.

“Guarantee the rules when I start the project will be the rules for the duration of the project,” said Carr. “Do not change the rules on me three times during the build-out of a long cycle project.”

Doug Dougherty, Executive Chair of Cooper Equipment Rentals, strongly backed this appeal for administrative simplicity, noting that international capital is eager to invest if execution hurdles are stripped away. “We can make it easy to do business,” Dougherty said. “Canada needs to take that same message to the world. Easy to work in, easy to work with, a good place to invest.”

Dougherty explained that Cooper Equipment Rentals utilized the recent transitional market phase to systematically consolidate its corporate platform after executing 18 separate acquisitions over a 12-year stretch. Embracing an internal motto that “better is good,” Dougherty emphasized that a disciplined national strategy has successfully positioned their fleet for massive alternative sectors like data centers, defense spending, and advanced telecommunications.

However, the panel concluded that no amount of supply chain readiness can bypass Canada’s broken approvals apparatus. In his closing remarks, Carr highlighted a profound systemic bottleneck that continues to stall industrial scale.

“We don’t just need Build Canada homes, we need planned Canada homes,” Carr concluded. “Because a lot of what’s broken in our system is not what you do every day in the construction environment, it’s actually the approval environment. And the best soundbite I give anyone is when it takes longer to bring a project to the starting line than it does to take it from the starting line to the finish line, the system is broken.”