2011 Will Be A Good Year for Commercial Construction
by Scott A. Sumner
www.thunderbaybusiness.ca
2011 will be a strong year of commercial construction in the Thunder Bay area according to Harold Lindstrom, Manager of Construction Association of Thunder Bay.
“ We have had three years of what we call holding our own. Most of the companies have done well. We have projects underway like the court house at $165 million and large senior homes that are coming as well as the waterfront work ongoing. It doesn’t quite make up for the loss
of the pulp and paper industry which was a big dollar value each year in NW Ontario in the past. We could see $300 million to our construction economy from forestry in a year in the past but it is drawn back considerably now. Mining has picked that up to a certain extent and probably will get to the same levels as pulp and paper and lumber industry but they are not quite there yet.” said Lindstrom.
The Construction Association of Thunder Bay is an association of about 200 contractors, sub contractors, material suppliers and associated people to the industry such as lawyers or insurance people. They look after rules that govern the construction industry and like to
promote industry standards and are associated with the Ontario and Canada construction associations.
“ We sell standard documents that are used in the industry and have an education program on safety and new rules that the industry has to live by. On a day to day basis we host drawings for tenders with hard and electronic copies that members can bid on. They can be jobs from
the City of Thunder Bay, other governments or private jobs. This is our drawing card for most of our members so they can keep up with the upcoming jobs in the area and bid on them. If you are member this information comes in your membership. The membership fee helps us lobby
all levels of government including places like the WSIB. We also have social events.” said Lindstrom.
The Construction Association of Thunder Bay has been active for 65 years and since 1964 housed in their own building in the Intercity area. They have close to 90% of the people in the commercial construction area as members.
“ We handle 260 to 300 projects at the Construction Association in a year in Thunder Bay and surrounding area. The projects can go as low as $10,000 or under and up to $265 million for the hospital. Large projects like that might only happen once every 10 years. I was in the
contracting business myself before and understand what the people in the business are going through each day. I still get excited visiting the construction sites sometimes and remember what it was like to be in the field.” smiles Harold Lindstrom.
