CGI Constructors opens Prairies regional office in Winnipeg

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This article was published 19/12/2024 (299 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A true sign of a robust economy is when product or service providers from outside the province who have Manitoba customers eventually decide to set up a permanent presence here.

That’s effectively what’s happened with CGI Constructors, a national general contractor that has just established a Prairies regional office in Winnipeg.

CGI hopes to leverage existing relationships with national clients, including many of the big banks. Chris Lacasse, a 25-year veteran in the construction management business in Winnipeg, recently signed on as CGI’s area manager for the Prairies and will bring his track record of local industry relationships.

With offices in Victoria, Vancouver, Toronto and now Winnipeg, CGI is not, however, necessarily a major employer.

Unlike some general contractors, it does not own its own capital equipment and will rely on sub-trades for virtually all work it will do in Manitoba — just as it does across the country.

Lacasse said most local CGI employees will be working in the capacity of site supervisors.

“CGI has some assets, but only to a limited extent,” he said. “We tend to be more new school.”

Whereas traditional general contractors might do their own concrete and carpentry work, Lacasse said CGI would likely not do full scopes of work but fill in the grey areas of the job site.

“We will expect to employ a small labour force of craft workers to support our site supervisor team,” said Lacasse.

“The goal is to have an intimate team.”

The company is also looking to leverage its relationships with facilities management and real estate service firms like Colliers, JLL and BGIS. Those companies would manage a portfolio of capital expenditures for their clients and a general contractor like CGI would work for them as the owners’ reps.

“In the larger marketplaces, that is a growing trend for how projects are delivered,” said Lacasse. “That delivery style is becoming more popular in the Prairies.”

While industry players have mostly heard about CGI, it has typically maintained a lower profile when it comes to the general public.

“I’ve certainly heard of them,” said Ron Hambley, CEO of the Winnipeg Construction Association.

Hambley said the entrance of another general contractor into the Manitoba market will have a positive impact, if only because increased competition would typically give clients a variety of suppliers.

“The more competition, the better,” said Hambley. “It ought to have a moderate effect on pricing.”

Lacasse said CGI’s senior management is looking to grow the company and believed Winnipeg suited its service offerings better than larger Canadian cities.

CGI specializes in medium-sized industrial, commercial and institutional projects up to the $60-$70 million range — the kinds of projects that are most numerous in Manitoba.

However, since the construction scene in Manitoba does not ebb and flow as much as other markets (unless there is a mega-project underway), the sub-trades are typically as busy as they can be.

It remains to be seen what kind of impact CGI’s entry will have on the overall labour force in the construction sector, which has suffered a dearth of skilled workers for many years.

Hambley said securing sub-trades is not always the easiest thing to do.

“That will be the trickiest part of the equation for CGI,” he said.

“The industry is not overly busy, but it’s steady.”

While he said there may currently be an over-supply of electrical contractors, for instance, Hambleysaid carpenters and some of the finishing trades are not. “Other trades are tight.”

CGI Constructors has been around for 35 years, with about 100 employees across the country.

Lacasse said its site supervisors have grown accustomed to a nomadic work style, managing sites in smaller communities as well as urban centres, in about 50 worksites across the country.

The company’s recruitment efforts to build its Manitoba operation will be made a little easier because it already has ex-Winnipeggers working at various sites who have expressed an interest in coming home.

“The company is looking to accommodate them,” Lacasse said.

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca