Canada long had a way for government and business to work together to deliver infrastructure but additional requirements and new and aggressive interpretations of old rules have put up major hurdles to success, he says.
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By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Oil Spills. It will likely be the last time they will get full access to PCL's earnings.
What's more, the company is expected to report its fourth-strongest year ever in an otherwise patchy period for construction. In fact, PCL has been able to use the recession to pick up skilled people who were unavailable during the boom times.
In Houston, it has formed a new industrial unit aimed primarily at the refinery construction market. As rivals shut down their businesses in Ottawa, PCL swooped in to beef up its presence there. PCL was clearly reluctant to tamper with a formula that has allowed the company to post strong growth numbers since employee ownership was inaugurated in The two components - worker ownership and growth - go hand in hand, Mr.
Douglas argues. As a manager, he says, "I would be accountable for the projects in my area. But if my best superintendent and project manager can go and work on a much bigger [PCL]project over there, I will give those [people]up in a flash. And the firm remains a magnet for workers and professionals who want a bit of skin in the game. Douglas is a prime example.
Born and educated in Toronto, he first worked for a rival construction company. He yearned for an ownership stake in the business, but the founder-owner kept changing the subject. Douglas joined PCL to find a culture he considered "almost socialistic," he says.
Stollery also instituted succession planning at all levels, which has allowed PCL to keep building leadership from within. Now, Mr. Douglas believes PCL is about to embark on a new era of growth. To get there will mean some big strategic decisions at a board retreat planned for March, The Poole family owns the company until ownership is shifted to its employees in In addition to being a respected contractor, the company has diversified its services to encompass the entire construction project life cycle from conception to design to actual construction.
Poole in Poole first ventured to Canada's Western frontier in He and a group of friends traveled to the West on a Harvest Excursion, which is an organized expedition of men and women into the agricultural fields of the West to help ensure a successful wheat harvest.
In Melita, one of the first towns they stopped in, Poole was quickly recruited to work as a carpenter, even though he lacked formal carpentry skills or experience. After a successful season of carpentry work, Poole headed home to work at his father's saw, flour, and carding mills and to study at the Charlottetown Business College.
Over the next few years, Poole traveled back and forth between Prince Edward Island and the West and made friendships and business contacts while working a variety of jobs. In while working with a contractor named James Martin in Stoughton, Saskatchewan, Poole forged a friendship with Martin that resulted in a business partnership.
Martin and Poole opened Martin and Poole Construction in , and after one successful year of construction work, Martin retired. Poole, however, was far from retirement age and inclination, and when he returned to Saskatchewan from Prince Edward Island in the spring of , he resumed operation of the business, changing the company's name to Poole Construction.
In turned out that Poole had started his construction business in the right place at the right time. Canada's West was growing rapidly with settlers pouring into the prairies and the Yukon gold rush in full swing. During this time, Poole Construction was building frontier towns, earning a reputation for turning out quality houses, barns, commercial banks, town halls, mercantile stores, and public schools.
If the company ran out of work in one budding community, it moved its headquarters to another with more immediate construction needs. In this spirit, company headquarters moved from Stoughton to Rouleau to Moose Jaw and then to Regina by When World War I broke out, construction work dried up, which made for hard years at the company. Many of the men who had worked for Poole enlisted.
During these lean years, however, Poole was able to secure enough contracts to keep the business afloat. Poole recalled in an interview before his death in , "We secured a contract for the Saskatchewan Co-operative elevator office building in Regina, which was quite a large contract for us at that time, and because we did not have much else to work on, we moved our residence to Regina.
These difficult years ended in when the company won multiple large-scale contracts. That same year, the company built itself a brick office building that the company has been operating in ever since.
In the years after the war, contracts continued to roll in, and the company flourished, growing to become one the most successful contractors in the area. Poole Construction was also one of the founding members of the Canadian Construction Association during this time.
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