The Industry Beyond Road Building

What falls under the category of heavy construction?

Highways, roads and parking lots are just a portion of the list of infrastructure being built by the heavy construction industry, which means there is a significant opportunity for the SHCA to grow its membership.

The SHCA is over 200-members strong, but there are more businesses out there that the association would like to reach and welcome. Broadening the scope of members to represent businesses in all aspects of the industry will help build more connections in heavy construction, which is necessary to ensure the continued vitality of the association.

The board of the SHCA as well as its president, Shantel Lipp, are discussing the opportunity that exists to grow the membership. They are interested in hearing from businesses about the value of their SHCA membership, and are determining how to broaden and promote the appeal of being a SHCA member.

When a new commercial or industrial site needs to be prepared and excavated, that falls within heavy construction. So does the construction of sidewalks, curbs and gutters. Being clear about the types of work being done by those in the industry will be important to be able to attract and represent a broader membership.

To identify what types of businesses form the heavy construction industry, the association looks to Statistics Canada information as well as the road construction and earthwork rate code used by the Saskatchewan Workers’ Compensation Board.

Dirt, gravel, concrete and asphalt often come to mind with heavy construction, but what about water, trees, air and more? There is work around water infrastructure, such as dams, irri­gation structures, hydro-electric and water diversion tunnels, water and sewer lines, water drainage and irrigation ditches, minor bridges and ice harvesting, all of which is considered heavy construction.

Logging and silviculture operations as well as businesses in landscaping, tree trimming, park development, tree thinning, compost, land reclaiming and lawn sprinkler installation are all within the WCB R code that classifies heavy construction. Land clearing, brush cutting and stumping are in there too, as are peat moss production and hauling.

Airports and airfields are another type of project done by heavy construction companies. There are those using cats and bobcats to do dirt work as well as backhoes to excavate cellars, basements and foundations. Those who work in gravel – crushing, hauling and stockpiling it – as well as claypits would qualify as well.

Then there are wires, pipes, cables tanks and more that is underground to think about. Trenching for wire conduits, plowing and directional drilling to install cable line falls into this code. Horizontal or augering services and boring services do too, as does septic tank installation. Pipeline construction, including gas lines and maintenance, repair, testing and stringing is heavy construction. Powerline and telephone line construction, maintenance and removal (other than the provincial government and SaskPower) qualify too.

Painting roads and parking lots falls in the WCB’s R code, as does maintaining, sanding and scarifying parking lots and roads. Equipment rental and incidental maintenance with operators, including cranes, as well as pneumatic concrete pumping and mudjacking are in the code too.

Moving buildings and shredding tires might not be obvious, but they are a part of heavy construction. Corral and feed lot cleaning as a business, as well as manure spreading, mowing of the right of way and custom rock picking are there too. So is railway construction and removal.

The SHCA is member-driven, so even before these future members have joined, their interests are being considered so the association can provide the best representation, advocacy and services to the industry as a whole. These future members can be located anywhere in Saskatchewan and can be large or small companies.

Those who are looking for an association to join to find someone to represent their interests, advocate for them and offer services that benefit their business are invited to contact the SHCA to learn more about how the association can benefit them and to share what they would like to gain from being part of an industry association.