August 2005

Hold on Medicine Hat! The Roller Coaster is not going to stop. It’s not even going to slow down. As a matter of fact the “Alberta Construction Workforce Supply & Demand Forecast” is warning Alberta that a big wave of Industrial work is going to hit our province. Reinforcing that statement comes from “Alberta Economic Development”, who tells us that there is $107 billion dollars of major industrial projects that have just been announced or are under way today! Add to that the announcement by Premiere Klein that the province wants to spend a billion dollars on projects and needs which were neglected in Alberta’s bid to become Canada’s only debt free province.

So what kind of manpower is the above going to need? Well, the predictors say 30,000. Ugh? Are you aware that the last big wave in 2001 required 15,000 tradespeople? Where will the other 15,000 come from?

How does this all reflect on little ol Amron Homes and the rest of the Medicine Hat building community? We’ve had additional issues like the recent flood, which has left hundreds of homes requiring repairs. Then we had that little hail storm, which caused many millions of damage!

“There are some big issues here…”
1. Where will Alberta get tradespeople? The other provinces are booming too.
2. What will this do to the price of a home? Don’t for one minute think that prices can’t possibly go any higher. Just watch!!
3. What is this going to do to the construction time of your new home? I’m not sure I want to go there. How long is it taking now? And the worst is yet to come.
4. Quality of work (You can’t see me but I’m shaking my head).

With all this bad news I’m sorry but I don’t have any solutions. I might feel guilty about that but the Government has no solutions either. That’s why today there are 300 Government programs aimed at addressing workforce issues and skills shortages. At least attempts are in motion.

So in closing, please don’t penalize us builders who are trying to build the same quality of home that we’ve always built. Doing that means waiting for decent trades, and waiting adds to the construction time. Good luck Medicine Hat Contractors and good luck to new and yet to be homeowners. I think the word which will get us through this is “Patience.” Like a good meal, it takes time.

Call us with your building questions at 548-3137.