// THE ONLY CONSTRUCTION MEDIA IN ATLANTIC CANADA
The people who actually build Atlantic Canada, on the record.
Contractors, developers, trades, and architects — telling you how the work really gets done, with the receipt on every fact. Cut into clips you can watch on a coffee break.
STRAIGHT TALK, BUILDER TO BUILDER.HOSTED BY DANIEL ARSENAULT ▸
76
EPISODES
80+
HOURS ON RECORD
246+
COMPANIES
625
CLIPS & COUNTING
Lindsay ConstructionThe Armour Group LimitedAlweather Windows & DoorsSmarter Spaces Inc.ALL-TECH Environmental Services LimitedIG Wealth Management Inc.Soublière ConstructorsALRE Properties Inc. (Les Immeubles ALRE Inc.)Aries Contracting (Ottawa) Inc.Payzant Building Products Ltd.Inflector Environmental ServicesTrinity Energy Grouprcs constructionDexter Construction Company LimitedEfficiency Nova ScotiaCrombie Real Estate Investment TrustProcore Technologies, Inc.Bird Construction Inc.Construction Association of Nova Scotia (CANS)Westwood DevelopmentsArchitecture4946North Group of Companies Inc.Anvil Construction Ltd.Freeman Group Private Wealth ManagementAllsco Windows & DoorsLuminous LabsAgnew Peckham Health Care Planning ConsultantsEllisDon Corporation
// FEATURED — HIGHEST-RATED MOMENT
“I had an Olympic silver medal I just drank out of the Stanley Cup with the New York Rangers and I was suicidal”
EP 68 · Corey Hirsch · Procore Technologies, Inc. · 2023-10-10
NHL goalie Corey Hirsch tells construction workers getting help is strength, not weakness.
Watch the full episode ▸// THE CLIP WALL
The best moments, on the record.
// FROM THE FIELD
Every lesson comes with a receipt.
Company growth is a retention tool: staff stay when they can see the path to a new business unit, a new specialty, or a seat at a business plan that Lindsay will fund.
“our growth is a product of our young smart energetic staff pushing us — we're not losing them, so what do we need to do?”
Slow, methodical front-end troubleshooting by a skilled lead — even weeks with little visible output — is the investment that unlocks fast, quality production later.
“once all that troubleshooting is done ... he's off to the races”
Estimating tools are still transitioning from Excel to purpose-built platforms (CostX, Bluebeam); even large GCs are mid-migration, creating a window for competitive advantage through faster adoption.
“we're making a switch to CostX... Excel has been our go-to for years and years we're trying to catch up”
Owners with design or architecture backgrounds attract unusual, design-led projects that keep talent engaged — the 'wicked and weird' pipeline is a recruitment and retention tool.
“when an architect has a really great idea but has no idea how it's going to stand... we get the call for those”
The Atlantic labour shortage is not only about numbers but about a five-to-ten-year experience gap — there are energetic junior staff but not enough candidates who can be named as senior PMs/supers on complex healthcare proposals.
“there's that gap between like they need another five years exactly before they can go away on that project”
Practice servant leadership and aim to make yourself obsolete in day-to-day operations to build redundancy and succession.
“my goal is to create no value to my company in the day-to-day”
Above-ceiling hospital renovations historically run 75% over their change-order budgets because of hidden MEP complexity; 360-HDR camera documentation virtually eliminates that surprise.
“above ceiling or even worse would be like 75 percent over like it was just ridiculous how much gets pushed through because you don't know what's there”
Off-grid solar street lighting removes the need to trench electrical conduit, making it cost-competitive with conventional site lighting even before energy savings — the install advantage, not just the sustainability angle, closes the deal.
“the great thing is you don't need to dig a trench”
The biggest renewables adoption lever for private developers is combining legislative mandate (minimum % renewable in new builds) with direct financial incentive (grants) — neither alone is sufficient.
“my hope is that there's going to be a combination of legislation and reward”
Design buildings for renovation — modular, disassemblable systems beat monolithic ones because owners always change them.
“do you know anybody that owns a house that's never renovated it”
Design-for-disassembly is a procurement philosophy, not just a sustainability badge: reusable components hold value longer and reduce demolition-landfill liability.
“if you tear out a drywall wall you can't do that without destroying the base material components right so you're pretty much having to dump all of that”
// THE LEDGER
The full conversations.
// ON THE RECORD
Procore Technologies, Inc. / Payzant Building Products Ltd. / Luminous Labs / Bird Construction Inc. / EllisDon Corporation / Pomerleau Inc. / rcs construction / Trinity Energy Group / Lindsay Construction / Construction Association of Nova Scotia (CANS) / Dexter Construction Company Limited / Efficiency Nova Scotia / The Armour Group Limited / Architecture49 / ConstructionClock / Crombie Real Estate Investment Trust / Dexel Developments Limited / Dexel Architecture / Fathom Studio / Freeman Group Private Wealth Management / IG Wealth Management Inc. / Inflector Environmental Services / Kent Building Supplies / Marco Group Limited / Navacord / Smarter Spaces Inc. / Soublière Constructors / Southwest Properties / Westwood Developments / 0812 Building Solutions Inc. / 46North Group of Companies Inc. / Able Electric 2016 Limited / Agnew Peckham Health Care Planning Consultants / Airtight Spaces / ALL-TECH Environmental Services Limited / Allsco Windows & Doors / ALRE Properties Inc. (Les Immeubles ALRE Inc.) / Alumicor Limited / Alweather Windows & Doors / Anvil Construction Ltd. / Aries Contracting (Ottawa) Inc.
The full directory// LISTEN & FOLLOW
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