Tim's Vocational Day in Grande Prairie

I Met with Doug Westwood from HWD Construction and had a tour of their various construction sites in Grande Prairie including a new KFC, an office addition and an optometrist refurbishment. One common theme amongst commercial buildings is the extensive roof framing, outside trusses in particular need additional support due to snow loading from adjacent buildings. It was interesting to see the plans with dimensions in feet and inches as even though Canada is metric the building industry is all imperial.

In the afternoon I met with Rob Adair from Horizon North. HN do complete prefabricated buildings for the oil patches including accommodation and service buildings. They manufacture approximately 400,000 square feet of buildings every year and employ over 200 people on the floor including electricians, plumbers and carpenters. The buildings are fabricated in the factory in small sections and shipped to site for immediate installation. The final product resembles a high standard motel room rather than a basic site shed.