Our History

BFI Constructors Ltd. has a proud history that began in 1985 when the company was founded to supply unionized trades for the expansion of the heavy oil upgrader at the Consumers’ Co-operative Refineries Ltd. facility in Regina, Saskatchewan. This three-and-a-half year-long project included civil concrete work, some underground, the control building, shops and warehouses. The Co-op Refinery was a breakthrough project for BFI.

BFI has been continuously engaged in Saskatchewan’s construction industry since that time, and Saskatchewan remains BFI’s core market. BFI executed numerous successful projects in the following years, including the Husky heavy oil upgrader in Lloydminster, the Sasferco Products Inc. fertilizer plant, and the Contact Lake Gold Mine for Cameco.

BFI’s skills at labour relations and negotiation of labour agreements, overall professionalism and safety-conscious attitude proved keys to success and led to further work. By 1990 BFI was Saskatchewan’s largest employer of building trades personnel, a position BFI held for over 20 years. The subsequent introduction of BFI’s drug and alcohol policy strengthened its ability to provide a safe work environment thus improving its safety performance and making BFI an employer of choice.

BFI has grown through the ups and downs of the economic and construction cycles. We have diversified into a number of new areas and continue to excel thanks to our ability to adapt to changing market conditions. BFI has a strong record of succesful and safe project execution.

In the early 1990s BFI moved into the Alberta market, where its activity subsequently spread into the oil sands. The oil sands are currently a major area of project work for BFI.

In 2011 BFI entered the British Columbia industrial market with a contract to supply all labour required for the new Terrane Metals Corp. gold mine at Mount Milligan. BFI has also provided labour for projects in Manitoba. In addition, for many years BFI has been a joint-venture partner of Gracom (the masonry division of one of Canada’s top-five construction companies), being the primary supplier of unionized bricklayers and masons to Gracom in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

BFI’s growth has been particularly strong since the mid-2000s, with BFI supplying labour to multiple projects for SaskPower and other power utilities, for large ethanol facilities, for natural gas turbines and cogeneration facilities, for numerous potash mining projects which are ongoing, and for bitumen upgraders, oil refineries and oil sands production facilities. (Please click here for details on recent and current projects.)

In 2001 BFI surpassed 1 million man-hours of construction labour supplied. The company’s activity grew further to nearly 1.6 million man-hours in 2005, over 2.1 million man-hours in 2010 and a forecast 3.5 million man-hours in 2012.