B.C.’s top construction companies have been little affected by the pandemic, according to data collected on Business in Vancouver’s Biggest Construction Companies in B.C. list (https://biv.com/lists).
Their average billings grew 21.4% to $314.8 million in 2020 from $259.2 million in 2019. This was roughly the same as 2019’s 22% increase reported compared with $212.5 million the previous year. Median billing growth slipped in 2020 from 29.1% to 22.4%, suggesting that smaller companies lower on the list grew less than their larger counterparts.
No. 17 Bosa Construction Inc. recorded the largest increase in billings: up 65.7% to $58 million in 2020 from $35 million in 2019.
ETRO Construction (No. 19) suffered the largest decline on the list. Its billings fell 32.1% to $46.3 million in 2020 from $68.2 million in 2019. While the average revenue of the top construction companies has grown steadily over the past five years, the same can’t be said for employment, which took a large dip in 2019, but has been increasing steadily ever since.
Average employment at the top construction companies grew 15.2% to 335.9 employees during the pandemic from 291.7 in 2019.
The growth occurred following a 13.2% employment decline in 2019. Average employment in 2021 increased 27.3% to 427.8 employees. Median employment jumped by 73.4% to 277.5 employees in 2021, almost three times the growth of average employment and nearly doubling the median number of employees in 2020.