// COMPANY DOSSIER
Bird Construction Inc.
Publicly traded Canadian general contractor operating coast-to-coast across the buildings (commercial, institutional), industrial, and infrastructure markets; delivers general contracting, design-build, construction management, and industrial maintenance/repair and operations (MRO) services.
📍 Mississauga, Ontario, CanadaEst. 1920✓ 100% first-party verified
// CLIPS FROM Bird Construction Inc.
“as contractors we're not the bad guy in the scenario”
“I had a university client say to me one day we need them more than they need us”
“some architects say we're you know we're kind of where fun goes to die”
“it cracks me up on some of the projects where general contractors will struggle to break even”
“the big shift and the big mind shift on ipd it's a multi-party agreement”
“can I tell you a story this back to St Mary's job it was a big mechanical fit up”
“it cracks me up when people from out in BC or what I say out West”
// LESSONS FROM Bird Construction Inc.
In a small market your reputation precedes you, so deliver every job as if everyone is watching.
Clients want local track record, not your work in Vancouver or Calgary, so lead proposals with regional projects.
Bring the contractor and key subs to the table early; you lose value engineering and constructibility once design is done.
Stagger nothing: procure architects and the construction manager simultaneously so everyone starts collaborating at once.
Cost lump-sum design at 33/66/99/100% checkpoints so the owner can course-correct the budget before it's locked.
Lump-sum is a cost minimum, not certainty; every ambiguity becomes a change-order fight as the GC tries to recover margin.
// ALSO DISCUSSED ACROSS THE SHOW
// ON THE RECORD WITH
Rick Buhr (full name: Roderick Buhr)
Member of
Director of design and key accounts at Bird.
Pomerleau Inc.
Competes with
Competing GCs who openly say they're happy when a rival wins.
Halifax Water Burnside Operations Depot (also: Burnside Operations Centre)
Works with
Delivering the Burnside operations facility under an IPD multi-party agreement.
DCC
Regulated by
Defence Construction Canada's modified design build cited as a model Bird works under.
Rideau Construction Inc.
Works with
Bird acquired Rideau Construction, which Rick joined from architecture.
EllisDon Corporation
Competes with
Competing Atlantic Canada GC; mentioned in labour shortage context
Stack Modular
Works with
Iqaluit hotel project — modules built in China, shipped through Panama Canal.
Marco Group Limited
Competes with
Regular competitor on Atlantic Canada 100M+ tenders
Trim Landscaping Inc.
Works with
Sub-contractor relationship on Queen's Marque; Bird also building Trim's new HQ on Blue Water Road.
TEAL Architects+Planners
Works with
Bird led the nail-laminated roof deck installation at East Hants Aquatic Centre with a local young carpenter crew
// SELECTED PROJECTS
Surgeon Lieutenant-Commander W. Anthony Paddon Building (CFS St. John's / Pleasantville Consolidation)
CompletedDesign-builder / general contractor · CA$125,000,000
Client Defence Construction Canada (Dept. of National Defence). 36,000 sq m. Bird states over 90% of subcontract work went to N.L. firms. Opened 21 June 2014.
Two nuclear support buildings for Ontario Power Generation
AwardedDesign and construction via Makhos Bird Joint Venture (MBJV), an Indigenous-led JV · approx. CA$120,000,000 (combined)
Part of a ~$470M batch of five awards announced 6 March 2025. Supports OPG nuclear operations and refurbishment. Not Atlantic Canada.
Kelowna recreation centre redevelopment
AwardedIntegrated Project Delivery (IPD) contractor; validation stage completed · approx. CA$125,000,000
Client City of Kelowna ('Building a Stronger Kelowna' initiative). Announced 6 March 2025. Not Atlantic Canada.
// KEY PEOPLE
// NOTABLE
Founded in 1920 by Hubert J. Bird (as Bird and Woodall) in Saskatchewan; Bird went public in 1949 (initially on the Winnipeg Stock Exchange).
SOURCE ▸Bird reported Q1 2026 construction revenue of CA$783.4 million (up 9.2% year-over-year) and a record contracted backlog of CA$5.4 billion at March 31, 2026.
SOURCE ▸Bird maintains Atlantic Canada offices including Bedford (Halifax), NS; Quispamsis (Saint John area), NB; and St. John's and Wabush, NL.
SOURCE ▸Building like this in Atlantic Canada?
Be a guest ▸