// COMPANY DOSSIER
Marco Group Limited
Atlantic Canada's largest general contractor, delivering commercial, healthcare, education, multi-residential, recreational and light-industrial projects as general contractor, construction manager, design-builder and P3 partner.
📍 St. John's, NL, CanadaEst. 1979✓ 100% first-party verified
// CLIPS FROM Marco Group Limited
“that was 243 million the day we bid it we were a million six low”
“sometimes you sit back and say well that's a silly idea why would you put yourself at risk”
“we've never been one to hold off on the work because we didn't get a signed piece of paper”
“we are in a unique position in atlantic canada”
“i remember a guy in particular stu crawford he was working for ivanhoe cambridge”
“i've always said atlanta canada in business is a lot like our weather”
“the designer kind of didn't do a very good job didn't give us drawings”
“you may start to see certain things like integrated project delivery”
“so when box stores were rogue we were a box store builder”
// LESSONS FROM Marco Group Limited
Follow the market cycle rather than imposing a fixed sector strategy — be a box-store builder when box stores are vogue, a school builder when schools are funded, a P3 builder when P3s come.
Paying a long-term subcontractor early in a cash crisis — even without certainty of recovery — buys relationship equity that compounds for years.
A portfolio of delivery models (CM, lump sum, design-build, P3) diversifies risk the same way a financial portfolio does; no single model dominates every year.
P3 margins are higher but liquidated-damage clauses can reach $50K/day — only bid P3s if you have the organisational depth and capital to absorb that risk.
On a P3 tender with a year-long RFQ/RFP cycle, stipends cover only a fraction of bid costs — a poor win rate is financially ruinous; MARCO's 4-for-5 record is the result, not luck.
Shifting from discretionary bonuses to transparent profit-sharing transforms employee engagement and retention because staff can see the direct link between company performance and their own income.
// ALSO DISCUSSED ACROSS THE SHOW
// ON THE RECORD WITH
Iron Maple Constructors
Competes with
Named as a like-minded local competitor in the Halifax market.
EllisDon Corporation
Competes with
Regular competitor on Atlantic Canada 100M+ tenders
PCL Construction
Competes with
Regular competitor on Atlantic Canada 100M+ tenders
Bird Construction Inc.
Competes with
Regular competitor on Atlantic Canada 100M+ tenders
Plenary Group / Plenary Americas
Works with
P3 consortium partner on NAMH&A Facility, St. John's
B+H Architects
Works with
Design partner on NAMH&A Facility P3
Mike Harvey Architects
Works with
Design-build team for JL Hillis High School collaborative design-build
Travelers
Works with
Bonding/surety company; introduced MARCO to Family Business Institute
Family Business Institute
Trained at
Bi-annual peer-group programme with GCs of similar size in other markets
Velocity Advisory Group
Trained at
Executive coaching and personality profiling for senior leadership team
Sonco Gaming
Supplies
Built Casino New Brunswick and Calgary casino addition for Michael Novak / Songko
Germain Hotels
Supplies
Two hotel builds in Calgary for Germain group
CANS
Member of
Allan sits on CANS board; involved in Great Big Dig committee
// SELECTED PROJECTS
MUN Core Science Facility
CompletedGeneral contractor / builder · 42,000 sq. metres; ~$325M global project budget
Main building construction April 2017–August 2021, completed on budget (confirmed by Memorial University and CBC). The $325M figure is the project's global budget per MUN, not Marco's contract value alone.
Western Memorial Regional Hospital (Corner Brook Acute Care Hospital)
CompletedDesign-builder, joint venture with PCL Constructors Canada Inc. (Corner Brook Health Partnership) · ~$750M P3 contract (design-build-finance-maintain, full partnership)
Construction completed/handed over November 2023 per Government of NL, Plenary and PCL; Marco's own project page still labels it in-progress (stale). Seven-storey, 164-bed hospital connected to a 145-bed long-term care facility. The ~$750M is the whole CBHP P3 partnership value, not Marco's GC scope alone.
Glace Bay Area PP-5 School & Northside Middle School
AwardedDesign-builder (collaborative design-build) with Harvey Architecture
Awarded/announced March 23, 2026; collaborative design-build model. No public contract value disclosed.
// KEY PEOPLE
TH
CH
AM
RA
JS
CT
// NOTABLE
Founded in St. John's, NL in 1979 by Tom Hickman, who led senior management and staff from Newfoundland Engineering and Construction Company (NECCO) to establish the firm; remains a family business with the Hickman family.
SOURCE ▸Named one of Canada's Best Managed Companies (Deloitte); the company states it retained Best Managed status for a fifth consecutive year in 2024.
SOURCE ▸Built the 11-storey Bank of Nova Scotia building (completed 1984), at the time the tallest building in St. John's, and opened its Halifax-area (Dartmouth) office in 2003.
SOURCE ▸Building like this in Atlantic Canada?
Be a guest ▸