COVER STORY
Redesigned a work platform to install
a tangent wall on Highway 2 near
Dunvegan Bridge in Northern Alberta
“It just makes sense for our clients to
hire one company to get them out of
the ground.”
– Chris Dirks, Kichton Contracting Ltd.
“It just makes sense for our clients to hire one company to
get them out of the ground,” said Dirks, and clients have told
him they appreciate having to deal with only one contractor.
“Projects start off so much smoother – our clients just have
to come on site and put their building or infrastructure on our
foundations, ground work and underground infrastructure.”
And the company is also proud to suggest innovations
that save clients time or money. Recently, for example,
Kichton proposed reengineering a 1,800-metre-long tangent
wall that had been designed to contain a street in east
Edmonton beside a large tank farm that in some places
would have an exposed face of as much as five metres.
“Instead of putting in the tangent piles directly side by
side, we were able to reengineer the complete system using
fewer piles and innovative technology,” said Dirks, which
cut the cost by 20 per cent and the schedule by 10 per cent.
“The overall system we used was so much more efficient
that we have used it to replace five other containment systems
in the past year.”
Encouraging innovation, incentivizing safety
Kichton Contracting has spent more than a million dollars
over the last 10 years developing its own management
software customized for the construction sector, Trakon
Systems. The system now has more than 14 modules that log
and help manage every aspect of the business, from quotes
and work orders to foremen’s and supervisors’ daily diaries,
the location of equipment, who’s operating what and for how
long. Kichton has sold its software to other companies and is
now working on ramping it up, says Dirks.
“Like Microsoft, we’re always doing updates so that it’s
bigger and better.”
Dirks says that every employee has an online report card
and everything is recorded digitally.
“This includes logging cleaning the machines properly,
safety incidents and positive things, as well,” he said. “It’s
done that way because we’d grown to the point where we
didn’t know everybody personally and couldn’t keep track.”
Kichton Contracting is COR certified, prequalified with
ISNetworld, ComplyWorks, PICS and several major Alberta
contractors, developers and owners, and is proud of its comprehensive
health and safety program. The company gives
out monthly safety awards voted by foremen and supervisors;
wage-earning employees are eligible for three different rewardbased
benefits that can increase their wages “by almost 25 per
cent in some cases,” said Dirks. Kichton Contracting is also creating
an Employee Share Option Plan to help retain staff and
promote a sense of company ownership.
“I think we’re the only contractor in Western Canada that
offers such extensive incentive programs,” said Dirks.
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