Saskatchewan's construction industry hits an economic downturn
'We've had swings like this in the past,' says local construction superintendent
It's a trying time in Saskatchewan for people looking for work in the trades.
Recently, the province's market has been flooded with real estate properties. Online classifieds, like Kijiji, have been inundated with ads of people looking for work as electricians or carpenters in Saskatoon.
Rod Schreffler has been a journeyman carpenter since 2011. He joined the industry after many years of work in transportation. Prior to last April, his employer was turning away work because they were so busy.
"The province was in a position where we were short carpenters and labourers; we were working really hard at keeping up," he said during an interview CBC's Saskatoon Morning.
Unsustainable boom
Then, between April and October last year things changed and contracts became tighter and tighter, he said.
"The big boys, the larger construction companies, they moved down into our market place and priced us out of the market: the bids we were doing, we were doing it to make a small margin; and they're doing it for less than cost," he said. "My employer was forced to lay me off."
Once we get through this, it'll be a good learning lesson for people to make do with what they have, and not try to expand too fast.- Rod Schreffler
Schreffler said others like him, site supervisors, were laid off along with apprentices and labourers. He's now on employment insurance (EI), looking for work.
And while there is work out there available, especially job postings on Kijiji, it's work that pays half of what could be earned a year and two years ago, he said. "To raise a family on that you can't afford that."
"You're forced to be picky with the jobs you want. You might be forced to take a job out of town, maybe work weekends and evenings, and sacrifice family life to make money to support a family," he explained.
Schreffler said he believes perseverance and focused job searching will land him a job in the next few months.
"Once we get through this, it'll be a good learning lesson for people to make do with what they have, and not try to expand too fast," he said. "Trying to get too many tradesmen here and trying to keep up with the boom that wasn't going to sustain us for long enough has been a challenge."
Market due for a correction
Scott Werner is a site superintendent for a commercial construction company.
He said that despite the tough reality nowadays, It's an up and down industry.
"We've had swings like this in the past. We've gone on such a long positive streak that when we get a correction like we have now, people forget it's cyclical."
Some of the factors he said he's seen contributing to the downturn aren't all directly tied to the housing and construction industry.
"[There's] lots of residential inventory out there; the oil industry has slowed down, the federal election and provincial election. All those things cause uncertainty," he explained.
"Once you hear that there is uncertainty in any facet, big corporate companies have the money, they just don't want to spend it."
But he cautioned, "I'm no expert."
"It's nothing we should be ringing alarm bells on; it's just one of those things where you can't not have a plateau, a correction to that growth," he said.