Official registries and open data list 1,223 active companies in construction in British Columbia, which puts British Columbia in 3rd place in Canada for this sector (1 % of the national total). 18 of them (1 %) have at least one known director, and 4 (<1 %) published an official change in the last 18 months: incorporation, amendment, change of director or address.
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Get 5 profiles from this segmentConstruction employs roughly 1.6 million people in Canada and absorbed $272 billion of building investment in 2025. The sector is extremely fragmented (over 400,000 establishments, almost all under 100 employees), highly cyclical and, since 2024, driven by rental housing, large public projects and a structural labour shortage.
Construction (NAICS 23) covers building construction, civil engineering and specialty trade contractors (electrical, plumbing, mechanical, finishing), by far the largest group. According to BuildForce Canada, the sector accounts for about 7% of GDP and employs roughly one in thirteen working Canadians, or about 1.6 million people in 2025.
The structure is atomized. ISED counts 415,406 establishments in 2025, of which 159,514 have employees; among those, 61.9% have one to four employees and only 111 exceed 500 employees. Ontario (54,318 employers), Quebec (35,710), British Columbia (27,983) and Alberta (21,631) hold most of the base. Large general contractors (PCL, EllisDon, Pomerleau, Aecon, Bird, Ledcor) subcontract a large share of the work.
Statistics Canada puts investment in building construction at $272.1 billion in 2025 (+8.5%), including $178.0 billion residential and $76.0 billion non-residential (slight decline). Housing starts reached 259,028 units in 2025 according to CMHC, with sharp contrasts: +32% in Quebec, +14% in Alberta, but -13% in Ontario and -5% in British Columbia.
Residential activity recovered thanks to rate cuts, federal rental housing programs (CMHC loans, GST exemption) and zoning reforms. CMHC notes, however, that most of the 2025 growth occurred in spring and summer, with a pullback since September that is pushing developers toward smaller buildings.
Non-residential work remains supported by major public and energy projects: hospitals, transit, electrical grids, LNG and critical minerals. Federal Budget 2025 announced $115 billion of infrastructure investment over ten years, including $51 billion for local infrastructure, and created a Major Projects Office to speed approvals. US tariffs on steel and aluminum have raised the cost of some inputs since 2025 and are pushing owners toward domestic sourcing.
Labour is the dominant constraint. BuildForce Canada projects 135,000 retirements by 2035 (one-fifth of the current workforce) and a hiring requirement of 306,200 people by 2034, with a possible shortfall of 34,300 workers. In February 2026 the sector's unemployment rate rose to 8.4% and employment fell by 26,100 year over year, mostly among workers aged 55 and over; in May 2026 employment rebounded by 27,000 (+1.7%). Prefabrication, modular building and BIM are advancing in response to this scarcity.
Regulation is mostly provincial: building codes, contractor licensing (RBQ in Quebec, BC Housing in British Columbia, municipal permits elsewhere), occupational health and safety (CNESST, WSIB, WorkSafeBC) and trade certification (Red Seal). Quebec is the only jurisdiction where the sector's labour relations are governed by a dedicated statute (Act R-20) administered by the Commission de la construction du Québec.
Associations structure the dialogue with governments: the Canadian Construction Association (CCA) and its provincial counterparts, the Canadian Home Builders' Association (CHBA) and APCHQ in Quebec, ACQ, the Ontario General Contractors Association, the BC Construction Association, and the electrical and mechanical contractor corporations.
The major buyers are public or para-public: Public Services and Procurement Canada, the Canada Infrastructure Bank, Infrastructure Ontario, the Société québécoise des infrastructures, Hydro-Québec, BC Hydro, Metrolinx and municipalities. CMHC is the main financier of rental and affordable housing.
Who buys what: specialty contractors buy materials, tools, rented equipment, insurance and bonding, estimating software, accounting and recruiting services; general contractors and developers buy engineering, surveying, geotechnical studies, financing and project management. Labour suppliers (staffing agencies, immigration, training) are in demand everywhere.
Cycles and signals to watch: monthly building permits and housing starts (Statistics Canada, CMHC) announce activity six to eighteen months ahead; public tenders (SEAO, Ontario Tenders Portal, BC Bid, CanadaBuys) reveal which general contractors were selected and therefore their future subcontractors; new RBQ licences identify start-up contractors.
How ciblr helps: spot recently registered companies by province and sub-sector, filter employers with 5 to 99 employees (37% of employers), cross-reference public contract awards to target holders of large projects, and track job postings as a signal of a filling order book.
27,983 employers and construction GDP of $28.5 billion (2024). After years of strong activity (LNG, Site C, Vancouver transit), BuildForce notes a slowdown, confirmed by housing starts down 5% in 2025; provincial employment nonetheless rose 3.5% year over year in February 2026.
Of these 1,223 companies, 18 are federally incorporated, 1,002 are known through the provincial registry, 203 only through open data (licences, public contracts, grants, registered employers). 47 of them were founded in 2025 and 2026, that is 4 % of the active base; 30 incorporations in 2025. That is below the average of the three previous years (35 a year): the pace of creation is slowing.
Over the last 12 months, 35 companies in the sector (3 %) won at least one public contract, 131 contracts in all, published by governments, cities and public bodies. 13 received a federal grant or contribution (30 agreements).
Headcount is known for 403 companies (33 %): 7,409 declared jobs in total, and the median company has 5-9 employees.
1,040 companies (85 %) publish a general phone or email, 1,126 hold an official licence or permit.
Moves published in the last 90 days: 1 public contracts.
1,223 companies in construction are active in British Columbia according to official registries and open data, that is 1 % of the 89,356 companies in the sector across Canada.
18 of these companies (1 %) have at least one director on the federal registry (the only registry that publishes directors), which lets you approach them through the right person.
ciblr sends 5 company profiles from this target free of charge, directors and contact details included. The subscription at 99 CAD per month gives access to the whole target, with Excel export and change tracking.
Every company counted here is active in an official registry (Corporations Canada, Registraire des entreprises du Québec, OrgBook BC) or named by an official open source (licence, public contract, grant, registered employer). The sector is a NAICS code, size comes from the declared headcount when a source provides it and otherwise from an estimate based on the registry (board size, age, status, statute), and "recent signal" means a published move (incorporation, amendment, change of director, address, contract, grant, hiring) in the last 18 months. Figures are recomputed every week from the ciblr database. No data is purchased or invented.
ciblr sends you 5 profiles of companies in construction in British Columbia free of charge, directors and contact details included. For the whole target, the subscription is 99 CAD per month, no commitment.