The Construction Source

THE CONSTRUCTION SOURCE CANADA Pursuing innovation Moving forward, Jerry says that Buttcon will continue to pursue a diverse array of work, and they will not shy away from a challenge. For example, they will continue to work on transportation projects, for clients including the TTC, Metrolinx, and VIA Rail. “Working with those industries we’ve been very successful,” Jerry says. “We have great partnerships with trades and consultants and designers in that industry, and they have the confidence to select us to do those projects, which tend to be pretty complex.” The company also sees healthcare – and in particular, long-term care facilities – as a growth area. The same goes for hospitality and affordable housing. They want to expand more into those sectors, and they want to build similarly strong and lasting relationships with those clients. Buttcon also wants to stay on the “leading edge,” according to Jerry. They want to stay up- to-date on the latest building technology, and they want to adopt that technology when it will make them more efficient. Too many building companies, they believe, are stuck in their ways, and they do not want to be counted among them. “We aspire to be as tech-savvy and intelligent as we can,” Jerry says. “The construction industry is at an interesting tipping point right now. You have to be adapting. If you don’t have technology, if you don’t have innovation, if you’re not introducing those into your business now, you’re going to be left behind. We see that, and we want to pursue innovation aggressively as we grow.” As an example, Jerry cites a recent project that Buttcon completed in collaboration with R-Hauz Solutions, which was Ontario’s first six-storey mass timber residential rental building. It comprised 13,400 square feet of primarily cross- laminated timber, which was largely prefabricated elsewhere, and then assembled on-site – on Queens Street, in Toronto’s Beaches neighbourhood – in just six weeks. It was a prototype rapid-construction project that Buttcon hopes to see repeated, and they want to be involved. “The construction industry is at an interesting tipping point right now. You have to be adapting. If you don’t have technology, if you don’t have innovation, if you’re not introducing those into your business now, you’re going to be left behind. We see that, and we want to pursue innovation aggressively as we grow.”