because to do this kind of work you have to have the stomach for it. When you’re doing big bridge projects, things can go sideways on you, and when they do they go sideways quick. The people we have working in our office and in the field are highly-skilled and experienced. They can handle the pressure. When there’s a problem, they can act fast and figure out a solution.” It’s not just their pricing that sets M.D. Steele apart, however. Over the years, they have also formed some very strong relationships with stakeholders of all kinds – with clients, subcontractors, consultants, and so on. “We’ve done some independent surveying, and what we hear a lot – and this is no surprise to us – is that people like working with us,” Richard says. “Our sub-trades like us because of the way we treat them. Our clients like us because of our ability to solve problems. That’s the feedback we get. They enjoy working with us. That’s something we take a lot of pride in.” M.D. Steele also takes a lot of pride in the quality of their work. According to Richard, that’s something else the company has “always been known for.” “We’ve always had a reputation for having a really good quality product at the end of the day,” he says. “We’ve often been told that our concrete work stands out. We get a lot of praise for the complexity of it and just for the way it looks. We leave a really good product behind. That’s because everyone in our team takes pride in that product. There’s a real want to ‘be the best.’ That’s part of the company’s philosophy.” So M.D. Steele is set apart because they are cost-effective, becauseclients likeworkingwith them, and because their quality stands out. Ben Robinson serves as the company’s quality manager, and he elaborates on the latter point: “That’s a real credit to our frontline staff and our superintendents,” he says. “We do our best to provide them with all the documentation and to have the right systems in place – and I honestly think our systems do stand out among our competition – but what really sets us apart is our carpenters, our concrete finishers, our foremen, and so on. They are the guys actually doing the work. They know what their responsibilities are and they live up to them.” “As quality managers and project managers, we do our job to set the frontline staff up,” Ben adds. “We arrange the pins. But it’s our frontline guys that knock them down. They get us the strike.” On the management side, meanwhile, M.D. Steele also invests a lot of time and effort into their planning and preparation. For example, when they have a particularly challenging concrete pour they do a lot of dry runs. They also create a series of contingency plans in case something goes wrong. “We’re quite forward thinking,” Ben says. “And creative thought is encouraged from everybody,” Richard adds, “There is so much skill and experience spread throughout this company. We really try to tap into as much of it as we can. The ideas don’t just come from one place. They come from all over.” Their ideas are also strengthened by their experience, according to Ben. When it comes to pouring concrete in particular, he says “there is a lot of opportunity MAY 2022
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