Fort McMurray contractors are irate after they say they’ve been intentionally left out of part of their community’s fire cleanup efforts.
On Wednesday, contractors met at a Fort McMurray hotel to talk about the demolition of fire-damaged properties.
Contractors learned insurance providers collectively hired SPECS to oversee cleanup efforts. SPECS is a company which evaluates damages from natural disasters and manages the response.
SPECS is responsible for cleaning up between 1,600 and 1,800 single-family homes, duplexes and mobile homes. The contract does not include apartments or any commercial or industrial properties.
The company is now looking for a primary contractor for the job.
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Local contractors say a SPECS representative made a presentation at the Wednesday meeting and he told them most Fort McMurray companies were too small to get the demolition contract.
“There was no discussion whatsoever. It was basically them telling us how it is and how it’s going to be,” said Chris Kinkle, who works for a Fort McMurray construction company.
“Nobody left with a smile on their face.”
J. Paul McLeod is another one of those unhappy contractors. McLeod owns Vancon Services Inc., an excavation company based in Fort McMurray.
He hasn’t worked since the evacuation and there wasn’t much work before that either, due to tumbling oil prices in an oil-fuelled economy.
“These are the people that have survived, that are still there, that need the opportunity to serve the Fort McMurrians,” McLeod said. “There are yards with trucks that haven’t moved in two years. Those guys need to go to work.”
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An official with SPECS said the company is not trying to sideline Fort McMurray contractors.
“We appreciate and understand the hardships local contractors face in this disaster and we’d be happy to see a local contractor take on the project,” said SPECS Chief Operating Officer, Andrew Ross.
Size will be important, though.
Because of the number of homes requiring demolition, Ross said the primary contractor must be large enough to have the necessary equipment and financial backing.
Ross said he received a list from the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo containing eight contractors who could handle the demolition job. Five of those companies are local.
Contractors argue most of the big companies capable of such a large contract may have offices in Fort McMurray but they are based elsewhere.
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Early next week, SPECS anticipates it will release a list of qualified bidders to the Fort McMurray Construction Association. At that point, local contractors will be able to approach the bidders to ask for sub-contracting work.
SPECS expects to decide on a prime contractor within a week of putting the bid out.
Insurance companies collectively hired SPECS. Bill Adams speaks for those companies and said the one large contractor is necessary to handle the demolition work in Fort McMurray.
Adams said insurance companies tried the traditional clean-up approach in Slave Lake which saw individual homeowners work with their insurance companies to hire contractors.
Dozens of bulldozers and trucks clogged residential streets as 400 properties were cleaned. Adams described that scene as “chaos.”
Eventually, insurance companies hired SPECS to manage the Slave Lake cleanup.
“If it was a problem at 400, it will be a disaster if we do it any other way but a coordinated way in Fort McMurray,” Adams said.
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However, he added the need to go big does not preclude local contractors.
“Every insurance company I’ve spoken with, there’s a bias to want to use local. They understand the economics of this municipality. We know that that’s ultimately going to benefit not just the homeowners, but the community.”
Both the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo and the province have said they will make it a priority to hire local workers for fire cleanup work.
Of the 500 contracts issued by the municipality, 80 per cent have gone to local companies. Four of the five provincial contracts went to Fort McMurray companies.
Neither the municipality nor the province can compel property owners or insurers to choose any specific contractor for work required on private property.
Contractors like J. Paul McLeod hope they are considered.
“These are the people that should be working in Fort McMurray.”
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