Why CTL Canada?
If this was easy everyone would do it. If all utility construction was the same, there would be no diversity. CTL has chosen a lesser travelled path in utility construction. We've moved away from the new subdivisions; we've shyed away from the deep excavations of mainline water and sewer construction; we've focused on urban construction rather than rural; we've developed our teams to produce quality not quantity.
As the urban centers age and density increases there are increasing demands on distribution networks in the power and telecom servicing industries. Where 30 and 40 years of infrastructure groan to keep up with the demands of an ipod culture, replacements and enhancements are required. Within the existing neighborhoods, the schools and buses, the daycares and local retail, the deliveries to the grocery store and the day to day of residents needs to be incorporated in construction planning and delivery, Long open trenches, deep excavations and mud tracked all over the roads isn’t going to cut it in on these jobs.
When we started drilling, we were helping our existing clients in the city, drilling short shots across roads and driveways. When they got a feel for how little ground disturbance it took to install the pipes, they started to get excited and the volume increased. Our equipment selection followed our workload and we ended up buying mid-sized drills to follow the streets and bend through the utilites of existing neighborhoods. Long strings of drill pipe on smaller machines have provided flexibility to select tie-in points and limit the number of holes and the amount of mess it takes to build new systems. We still have smaller machines for tight areas and larger machines for long shots and larger reamers, but we're paying the bills spinning smaller rods in tighter areas.
Consistently being exposed to the demands of urban work and commitments to delivery times, we found that we needed to enhance our equipment to lessen our reliance on outside suppliers. We've gone to great lengths to custom build crew trucks, drill trucks and equipment to support every possible aspect of our construction program. While we still count on suppliers for specialty work like asphalt replacement and surveying, we have the capacity in-house to complete all aspects of the work without worrying about delivery times or subcontractor equipment breakdowns. When you have your own excavators, trucks, trailers, road plates, traffic control, locators, winches, tool trucks, mechanics, welders, fabricators, truck drivers, engineers and drillers at the ready, you don't wait long for the help you need.
Safety? Safety. Safety! In 1999 Keith Hanson asked me what's most important: Cost, Quality, Schedule or Price? Luckily I had the sense to answer Safety first. I knew I was right but I wasn't prepared to answer why. He went on to provide an education that I expect I will never forget. The lesson went: If you can't complete a job safely, it's not worth doing. Secondly, if you don't do it well and deliver a quality product, the product will fail and the client will be unhappy and you'll never get another job. You're left with cost and schedule, however your client can't start making money if you can't deliver on time. Another opportunity to fail in the eyes of your client. Keith's point was that within the mass of construction, price is the detail at the bottom, the bottom line. When we started building our safety program in the 90s we were battling to convince our guys that hardhats and traffic signs were a good idea. Where we've gotten to has been a mountain of paper and a lot of hard work, but we're consistently top of the class with ACSA, COR and ISNetworld.
We know that anyone at Joe's Bobcat can dig a hole or spin a rod in an empty field, but if your urban project includes safety, quality and schedule in project deliverables, we'd sure like to step to the front of the class and show you what we can do.
