Prairie North Const. Ltd. (PNCL) is an earthmoving contracting company providing a full suite of services for all applications of land clearing, earthmoving, grading, excavation, road building, hydrological management, environmental remediation, reclamation and contract mining. Since its 1996 launch, PNCL has completed over 50 projects, and as a general contractor, over the last five years alone, has completed projects with a combined total exceeding $200 million.
PNCL is part of the Prairie North Group of Companies, which consists of the Aboriginal owned subordinate company Prairie North Enterprises Ltd (PNEL), BTO Contracting Ltd. (BTO) and GoAsphalt 2021 Ltd. PNEL is a newly certified NAABA business, which demonstrates PNCL’s commitment to local Aboriginal communities.
It all started as a venture between friends. President F. Craig Robertson was working in the family business when he decided to start his own venture. He met D. Alvin Spray and with a shared vision, they launched PNCL together.
Robertson reminisces, “We started our first job with all rental equipment. Our first project was a secondary highway in 1996, and our growth catapulted from there. Thanks to some industry connections, we were able to secure bonding quickly, which gave us the ability to bid on public works projects.”
In very short order, PNCL was working at full capacity with its own inventory of owned equipment, completing public and private projects throughout Alberta.
“We built the road into CNRL Horizon with Kiewit in 2003 and were a key contractor in construction of the Fort McMurray airport in 2010,” says Robertson. “Scalability was a challenge and growing sustainably was a focal point for the executive team to realize success. A plot of land for a new corporate headquarters was purchased in 2004, and a shop was constructed in 2016.”
The steady pace of growth continued.
“In 2018, we acquired BTO Contracting, which added lagoons and landfills to our areas of expertise. In 2022, we acquired GoAsphalt (2021) Ltd., which added residential and commercial paving solutions to our portfolio. Now, PNCL has become one of the major earthmoving companies in Western Canada with a full quality management system that enables us to support private work. We also have an internal safety department to oversee the risks associated with our work and manage applicable hazards. From a company with two employees on day one, we now have over 300 on a seasonal basis.”
For Robertson, the success goes beyond the business acumen of the founders.
“When hard work meets opportunity, success is achieved,” he smiles. “Our success is also highly dependent on the many people who have worked with us over the years, our strategic acquisitions and standing out from our competition by offering safe, professional and economical earthmoving services with a focus on quality and client satisfaction.”
Over the course of three decades, PNCL has completed numerous projects, all of which Robertson and his team give consider equal in terms of importance and impact. There are, however, a few that stand out to him for special reasons.
“The Hwy 40 Grande Prairie project was the largest public grading job awarded in Alberta in the last few years. This is a twinning project to provide additional arterial capacity just outside of Grande Prairie,” says Robertson.
For this, PNCL was subcontracted to complete the second phase of the grading portion of Highway 40:42 Twinning project. PNCL’s scope consisted of incorporating the new northbound and southbound alignments by grade widening the existing highway where applicable, in addition to other design aspects intended to relieve commercial and public traffic, which sat around 4,520 vehicles per day.
This project required around-the-clock excavation in the winter to overcome conditions driven by large quantities of wetlands within the project’s footprint. The coordination of contract bid items was structured to allow for excavation of muskeg, topsoil stripping, excavation/haulage, CSP installation, gravel salvage, drainage blanket installation and SWSP boring all at the same time.
To date on this ongoing project, maximum production over a 24-hour period has reached 41,000m3. All this was achieved so far by 125 PNCL employees, 50 PNCL machines and 33 subcontracted highway trucks.
Another project facilitated a new Indigenous commitment with D Jean Enterprises Ltd., and an emergence for PNCL into the oil sands.
Robertson says, “We successfully completed all civil earthworks for the Wellpad 9120 and flowline project at the CNOOC Long Lake Facility. The work supported ongoing production needs, which included approximately 1.5 kilometres of flowline grading, 1.1 kilometres of new access road and full development of the 9120 wellpad.”
This encompassed all necessary site preparation and survey verification tasks, such as establishing control points, confirming elevations and scanning for underground utilities. The site was cleared and mulched, followed by targeted peat stripping, removal of unsuitable materials and placement of common fill along the access road and pad.
Pad construction included a five-metre-deep containment pond, a one-metre ditch line and berm construction. Well cellars were installed on the pad, involving excavation to specified elevations, precise placement and backfilling to ensure adequate support for drilling operations. The pad and access road were finalized to grade through the layered placement and compaction of common fill, along crushed gravel to facilitate the rig move. Installation activities included HP370 geotextile, culverts, geogrid where applicable and riprap throughout the project. Additionally, PNCL undertook an extended scope of work for the drain tank area. PNCL implemented quality control measures like survey validation, winter-condition roll testing, compaction testing and ongoing installation inspections.
When not busy innovating and providing solutions in the field, PNCL gives back to the community. Giving back is a fundamental value for the entire team.
“We support Indigenous communities with whom we connect with throughout the course of our work,” says Robertson. “Most notably, in 2023, PNCL made several donations to the Peerless Trout First Nation in the form of work opportunities, catering and a new community dock, for example.”
For 30 years – and counting – Robertson is grateful to his team, clients, communities PNCL has served and all who have been a part of the success of the growing company.
“Our connection with Mark McKinley of Lloyd Sadd has been instrumental in securing our bonding. Craig has built a strong friendship with Mark over the years,” he adds. “I am grateful for the success PNCL has brought me and my family, and to watch all of my employees prosper under the umbrella of the group of companies.” Previous to Mark, Brian Staden was in charge of PNCL’s bonding for a number of years.
What comes next for PNCL? Robertson is happy to share, “The company’s growth hasn’t stagnated. We continue to be on the lookout for new acquisitions and mergers to help accelerate our growth and add to our portfolio of service offerings. The goal is to grow our existing team and fleet to become a full service development contractor from utilities to surfacing. As existing ownership transitions into retirement, we look forward to an opportunity to pass ownership onto the employees.”
PNCL is Alberta’s lean, green grading machine.