About the industry

Construction workerWith annual sales of $7 billion, Alberta's building products industry is one of the largest and strongest in the province and has earned a reputation for excellence, particularly in the area of cold-weather construction. Alberta’s building products and technologies sector is made up of over 1,200 listed companies employing approximately 30,000 people who manufacture a variety of commodity and value-added products. Most of these companies are small to medium size businesses specializing in custom work and leading edge technology.

Industry Fast Facts
2009
  • Annual revenues: $7 billion
  • Value of annual exports: $1.1 billion
  • Number of companies: Over 1,200
  • Direct Employees: 30,000

Areas of expertise

The areas where Alberta's building products and technologies industry excels and sees the greatest potential for growth are:

     

  • Green Building Technologies: The "green" trend will likely be more prevalent in coming years and present opportunities for manufacturers of Structurally Insulated Panels (SIPs), on-demand hot water tanks, high-efficiency heating systems, Insulated Concrete Forms (ICFs), fibre-cement products, foam and cellulose insulation, etc.

     

    Belgravia Net Zero Home

     

  • Dimensional Softwood lumber and engineered wood products: Alberta’s Spruce, Pine and Fir (SPF) wood products possess strength and clarity properties desirable among builder worldwide. In particular, Alberta’s six Oriented Strand Board (OSB) facilities account for approximately 15% of the North American OSB Market.

     

  • Insulation: Alberta's insulation manufacturers produce a wide variety of insulation products.

     

     

  • Roofing shingles: Roofing shingles produced by Alberta companies are known for their quality, durability and innovation. Some Alberta companies are manufacturing shingles from recycled tires.

     

     

  • PVC Windows: Alberta PVC window manufacturers have state-of-the-art facilities and a reputation for creating products of an exceptional quality.

     

     

  • Energy efficient building envelopes: Alberta temperature extremes provide an ideal setting for perfecting building envelopes that maximize energy use. Alberta companies have the expertise to ensure a building retains heat in the winter, remains cool in the summer, and uses energy wisely and cost-effectively.

     

     

  • Pre-manufactured components production trend: The trend towards assembling pre-manufactured components on site is creating opportunities for the production of wall, roof and floor systems and is shifting demand away from primary products such as dimensional lumber and OSB panels which are used in traditional "stick-built" construction. This in turn is reducing the variability in house quality and lessening the need for trades people at the building site.

     

     

  • Composite building products: Composite building products are becoming increasingly popular. With its abundant supply of raw materials (saw dust, wood flour, wood shavings, polyethylene and polypropylene), Alberta has the opportunity to develop a range of new products for this market.

     

Date Updated:
RDP-1986