A commercial general contractor in Calgary is the company that signs the construction contract, hires and runs every trade, and takes responsibility for delivering the building to code. This page is for owners and tenants hiring a GC for the first time, or for the first time in years. It explains what the job really involves, how the three main ways of contracting compare, and how to check a contractor's credentials before you sign. If you are after our services rather than the background, our commercial construction page has the full list.
What does a general contractor do on a commercial project?
Most people picture the GC as the company on site. The site work matters, but much of what you are paying for happens before anyone picks up a tool.
Preconstruction: reviewing the drawings, the lease and the landlord's construction criteria, walking the space, and spotting what is missing. A missing sanitary line, an undersized electrical service or a rooftop unit at the end of its life are all cheaper to find on paper.
Estimating: pricing every trade against the drawings, carrying allowances only where the scope is truly unknown, and saying clearly what is excluded. A tight estimate that leaves out the fire alarm upgrade is not cheaper. It is just later.
Permits: preparing the City of Calgary building permit application, coordinating the engineered drawings, answering the reviewer's comments, and making sure each trade pulls its own electrical, plumbing, gas or HVAC permit.
Trade coordination: a commercial fit-out packs a long list of trades into a small space. The GC decides who goes in when, so the electrician is not waiting on the framer and the drywall is not closed before the inspector has seen the rough-in.
Schedule management: ordering long-lead items early, booking inspections ahead, and protecting the opening date. On most fit-outs the critical path runs through equipment deliveries and inspections, not through the construction itself.
Site safety and closeout: running a safe site under Alberta OHS rules, then clearing the deficiency list and handing over warranties and manuals.
Design-build, design-bid-build or construction management?
There are three common ways to contract a commercial project. Each one moves risk to a different place.
| Design-build | Design-bid-build | Construction management | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contracts | One, with the design-builder | Two: owner–architect and owner–contractor | Owner–architect, plus owner–CM |
| Sequence | Design and construction overlap | Design, then bid, then build | CM joins during design |
| Price certainty | Early, once design is fixed | At bid, on finished drawings | Builds up trade by trade, open book |
| Who carries design risk | The design-builder | The owner | Mostly the owner |
| Best for | Tenant improvements and fixed opening dates | Owners with an architect, or required public tendering | Large, phased or fast-moving scopes |
Design-build puts design and construction under one contract. The estimator is in the room while the layout is drawn, so you find out that a feature is expensive before it is designed in, not after. The phases overlap, which shortens the schedule, and when something goes wrong there is one party to call. This is how we run most of our commercial work.
Design-bid-build is the traditional route. Your architect finishes the drawings, several contractors bid, and you choose. You get competitive pricing on a complete set, which is why public owners and some lenders require it. The trade-off is time, since nothing overlaps, and risk: if the drawings miss something, the contractor prices it as a change order.
Construction management brings the contractor in during design as an adviser, then has them manage the trades on an open-book basis. It gives you visibility into every trade price and flexibility while the scope is still moving. It suits larger or phased projects better than a single-unit fit-out.
How to choose: weigh how sensitive your schedule is, how much budget certainty you need and when, how complex the building is, and whether your landlord, lender or board has procurement rules. If the opening date is fixed and the scope is a single unit, design-build is usually the answer.
How to vet a commercial general contractor in Calgary
Ask every contractor you are considering for the same package. A serious commercial GC will have it ready, and the ones who do not are telling you something.
- Certificate of Recognition (COR), or SECOR for small firms. COR is Alberta's health and safety certificate, issued through a certifying partner (for construction, the Alberta Construction Safety Association) and co-signed by the Government of Alberta. A firm has to pass an audit with at least 80% overall and at least 50% in every element. It is valid for three years, with maintenance audits in between. Firms with 10 or fewer employees can hold a SECOR instead. COR is voluntary under the OHS Act, but many general contractors, public owners and industrial clients require it before a contractor can bid.
- WCB-Alberta clearance letter: ask for a current clearance, not a policy number. It confirms the contractor's account is in good standing, which protects you from liability for unpaid premiums.
- City of Calgary business licence: a contractor needs one to pull permits in the city.
- Liability insurance: we advise clients to require at least $5 million in commercial general liability, with you named as additional insured. Ask for the certificate, not a verbal assurance.
- Bonding capacity: for larger projects, or where your landlord or lender asks for it, confirm the contractor can provide performance and labour-and-materials bonds, and through which surety.
- A prequalification package: company history, key staff, safety statistics, insurance, licences and current workload in one document.
- References and a real portfolio: projects of your size and type, with contacts you can call. Photos alone are not references.
Two warning signs from our side of the table: a price that comes in well below the others without a scope explanation, and a contractor who cannot say who the project manager will be.
Ask us for ours, and hold us to the same list.
What a commercial GC does not do
A GC builds what the drawings and the permit allow. Some things sit outside the contract unless you add them:
- Zoning and land-use decisions: whether your use is allowed at an address is a land-use question. We can tell you what the Change of Use process involves, but the planning decision is the City's.
- Your business licence and operating approvals: food handling permits, a pharmacy licence or AGLC approval are the operator's responsibility, though we build to what they require.
- Furniture, IT and specialty equipment: these are often supplied by the owner and coordinated with us. We need the specifications early, because equipment drives the electrical, plumbing and structural design.
What owners ask before hiring a GC
What is the difference between a general contractor and a design-build contractor?
A general contractor builds from drawings someone else has finished. A design-build contractor provides the design and the construction under one contract, so the price and the design develop together. Many commercial contractors, including Kay2 Commercial, work under both models.
What credentials should a commercial contractor in Alberta have?
At minimum: an active WCB-Alberta clearance, a City of Calgary business licence, commercial general liability insurance (we advise $5 million), and a COR or SECOR safety certificate. For larger work, add bonding capacity and a prequalification package with references.
Is the lowest bid the best choice?
Only if the scopes match. A number well below the others usually means something is missing, and it comes back as a change order.
Do I need a general contractor for a small fit-out?
If the work needs a building permit, which every commercial interior alteration in Calgary does, someone has to coordinate the permit, the engineered drawings and the trades. On small jobs that can be a lean contract, but going without a GC usually means you are the GC.
How are change orders handled?
Changes should be priced in writing and approved before the work is done. Under design-build, change orders mostly come from owner decisions, because the design and the price were developed together. Under design-bid-build, they also come from gaps in the drawings.