A massive increase in construction projects prompted the City of Winnipeg’s property, planning and development department to request — and receive — $900,000 to add 22 temporary permit inspectors.

The request was granted by the city’s finance committee on Friday. 

The construction industry is seeing a huge increase in tenders for work, and the city is seeing record-high permit volumes and requests for service.

“April and May were the largest on record for tenders in Manitoba and we are expecting that to continue,” said Darryl Harrison with the Winnipeg Construction Association.

The association represents more than 800 construction companies that do commercial work. 

Harrison’s perspective on the sheer volume of work in the industry is echoed by Lanny McInnes of the Manitoba Home Builders’ Association.

“Nobody knew what was coming. We were preparing for the worst. [Then] we had a very strong summer, especially on the home renovation side,” McInnes said. 

Despite challenges from the pandemic, the city saw an increase of more than 1,000 housing permit applications from 2019 to 2020, and the home renovation sector is growing at a even greater pace. 

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