The outgoing chief executive of one of Canada’s largest construction services companies says his priority during his tenure was hunting for clients, but that his successor will have a different mission: finding workers.

Geoff Smith, the son of company co-founder Don Smith, joined EllisDon in 1981 and has held the role of president and CEO since 1996. He’s set to step down from the top job in June, when he’ll be replaced by current chief operating officer of construction, Kieran Hawe.

“As CEO I used to spend all my time looking for work, like 80 per cent of (it),” Smith said in an interview. “The new CEO is going to have to spend all his time looking for people and trying to be a leader in creating new and sustainable methods for construction and material science.”

Smith will remain at the company started by his father and uncle as chair of the board of directors. He will also retain responsibility for digital and data strategy and execution, as well as for EllisDon’s Windjammer Landing Resort in Saint Lucia.

Smith said the COVID-19 pandemic and post-pandemic period have been among the toughest the construction industry has faced in the decades he’s run EllisDon.

First, COVID-19 snarled vital supply chains globally, which drove up costs for builders. When that strain eased as economies re-opened, inflation hit. Just last year, Smith said construction inflation reached about 15 per cent year over year, “which is terrible.” While he doesn’t think prices will go down this year, he said he expects that rate of inflation to eventually slow and stop.

“The big shocks that hit our industry last year are behind us but it’s still pretty expensive to build out there because of the (labour) shortages,” Smith said.

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