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Trevor Stein’s company spent nearly a year wiring new apartment complexes in Saskatoon’s Stonebridge neighbourhood.

After Stein invoiced the owner, Block 1, for more than a million dollars for wages and materials, he learned the British Columbia real estate company was seeking creditor protection.

The company never did pay him or a number of other local contractors for the work they completed, he says.

“Not one penny,” Stein said, after the courts finished sorting out Block 1’s misadventures this summer. “All our liens got ripped out and tossed out.”

With 60 employees depending on him, Stein said he had no choice but to chase more work to cover expenses.

Finding that work is now more difficult.

For construction companies in Saskatchewan, 2015 was a record year, as crews built Regina’s new football stadium and the Children’s Hospital in Saskatoon, along with new hospitals in Moose Jaw and North Battleford.

The province has since tightened its belt.

“Where you used to have three or four companies that used to compete for a job, now there are 20,” said Mark Cooper, president of the Saskatchewan Construction Association. “There’s just less work.”

Cooper said since 2015, 14,000 jobs have disappeared from Saskatchewan’s construction industry.

“What we do need is a return of confidence to the economy at both the consumer level and the investor level,” Cooper said.

“People are holding onto their money.”

It seems fewer people can afford to build new houses in Saskatchewan, which saw a 32 per cent drop in urban housing starts this summer compared to last, earning it a last-place ranking among the provinces for growth.

Per square foot, Saskatoon has also become the most expensive city to build in Canada, with Regina in second place.

One home builder working in both Regina and Saskatoon has now laid off 50 employees.

Saskatchewan has weathered downturns before, said Stu Niebergall, president of the Regina and Region Home Builders’ Association.

Keep reading on Yahoo News

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