school. After finishing school, he worked with the company full time for a while until leaving for the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology, where he earned a diploma in Civil Engineering Technology. While he was at school, the family company was acquired by a large Dutch conglomerate. He returned anyway and spent several years there working as a senior project manager up until 2018. The year after that, he bought into Kays Contracting, becoming an owner alongside his partner, Matt Hanlon. These days, Kays Contracting provides a core range of services in underground utilities, earthwork, excavation, site preparation, grading and paving, structural concrete, and slope stability and retaining. Geographically, they primarily work in the West Kootenay region, in municipalities surrounding Nelson. They will occasionally venture further, “but we try to keep the crew sleeping in their own beds – that’s always our goal,” Jeff says. “The interior of BC is an amazing place,” he says. “We want everyone on our team to be able to enjoy it and to have a rewarding life here. That’s a big part of why we do what we do.” In terms of project size, Kays Contracting can take jobs ranging in value anywhere from $50,000 to $2.5 million, with their “sweet spot” falling within the $1-to-$2 million range. The majority of their projects are publicly funded and acquired through a tendering process, but they also do some larger scale private developments. Jeff says most of that work is generated through word of mouth. THE CONSTRUCTION SOURCE CANADA
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