Despite extreme weather conditions and long distances for transporting materials, construction is still a major industry in the Northwest Territories. As long as other industries and the population continue to grow, there will always be job opportunities in construction. Construction is the building, repairing, maintaining and renovating of buildings, bridges, mines, docks, airports, and pipelines. Small and large private businesses, government agencies, manufacturing establishments and public utility companies are all involved in construction at one stage or another. The first phase is the planning phase.
Studies have to be done to decide if it is worthwhile to do a construction project.
Land Surveys, environmental impact studies and feasibility studies are done. Drawings, models and blueprints are made. Architects, engineers, surveyors and geologists are all involved in this phase. The next step is finding someone to do the job. Usually there is a general contractor for a project and they hire many different sub-contractors to complete various parts of the project.