Edmonton Commercial Renovation Portfolio: Nord Alta Construction

Nord Alta Construction's Edmonton Commercial Renovation Project Portfolio

These are just of few of the commercial renovation jobs we have done in the Edmonton area. For more information on the commercial construction process, visit our Commercial Services page.

Magenta Flowers

The owner, Susie, was a new business owner who had been managing other flower shops over the past several years. Her desire was to break out on her own and enjoy the fruits of her labor.

Being a new business owner can be a daunting task, especially if one has to develop retail space in a hot real estate market. After securing the space and financing for this venture, we at Nord Alta Construction were given the opportunity to bid on developing the space and our bid was successful.

As everyone knows, the most important part of the process is the planning stage, which ultimately includes the development of good architectural drawings. The challenge was to finalize what was to be the scope of work since the drawings were under-developed. After some discussion, things were finalized and the project was set in motion.

The restaurant next door had just opened for business after we were there for a couple of weeks. The owner wondered when we were going to be open for business, so we told him that we would be open for the beginning of September, and in fact we opened on the very day planned. In the business next door, they had experienced a four-month delay of their opening day, mainly because of poor drawings, lack of communication and labor shortages.

There were certain things that came up during the construction process that were unrelated to my responsibilities, but we helped the owner to sort out what had to be done so that the project would be completed on time. One of those items was having the electrical panel energized in the suite. It should not have been a problem as the proper applications were made; the problem was that the utility company subcontracted the meter install and the paper work for that had mysteriously disappeared. I followed through by contacting the subcontractor myself to help speed the process up and had found out that some application forms were indeed missing. Another incident that came up was we were no longer able to use power from a common utility room because they were paving the back parking lot. In the early stages of our project when I met the new tenant next door, I told him if there is any way that we can lessen the impact (construction noise) of what we were doing all he had to do was ask. And in fact, when we were doing some concrete demolition we had staged the work to minimize the impact on his restaurant. I asked for his help and he didn’t hesitate in the least; a great guy and good businessman.

The best thing about this project for me was the beaming smile on Susie’s face opening day.

River City Credit Union Ltd.

This was the third project for the River City Credit Union. They were opening a new branch (Ferrier) to service the needs of their new and existing members. There we redeveloped existing space as well as adding space to the existing building. Both the Westwood and Ferrier branches are within city of Edmonton buildings, namely their Transit Bus Barns.

Past Projects

Project 1 - The first project was an office remodel at their main branch for one of their loan officers.

Project 2 - The second project was at their Westwood branch consisting of a total retrofit of their office space. There we changed everything from floor coverings to service counter millwork, all without affecting daily banking operations. These changes were made to reflect the recent merger of Edmonton Civic Employees Credit Union and Edmonton Transit Credit Union to form the new entity River City Credit Union.

Express Personnel

Express Personnel is a franchise operation providing staffing for employers in the city of Edmonton. They have locations across North America, and Daryl Ripley is the owner of this particular operation. I had first met Daryl several months prior to his decision to open a Personnel agency at my BNI chapter (referral business network) of which both of us are members today. When Daryl decided to take the plunge so to speak, everything happened very quickly and as soon as we started the job, Daryl and his staff were off to Okalahoma for training. We were able to be in constant communication with one another by both telephone and e-mail, and for the most part everything went off without a hitch. We completed the project on time and on budget, for which I give my sub trades a lot of credit for their dedication and professionalism.