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Like the late Canadian singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot, north Vancouver’s Silver Cypress Construction Ltd. is Alberta bound.

Silver Cypress is a general contractor that specializes in commercial construction.

“We also work on residential and multi-family construction projects,” says co-owner Reza Noghrekar. “We have a division for real estate development in B.C. And recently we’ve expanded our general contracting into Alberta.”

The company was started under another name in Iran in 1978 by Mansour Noghrekar, Reza’s father.

In the 1990s, the family and the company moved to Canada. In 2010 it became Silver Cypress (“noghre” means silver in Farsi).

Today the company is run by Reza and his brothers Bobby and Ben.

“The residential construction market is experiencing a downturn now, with numerous projects either delayed or cancelled,” says Noghrekar. “The Canadian economy has not yet fully recovered from COVID-19, and many businesses continue to face significant challenges.”

Beginning in 2020, while the pandemic was raging, Silver Cypress started to get more commercial tenant improvement (TI) work.

One Silver Cypress client is Pharmasave Bellevue, a retail pharmacy in west Vancouver.

Parastoo Sharghi, pharmacist and owner of the business, says renovating the property took about nine months.

“The biggest challenges the project faced were the result of it taking place during COVID-19,” says Sharghi. “Everything, such as getting the necessary permits, took longer than normal.”

Fortunately, Silver Cypress was very helpful, she says.

“Opening a new business is difficult and expensive, and Silver Cypress was very compassionate toward us.”

With five years of experience under his belt, Noghrekar knows a thing or two about the differences between TI and residential projects.

“TI projects are inherently more complex,” he says. “Residential projects have long, flexible timelines, while TI projects are shorter, usually less than 12 weeks.”

Unlike the usually less stringent building code requirements for residential projects, those for TI projects are stricter and more complex.

“More co-ordination among a number of consultants is needed,” says Noghrekar. “Many different players are involved – mechanical, electrical, plumbing, engineers and commercial designers.”

Every project has its unforeseen problems that come up, and Noghrekar says the residential glitches are easier to deal with because most projects have a longer timeline.

“But on TI projects, designers often rely on as-built drawings provided by the landlord, and about 70 per cent of the time they’re inaccurate,” he says. “When issues arise as a result, they’re usually time-sensitive and involve multiple stakeholders and they must be addressed promptly to avoid delays and added costs.”

Noghrekar says a recurring challenge Silver Cypress faces has to do with concrete cutting and coring, especially in buildings above parkades.

“Those concrete slabs often contain dense networks of conduits and pipes that make coring extremely difficult and sometimes even impossible,” he says.

Then there is the matter of getting paid.

“On residential projects there is usually a struggle with the client at the end of the job,” says Noghrekar.  “Most TI projects are more financially secure, because we’re dealing with franchisors or larger companies, and we have more sophisticated contracts because of the municipal inspection requirements and landlord-tenant agreements involved.”

Silver Cypress began expanding into Alberta – primarily Calgary and Edmonton – in February.

“The move was driven by the growing number of franchisors launching new locations or renovating existing stores in Alberta, outpacing similar activity in B.C.,” says Noghrekar. “We’ve also observed a trend of reverse migration from B.C. to Alberta, largely due to more affordable housing and living costs.”

In addition, Silver Cypress has found some construction materials are slightly cheaper in Alberta, and that provincial building codes are generally less strict than in B.C.

“While we don’t yet have an office in Alberta. We are planning to establish one in the coming year to support our growing presence there,” says Noghrekar.

Calgary Construction Association president Bill Black says construction in Alberta is continuing at a fast pace, while the industry in B.C., especially in the Lower Mainland, seems to be slowing.

“There are many reasons why, including the fact that Alberta’s ‘green codes’ are less onerous than B.C.’s, and we have fewer unions to deal with,” says Black.

David Johnson, president of the Edmonton Construction Association, says it takes less time to get building permits in Edmonton or Calgary than it does in the Lower Mainland.

“We’ve been seeing trade contractors from B.C. opening up offices here,” says Johnson.