Utility construction contractor for transmission, distribution, and renewable projects across North America
Forbes Bros operates one of North America's largest privately-held utility construction networks, with 501–1,000 employees and 13+ regional offices spanning Canada and the US. The company's tech stack is field-focused (Viewpoint for project management, Trimble for surveying, Megger for testing) rather than AI or analytics-heavy, reflecting the capital-intensive, manual-labor nature of large-scale powerline and transmission work. Active hiring concentrates heavily on construction field roles (31 of 52 open positions), matched to an ongoing portfolio of multi-work-front transmission projects and greenfield substation builds.
Notable leadership hires: Construction Material Lead
Forbes Bros constructs and maintains utility infrastructure for transmission, distribution, renewable energy, and telecommunications projects across North America. Founded in 1977, the company expanded geographically from Saskatchewan roots and scaled through acquisition of four powerline firms (RS Line, Interlake Powerline, Timberline, Titan Electric) and adjacent service providers (Summit Telecom, HPS Hydrovac, Bullet Boring). The firm operates 2,500+ owned equipment units, including six full stringing gear sets and six repair shops, enabling surge capacity for simultaneous large-scale projects. Core pain points center on safety compliance, cross-functional coordination across distributed crews, material forecasting, and environmental permitting — typical friction points in geographically dispersed field operations.
Viewpoint is the primary platform, supplemented by Trimble for surveying, Megger for electrical testing, and Microsoft Project for scheduling. Stack is enterprise-standard office tools (Word, Excel, Outlook, Teams, SharePoint).
Canadian offices in Edmonton (HQ), Prince Albert (SK), Winnipeg (MB), Toronto (ON). US operations in Rapid City (SD), Williston (ND), Casper (WY), Seattle (WA), Salt Lake City (UT), Salem (UT).
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