On November 16, 2023, Houle was inducted into the Burnaby Business Hall of Fame. This special award is bestowed jointly by the Burnaby Board of Trade and the City of Burnaby every year to a widely-recognized, Burnaby-based business that has demonstrated outstanding business success over many years and has had a positive and significant impact on the community.
This award is a testament to the dedication, hard work, and innovation of our entire team and to our almost 80-years of providing electrical and technology solutions to people across the province. It also reflects the values that drive us every day – excellence, collaboration, and a commitment to making a positive impact.
The Houle legacy began in 1944, when Lionel Houle and his father opened an electrical store in Port Alberni to serve the needs of the community. In the 1950s, Lionel established Houle’s headquarters in the city of Burnaby, and we’ve been growing ever since. Today, we have become BC’s leading electrical contractor and systems integrator. Trusted to deliver some of the province’s most complex infrastructure projects. From hospitals, universities, and shopping centres, to airports, shipping terminals, and sustainable power infrastructure. We’re passionate about what we do and provide the experience, capabilities, and resources to deliver innovative solutions for any project.
We’re also proud of our long-standing tradition of supporting organizations that do incredible work in our communities. This includes groups like the BC Children’s Hospital Foundation and the Greater Vancouver Food Bank.
We are honored to have been selected and express our gratitude to the Burnaby Board of Trade, its members, the City of Burnaby, and the entire Burnaby community for granting us this prestigious recognition. This recognition energizes and inspires us to continue our work in bringing communities to life.
About the Burnaby Board of Trade
The Burnaby Board of Trade (BBOT) is Burnaby’s most active business networking, advocacy and economic development organization. Working closely with the municipality, its members, and various community stakeholders. The BBOT supports the growth of business both locally and internationally and fosters a sustainable business environment through networking, education, advocacy and development. The BBOT focuses on ‘making business better’ by providing its membership with insightful leadership, advocacy, education and a platform for collaboration. For more information about the BBOT, visit bbot.ca.
We did it again! For the fourth consecutive year, Houle has been certified as a Great Place to Work®. This certification recognizes our team’s commitment to living our core values, building a positive workplace culture, and implementing processes and tools that help drive our success.
As an employer that puts people first; we’re a company with heart and a commitment to making a positive difference. The passion and dedication of our founders live on in our current generation of employees as we seek to create opportunities for everyone who works at Houle, for our partners, and for the communities in which we operate. We work to create a safe, fun, and fulfilling work environment where everyone is welcome, valued, and given the opportunity to grow. This includes extensive safety standards and programs, mental health and wellness resources, community outreach and charitable giving, fun events, and team-building socials that help us laugh and grow together.
We’re proud of the lasting workplace culture we’ve built over the decades – continually adapting and adopting better ways of doing things, while never letting go of our values and who we are as a company. It’s inspiring to see our people continue to foster a workplace where everyone has the opportunity to succeed.
– Amber Roberts, VP of People & Culture, Houle
MORE ABOUT GREAT PLACE TO WORK®
Great Place to Work® is the global authority on high-trust, high-performance workplace cultures. Through proprietary assessment tools, advisory services, and certification programs, Great Place to Work® recognizes the Best Workplaces™ across the world in a series of national lists including those published by Fortune magazine (USA) and The Globe & Mail (Canada).
HOW DOES GREAT PLACE CERTIFICATION WORK?
The Great Place Institute determines certification based on the results of an anonymous employee survey and a separate evaluation of the organization’s management practices. The survey includes various parameters like safety, respect, fairness, management, team dynamics, and inclusion.
Want to work in a positive and growing organization? Check out our current career opportunities.
We’re thrilled to be listed among Canada’s Best Managed Companies again for 2023. We’re honoured to requalify as a Platinum Club member, retaining our Best Managed status for over ten consecutive years!
It’s a privilege to be part of a company that continues to provide leadership in developing people and culture, exceeding industry standards, and bringing communities to life across BC.
Keith Parsonage, President & CEO, Houle
This designation is a reflection of our talented teams and strategic initiatives that contribute to our success. Evaluation determines best practices in the areas of strategy, culture and commitment, capabilities and innovation, governance, and financial performance. This award recognizes our dedication to connecting our people with purpose and delivering projects that make a lasting impact.
We congratulate all this year’s winners! See the winner’s list here.
About Canada’s Best Managed Companies
Canada’s Best Managed Companies continues to be the mark of excellence for private Canadian-owned and managed companies. Since 1993, hundreds of entrepreneurial companies compete for this designation. Each time, completing a rigorous and independent process that evaluates their management skills and practices.
The awards are granted on four levels: 1) Canada’s Best Managed Companies new winner (one of the new winners selected each year); 2) Canada’s Best Managed Companies winner (award recipients that have re-applied and successfully retained their Best Managed designation for two additional years, subject to annual operational and financial review); 3) Gold Standard winner (after three consecutive years of maintaining their Best Managed status, these winners have demonstrated their commitment to the program and successfully retained their award for 4-6 consecutive years); 4) Platinum Club member (winners that have maintained their Best Managed status for seven years or more). Program sponsors are Deloitte Private, CIBC, The Globe and Mail, Salesforce, and TMX Group.
For more information, visit www.bestmanagedcompanies.ca.
We’re thrilled to announce that we received the Innovation and Productivity Award at the 2023 Southern Interior Construction Association (SICA) Industry Awards of Excellence!
This award recognizes leadership in innovation and productivity and the challenges overcome to produce excellence in construction. Our Project Planning and Prefab teams employ Building Information Modeling (BIM) modeling to improve collaboration with clash detection, resolution planning, and scheduling coordination which helps reduce costly delays and rework. Our prefabrication capabilities support improved safety by reducing on-site construction and provide greater efficiencies when delivering large, complex projects. Through this innovative process and direct collaboration with our clients and project stakeholders, we’re able to significantly increase productivity on our projects and the overall quality of our installations. These capabilities and approaches also improve our ability to engage in multi-trade collaboration on larger projects, offering improved project management and enhanced sustainability for our project partners.
Shout-out to our talented teams for their contributions to our culture of innovation and collaboration and thanks to SICA for providing leadership and promoting excellence in the construction industry.
MORE ABOUT SICA
The Southern Interior Construction Association (SICA) is a non-profit membership organization representing the construction industry in the southern interior of British Columbia. SICA works to ensure fairness, transparency, and open communication in the construction industry while supporting the growth of local businesses. The association offers a wide range of services to its members, including networking opportunities, training, education, and industry advocacy.
To kick off BC Construction Month, we’re excited to share that we’re the recipients of two Builders Code Awards – the Workplace Culture Champion Award and the Contractor of the Year Award!
These awards recognize the efforts of our people and programs that continue to create an environment where all employees have access to a safe, respectful, and inclusive workplace. We’re proud of our people-focused culture that inspires collaboration and innovation and promotes wellness and safety that goes beyond PPE. Thanks to our talented teams that prioritize safety, health, and wellbeing and continuously work to make the construction industry better for everyone.
What’s Builders Code?
The Builders Code, managed by the BC Construction Association, is a code of behaviour that acts as a guide for workers on construction sites. It defines an “Acceptable Worksite” as being safe, productive, and free from discrimination, bullying, harassment, and hazing. The Builders Code is intended to help construction employers communicate a reasonable, consistent behaviour expectation to improve the safety, productivity and retention of skilled tradespeople, and reduce project risk.
View the full list of winners on the Builders Code website.
We’re honoured to receive the Healthy, Diverse and Inclusive Workplace award at the 23rd Annual Burnaby Business Excellence Awards! We’re proud of our talented teams and innovative programs that help promote safety, health and wellbeing and a culture of inclusion, diversity and belonging at Houle.
This award recognizes our commitment to creating an environment where team members of all backgrounds feel safe, respected and valued. Our work is far from over and we will continue to strive for better in our pursuit of a truly diverse and inclusive workplace. We look forward to building on our success and creating a better future for our teams and clients.
Thank you to the Burnaby Board of Trade for the recognition and for celebrating the outstanding contributions to the local economy and community. Congratulations to all the finalists, nominees, and award recipients of the Burnaby Business Excellence Awards. Your contributions to the local economy and community are valuable and appreciated.
About the Award
The Burnaby Business Excellence Awards is a joint initiative of the Burnaby Board of Trade and the City of Burnaby. The Awards Program is an opportunity to recognize and honour Burnaby businesses that have demonstrated outstanding business excellence, innovation, success and contributions to our city, as well as have made a significant contribution to community spirit, service and quality of life.
Healthy, Diverse and Inclusive Workplace – For a business that has recognized the value of employee health and wellness, and has created a workplace and culture which supports employees in their efforts to achieve work-life balance and to maintain and improve their physical, emotional and mental well-being. For a business that demonstrated sustained support for advancing diversity and inclusion in the workplace and as a catalyst within an industry, organization or local community.
This Spring, Houle was recognized with the Top Sales and Million-Dollar Milestone awards from Reliable Controls. These awards are a testament to our talented Building Controls teams’ commitment to customer service, collaboration, and delivery of quality solutions. We are proud of our exceptional sales performance and longstanding partnership with Reliable Controls.
- Top Sales award
This award celebrates the dealer in each region who achieved the highest total sales in 2021. Thanks to our dedicated team for their hard work and commitment to delivering innovative and reliable building controls services. - Million-Dollar Milestone award
This award recognizes dealers who have reached over $1,000,000 in historical purchases with Reliable Controls and denotes a dealer of distinction. This award is a reflection of our longstanding partnership with Reliable Controls and our commitment to delivering reliable and innovative building controls solutions to our customers.
We can’t be successful in our mission or our business without the engaged effort of all our friends and partners in the Authorized Dealer network around the world.
– Levi Tully, EVP – Sales, Reliable Controls
At Houle, we are committed to providing innovative and reliable building controls services to our customers. Our team of experts delivers quality solutions that meet the unique needs of our clients.
To learn more about our Building Controls services, visit our Building Controls page or contact us.
We’re thrilled to be the recipient of the 2022 Southern Interior Construction Association (SICA) Trade Excellence award for the First West Credit Union Tenant Improvement project in Penticton. The award recognizes the exceptional work done by trade contractors and their contributions to the overall success of the project.
The First West Credit Union Tenant Improvement project involved a full renovation of the existing three-storey office, which consisted of completely removing the walls, floors, ceiling, and all the electrical and mechanical.
Our multi-disciplinary team was able to provide electrical and technology solutions for the main electrical, lighting, and structured cabling scope, including custom live wall lighting and custom floor boxes for power and data. Congratulations to our Kelowna team for their commitment to project excellence and customer service on this project. View the full project profile here.
About the Award
The Trade Excellence award is a new addition to the SICA Industry Awards of Excellence and recognizes the many unique details that makeup construction projects as a whole. It is an acknowledgment of the exceptional work that trade contractors bring to construction projects and highlights the importance of their contributions to the overall success of the project. See more here.
More About SICA
The Southern Interior Construction Association (SICA) is a non-profit membership organization representing the construction industry in the southern interior of British Columbia. SICA works to ensure fairness, transparency, and open communication in the construction industry while supporting the growth of local businesses. The association offers a wide range of services to its members, including networking opportunities, training, education, and industry advocacy. See more here.
In summary, the SICA Trade Excellence award recognizes the exceptional work done by trade contractors on the First West Credit Union Tenant Improvement project in Penticton, BC. The award highlights the importance of trade contractors’ contributions to the overall success of a project and recognizes their expertise and professionalism.
It was an honour to participate in the Vancouver Island Construction Association (VICA) 2022 Awards Gala again this year. This industry event celebrates the work VICA members do across Vancouver Island, the Gulf Islands, and coastal British Columbia. This year, we are delighted to be recognized with the following awards:
- Safety Excellence Award
- Subcontractor Award Under $2 Million – Nanaimo Airport Terminal
We are proud of our employees’ steadfast commitment to safety and we congratulate the Nanaimo Airport Expansion project team for their collaboration and innovation that contributed to the successful delivery of this complex project. Our multi-disciplined team had the opportunity to provide electrical and technology solutions, including main electrical, security, structured cabling, and audio-visual. You can see the full project profile here.
Thank you VICA for the recognition and continued commitment to raising the bar for construction in BC. Congratulations to all the 2022 award winners and nominees!
You can watch the full virtual VICA Awards show here:
The VRCA Awards of Excellence Gala was an inspiring event, held on March 2, 2022, to celebrate the exceptional work of BC’s construction industry. We proudly received the following awards:
- Gold Award (Nanaimo Airport – Terminal Expansion Phase One)
- Gold Award (VGH Operating Room Renewal Project – Fitout, Roofworks, and Chiller)
- Silver Award (Clayton Community Centre)
- Silver Award (BZAM Management – Midway Security Design)
- Safety Award (Trade contractor 200,000+ person hours)
- Innovation & Productivity Award (Project Planning Services)
- Environment & Sustainability Award (Implementation of Photovoltaic Systems)
Here’s to all our employees who uphold our values, deliver quality projects for our customers, and bring communities to life every day.
Thank you VRCA for the recognition and for the continued commitment to making the Vancouver construction industry a better place for everyone. Congratulations to all the 2020 and 2021 award winners and nominees – we’re proud to be part of such an excellent industry!