Capability, Skill, and Know-How
By Anna Guy
Jacob Albertson, General Manager of Duz Cho Construction LP, is experienced enough in the construction industry to know a skilled, industrious, and efficient team when he sees one. His decades of experience working on some of the biggest projects on the West coast of Canada let him know that the Duz Cho Group of Companies can compete with any other businesses and come out on top.
Albertson says that’s a very important element to the Duz Cho Group of Companies. Duz Cho Construction company, owned by the McLeod Lake Indian Band, is known for heavy earthworks, clearing and developing land, building dams, roads, and other earth moving construction.
“We are a contractor who has the capability, the skill, and the know-how of doing everything our clients require,” says Albertson. “We do it with pride, and because we want to make sure that we are earning the work, we know that our reputation precedes us.”
Stared in the early 2000s, Duz Cho’s first foray into the oil sands was as a client for Shell Canada, with experience in coal operations and in hard rock mineral extraction. In 2008, when the industry started to weaken, Duz Cho pivoted into the mining industry, working on remediation and reclamation projects. From exploration and development, to operations and reclamation, Duz Cho’s proven track record in safety and production and operators and supervisors are some of the best in the industry.
Proud First Nations Company
Through strong leadership and perseverance, the business has continued to diversify into separate divisions, including oil and gas, mining, and alternate energy. Partnerships with Shell Canada, BC Hydro, and Conuma Coal has seen the group create a strong employment rate for the group.
“We are a proud First Nation company that employs a lot of band members, not just with our band but with bands local to each project,” says Albertson. “We do excellent work—just as good if not better than all our competitors out there.”
Duz Cho has been recognized many times for being a strong model for economic development, receiving awards such as the 2014 Business of the Year Award from the Mackenzie Chamber of Commerce, and the 2012 Aboriginal Forest Products Business Leadership Award from the National Assembly of First Nations.
BC Hydro’s massive Site C project, a third dam and hydroelectric generating station on the Peace River in northeast B.C. is keeping Duz Cho very busy. “We have done a lot of work for Site C dating back to 2015,” says Albertson. “We are working on a quarry in Hudson Hope developing Rip/Rap for the Site C highway realignment to Fort St. John while they flood the old hi-way.”
Best of the Best
Duz Cho’s leadership style is proactive, and clients know their projects will be done with state-of-the-art equipment. “We have worked on land and in water, constructing roads, leases, mine sites, highways, wind projects, boat launches, and dams using every conceivable material from rock, to silt and muskeg,” smiles Albertson. “No matter the material or the problem our management, supervisors and employees will go out of their way to come up with a solution to get the job done safer, faster, and more cost effective than our competitors.”
Duz Cho believes full in their company slogan: “Making sure the footprints we leave behind are ones our children will be proud to walk in.” They do so with having a team buy-in from every Duz Cho team member—from the labourer, to management—as well as managing their safety practices, and environmental footprint, exceeded the bars set by industry on each and every site.
www.duzcho.com
