“Certainly, it was important from my personal point of view that my father as a young engineering graduate came West and hung his shingle out in Kamloops as a B.C. land surveyor,” Graham Dawson reflects.
“At that time he was one of the few general contractors who was also a professional engineer.
“This has been one of the saving graces- why we are still around, vis-a-vis a lot of firms in existence at that time.
“He brought a degree of professionalism to an industry which was epitomized by the rugged individualist.
“Of course, he was a rugged individualist, too. But he also applied engineering concepts to construction projects at an early stage in the development of the industry,” says Dawson.
Graham Dawson, after having served in the Royal Canadian Navy during the Second World War, almost chose the navy as a permanent career. But he found the navy wasn’t nearly as exciting in peacetime. So, he became an engineer and joined Dawson Construction, continuing to conduct the company’s affairs according to sound business principles. And this became basic policy for the entire group.
Another policy applied consistently over the years – training and promoting men from within. Experience proves the best construction companies are those with the proper mix of professional and practical men that came up through the ranks.
“As a consequence of our policy, most of our senior superintendents have developed their construction know-how by a series of promotions through the ranks. Even our new engineering graduate employees are encouraged to seek promotion in the same fashion,” explains Dawson.
For young men seeking a rewarding career, there is no other industry where advancement can be achieved so rapidly. A young man entering the industry as labourer can be a straw boss in very short order and work his way up quickly to foreman and assistant superintendent, provided he is willing to learn.
“To attract and hold good management people, we offer stability. This is successful in that a large number of our top superintendents have many years of service with the group. It enables us to form an efficient team vital to our success,” Graham stresses.
A major problem for any construction company is to even out cyclical swings in the demand for services. The Dawson Group solves this through diversification.
There may be a surge in residential construction which does not coincide with the cycle in industrial, commercial and institutional building. Nor will the requirements for municipal services – such as sewers, water and roads– necessarily coincide with major highway programs.
“Through diversification, we are better reinforced against fluctuations. At the bottom of a cycle we have obvious efficiencies through diversification and are better able to compete when things get tough.
“This explains to some extent the number of different operations in our group. But we are still subject to the total cycle of construction,” Dawson points out.
This team of companies also offers a client the services of an integrated group that can do almost any type of construction.
” Our market a rea is primarily Western Canada, with some operations in the U.S., including Alaska. We are very bullish on the long-range prospects for Western Canada and decided, as a matter of policy, that we would concentrate on this market rather than expanding on a national or international basis.
“We aren’t pursuing growth for growth’s sake. But it is our intention to have a strong locally owned group of companies that will continue to demonstrate that we can compete effectively with the large multinational corporations.
“Our business is requiring more and more capital for the very large sophisticated jobs. The number of firms capable of marshalling the expertise, management and the financial resources for these jobs is becoming smaller and smaller.
“But it is our intention to increase our share of the market in this field and keep the work in Canada if possible,” Dawson emphasizes.
Photo: Portrait of Fred Dawson, taken in 1932