Civil construction in British Columbia

STA 0+120Excavation and trench rules

British Columbia’s occupational health and safety rules set when an excavation must be sloped, shored or boxed, and when an engineer must design the protection.

• Before a worker enters any excavation over 1.2 m (4 ft) deep, or approaches closer to the side than its depth, sides must be sloped, benched, or supported (engineer-specified shoring, Table 20-1 shoring per s. 20.85, or manufactured trench boxes/shoring cages) (s. 20.81(1))¹
• Excavation work must follow written instructions of a qualified registered professional if the excavation is more than 6 m (20 ft) deep, adjacent to a structure, subject to vibration/hydrostatic pressure, or ground slopes away steeper than 3H:1V (s. 20.78(1)); professional engineer if support structures are required or used (s. 20.78(2))¹
• Before excavating or drilling with powered tools and equipment, the location of all underground utility services must be accurately determined (s. 20.79(1)); pointed tools must not be used to probe for petroleum and electrical services (s. 20.79(3))¹
• Safe entry/exit within 8 m (25 ft) of workers in a trench over 1.2 m deep (s. 20.87(2)); cross-brace counts by depth up to 6 m (s. 20.85(4)); end shoring designed by P.Eng. if waler length exceeds 1.8 m (s. 20.81(4))¹

STA 0+240Locates before you dig

• BC 1 Call - request locates at least 3 business (full working) days before digging; regular, priority and emergency (under 2 hours) request types; 1-800-474-6886²

The paint colours are the same across Canada: white for the proposed excavation, pink for survey, then red, yellow, orange, blue, green and purple for the buried services. See call before you dig.

STA 0+360Holdbacks and prompt payment

• Person primarily liable on each contract and subcontract must retain a holdback equal to 10% of the greater of the value of work/material provided and payments made (s. 4(1))³
• Holdback period expires at the end of 55 days after a certificate of completion is issued (s. 8(1)) or after head contract completion/abandonment/termination (s. 8(2))³
• Construction Prompt Payment Act (SBC 2025, c 24) received Royal Assent November 27, 2025 but is NOT yet in force (future date by regulation); once in force: owner pays within 28 days of proper invoice, contractor pays subcontractors within 7 days of payment, dispute notice within 14 days; adjudication authority not yet selected⁴

STA 0+480The market

Capital spending on engineering construction in British Columbia was $31.1 billion in 2024⁵, out of $155.8 billion nationally⁵. The province’s allocation under the Canada Community-Building Fund (now the Community stream of the Build Communities Strong Fund) was $305,909,000 in 2023–24⁶.

STA 0+600Tenders, associations and specifications

• Provincial portal: BC Bid⁷
• Federal work in the province: open CanadaBuys construction notices
• BC Road Builders and Heavy Construction Association: roadbuilders.bc.ca⁸
• Current edition 2025 (Volumes 1 and 2), adopted February 1, 2025; Special Provisions appendix for amendments updated April 1, 2026; free PDFs, print via Crown Publications⁹
• 2024 edition adopted September 1, 2024¹⁰
• Master Municipal Construction Documents (MMCD), British Columbia: 2019 Platinum Edition is current, with updates/clarifications issued 2021-2026¹¹