Civil construction in Manitoba

STA 0+120Excavation and trench rules

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

• Trench more than 1.5 m but not more than 4.5 m deep requires Schedule shoring or an engineer-designed and certified alternative (s. 26.16(2)); trench more than 4.5 m deep must be stabilized by a method designed and certified by a professional engineer (s. 26.16(4))¹
• Open excavation more than 1.5 m but not more than 3 m deep: slope not greater than 45 degrees from horizontal, 1 m vertical face plus 45-degree slope, Schedule shoring, other support, or engineer design (s. 26.15(2)); open excavation more than 3 m deep requires engineer-designed and certified support (s. 26.15(4))¹
• Employer must register with the branch to perform excavation work (s. 26.3) and notify the branch not more than 48 hours before starting an excavation more than 1.5 m deep that a worker may enter (s. 26.4(1))¹
• Before excavation begins, employer must give notice to owners of underground facilities and ensure they are conspicuously marked (s. 26.6(1)); competent person at surface when a worker is in an excavation more than 1.5 m deep (s. 26.5(2))¹

STA 0+240Locates before you dig

• Click Before You Dig Manitoba - a minimum of three full working days notice is required; 1-800-940-3447²

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 must deduct 7.5% of each payment and retain it for at least 60 days after a certificate of substantial performance, completion or abandonment (s. 24(1))³
• Manitoba prompt payment (Part added by S.M. 2023, c. 30): owner must pay the invoiced amount within 28 days after the proper invoice is given (s. 90(1)); notice of non-payment within 14 days; contractor pays sub-contractors within 7 days of receiving payment (s. 94) and the entire amount within 35 days (s. 93); adjudication (ss. 103+)³

STA 0+480Seasonal load restrictions

• Manitoba Spring Road Restrictions Level 1: 9 kg per mm of tire width up to a maximum of 90% of legal axle group weights on all highways⁴
• Manitoba Spring Road Restrictions Level 2: 6.5 kg per mm of tire width up to a maximum of 65% of legal axle weights on Class A1 and B1 highways⁴
• March 1 (Zone 1), March 6 (Zones 2-4), March 12 (Zone 5); latest end dates May 29 (Zone 1), May 31 (Zones 2-4), June 10 (Zone 5)⁴

Plan haul routes and deliveries around the restriction period. See spring road bans.

STA 0+600The market

Capital spending on engineering construction in Manitoba was $3.2 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 $79,103,000 in 2023–24⁶.

STA 0+720Tenders, associations and specifications

• Provincial portal: Government Tenders (Manitoba tenders are distributed through MERX: merx.com/mbgov)⁷
• Federal work in the province: open CanadaBuys construction notices
• Manitoba Heavy Construction Association (MHCA): mhca.mb.ca⁸