Civil construction in Saskatchewan

STA 0+120Excavation and trench rules

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

• Worker in a trench more than 1.2 metres deep must be protected by cutting back walls per s. 17-4(2), a temporary protective structure, or a combination (s. 17-7(1)); same 1.2 m trigger for excavations when closer to the wall than its depth (s. 17-6(1))¹
• Saskatchewan cut-back slopes (s. 17-4(2)): Type 1/2 soil to within 1.2 m of bottom at not steeper than 1H:1V (45 degrees); Type 3 from bottom at 1H:1V; Type 4 from bottom at 3H:1V (19 degrees)¹
• Temporary protective structure must be engineer-designed and certified in an excavation more than 3 m deep (s. 17-6(3)), and in a trench more than 6 m deep in Type 1-3 soil or more than 4 m deep in Type 4 soil (s. 17-7(3))¹
• Equipment, spoil piles and materials kept at least 1 m from the edge (s. 17-4(1)(c)); disturbing soil within 600 mm of an existing pipeline/cable/conduit requires hand digging or approved exposure first (s. 17-3(2)); ladder within 8 m of a worker in a trench (s. 17-7(6))¹

STA 0+240Locates before you dig

• Sask 1st Call - minimum three full business days for regular routine tickets, not including day of request; planning and design tickets minimum 10 business days; locate marks valid 30 calendar days; 1-866-828-4888²

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

• Each payer on a contract or subcontract under which a lien may arise shall retain a holdback equal to 10% of the greater of the value of services/materials provided or payments made (s. 34(1))³
• Owner shall pay a proper invoice no later than 28 days after receiving it (s. 5.4(1)); notice of non-payment no later than 14 days (s. 5.4(2)); contractor pays subcontractors no later than seven days after receiving payment (s. 5.5(1)); interim adjudication under Part II.1³
• Saskatchewan prompt payment and adjudication took effect March 1, 2022; Saskatchewan Construction Dispute Resolution Office (SCDRO) is the designated adjudication authority⁴

STA 0+480Seasonal load restrictions

• Saskatchewan 2026: spring weight restrictions effective 12:01 a.m. Friday March 20 in southwest Saskatchewan, phased in across the province; reduce allowable weights on rural municipal roads and secondary-weight highways by 10 to 15 per cent; in place for up to six weeks⁵

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

STA 0+600The market

Capital spending on engineering construction in Saskatchewan was $8.5 billion in 2024⁶, out of $155.8 billion nationally⁶. The province’s allocation under the Canada Community-Building Fund (now the Community stream of the Build Communities Strong Fund) was $68,260,000 in 2023–24⁷.

STA 0+720Tenders, associations and specifications

• Provincial portal: SaskTenders⁸
• Federal work in the province: open CanadaBuys construction notices
• Saskatchewan Heavy Construction Association (SHCA): saskheavy.ca⁹