The Borger Group of Companies is made unique by its multi-generation, 100-year family legacy, but it isn’t a company content to rest on its laurels. Recent investments in new technology and a big new Hitachi EX1200-7 excavator are unearthing new opportunities for the Borger Group in Alberta.
Borger Group’s impressive history lays the foundation for today’s vertically integrated business
The Borger Group of Companies originated in 1919 when Henry Borger started H. Borger Ltd., securing work installing a sanitary line at the Winnipeg International Airport – a job that involved only men and shovels, no equipment. The company continued to grow for the next 20 years and William (Bill) Borger, a son of Henry Borger, eventually joined the company. Soon thereafter, the company name was changed to Henry Borger and Sons, and then later to Borger Brothers Ltd.
In 1947, Bill Borger ventured west, securing underground work installing wooden water pipe in Raymond, Alberta. A permanent office was established, and it hinged on the success of additional construction contracts in the Calgary area. At this point, the Borger Brothers decided to split geographically and financially with Bill taking Saskatchewan-West and his other brothers taking Manitoba-East.
From the establishment of a permanent office in Calgary until the early 1970s, Bill Borger’s company flourished in the area and amassed a reported 90 percent of all underground construction work. It expanded into earthworks and into Saskatchewan and British Columbia. Borger formed strategic partnerships with land developer E.V. Keith, creating Kelwood Corporation Ltd., a land company responsible for developing the iconic Calgary subdivisions known today as Haysboro and Bonivista.
In 1970, Bill Borger and E.V. Keith decided to sell much of their interest in the Calgary-based Borger Brothers Ltd. After his retirement, Bill Borger Sr.’s sons William (Bill Jr.), Robert, and David continued the Borger legacy by buying into Terraine Construction, soon growing the company and changing the name to WRD Borger Construction Ltd.
The booming 1970s brought great prosperity to the new company, growing to 300+ employees and regaining much of Borger Brothers Ltd.’s former glory. However, in the early 1980s, a sharp correction in the energy market caused oil prices to fall and the Alberta economy suffered, forcing WRD Borger Construction to retract to 13 employees, almost closing the company doors. But WRD Borger Construction soon rebounded to its former state thanks to a notable infrastructure boom attributed to preparing Calgary for the 1988 Olympics.
Now, after more than a century, Borger Group is one of Calgary’s largest contractors at over 300 pieces of equipment and 350+ employees. It has evolved into a vertically integrated company – Borger has continued its legacy of underground utility work and added two other divisions, Transport and Earthworks.
Borger’s present-day Earthworks division began with the acquisition of Roadway Construction in 2010. This 40-year-old Calgary-based earthmoving company had previously been part of Borger Brothers Ltd. back in 1971 before changing hands to become Roadway Construction. Today this division has expanded to over 100 pieces of equipment spread across seven crews and is regarded as one of the top three earthworks contractors in Calgary.
Borger’s Transportation division, which started in 2011, spurred from the idea of providing transport for different divisions and streamlining equipment logistics. The division quickly expanded beyond hauling Borger equipment and now services an external client base in construction, mining, and oil and gas with a fleet of fuel and lube trucks, vacuum trucks, picker services, tilt and step decks, and prime movers with multi-axle heavy-haul capabilities of up to 100 tonne loads. Today, The Borger Group of Companies’ new office is located in Rocky View County, northeast of Calgary.
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