By Andrew Macdonald
Brian Strecko: Part II: An Engineering Contractor Consulting Life & Becoming An Advisor To Pink Larkin
The Saturday Notebook featured a story on soon to turn 60-year-old Brian Strecko, as the 20-year long boss at the regional offices of EllisDon, now retired.
Under his tenure at the national builder, as Atlantic boss, Strecko had a large stake in rebuilding Downtown Halifax.
He built Nova Centre, the TD Building, and the Roy Condos. His construction of the Spring Garden Road Library, immediately won international awards, after it opened the other year.
Today, I feature the Part II story – Strecko as the boss of his own entity, Strecko Consulting Inc – which also includes him being an advisor to the construction litigation team headed by George MacDonald, the long-running corporate lawyer dean, now with Pink Larkin.
Brian Strecko has built many of the iconic Downtown Halifax buildings as a 20-year long boss of EllisDon. The Notebook photo.
Strecko has a civil engineering degree from McGill University, in Montreal, where he grew up in a contracting multi-generation family.
“I had one grandfather on mom’s side, who was a civil engineer. And, my grandfather on my dad’s side was a general contractor”, Strecko tells me, during a chat at his new cottage in Chester Back Harbour.
He also maintains a condo in downtown Halifax, with his partner Cindy Strecko, a former journalist with the Halifax Herald, who trained as a lawyer, before becoming a spa owner, and now is writing film scripts. Cindy is a daughter of a living legend corporate lawyer, George MacDonald.
At an early age, Strecko “would ride in the general contractor pickup truck with dad, because he did some work with the company at that time – I remember driving around in a 1950s pickup truck – I was born in 1960 – I was five, and remember being in the old navy pickup truck moving two by fours, lumber, and went to the job sites in Montreal”, he recalls.
Left to right, the EllisDon Atlantic bosses, Brian Strecko, now retired, Tim Clarke, Greg Venedam, and Allen Coe, pictured at the firm’s 2019 completed project, building Mulroney Hall at St FX University. The Notebook file photo.
Back in that era, the large concrete contractor on the big city jobs in Quebec was known as Miron. “I remember those days, fondly”.
A year after retiring from EllisDon, the new life for Strecko is as an engineering builder/contractor consulting entrepreneur.
“My company name is very original, it’s Strecko Consutling Services Inc”, he tells The Notebook.
“EllisDon is a client. I am helping them with problems on projects, helping them with the daily challenges they might have”.
The Nova Centre was built by EllisDon, when Brian Strecko was its regional boss for 20-years. The Notebook photo.
He says his new focus is on the management of construction. “You know, having gray hair now, you learn a lot of lessons along the way when you have a career clustered in years. You get to know all the nuances of construction contracts, whether it is (payment) by lump sum or design-build”.
He explains, “Every procurement contract has different nuances, tripwires, where you have to be really sensitive to the lay of the land, and how the contract is laid out”.
His focus on the consulting practice offers work-related joys like “ keeping projects on an even-keel”.
And, whether it is a general contractor, sub-contractor, a supplier, or from the fascinating design world of architects and engineers, “all those people together have a vital role for a project”.
While boss at EllisDon, Brian Strecko oversaw construction of St. F.X.’s Brian Mulroney Hall.
His 30-plus year building career and the last two decades as EllisDon boss in Halifax gives him an appreciation for all facets of complicated projects.
“Having been in the conductor’s seat, the orchestra seat for so many years, you appreciate how architects and engineers work, you appreciate how a general contractor works, you appreciate how a sub-contractor and suppliers work”, he tells The Notebook.
That means paying close attention to such issues as timing and quickly problem solving any challenges that might arise.
“I see my role really focussing my company on how to keep people out of trouble. I look at it in three critical phases. You can inject a person like me on a project to look at the type of contract they are entering into. I can look at it and say, ‘This is where you are going to have some difficulty, there is too much grayness here, it is leaning too much to interpretation down the road”, Strecko offers.
Brian Strecko was the boss of EllisDon when it built the new Spring Garden Road Library.
“When a problem happens down the road, it becomes a massive issue time-wise and cost-wise to get through. That is why you have claims on projects because there is a difference of opinion on the scope of the work”.
Then questions arise such as did the engineers and architects draw too much? Or was the intent not conveyed to the contractor and sub-contractor?
“For me, I can come in and look at the contracts, look at the schedules, look at the budgets, and I can have a quick proof of the drawings, and say, ‘You guys are on an even keel. This is how you set up your contracts, the schedule’”, he tells me.
“It’s a very proactive stance, I can look very early in the process in a pro-active way, help you get up on the right foot”, he tells The Notebook, on the advice he gives in his new consulting practice.
Brian Strecko says Lou Reznick was hands-on as the owner of the Roy Condos, built by EllisDon.
He says he can also problem solve after a job is well underway, and if any hiccups result, he says he can lean on his lessons attained from taking an Ontario government adjudicator’s designation, last fall.
“It’s all about prompt payment for trades”, he says of the end result of a project, big or small, noting changes are coming on how contractors pay trades in NS.
He defines his consulting role as “bringing 30-plus years” in the building industry to contracts.
Another business line for his consulting practice is being brought into a contract after it is well underway.
“Once a problem happens, you can bring me in as well to help manage problems”.
He does not consult on the actual formation of bids on job tenders.
Like a lawyer, he works on an hourly billing period.
His work so far has a primary focus on Nova Scotia work.
“There’s enough going on in Halifax right now, I don’t have to go too far to find work”.
He has a couple of clients on the go.
Advisor Role To Pink Larkin’s Growing Construction Litigation Mediation Legal Team
During our hour chat, at his new Chester Back Harbour cottage, he mentions his “alliance-allegiance” with one of Halifax’s better-known employment/labour boutique law firms, Pink Larkin.
The prominent law firm now also has a burgeoning construction litigation practice.
“Five years ago, my father-in-law, George MacDonald, left McInnes Cooper, and spearheaded a new construction litigation boutique at Pink Larkin”, Strecko tells me.
Celebrating his 50th year to the call of the NS Bar Society, George MacDonald now heads up a burgeoning construction litigation and mediation team of lawyers at Pink Larkin.
“Last year, Chris Robinson, Kevin Gibson, and Michael Blades also left McInnes Cooper and came over to Pink Larkin, and became part of that construction litigation boutique, as well”, he adds.
“Chris Robinson and I have been friends for the better part of 25-years. Our kids grew up together on the ski hill, racing, and on top of that Chris was EllisDon’s lawyer for my entire career at EllisDon (20-years). So I had a lot of contact with Chris and developed a great relationship over the years on the business side and the personal side of things”, offers Strecko.
Pink Larkin lawyer, Chris Robinson, is part of the growing construction litigation and mediation legal team at that law firm in Halifax.
Strecko, says “the timing could not have been better” for the establishment of his consulting practice, and the alliance giving contractor advice to the new Pink Larkin business line.
“Chris and I always worked well together, and we saw a natural alignment between Strecko Consulting Inc. and his new role at Pink Larkin with the construction litigation group”.
The civil engineer says he is “working hand and hand” with Pink Larkin, and that includes “looking at files together”.
Kevin Gibson is on the legal team at Pink Larkin’s burgeoning construction litigation and mediation unit.
“I can bring in-house construction expertise to that litigation firm now, pretty quick without them having to go outside for advice”.
Question: Give me an example of why a building project would need litigation lawyers involved, the client does not want to pay a contractor, liens in place?
Strecko explains to The Notebook: “It could be all of that”.
“If you talk to George (MacDonald) or Chris (Robinson) or anyone within the construction legal world, construction is a very litigious business”.
Strecko says inevitably something goes wrong with any project.
“Every project that I have ever built in my entire career has change orders, extra scope, it’s a debate as to whether the scoop of changes is warranted, and what causes the change in the scoop is a debate”, he tells The Notebook.
Paul Blades rounds out the legal team at Pink Larkin’s construction litigation and mediation team, established by the prominent law firm in recent years.
“So you get into this battle of whether the extra work is legitimate under the contract, then you have to bring in lawyers to have that fight”.
Strecko says lump sum contracts are the most “confrontational” part of the construction.
Construction management is less so because everyone works around the table because it is more pro-active with all parties having an influence on the evolving designs.
A design-build contract is also less confrontational because it is the contractor doing all construction aspects.
As for his former 20-year long work at EllisDon, he is now in the process of dealing with company shares, over a three-year period.
For the Part I story on Brian Strecko, which was published in The Notebook On Saturday, with the headline: Meet Brian Strecko – The Engineering Contractor Who Largely Rebuilt the Halifax Downtown, click here.
