Toronto Union Station Revitalization | ?m | ?s | City of Toronto | NORR

sikandar said:
I'll leave it to an expert to opine on this, but I'd imagine they would be putting less resources into projects with their debts looming over them. How much of this breathing space would actually translate into taking more "risk", i.e. properly resourcing their projects, I have no idea.
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Or maybe do a s**tier job perhaps, especially if they aren't going to be around in the future. You've got to wonder how much the city would have saved in time and money if they had went with a decent contractor instead.

AoD
 
sikandar said:
The article amazingly doesn't mention Union anywhere, but it does say the application will allow Bondfield to continue operating while it restructures its debts. To quote, "In its application, Bondfield said it needs protection from creditors to focus on completing construction projects while seeking to strengthen its balance sheet."
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Honestly, pretty standard language in a CCAA filing....the whole point of CCAA is to protect a company from creditor action while they come up with a plan to restructure/re-invent the company. The next steps are time bound and are aimed at them coming up with a plan of arrangement for the court.
 
DatTranzitGuy said:
Is there a version that doesn’t require you to sign in or subscribe?
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PUBLISHED MARCH 6, 2019
Janet Mcfarlandreal Estate Reporter
Bondfield Construction applies for creditor protection in Ontario
Bondfield Construction Company Ltd. has applied for court protection from its creditors after facing a flood of lawsuits related to its problems completing major public-sector construction projects in Ontario.
The company, based in Vaughan north of Toronto, filed an application on Wednesday in Ontario Superior Court in Toronto to seek protection under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA). The application would allow Bondfield to continue operating while it restructures its debts.
Bondfield sought an interim order from Justice Glenn Hainey to prohibit creditors from taking action against the company until the application can be finalized. The case is expected to return to court early next week.
In its application, Bondfield said it needs protection from creditors to focus on completing construction projects while seeking to strengthen its balance sheet.
“It is necessary and in the best interests of the Bondfield Group and their stakeholders that the Bondfield Group be afforded the breathing room provided by the CCAA as they attempt to restructure their business,” the application said.

Bondfield’s $80-million credit facility with Bridging Finance Inc. has matured and the lender has demanded full repayment, the company said in the application. Since August, Bondfield said, all of its operations, including overhead, have been funded by Zurich Insurance Company Ltd., except for costs that could be covered by ordinary cash flow.
Zurich has agreed to provide $8-million in debtor-in-possession (DIP) interim financing to help the company continue to operate, but only if it is granted priority status in any claims against Bondfield, the company said.
“Without the DIP facility, the Bondfield Group will be forced to shut down its operations with a significant loss of employment," the application said.
Contractor woes stall Ontario public projects
Bondfield has about 330 employees and independent contractors, and more than $1-billion in current construction contracts for projects involving major public-sector institutions across Ontario, including hospital and university buildings. It has been far behind schedule on a number of projects, and has been terminated from at least three of them.
The company said more than 200 lawsuits have been filed against it or its board of directors over the past 12 months alone, many related to unpaid accounts from subcontractors or breaches of contract from the institutions that hired the construction firm.


During 2018, numerous subcontractors took steps to get paid for work they had already completed on projects, including seeking payments directly from the public-sector institutions and receiving compensation from Zurich.
Several companies affiliated with Bondfield have also been placed into receivership in recent months, including three special-purpose companies set up by Bondfield for individual construction projects. The three companies, which were placed into receivership in December, were created to manage expansions of the Cambridge Memorial Hospital in southwestern Ontario, St. Michael’s Hospital in downtown Toronto and the Hawkesbury and District General Hospital.
Forma-Con, another Bondfield affiliated construction company based in Concord, Ont., was placed into receivership in November.
In March last year, the City of Brampton terminated Bondfield as the builder for its Gore Meadows Community Centre and Library, complaining little progress had been made in the prior eight months. Also last year, the City of Toronto rescinded a contract to build the new St. Lawrence Market North building, and Hamilton Health Sciences terminated Bondfield’s contract to build an addition at the Hamilton General Hospital.
Officials from Bondfield were not available to comment on Thursday evening.
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At the end of the day, the bonding company will be paying everything and all money owning to Bondfield will go to the bonding company. All liens by trades, suppliers and workers will have to be paid off first to the point it may not be full amount of the lien, based on what is out standing to Bondfield as well what been paid to them per project to date. The bonding company will be paying Bondfield operation cost only to complete the various projects.

Depending on the risk to the bonding company, they can pull the plug on Bondfield at any given time and get someone else to complete the project or projects that will be looked at on a one to one base. Lawyer fees will start to eat up money that supposed to go to Bondfield to the point there is no money for them and they will be owing the bonding company money.

Based on the number of projects Bondfield is late on, its possible the owners of those projects will cancel the contract(s), since Bondfield is in breach of contract in the first place. What every the extra cost incurred to complete the project(s), it will be deducted from contract price to the point Bondfield will have to pay more than the contract price. A noticed of default will be issue to Bondfield and anyone that is owe money on that contract will file a lien ASP to the point it will be a dog fight to get top spot on the list.

I am surprised no one has pull the plug so far, but expect to see Bondfield out of business down the road.

Can we say 2020 for this project since it was supposed to be the end of 2019 now???
 
I've found a few US newspapers that it doesn't work with, but generally it has been very helpful.
 
Plenty of activity this morning/afternoon. Welding going on at the bay concourse, one set of access doors locked from the moat to union station
 
DSC said:
Most public contracts must be awarded to the lowest qualified bidder and that system works 99% of the time. Occasionally one goes bankrupt (like Bondfield) or screws up. If a company screws up they can be banned from City contracts, a case (APlus General Contractors) is coming to Council soon. See: https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2019/ie/bgrd/backgroundfile-130460.pdf
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I honestly had no idea there was
a whole "system" designed around coddling and rewarding companies that placed lower bids for construction for example in this city. That's something I personally just found out now.
 
DSC said:
Most public contracts must be awarded to the lowest qualified bidder and that system works 99% of the time. Occasionally one goes bankrupt (like Bondfield) or screws up. If a company screws up they can be banned from City contracts, a case (APlus General Contractors) is coming to Council soon. See: https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2019/ie/bgrd/backgroundfile-130460.pdf
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Wasn't APlus doing the Bloor Station and punch a hole in TTC tunnel?

Getting 3 years play time is nothing.

In the private sector, the lowest bid doesn't mean the low bidder will get the job and this is where the past track record and quality of workmanship places play a large part in getting a contract or not. At the same time, X company prefer Y company even though they may not be low bidder. It even applies to sub traders and suppliers.

Once you get on the don't hire or invite list, going to take time and money to prove the company can comply with requirements and start doing small projects to do so.
 
thettctransitfanatic said:
I honestly had no idea there was a whole "system" designed around coddling and rewarding companies that placed lower bids for construction for example in this city. That's something I personally just found out now.
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I am unclear at what surprises you. Do you think public contracts should go to the highest bidder or ????
 
DSC said:
I am unclear at what surprises you. Do you think public contracts should go to the highest bidder or ????
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Public contracts should go to reasonable bidders with a good track record of completing projects on time and on budget (even if it is not the lowest initial bid). This is especially true for projects with a high level of criticality. The current system is clearly not working very well - and banning Carillion or Bondfeld post hoc is borderline meaningless - hell, the city even awarded the latter the StL North Market project even with the Union Station drama ongoing - and wasted a year and counting on that nonsense.

AoD
 
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