How to Start a Construction Company in Alberta

The short answer

Starting a construction company in Alberta means four registrations and filings that all sit with Alberta bodies: register the business through Service Alberta's Corporate Registry service providers, open a WCB-Alberta account within 15 days of hiring your first worker, permit each job to the National Building Code – 2023 Alberta Edition through your municipality, and staff compulsory trades only with certified journeypersons or registered apprentices. This guide walks the Alberta mechanics only. It does not re-cover the Ontario guide's WSIB and constructor rules or the British Columbia guide's WorkSafeBC rules — Alberta has its own board, its own code edition, and its own trade certification system, and this guide stays inside them.

1. Register the business with Service Alberta

A business name does not have a legal existence of its own — it is simply a name used by one or more persons to represent the business to the public, and the sole proprietor or partners are personally responsible for the debts and obligations of the business. Registering a business name does not grant any right of ownership of the name; it is proof that the name is being used by a particular business. If you are unsure whether a sole proprietorship, partnership, or corporation fits best, Alberta recommends getting legal advice.

There are four types of business names registered under Alberta's Partnership Act: a trade name (sole proprietorship), a partnership, a limited partnership, and a limited liability partnership. A trade name is used when an individual does business under a name other than their own personal name, or when a corporation does business under a name other than its legal name. A partnership is created when two or more individuals, or two or more corporations, do business together as partners, sharing the profits, risks, and debts.

The registration route is:

• Choose a business name. Business names do not have to be unique, and duplicate business names may exist — but if you choose a name the same as or similar to an existing business, corporation, or trademark, the owners could take your business to court. A trade name cannot end with the words "limited", "incorporated", or "corporation", or the abbreviations Ltd., Inc., or Corp.
• Get a Business Name Report. This step is recommended but not mandatory. The report lists registered business, corporation, and trademark names similar to your proposed name, and it is provided by authorized NUANS members.
• Fill out the forms. For a trade name or sole proprietorship, use the Declaration of Trade Name. For a partnership, use the Declaration of Partnership.
• Take the registration to an authorized Corporate Registry service provider — a registry agent — with your business name information, the Business Name Report if you got one, valid ID, and fee payment. Service providers charge a government fee and a service fee. If your information meets the requirements, it is entered into the Corporate Registry and you get a proof of filing, and you receive an email when your federal business number is issued.

A corporation is a separate step from a trade name: it is a legal entity of its own under Alberta's Business Corporations Act, and it is also filed through an authorized Corporate Registry service provider. This guide does not set out the corporation forms — the trade-name route above is the one the opened Service Alberta page walks in full.

2. Open a WCB-Alberta account within 15 days of the first hire

Workers' compensation insurance provides your workers with the benefits and services they need to get back to work safely when an injury happens. If you operate in an industry that is required to have workers' compensation coverage — a mandatory industry — you must open a WCB-Alberta account within 15 days of hiring your first worker. Construction hiring is normally in a mandatory industry, but if you are not sure whether your work falls in an exempt industry, WCB says to apply for a WCB account or contact it to find out. If you are in an exempt industry, you can voluntarily apply for coverage to protect your workers.

A worker, for this purpose, is anyone who works full time, part time, temporary or casual (including foreign workers), on contract or subcontract unless they maintain their own WCB account, or as a volunteer or unpaid worker, including family members. Volunteers and unpaid workers are automatically considered workers if you are a for-profit employer operating in a compulsory industry.

Apply on WCB's website, by phone, or by written application to a WCB office, with your employer's complete legal name, trade name, the date from which coverage is required, a description of the industry or operations, the location of operations, and estimated assessable earnings for the remainder of the calendar year. WCB-Alberta collects premiums to cover the costs of insuring work-related injuries: a premium rate is set annually based on the average losses in an industry, employers with similar operations and shared risks are grouped for rate setting, and the premium payable is the premium rate times the assessable earnings divided by $100, plus any personal coverage. To maintain an account, a $200 minimum annual premium is applied.

You, as the owner, are not covered automatically. Business owners, partners in a partnership, and directors of a corporation can buy optional personal coverage, but only their workers are covered by default. Personal coverage is flexible, can be changed at any time, and renews every year on December 31. To register for personal coverage you first have to open a WCB-Alberta account. For 2026, $34,200 is the minimum amount of coverage and $110,900 is the maximum amount of wage loss coverage available; if your income exceeds the maximum, WCB says to carry additional private insurance to make up the difference. If you are injured, you will need to verify your self-employment earnings through records such as T4 or T5 slips, tax returns, income and expense statements, or payroll stubs.

3. Get clearances before you pay subcontractors

A clearance is a letter that confirms whether or not a WCB account is in good standing and clears a third party from liability for that account's premiums. Clearances can be requested online. The default letter type is a Labour Clearance — about 99% of all clearances issued are this type — and a labour clearance is required when contractors or subcontractors are hired, because it clears the hiring company from liability for payment of the contractor's or subcontractor's premiums.

In practice, that means: before you pay a subcontractor, request a clearance on their account, and keep it on file. A subcontractor can also request a clearance on their own account, naming your company as the party it is for. If you have a myWCB UserID, sign in to use the extra features, such as saving lists of accounts and setting up automatic clearance notifications so you do not have to request ongoing clearances on the same accounts one by one.

4. Permit the work to the National Building Code – 2023 Alberta Edition

Alberta adopts the National Building Code as its Alberta Edition, and the code currently in force in the building discipline is the National Building Code – 2023 Alberta Edition, 2nd printing, published August 17, 2026. The 1st printing was declared in force May 1, 2024. The National Energy Code of Canada for Buildings 2020 is also in force. The earlier Alberta Building Code 2014 was in force only from May 1, 2015 to November 30, 2019, so do not build to it.

Your municipality is the authority that issues permits for the work. The permit types a project may need are:

• A building permit — an application with the city to ensure the project meets the minimum National Building Code (Alberta Edition) requirements and is safe. The code gives guidance on approved building materials and construction methods.
• A development permit — an application for a project that does not meet the land-use bylaw rules, or where the city's development approval authority directs that one is needed. It lets the city check that the project fits the community and gives the public a chance to provide feedback. If the land-use bylaw does not allow what you want to build, you may also need a land-use re-designation, which requires city council approval.
• Trade permits — contractor trade permits for electrical, plumbing, gas, and mechanical work, which check the work against the respective codes.

Apply for the development permit before the building permit where both are needed, and do not start work the permits do not cover. Permit fees are set by the municipality, so check your own city's fee schedule before you quote the job — this guide states no municipal fee figures.

5. Staff compulsory trades only with certified workers

Alberta has more than 50 designated trades, regulated under the Skilled Trades and Apprenticeship Education Act. Some are compulsory certification trades: to perform restricted activities in one of them, a worker must register as an apprentice and work under the supervision of a certified journeyperson, be a certified journeyperson, or hold a recognized trade certificate.

The compulsory trades most likely to appear on a construction company's jobs include electrician, elevator constructor, gasfitter Class A and Class B, boilermaker, ironworker (including structural/ornamental, reinforcing, and metal building systems erector), plumber, refrigeration and air conditioning mechanic, sheet metal worker, steamfitter-pipefitter, welder, crane and hoisting equipment operator (boom truck, mobile crane, tower crane, and wellhead boom truck), heavy equipment technician, and appliance service technician. The full list sits on Tradesecrets, Alberta's apprenticeship site — check the trade you are hiring for before the worker starts, because an uncertified worker doing restricted work is not a paperwork problem you can fix after the fact.

For trades that are not compulsory, certification is optional: a worker is not required to hold a trade certificate to work in the trade if the employer is satisfied with the uncertified worker. Do not carry that rule into a compulsory trade — the two lists are different, and the compulsory list is the one that binds.

6. When a worker is injured: report within 72 hours

If a worker is injured on the job, you are required by law to submit the employer report of injury form to WCB-Alberta within 72 hours after becoming aware of the injury or illness. You must report if the accident results in, or is likely to result in, lost time or modified work beyond the day of the accident, death or permanent disability, a disabling disease or condition caused by occupational exposure, medical or mental health treatment beyond first aid, or medical aid expenses such as dental treatment or prescription medication. Report online through myWCB, through the myWCB employer mobile app, by submitting a one-time injury report online, or by faxing the employer report of injury form. A worker who needs medical treatment beyond first aid or cannot do their job beyond the day of the accident is the trigger most construction employers will meet — do not wait to see how the injury develops before reporting.

What the opened pages do not state

The opened WCB-Alberta pages do not state the premium rate for any construction industry, so this guide states no rate — your rate is set when WCB classifies your account, and the $200 figure stated here is the minimum annual premium on an account, not a rate. The opened Service Alberta page does not state the government fee or the service fee amounts for registering a business name, so this guide states neither — both are in the Registry agent product catalogue the page links to. The opened pages do not state municipal permit fees or municipal business licence fees, so this guide states neither. The opened pages also do not state how long WCB takes to open a new employer account, so this guide gives no processing time. This guide gives no advice on which business structure to choose — Alberta recommends legal advice for that decision.

Related guides

• How to Start a Construction Company in Ontario — the same business under Ontario's WSIB and constructor rules.
• How to Start a Construction Company in British Columbia — the same business under British Columbia's WorkSafeBC rules.
• How to Register a Business in Alberta: Trade Names, Registry Agents, and the $10 Government Fee — the full Alberta business-name registration walkthrough.
• How to Get Business Insurance in Canada — liability and other cover for the company, separate from WCB.
• How to Start a Renovation Contracting Business in Canada — the renovation side of the trade, with its own licensing ground.

Sources

• Service Alberta, Register a business name — a business name has no legal existence of its own, the four name types under the Partnership Act, the trade-name rules, the Business Name Report as recommended but not mandatory, the Declaration of Trade Name, and filing through an authorized Corporate Registry service provider with a government fee and a service fee.
• Workers' Compensation Board – Alberta, Worker coverage — the 15-day duty to open an account in a mandatory industry, who counts as a worker, voluntary coverage for exempt industries, and the instruction to apply for an account if unsure.
• Workers' Compensation Board – Alberta, Personal coverage — owners are not automatically covered, optional personal coverage, the $200 minimum annual premium, and the 2026 minimum of $34,200 and maximum of $110,900.
• Workers' Compensation Board – Alberta, Coverage for industries — the premium rate set annually by industry, the premium formula, the $200 minimum annual premium, the 2026 maximum assessable earnings of $110,900, how to apply, and the information needed to determine account eligibility.
• Workers' Compensation Board – Alberta, Request a Clearance — a clearance confirms good standing and clears a third party from liability for premiums, Labour Clearance as the default type required when contractors or subcontractors are hired, and online requests with or without a myWCB UserID.
• Government of Alberta, Building codes and standards — the National Building Code – 2023 Alberta Edition 2nd printing in force, published August 17, 2026, the 1st printing in force May 1, 2024, and the earlier Alberta Building Code 2014 dates.
• City of Calgary, Understanding permits and the review process — the building permit as the National Building Code (Alberta Edition) check, the development permit for land-use questions, and contractor trade permits for electrical, plumbing, gas, and mechanical work.
• Tradesecrets, Compulsory Certification Trades — the rule for restricted activities in compulsory trades and the full compulsory list, including electrician, plumber, gasfitter, boilermaker, ironworker, welder, steamfitter-pipefitter, and crane operators.
• Workers' Compensation Board – Alberta, Report an injury: For employers — the 72-hour duty to submit the employer report of injury, what must be reported, and the online, app, one-time-form, and fax routes.