Our History

Building Better Roads Since 1954

Everall Construction was formed in 1954 by Ron Everall, with headquarters located in Edmonton, Alberta. Ron’s interest in the paving business started in 1951 when he accepted a position as Town Engineer in Flin Flon, Manitoba. He left Manitoba in early 1954 to set up a paving operation in Edmonton, aiming principally for the municipal market throughout Alberta, plus a permanent commercial paving presence in Edmonton.

During the late 50’s through the 60’s the company carried out street contracts in several Saskatchewan centers. Jobs were scarce in those years and a contractor had to be readily prepared to go wherever the work was being offered. The key to these early operations was to be very mobile and geared to small jobs spread out over large areas. This strategy is still part of what makes us who we are today.

In 1958, a three acre industrial site was purchased in the Strathcona County refinery area, on which an office and shop were erected. The city plant was also operated on this site for the first few years. This building was expanded on three separate occasions during the next ten years as operations and staff increased.

During this period of gradual growth, the field work was supervised by Ray Evans from the Town of Stettler, Gordon Barrowman from Warren Paving in Ontario, Dick Furneaux from Manitoba Highways, George Skrypnick, Phil Klein, George Clark, John O’Neil, Keith Ellett, Ervin Underschultz and Dave Madoche. Murray Hunter, P. Eng. joined the company in 1962 from the Department of National Defense as the Operations Manager and played a major role in management until 1970.

From 1968 to 1970, the company had several large gravel surfacing contracts on the Alaska Highway and did major street surfacing work in both Fort St. John and Fort Nelson. Project Managers for these contracts were Rod Richel, Ted Welsh and Ervin Underschultz.

Robin Alton, P.Eng. joined the company in 1970 as General Manager, coming from Gallelli & Sons. He played an ever increasing role in management during the 70’s when the rate of expansion for the company was at its highest.

In 1977, additional adjoining land was purchased to expand the company’s Edmonton yard and a new 18,000 square foot building was constructed for the office and shop.

One of the earliest drum plants to operate on highway contracts in Alberta was purchased by Everall in 1974 and marked the start of the change-over in plants from the continuous and batch types used in the industry since before World War II. These larger capacity plants necessitated ever larger pavers and rollers.

The investment in equipment tripled between 1965 and 1972, then doubled from 1973 to 1979. At the peak of operations in 1983 the company had up to 16 major contracts underway at one time and a total payroll of over 500.

During the mid 70’s, the founder’s two sons, Earl and Roy, joined the company. Internal arrangements were started, which, by 1983, transferred ownership control and management of the Company from Ron to Earl, Roy and Robin Alton.

From 1981 to 2000 the Company expanded the regional operations in Slave Lake, Cold Lake and Fort McMurray. These regional divisions have been the backbone of E Construction business and remain extremely important to the continued success of the Company.

The tornado that struck the Edmonton area on July 31, 1987, also swept over the Everall yard. The building, its contents and the equipment in the yard suffered almost total destruction with a total loss of $2.75 million.