Ontario Bid Brief · Issue 17

Tuesday, September 22, 2026 · 7:00 AM ET

Fifteen roofing contractors priced the same roof in Ajax this summer, and the job came down to $7,678. That award leads the section below, and the rest of the numbers are worth your time too. Four of this week's five open files sit in Peel, with Oakville and Hamilton rounding it out. Read The Signal if you do any work west of the 427.

1. General Contracting, Interior Renovation of Leased Space, 25 Capston Drive, Mississauga (Peel Regional Police) Region of Peel · 2026-523P · closes Tue Oct 13, 12:00 PM ET · 42 plan takers

Peel Regional Police is fitting out leased space at 25 Capston Drive, and the Region wants one general contractor carrying the whole renovation.

Estimated value: $500K to $1.5M (estimate, confirm on the portal)

Incumbent read: leased space has no incumbent. The police-side contractor in our archive is Stracor, which took the 11 Division lock room expansion at $194,748.88 on a directed award (Issue 6). That makes Stracor the name to watch for on the plan taker list.

Worth bidding if: you have run interior renovations inside a secured or occupied facility. This is a "P" file on Peel's board, so read the evaluation section before you price. How the proposal gets scored can matter as much as the number. Forty-two plan takers is the biggest room on any board this week.

2. Fire Station 1 Apparatus Bay Roof Replacement, Oakville Town of Oakville · RFT-43-2026 · closes Thu Oct 8, 2:00 PM ET

Roof replacement over the apparatus bay at Fire Station 1. The station stays operational, so the crew works around a building that has to roll trucks at any hour.

Estimated value: $150K to $450K (estimate)

Incumbent read: the last Oakville roof award we covered was Woodside Branch Library in Issue 13. Stybek Roofing out of Kitchener won it at $176,393, and only 6 of 30 plan takers submitted. Oakville also passed over the low bid on the OTCC stairwell job in Issue 14, so the Town reads submission requirements closely.

Worth bidding if: you are a commercial roofer who can phase work around an active station. The Woodside numbers say most firms that pull Oakville roof documents never submit, so the real field is usually smaller than the plan taker list suggests.

3. Construction of Parkside Hills Neighbourhood Park, Hamilton City of Hamilton · C15-46-26 P · closes Fri Oct 2, 3:00 PM ET · 10 plan takers

A new neighbourhood park build. Park construction files like this usually put grading, hardscape, planting and site furnishings under one landscape contractor.

Estimated value: $400K to $1.2M (estimate)

Incumbent read: a new park has no incumbent. The closest landscaping comp in our archive is the River Oaks parking lot and landscaping job in Oakville, where Stonecast Landscapes won at $308,655 with 13 bids in the room (Issue 15).

Worth bidding if: you are a landscape contractor who can carry grading and hardscape with your own crews. Ten plan takers is a modest room for a park, and this is the only in-lane Hamilton file on the board this week.

4. Glass Windows, Patio Doors and Screen Replacements and Repairs, Peel Living Region of Peel · 2026-442P · closes Tue Sep 29, 12:00 PM ET · 14 plan takers

Replacement and repair of glass, patio doors and screens across Peel Living housing. The title reads like portfolio-wide term work.

Estimated value: $100K to $400K over the term (estimate)

Incumbent read: we have no incumbent data on this scope. Peel Living tendered window replacement together with PTAC units at 1767 Dundas Street East back in Issue 13, so the housing portfolio is clearly working through its glazing.

Worth bidding if: you run a glazing or window and door service crew that can work in occupied units and answer call-outs. It closes one week from today, which makes it the tightest runway of the five.

5. West Side Timber Fence Replacement, 2 to 12 Newhaven Manor, Brampton Region of Peel · 2026-556T · Project 26502 · closes Fri Oct 9, 12:00 PM ET · 28 plan takers

Replacement of the west side timber fence at a Peel residential site.

Estimated value: $30K to $120K (estimate)

Incumbent read: none in our data. Twenty-eight plan takers on a fence job this size is a crowded room, and our awarded data keeps showing the widest spreads on the smallest jobs.

Worth bidding if: you build timber fence and can mobilize for a short job. Expect plenty of bids and a wide spread, so price it the way you would price it for your own yard.

Admin Area Roof Replacement, 75 Lake Driveway East, Ajax Region of Durham · T-1107-2026 · closed Jul 30 · 32 plan takers, 15 bids Winner: Rooftops & Sheetmetal Corp (Mississauga) · $557,321.83

Second place was Cordeiro Roofing at $565,000, so the job was decided by $7,678, or 1.4 percent. Ten of the 15 bids landed inside a $186K band between $557K and $744K. The median bid was $735,000, which puts the winner 24 percent under the middle of the room. The tail is where it gets strange. FDS Construction came in at $1,012,480 and Pollard Enterprises at $2,786,800, five times the winning number. Not one bidder had a Durham address, and neither did any of the 32 plan takers. A Durham roof went to a Mississauga shop against a field drawn mostly from Toronto.

Water Pooling and Parking Spaces, Durham Region Transit East Region of Durham · T-1011-2026 · closed May 21 · 12 plan takers, 8 bids Winner: Peltar Paving & General Contracting (Concord) · $229,884.82

Peltar beat second place Wyndale Paving ($275,888.80) by $46,004, a 20 percent cushion. A margin that wide on a small paving job is worth a second look at how each firm read the scope. The high bid was Arenes Construction at $593,695, 2.58 times the winner. Three Durham firms bid, and the closest was Real Landscaping Plus of Pickering in third at $283,930. Eight of 12 plan takers submitted, a 67 percent conversion. Pavers who pull Durham documents actually bid.

Central Operations Depot East Parking Lot Replacement, Oakville Town of Oakville · RFT-10-2026 · closed Jun 18 · 20 plan takers, 4 bids Winner: Lakeside Contracting (Mississauga) · $982,306.60 awarded on a $937,606.60 bid

Lakeside was low, but the award came in $44,700 above its bid, a 4.8 percent bump. The usual explanation is a contingency or provisional allowance added at award, the same kind of gap we flagged on Oakville's Towne Square job in Issue 16. Price the bid form, then remember the Town's budget line is bigger than the number on it. Twenty firms pulled the documents and four bid. That is 20 percent conversion, the weakest of the four awards this week. With only four in the room the spread was tight at 1.23 times, with Kon-Strutt high at $1,153,840.22. Royal Ready of Oakville was second at $1,071,415, 14.3 percent back. Sixteen firms walked, including Associated Paving, Mastercrete and Forest Contractors. Put it next to the Durham lot above. The smaller job drew twice the bids and more than twice the spread.

Shingle Roof Replacement, 320 Maurice Drive Region of Halton · Q-946-26 · closed Jun 9 · 17 plan takers, 8 bids Winner: iTeck Roofing (Acton) · value not published

Halton posted the winner and the bidder list but no amounts on this one. The field still tells you something. iTeck also pulled the documents on the Ajax roof above and never bid it, then won this job closer to home. Proteck Roofing bid both and finished fifth in Ajax at $689,618. Sunrise, Tectra and Nortex pulled this file and passed, but all three bid Ajax. And Melrose Paving put in a number on a shingle roof. Roofers are choosing their jobs by geography and size, and the plan taker lists across files show you who is choosing what.

Back in Issue 6 we flagged two Peel Regional Police files at 180 Derry Road East. One was an interior renovation. The other was a prequalification for foundation waterproofing, ramp and walkway work at the same building. This week the construction tender behind that prequal is on the street as 2026-352T, closing October 8. Right behind it sits 2026-575PQ, a prequalification for boiler replacement at the Emil V. Kolb Centre, which is 180 Derry. It had zero plan takers when we pulled it.

That is one address producing four solicitations since June. The interior went first. The envelope and the boiler are following it.

Anyone who priced the first job walked the building, met the facilities staff and learned how police want contractors on site. That knowledge is worth more on the next file than a sharp unit price, because occupied secure work punishes surprises.

Now add Capston. Pick 1 this week is a general contracting call for leased space at 25 Capston Drive, and 42 firms already have the documents. Police moving into leased space means fit-out work outside the owned-building capital plan. That is a second pipeline running beside the first.

Behind both sits headquarters. WZMH took the HQ interior renovation design at $98,940 on a 14-month engagement, which we covered in Issue 6. Design that long puts the construction package somewhere in 2027.

The BD move for a GC or trade sub in the west end is to run the police portfolio as one account. Pull the plan taker list on every PRP file and note who keeps showing up. Get your prequal package in on the boiler job while the room is empty. If you are a sub, call the firms on the Capston plan taker list this week. Forty-two firms looking at one renovation means a lot of them still need a mechanical or electrical number.

The firms winning police work in 2027 will be the ones who already know 180 Derry from the inside.

If one of these five fits a crew you know, forward this to them and hit reply to tell me which file you're pricing.