CALGARY -- Despite the massive number of jobs lost in Alberta, some contractors are reporting a surge in new business.

According to ATB Financial there are 381,900 fewer jobs in the province now than there were one year ago.

But Derek Schneider says his fencing company has had to hire new installers and administrators just to keep up with calls.

“Compared to last year we are probably double the volume and double the calls,” says Schneider, of National Fence and Deck Inc.

"People are forced to stay at home, and what I'm finding is, they're realizing, 'Hey, we better make this look as good as we can because we're going to have to spend the time here," says Schneider.

Call volume up

Adam Strong says his company — Strong Residential Projects — has lost some bigger renovations or had them put on hold, but the call volume has increased substantially.

“We’ve seen quite a large spike in service type work around the house, like eaves troughs, decks fences, repairs, things like that,” Strong says.

While the lineups at big box home renovation supply stores have been steady, one reno-oriented business has been feeling the pinch.

Habitat For Humanity’s The ReStore closed to help protect staff from the spread of COVID-19. The store is a major source of revenue to fund the non-profit’s home builds which have given roughly 300 Alberta families a hand up over the past three decades.

Before the pandemic, there was no online shopping at The ReStore — the inventory is constantly changing, relying on donations of new and used appliances and building supplies. But in just a few weeks they’ve developed new ways to keep their lights on.

“One of the good things it did do for us is it allowed an opportunity to pivot, relook at the way we did business,” says Habitat for Humanity’s Alexander Meyer.

Every day at 11 a.m., staff host a livestream of new inventory. A Shopify site has been set up to allow people to make purchases without coming into the store. Sales are still only about one-third of normal now, but the hope is they will be better positioned once restrictions ease.

“It’s hard for a shopper looking for windows to get a good idea of our inventory over social media," says Meyer. "However, we’ve actually done very very well with our online selling."