Commercial and ICI marketing is the work of becoming a name that general contractors, property managers and facility teams already recognise when they build a bidders list. In Calgary and Edmonton, those lists are often short and informal. An estimator invites the subs they trust, plus one or two they've heard good things about. Our job is to make your firm one of those names.
What's included
- A target list. Thirty to eighty organisations you actually want to work for: GCs active in your trade's scope, property management firms with portfolios in your area, school divisions, health and municipal facility groups. We sort them by fit, not by size.
- Project pages. One page per notable job: building type, scope, schedule, constraints you solved (occupied building, winter work, tight laydown), and the client type where you have permission to say so.
- A capability statement. Two pages covering trades and scopes, crew size, bonding and insurance status as you confirm them, safety program summary, service area and contacts.
- A commercial section on your website. Separate from homeowner pages, with its own phone path so an estimator never gets pushed through a residential booking script.
- A follow-up routine. A calendar of useful touchpoints: project completion notes, seasonal maintenance reminders for property managers, a short email after every bid, win or lose.
- LinkedIn basics. A company page and the owner's profile cleaned up, because many commercial buyers check there.
Who it's for
Specialty subs and service contractors in mechanical, electrical, roofing, glazing, flooring, drywall, fire protection, painting, concrete and similar scopes, who already have some commercial work and want more. It also suits residential firms moving into tenant improvements and light commercial service. Our guide to the residential-to-ICI shift walks through whether that move makes financial sense for you.
Timeline
- Month 1: interviews with you and your estimator, target list, capability statement draft.
- Months 2–3: project pages and commercial site section published; follow-up calendar starts.
- Months 4–6: first round of targeted outreach materials; results reviewed against bid invitations received.
- Months 6–12: refine the list, retire non-responsive targets, add new project pages as jobs finish.
How we measure results
Commercial marketing gets its own scoreboard, separate from homeowner leads:
| Metric | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Bid invitations received per quarter | The earliest sign that you're on more lists |
| Invitations from target organisations | Shows whether the list is working, not just luck |
| Bid-to-award ratio | Tells you whether pricing or relationships are the bottleneck |
| Repeat clients in 12 months | The real value of ICI work |
Say a target property manager awards you three service contracts a year worth $22,000 each, at a 25% margin. That relationship is worth $16,500 of gross profit annually, and much more over five years. A year of focused effort on twenty such targets only needs to land two or three to pay for itself.
Where Alberta commercial buyers look you up
Most commercial buyers in Alberta check three places before inviting a new sub: your website, your LinkedIn company page and someone they trust who has worked with you. You can't control the third, but you can make sure the first two show the same company name, scopes, service area and recent projects. A project page published the week a job finishes, with the GC's permission, often does more than a year of generic posts.
Mistakes to avoid
- Using homeowner language for commercial buyers. "Family-owned, friendly service" means little to an estimator; "completed four occupied-school retrofits over summer breaks" means a lot.
- Hiding your paperwork. If a GC has to ask three times for your insurance certificate or WCB status, someone else gets the invite.
- Following up only when you want work. A note after a finished job does more than a cold call in a slow month.
- Chasing every tender. Low win rates on open public bids often mean the effort belongs on invited work instead. Our bid support service helps sort which is which.
See which Alberta markets suit commercial work on the areas page, or read the pricing for plan details.
Frequently asked questions
What does ICI mean here?
Industrial, commercial and institutional work: offices, retail, warehouses, schools, health facilities, multi-family common areas and similar buildings, as opposed to single-family homes.
Can digital marketing really help with GC relationships?
It helps more than most subs expect. Estimators and project managers look up unfamiliar subs before inviting them, and a site with relevant project pages and clear paperwork shortens that check.
Do you cold-call GCs on our behalf?
No. We build the target list, the materials and the follow-up schedule, and we can draft the messages, but the relationship belongs to you and your team.
How long before this produces work?
Expect six to twelve months for meaningful results. Commercial relationships form slowly, but once a GC or property manager trusts you, the work tends to repeat.