Ottawa’s construction season is short, and most projects try to fit a lot into it. Material often arrives before the site can take it, crews need it on a set day, and summer roadwork makes deliveries harder to time. Scheduled material delivery closes that gap: the material is received and stored off site, then delivered to the job when the crew is ready for it.
This article covers why site deliveries go wrong in the busy season and how to plan material releases so the job keeps moving.
Why site deliveries get harder in summer
Summer is when most Ottawa projects are running at the same time. That brings a few predictable problems:
- Sites with no room to store material. Laydown space fills up fast, and material left on site is exposed to weather and damage.
- Deliveries that arrive before the crew is ready. Suppliers ship on their schedule, not yours, and a load that shows up early has nowhere to go.
- Roadwork and traffic. Seasonal construction on city routes makes delivery windows harder to hit, especially for oversized loads.
- Phased jobs. Many projects need material in stages, so one large delivery to site creates more handling, not less.
What scheduled material delivery means
With scheduled delivery, your material comes to a warehouse first. It is received, checked and stored by job. When the site is ready, you call with the release date and the material goes out to site, all at once or in stages.
The site only receives what the crew needs that day. The rest stays protected indoors or in a secured yard until it is needed.
How to plan material releases for a project
A few steps make releases predictable:
- Share the material list early. Quantities, dimensions, weights and arrival dates let the warehouse plan space and handling before the first truck arrives.
- Match releases to the schedule. Tie each release to a project milestone rather than to the supplier’s ship date.
- Give notice for each release. Calling ahead with the release date lets the load be staged and the delivery booked around site access hours.
- Plan heavy items separately. Crated machinery and oversized items may need different equipment at the warehouse and at the site, so flag them early.
- Keep track of what is in storage. Knowing exactly what has been received and what is still waiting avoids reorders and missed releases.
Price storage and delivery into the job
Many contractors build storage and delivery into the bid. When the material list and timeline are known, the cost is easy to estimate, and it sits in the job budget instead of turning into a surprise halfway through.
At Valley Logistics, storage is billed monthly with a one-month minimum, and labour and delivery are billed separately. Many of our project customers call while they are still bidding, so storage is priced in from the start.
How Valley Logistics handles scheduled delivery
Valley Logistics receives project material at 1255 Humber Place in Ottawa, stores it by job and delivers it to site on your schedule.
- About 95% of our storage is heated, and a 50,000 sq ft yard with 24/7 CCTV, an 8 ft barbed-wire fence and lighting holds material suited to outdoor storage.
- Our forklifts handle loads from 3,500 to 25,000 lbs, with crane support through a partner for heavier lifts.
- Customers can log into our warehouse management system (WMS) from any computer to check their inventory.
- We deliver across the Toronto to Montreal corridor, and longer distances are arranged through partner carriers.
- It depends on the job, but in urgent cases we have received material the same day.
Read more about project material storage and heavy material handling.
Plan your next site delivery
If material for your project is arriving before the site is ready, contact Valley Logistics with the material list and the arrival date. We will confirm receiving, storage and delivery to site.
