A Winnipeg business is gaining momentum after building a method to simplify processes in the construction industry.
David Peters is the founder and CEO of ConstructionClock, an app that makes it easier for construction companies to track time, manage projects and grow their business.
On May 13 at Low Life Barrel House, Peters gave an inside glimpse at his entrepreneurial journey during a WTC Talks event, sponsored by Manitoba Chambers of Commerce. Hosted by World Trade Centre Winnipeg, WTC Talks is a monthly gathering that celebrates Manitoba entrepreneurs and creates connections within the business community by sharing stories of trade and growth.
Peters launched ConstructionClock in 2022 after spending nearly two decades in the construction industry as a building contractor across Western Canada. Since then, ConstructionClock has grown to employ more than 30 people and work with upwards of 3,000 companies across the globe — and the local business continues to expand both at home and abroad.
Reflecting on his younger years, Peters recalls doing poorly in school as a teenager. When his dad asked the 16-year-old if he’d like to build a house with him, the business-minded teen didn’t hesitate.
“I dropped out of school and started at a window manufacturing company during the day. Then evenings and weekends, we built that house for the next two years,” he said. “I felt like I knew everything that there was to know about construction at 18, and I started contracting.”
As an exterior contractor, he kept busy doing roofing, siding and windows — that is, until he broke his back. Needing a new plan, he rented a desk at North Forge for $150 per month and wrote down three main peeves he had in the construction industry.
“One was estimating, one was labour tracking, and one was the safety aspect. So I spent some time on all three, and then I decided to do roofing estimating because I thought I could build a calculation engine that can solve this. I went out and started talking to roofing companies and we built an app,” he said. “It flopped. It needed tons of work.”
From there, he decided to shift his focus to labour tracking and developed an app that can automatically clock in crews and instantly export to payroll.
“I decided to forego what we had invested in there, and then I had to start from scratch on something else,” he said. “It was the best decision we had made.”
As the business began to get bigger, Peters faced decisions to facilitate that growth.
“When you're an early-stage tech company in a place like Winnipeg, there's a tremendous amount of trade-offs that you need to make. You can't go out and hire the best people because you are not a name they even recognize, so they're not going to leave their company and come work for you,” he said.
“I think one of the reasons we became successful is because I made bets on people early on that were coming out of the University of Manitoba who wanted to work for a tech company. So I hired them and then I gave them the space to develop.”
After a few years in operation, more than 80 per cent of their revenue now comes from the United States — but they hope to change that.
It came as a positive surprise when a company in Australia discovered ConstructionClock’s app on the App Store and became a valued customer. Based on that success, Peters decided to do a marketing blitz in Australia in early 2026.
“They have a construction industry that’s absolutely booming,” he said. “In the first three months, we picked up 300 construction companies there.”
The team recently travelled to Australia for a trade show and landed their largest client yet, followed by even more connections. Another trade show unlocked potential opportunities in India.
Closer to home, Peters offers some advice for making a mark right here in Manitoba.
“The biggest thing for me in doing business in Manitoba is you have to relentlessly network. Had I not done that or had I been super introverted, I would not have been successful in Manitoba,” he said.
“It’s very much about building relationships here. Once you have those relationships, you can do really big things, as we've seen from some great businesses here.”
Looking ahead, he foresees more growth on the horizon for ConstructionClock — and he’ll need to find more talented team members to keep up with it.
“We can see ourselves getting to that point where we're serving a million people around the world, and we're tracking and paying construction workers globally,” he said.
In order to do so, they would need to bolster their workforce to about 500 people — an exponential growth from their current staff of about 35.
At the same time, he expressed gratitude for the investors that believed in him as well as for the provincial government’s Venture Capital Tax Credit.
“We would not be here today without that,” he added. “It was a game-changer for our business.”
The next WTC Talks event will take place on June 17 from 4 to 6 p.m. at La Roca, 155 Smith St. The event, sponsored by the Manitoba Chambers of Commerce and Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters (CME), will feature the story of Paul Soubry from NFI Group Inc.
