The Globe and Mail reports in its Wednesday edition that five years ago, Edmonton's Stantec was scrambling to defend its reputation. The Globe's Tim Kiladze writes that at the time, the engineering consultancy had spent seven years and a significant amount of capital buying up design and architectural firms across North America. Yet, at the tail end of the buying spree, Stantec got overzealous with a large acquisition, ultimately inheriting a construction business with some horrible contracts. The troubled construction unit was sold off. In the ensuing turnaround, Stantec's shares have soared 242 per cent over those five years, and it is now one of Canada's hottest stocks. Stantec is not alone. Montreal-based WSP Global's shares jumped 197 per cent over the same time period. Both companies' returns beat a lot of U.S. technology stars. Stantec and WSP put more emphasis on per-hour consulting fees that rise with inflation, instead of banking on fixed-price construction contracts that are notorious for going over budget, and they leaned less heavily on energy projects, expanding instead in businesses such as water, which includes building levies, flood wall systems and water pumping stations to protect coastlines.