CANADIAN CONTRACTOR JAN/FEB 2015

CANADIAN

THE MAGAZINE FOR PROFESSIONAL RENOVATORS AND CUSTOM HOMEBUILDERS

15 Years Later We revisit the contractors from our first ever cover

Clockwise from left: Michael Upshall, Derek Gretka and Dennis Bryant

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CONTENTS

Cover

CONTENTS

Where

features

are they

HomeStars Makes Changes 12

Now?

Canada’s leading contractor review site responds to its critics.

18 Cover photo: Larry Arnal Photography

COVER STORY Where Are They Now? 18 We revisit the three contractors who made our first cover, 15 years ago.

Blasts From The Past

23

Looking back on important stories and columns from our first decade and a half.

The Creative Eye

34

A Scandinavian-inspired design-build house in Oakville, Ontario.

34

Mid-century

Modern

departments

What’s Online 4 A look at some of our recent online videos on contractor business issues Editorial 6 Rob and Steve get all nostalgic for the good old days

Site Notes 8 A well-known contractor faces the wrath of his trades Voices 10 Your opinions on fake and commissioned online reviews Maxwell’s Stuff We Like 41 Refurbished iron radiators

Refurbished

41

RADS

What Would You Do? 50 Solve this contractor’s dilemma and you could win a prize

www.canadiancontractor.ca

January/February 2015

3

ONLINE CANADIAN

Visit us online

CONTRACTOR

.ca

VIDEO

WHY REFURBISHED IRON RADIATORS ARE SUCH A GREAT IDEA In this video, Steve Maxwell reminds us how the original radiant heating method for homes – cast iron radiators – still make perfect environmental sense, are perfectly affordable and are perfectly beautiful. He also talks about a Quebec company who has created a terrific business acquiring, refurbishing and reselling cast iron radiators.

Type “Rads” in the search bar at canadiancontractor.ca to find this video easily

VIDEO

HOW TO GET GOOD LEADS BY WORKING A HOME SHOW We’ve run this video before, but since spring home show season is now upon us, it’s worth reviewing Mike Draper’s excellent video on how to get real leads for profitable renovation business from working a trade show. As Mike often tells his Renovantage members, it’s all about having a system.

Type “Home Shows” in the search bar at canadiancontractor.ca to find this video easily

VIDEO

GOOD VERSUS BAD CONTRACTS, WITH REINER HOYER Reiner Hoyer, a successful general contractor who hangs out his shingle as The Reno Coach (the-reno-coach.com), talks to editor Steve Payne about the elements of a good renovation contract, including good and bad ways to schedule payments. He also addresses the issue of penalty clauses for running projects behind schedule.

CANADIAN

Type “Contracts” in the search bar at canadiancontractor.ca to find this video easily

CONTRACTOR.ca BUILD | GROW | PROFIT

Volume 16, Number 1 January/February 2015 canadiancontractor.ca | Tel: 416 442 5600 |

Editor Steve Payne spayne@canadiancontractor.ca

80 Valleybrook Drive, North York, ON, M3B 2S9

Contributing Editors John Bleasby, John Caulfield, Kim Laudrum, Steve Maxwell

Canadian Contractor, established in 2000, is published 6 times a year by Annex Business Media ISSN 1498-8941 (Print) ISSN 1929-6495 (Online)

Art Director Mary Peligra mpeligra@bizinfogroup.ca Publisher Rob Koci rkoci@canadiancontractor.ca Production Manager Gary White gwhite@bizinfogroup.ca Circulation Manager Beata Olechnowicz bolechnowicz@bizinfogroup.ca

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Mike Fredericks, President & CEO Annex Business Media Tim Dimopoulos, Vice President, Annex Business Media East Corinne Lynds, Editorial Director

Tel: 1-800-668-2374 Fax: 416-442-2191

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EDITORIAL

Voices

OUR 15TH ANNIVERSARY: LESSONS LEARNED

By Rob Koci

F

ifteen years. Wow. When I became Canadian Contractor’s first editor when

we launched this magazine in 2000, I was only three years into my freelance writing career. I was writing before that, but renovations were still my bread and butter. But on Jan. 1, 1997, I decided I would not take on any more building and I would become a freelance construction journalist full time. I pledged myself to a self-taught, self-financed three-year course in writing at my very own Writing School of Hard Knocks.

I figured that, if I failed, I could go back to building.

That decision came from a lunch I had with my very wealthy son-in-law. In both building and writing, I was struggling to find work. He made it clear to me that being divided between two very different pursuits was not going to lead to success.

“You need to decide what you are,” he said. He made the

”

wise observation that, unless you define yourself, prospective clients won’t know what to do with you. Editors looking

Man who

chases two

rabbits catches neither.

”

- Chinese Proverb

Rob Koci Publisher

rkoci@canadiancontractor.ca

for writers would see a builder, and homeowners with renovations wouldn’t want to have a writer finishing their basement or renovating their bathroom.

Perhaps you, too, have tried to run two unconnected businesses at the same time? If so, have you noticed how your day-to-day decisions become harder because your loyalties are divided? Have you noticed how your never seem to get any economies of scale going in either of your two pursuits? You have two sets of expenses but only half the revenues on either side of the ledger.

My decision to commit myself to a specialty, to decide what I really did for a living, has made all the difference for me.

Maybe you need to make such a decision, yourself.

All change starts from within. All change has to be declared, first to yourself, and then to the world. The tests you face next are the measure of your commitment to your declaration. But no matter how hard the school, don’t let yourself quit for three years. Then graduate.

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EDITORIAL

Voices

OUR 15TH ANNIVERSARY: NO GUCCI SHOES

By Steve Payne

F

ifteen years indeed. This is our 77th issue of Canadian Contractor.

Rob is a little modest, at left, when he talks about how he was the first editor of Canadian Contractor, back when we started this thing up in the Spring of 2000.

He was not only our first editor, he was the original renegade contractor who insisted on us publishing this thing in the first place.

We were working a trade show booth at the Canadian Hardware Show (before it folded), concerned only with our (then)112-year-old publication, Hardware Merchandising.

“You should be publishing a magazine for contractors,” Rob told us, hanging out in our booth, pitching us some stories he wanted to write for us as a freelancer. “I’ve been a framer for 20 years. The sh*t I’ve been through.

Developer tiptoes across my site, doesn’t want to get any mud on his Gucci shoes, he’s just there every day to give me a hard time. I’ve almost gone broke 25 times. I’ve worked for free because I’ve screwed up the quote. I’ve been sued for building a house too high. My back is shot.

I’ve seen my buddies get divorced because the business is too hard on them and their families…”

Oh God when is he leaving, I thought.

But luckily, he didn’t. Rob started to write for us and for about 18 months continued to harp about why we needed to publish for contractors. So we did.

But when we started to publish Canadian Contractor, we could only make it work because we had the best ad salesperson in the entire industry in Dave Chestnut, putting 25 ads into our first issue, alternating with Rob’s stories about real contractors like Dennis Bryant, Michael Upshall and Derek Gretka, back for their second cover, as you can see, 15 years after their first.

And we’ve had you, the reader, to constantly feed us your emails and texts about what’s bugging you, what you want us to cover, and what kind of help you need.

Thanks to everyone who has come along with us on the journey.

”

Developers with Gucci shoes aren’t our typical readers.

”

Steve Payne Editor

spayne@canadiancontractor.ca

www.canadiancontractor.ca

January/February 2015

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SITE NOTES

Homeowners and subtrades picket general contractor’s home

At least four TV stations showed up to film this scene. After pocketing hundreds of thousands of dollars in deposits from homeowners, yet somehow not being able to convert that money into paycheques, Toronto contractor Adam Gardin got hammered in the media after his workers joined with homeowners to picket his home.

H

ow does a general contractor with ten years experience go from being one of the top HomeStars ranked firms in Canada (a “Best Of” award winner in 2010 and 2011) to being described as a “thief” in a front page story in the Toronto Star? And then have such allegations of fraud replayed on at least four major TV stations?

On April 5, Adam Gardin of GarCon Building Group, Toronto, was the subject of a public protest in front of his own home by his trades, homeowners and employees. He had left up to 20 of his

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clients stranded with renovations in progress – some of them with just holes in the ground. They had paid up to $60,000 in deposit money. But Gardin told the media he couldn’t even find the money to pay the rent at his office. Within days of the protest, GarCon filed for bankruptcy.

Outside his home, the protesters waved placards with slogans such as, “Adam Gardin Stole Our Holidays,” “Don’t Trust Adam Gardin,” and “My Home Has No Roof.”

GarCon customer Karim Hajee, who had hired the firm to turn

SITE NOTES

”

I am guilty

his two-bedroom bungalow at Bathurst Asked why she would continue to work and Lawrence into a five-bedroom for a contractor who had already issued house, said that, after workers gutted numerous bounced cheque, Taylor says the home in October and dug a hole that Gardin threatened to charge her for the addition in November, work had penalty fees of more than she was owed abruptly stopped. if she walked off his current jobsites. She CityTV News reported that another said Gardin also threatened her with legal homeowner, Greg Harris, said he had action in return if she stopped providing given Gardin a “30 per cent” deposit services. She said she felt that continuing for a major renovation, totaling $60,000, to work for GarCon was her only hope of which he thought was a lot – but trusted seeing payment.

Gardin. Harris said he had received Taylor also told Canadian Contractor approximately $10,000 in services before that she suspects Gardin has been GarCon’s subtrades told Harris that they transferring his money back to jobsites near could not continue to work because they his hometown of Detroit. Gardin owns a had not been paid. construction-related business in Michigan.

The protest was organized by Rodrigo Gardin, for his part, told the Star in an – Adam Gardin Menezes, a GarCon foreman. Menezes email that he was “extremely remorseful.” He told Canadian Contractor that he had also emailed similar messages of contrition been working for Gardin for about 18 to his clients and City-TV. He did not return months. He said Gardin owed him some phone calls from Canadian Contractor. $6,000 in back wages and expenses.

“I am guilty of being a bad businessman, Menezes said that he had worked sideoverly arrogant, and not effectively by-side with Gardin, often as the only two communicating my situation with those workers on a job, and that he had initially around me and my clients,” he told the trusted him – but thought he was overly Star. However, I am not a thief. I have ambitious and over-extended. “I thought not defrauded anyone of the money they that he (had) just got in over his head. He invested in me and my company. I truly – Rodrigo Menezes, had to have this big office that he rented, wish that I had not caused so many people Gardin's foreman his kids (were) in private school. But after to suffer. While I realize my words do not he wouldn’t pay me, and after talking to the help solve anything, I hope that you will at other trades (and) customers, it just seems least understand that I did not intentionally like he tried to scam me. I think he’s a big create this mess.” liar, a scammer.”

Meanwhile, Canada’s market-leading contractor review site, Canadian Contractor also spoke to another of the subtrade HomeStars, has obviously had its share of adverse publicity since protesters, Hanna Taylor, owner of Hotwire Electric, who has the story of Gardin’s firm’s actions came to light. Not only was worked with GarCon for several years. Taylor came to the protest GarCon a “Best Of” winner in 2010 and 2011, but until negative at Gardin’s house displaying a board covered with dozens of reviews started to appear over the last month or so, GarCon was what she said were bounced cheques that she had received from very close to a 10 out of 10 rated firm.

Gardin. Taylor is taking Gardin to small claims court for the It didn’t take long for HomeStars to act. Within about 48 hours, maximum $25,000. She says Gardin actually owes her $35,000.

GarCon’s “Best Of” award-banners were removed from the “He wrote to the court and offered to pay me $500 a month, company’s HomeStars page, replaced with a red flag that said interest free,” Taylor said. She says the court threw out the offer.

GarCon had some “suspicious reviews.” Another 48 hours passed After talking to the other subtrades, Taylor estimates Gardin before even that flag was replaced with a statement that GarCon owes, in total, over $1-million. was out of business. cc

of being a bad

businessman, overly arrogant and

not effectively

communicating my

situation with those around me and my clients.

”

”

I think he’s a

big liar.

A scammer.

”

www.canadiancontractor.ca

January/February 2015

9

VOICES

Your responses to the GarCon Building Group story

“It does not take Columbo to read GarCon’s reviews and smell a big pile of fish” Why are homeowners blaming HomeStars for posting fake reviews and that no one should use their site? This is like saying do not trust Muslims due the bad ones we have been reading about and watching on television and the recent murders here in Ottawa and Quebec committed by the jihadists… I also took great offence to the Toronto Star and City TV highlighting the fact that Mr. Gardin is Jewish. Meanwhile, these politically correct media sources go out of their way to hammer anyone they can catch in a New York minute for such offences.

It does not take Columbo to read GarCon’s first three pages of reviews and responses to smell a big pile of fish, the dates of submission being so close when submitted for such largescale projects. The front porch “zero” score on the first page, with GarCon admitting it was out of their depth, (then) so many reviews posted about all these high-priced structural projects.

Then the low-scored reviews got buried quickly with a multitude of 10’s. Most obvious of all was the horrible grammar, spelling mistakes and repetitive forms of the submissions and the responses – they were very telling to the suspicious researcher.

If you look at the costs, where posted, it (was) obvious that consumers that (could) afford a $550,000 project (would) more than likely write properly and for that kind of money a two sentence response should have raised red flags.

Gordon Thomas Bailey Academia Roofing

“Money should be held in a legal trust” I’m thinking I have a resolution to this issue. It is a bit more complex, but already in use in many other industries, like real estate. (We need) a new vocation: a building agent – basically a third party. The homeowner or builder puts all the money required into the hands of a legal agent. The money is then held in legal trust, and dispensed to the trade(s) on completion of tasks. If there is disagreement between the homeowner and builder, the agent resolves it by using industry standards, using arbitration, or a building or trade inspector, or perhaps by hiring a third party “expert” if required. If the work is deemed “wanting” the trade must bring it up to code; if the work is deemed sufficient the trade gets paid.

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The building agent would protect all parties: the homeowner, the builder, the trades. There would be no need for government intervention, and government entities could be disbanded, along with their expensive unwarranted fees. One fee would be paid to the agent equally by the trades and the homeowner and the builder. At that point, I do not believe it would come to a legal battle. But if it did have to go court, the agent would be a valuable asset to both parties.

The homeowner or builder would not be able to stiff the trade if the trade had done their job, all the money having been put in trust, before any work commences. Payment would be agreed upon in stages for larger projects. This idea could go further. The trade could have to put up a performance bond to protect the homeowner and the builder. If the trade does damage that requires repair, and does not want to fulfill his end, the money in the bond would be able to hire someone for the homeowner and builder to make it right.

Gadjet

“Glad to see these particular trades standing arm-in-arm with the homeowners” Without paying any disrespect to the homeowners that are facing this turmoil, I wonder if it was not for the strife of these homeowners would the mainstream media ever have put so much weight behind the story?

We as trades and suppliers continue to face this dilemma on a daily basis. You bid a job; if you’re low bid you get it. Then the worry starts: Will you get paid? As noted by the electrician in the GarCon story, once you’re in deep enough your next fear is if you try and force payment you are at risk of losing it all. A sad reality.

There is never any issue when you are doing the work. However, when you fight to get paid, back charges, deficiencies and threats soon surface.

The cost to go the legal route is cumbersome. You need to weigh the probabilities. As stated by the electrician, if you’re owed $35k you must accept to sue for $25k, which is the maximum amount for the cheapest route in small claims court (in Ontario).

The other route is time-consuming and costly: the case can be tied up for years. Trust me, I have been there, done that. I have, besides my WSIB case in front of the courts (now entering its fifth year), two other cases (the cause directly relating to my WSIB issue) in front of the courts now going on three years.

This is the reality in our industry. I was glad to see these particular trades standing arm and arm with these homeowners.

We can only hope that more and more come forward with their horror stories and finally make our government pay attention.

Sean Keane

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ONLINE REVIEWS

HomeStars Tweaks its Formula Online review sites can be a contractor’s bane or bonus

By John Caulfield

Over the years, contractors and remodelers have had lovein North America that allow homeowners to voice their opinions hate relationships with online review and referral sites. A about contractors’ work, offer remodeling and product ideas, and sizable number of pros still see these sites as rant platforms for feed fresh prospects to pros. Most of these sites have sprung up disgruntled customers, and some continue to question whether within the past five years, fueled by investment capital that’s the marketing fees these sites charge are worth the quantity and searching for the next pot of gold (see sidebar). quality of prospects they deliver.

Each of these sites positions itself as unique, although one But for pros that accept online reviews as a fact of life, and would need a micrometer to measure the differences between are looking for ways to expand their some of them. And while consolidation seems franchises, these sites can be useful tools inevitable in their sector, most sites are still for enticing new customers and polishing in expansion mode, and are relying on mobile their companies’ image. technologies to reach more customers and Just ask Ian Grieve, owner of Torontopros. based Curbz Landscaping. This nine“What keeps me up at night isn’t the year-old contractor runs five crews that competition in Canada, but making sure handle between 70 and 75 projects per we can compete with well-financed U.S. year. Depending on the type of project, companies,” says Nancy Peterson, HomeStars’ Curbz gets between one-third and onefounder and CEO. half of its business from homeowners who At first glance, HomeStars appears to first heard about the company through be a smallish David battling in the land of HomeStars, the online review site that Goliaths like Angie’s List, which generates Curbz has been signed up with since that more than US$300 million in annual revenue, HomeStars’ CEO Nancy Peterson site went live in 2006. and Houzz.com, with 25 million unique “It’s our No. 1 source for leads,” says monthly users worldwide.

Grieve, who pays HomeStars between But in Canada, HomeStars has emerged as $450 and $500 per month for leads from one market for four service the leading home-improvement review site. For five consecutive categories. years, it has ranked on Canadian Business magazine’s Profit Random calls to a half-dozen Canadian contractors found that 500 list, over which time the company grew by 1,014 percent. review sites work like charms for some, less so for others. The (Peterson wouldn’t confirm a recent Globe & Mail estimate that effectiveness of these sites seems to correspond with the overall her company generates about $5 million in annual revenue.) Its effort that pros put into building and reinforcing their brands. database includes information on about two million contractors Regardless of what pros think of them, review sites—for and remodelers. And unlike many of its competitors, HomeStars home improvement, travel, and just about everything else—are is in the black financially, says Peterson. extremely popular with customers as one more form of social She and Ryan D’Souza, HomeStars’ vice president of sales, media. Some sites, like Yelp, cover the waterfront and provide say that what distinguishes their company from the rest of the info on a wide range of service providers. But since the launch of pack is its focus on bolstering homeowners’ confidence about Angie’s List in 1995, there has also been an explosion of forums hiring the right contractor for a job. “For us, it’s about homeowner

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Steve Miller Miller’s Home Building Centre Sauble Beach, ON

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HOME STARS

Reviews, American-style HomeStars is the market leader in Canada but U.S.-based competitors are looming and they have deep pockets.

Angie’s List

HomeAdvisor

This Indianapolis-based company, founded in 1995, operates one of the best-known review sites in North America, thanks to its aggressive marketing. The site offers reviews and information on 720 service categories, primarily home improvement and healthcare. (Anonymous reviews are verboten onto its site.) A few years ago, Angie’s List branched out to offer E-commerce options, à la Groupon, with some success, according to the Indianapolis Business Journal. In November, it launched an app that allows consumers to search for service providers and hire pros online. The company went public in November 2011, and has nearly 3 million paid members. Last September—a month after it laid off 97 people in its sales department—the company secured an $85 million loan from TCW Asset Management Company. That same month, the Financial Times reported that Angie’s List had hired investment bankers to explore the possibility of a sale.

Formerly called ServiceMagic and launched in 1999, the company was acquired in 2004 by InterActiveCorp (whose 150 brands include Match.com and Ask.com). It changed its name to HomeAdvisor in October 2012. Based in Golden, Colo., HomeAdvisor’s calling card is a patented technology called ProFinder, which has allowed the company to prescreen more than 85,000 pros (including Canadian contractors). The site also screens and verifies reviews and ratings posted, which number more than 2.5 million.

HomeAdvisor is really about generating leads for pros: this reporter typed in “painting” on the site, and immediately got four referrals of local painters, two of which called to inquire about the job. Each pro pays at least US$60 per referral.

HomeAdvisor includes tools that offer its users local and national averages for project costs, and home design advice.

Houzz.com Founded in 2009 and headquartered in Palo Alto, Calif., Houzz is the coffee-table book of review sites. Its claim to fame is the 5 million-plus photos that remodeling and design pros, as well as homeowners, have uploaded to its site to showcase projects and projects. Competitors marvel at Houzz’s ability to get users to purchase products via its site, too. Houzz. com includes information and reviews about more than 600,000 active remodeling professionals, 35% of which are outside the U.S., as are 20% of Houzz’s 400 employees. Last year, Houzz expanded its reach throughout Europe and Asia after initial forays into France, Germany, the U.K., and Japan. Houzz is bolstered by $213 million in venture capital from investors that include Sequoia Capital and KPCB.

Porch.com Launched in September 2013, this Seattle-based company has more than 300 employees, from only about 30 when it started. CEO Matt Erlichman says Porch’s prime objective is to match homeowners and their projects with the right pro. Porch’s information about contractors includes feedback from neighbors who have hired them previously, as well as the pros’ licensing, bonding, and insurance credentials. Porch’s staff even does ridealongs with pros on the job. The site currently has information about more than 2.8 million pros, 200,000 of which Porch has verified their licenses.

Users can book and pay for services through Porch.com with 250 certified pros, and can upload reviews about pros and photos of their projects. In January 2014, Porch entered a strategic alliance with Lowe’s, whose store employees use the site to help customers find installers. Lowe’s was among the investors through which Porch.com raised US$27.6 million in new financing last fall.

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Pro.com Founded in 2013 and initially backed by Amazon.com’s CEO Jeff Bezos, Seattle-based Pro.com’s marketing angle is transparency: It provides homeowners with pre-estimates for labor costs on thousands of projects, based on the experiences of nearly 2 million pros in its database. A free Certified Pro Service allows users to find a pro and schedule an appointment to talk more specifically about a job and its price. A partnership with the website Build.com allows Pro.com users to order from Build.com’s list of more than 700,000 building products (with a 5% discount on the first order), and incorporate those purchases into their project estimates. In September, Pro.com raised another $14 million in venture capital from an investor firm founded by Starbucks’ CEO Howard Schulz. Pro.com, with 40 employees, expects to possibly triple its worker count in 2015, as it expands beyond its home base.

Unlike Canada’s HomeStars, U.S.-based review sites are often backed by significant venture capital.

HOME STARS

trust,” says D’Souza, who refers to what HomeStars offers as “advertising optimization” for pros trying to build their brand.

“We’re a third-party validation of that branding.”

Peterson adds that her site is “agnostic” about the contractors that homeowners choose, unlike other sites for which providing a certain number of referrals is the be all and end all. Peterson believes Canadian contractors that choose not to promote themselves on HomeStars “send up a red flag” about their reputations, and miss an opportunity to have their stories told by their clients. “It’s like if you’re not on LinkedIn, I’d wonder about you.”

Managing ‘fake’ reviews Despite their proliferation, are these sites really as essential to contractors’ business as their executives claim?

Pros are gauging value from several angles. One is how the sites manage the review process for integrity, and deal with contractors who try to “game” the system by posting positive reviews about themselves (under a homeowner’s name) or negative reviews about a competitor.

Richard Gartner, who owns Toronto-based HSG Consulting, which specializes in kitchen, bath, and interior remodeling and generates more than $500,000 in annual revenue, had 47 customer reviews posted on HomeStars as of mid December 2014. Some competitors, he claims, had as many as 250 reviews, posted over a two- to three-year period. “How could someone have done that many kitchens in that amount of time,” he asks, rhtetorically, and answers by alleging that many reviews are “fakes.”

John Jasmal, who owns JMT Roofing & Painting in New Westminster, B.C., which gets about 10 per cent of its leads through HomeStars, suspects that some competitors write their own reviews and have customers approve them. (Jasmal says all 226 reviews of JMT’s work on HomeStars’ site came from customers themselves.)

Peterson acknowledges that fake reviews are a problem. For the past four years, HomeStars has investigated fishy posts (she wouldn’t provide details), and doesn’t hesitate to remove bogus reviews and take back “Best Of” recognition from contractors that violate its rules.

Pros also want to know how sites are set up to address

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inaccuracies in homeowners’ reviews, especially call outs about jobs that pros claim they never worked on. Contractors regularly complain that customers tend to make mountains out of molehills when there’s a problem with a project, and some customers can never be placated. Will Wientjes, who owns The Tub Guys, which specializes in bathtub glazing, says that while most of the reviews about his company on HomeStars are scored 9 or 10, it received a “0” review from one homeowner even after Wientjes offered to fix the problem and then offered a full refund.

This issue is not insignificant, because reviews determine a company’s ranking on HomeStars’ site. And about 30 per cent of all written reviews give contractors a score of 5 or below (on a scale of 1 through 10), says Peterson.

Posting a bad review, though, can put a reviewer into hot legal water. A CBC News report in October found a growing Porch.com's number of North American companies that CEO, are defending their reputations against Matt Erlichman perceived libel by threatening to sue reviewers over negative online comments, or by including “non-disparagement” clauses in their contracts with customers.

“Reviews are always going to be there. So you need a strategy to get more reviews online and build up as many positive reviews as possible,” says Victoria Downing, president of Remodelers Advantage, which provides support programs for contractors. When pros encounter bad reviews, “they need to respond immediately, and get those conversations offline as soon as possible,” she advises.

Peterson is convinced that bad reviews can lead to a dialogue between customers and contractors to resolve disputes before they get out of hand. That’s why she’s against pulling verified negative reviews from her site. Her company also retains a law firm that advises homeowners on what language to use within legal bounds.

But Peterson is also on record stating the “99%” of homeowners who ask HomeStars to take down their reviews have been pressured or “intimidated” by the contractor named in that post.

So when HomeStars accedes to those requests, it notes that the user pulled the review. “Everyone else can pretty much read between the lines.”

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Price versus value Over the Christmas holidays, Angie’s List was promoting a 40% discount on its membership fees. (It’s one of the few sites that charge homeowners to participate.) That’s hardly surprising coming from a company that last year spent around US$100 million on marketing. But the discount called attention to homeowners’ and contractors’ sensitivities about these sites’ pricing and perceived value.

HomeStars’ recent rate increases didn’t sit too well with some contractors. But most of the pros Canadian Contractor contacted for this article thought HomeStars’ rates were in line with the competition. “It’s less than I pay Google AdWords,“ says Wientjes.

Gartner says his company pays Houzz, from which it’s been getting “excellent” leads, a minimum of $350 per month.

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Reach Restoration has been listed on HomeStars since the site started out as a directory. Initially, the number of leads it got from that listing was “unbelievable,” says owner Jim Urquhart. But pickings have been slimmer over the past few years. And given that Reach Restoration has shifted more toward commercial work, Urquhart isn’t sure if it will market through HomeStars in 2015; if it does, it will be for only one category—renovation—and drop the other two—masonry and chimney repair.

Urquhart admits that HomeStars hasn’t clicked for his company lately partly because he hasn’t been as aggressive enough about getting customers to post reviews about Reach’s work.

Ultimately, review and referral sites are what pros make of them. “Professionals who invest in it upfront—build a great profile, encourage clients to give reviews, communicate and use messaging well—stick around because they make money,” said Marco Zappacosta, CEO and cofounder of Thumbtack, an up and coming home improvement marketplace, in a recent interview with TechCrunch.com.

Peterson advises contractors to view HomeStars as a building block in their marketing programs: the more active they are in establishing their brand, the more they’ll get from using HomeStars. Some pros may balk at rewarding homeowners for posting reviews, as Wientjes claims some of his competitors do.

But Grieve is among the contractors who understand the value of positive homeowner feedback, which is why he plans to dedicate one of his employees this year to generating more homeowner reviews for Curbz Landscaping.

“We’re trying to be ruthlessly cost effective and support the little guy,” says Peterson. She claims her company’s rate card is still lower than competitors’. “But you can’t make decisions about pricing based on anecdotes. Some people will complain about anything, but ultimately [pros] have to decide if HomeStars is right for them, costwise.”

Peterson accepts that HomeStars must prove its value every day. She admits that her site’s search feature is “a pain point” that is being addressed. And while Peterson views international sites like Houzz and TripAdvisor as “inspirations,” her growth plans, at least for now, are targeting Canadian markets exclusively, for which her company intends to release several new products in 2015.

She didn’t reveal much about those products except that they would be mostly apps for mobile devices “that will make pros’ lives easier. cc

*All makes & models

Remarketing

Initiative counts

www.jimpattison lease.com

www.canadiancontractor.ca

January/February 2015

17

OUR 15TH ANNIVERSARY HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO US!

DEREK GRETKA He decided, after 17 years as a contracting firm owner, to change fields

MICHAEL UPSHALL He went from a “Mom and Pop” company to over $3 million in sales

DENNIS BRYANT He started as a builder and learned to be a businessman

18 18

January/February January/February 2015 2015

www.canadiancontractor.ca

Photo: Larry Arnal Photography

OUR 15TH ANNIVERSARY

Fifteen years ago these renovation contractors appeared on our first ever cover.

We wondered, where are they now? And what have they learned after 15 years in the business?

By Kim Laudrum

BACK to the FUTURE January/February 2015

19

OUR 15TH ANNIVERSARY

Michael Upshall

Probuilt by Michael Upshall, Bolton, Ontario

M

ichael Upshall is as passionate about systems and procedures now as he was back in 2000.

Back then Probuilt by Michael Upshall, founded in 1992, was a decent Mom and Pop operation, he tells Canadian Contractor. But then, in 2004, he “spent a whack of money—$145,000—to rebrand the company. We redesigned all of our marketing materials throughout all of our systems,” Upshall said. His company became focused on a design/ build business model for custom homes, renovations and additions.

“We went from about $500,000 in revenue to $2.5 million in a year and a half,” he said.

“The best years in the business were 2005, 2006, and 2007. The recession kicked us in the nuts.” Today, the company’s revenues are in the $3 million to $5 million range. The average price of a project is $500,000 and there are 12 full-time employees.

Upshall’s claim to fame is that Probuilt built the Dream Home at the National Home Show—four times.

“It’s a real house, a 3,600-sq.-ft. custom home. It requires permits to build, includes the latest in technology. It’s fully landscaped. And it’s all done in just seven days,” Upshall points out.

“There’s a lot of coordination involved in that. We do all of our projects that way,” he said. There might be 20,000 to 30,000 different components that have to come together so you have to know your stuff. “There is no room for error, because the national media is there, waiting for the doors to open,” Upshall said.

Game changer?

Design/Build is the way to go as a business model, Upshall said. He’s gone back to school to study Building Information Modeling (BIM) at George Brown College. “It’s more of a process of building on a model using a front-end design collaboration. Using BIM, all interested parties—the client, the designer, the builder, sub-trades, suppliers, etc.—talk to one another from the beginning,” Upshall said.

In BIM the premise is that you design in a 3-D model. Picture a large, complicated building all laid out in a 3-D model using information from the architect, the mechanical engineers and the structural engineers right from the beginning.

“The beauty is that when you put it all together you can see how it all works,” Upshall said. “In a sense you’ve built it first—virtually—so you can see how it’s going to work. There’s more consultation up front. The technology facilitates that. All information is accessible to everyone who needs it. The client gets exactly what they want—on budget.”

Lesson learned?

“Bottom line,” Upshall says, “you’re a businessman. You’re in business first and foremost. When you are in business, you need to be profitable. If you’re not profitable, you need to come and work for me and you will be a lot happier.

“If you’re not profitable, what’s the point?” cc

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OUR 15TH ANNIVERSARY

Dennis Bryant

Bryant Renovations, Toronto

P

eople like me typically learned the trade and then ended up running a business, without knowing anything about running a business,” Dennis Bryant says honestly.

But he’s modest. Bryant Renovations Ltd. has a solid reputation for remodeling homes and condominiums in Toronto. With at least six employees, his company has annual revenues of $1 million.

Lesson learned?

Bryant credits his success to some good advice from Greg Peterson of Renovantage, a consulting firm for renovators. Bryant says he wishes he knew sooner how important it was to know how to run a business. “I never even thought of it as running a business for years and years; especially when I was still doing hands-on things.” He teaches others now and was part of Canadian Contractor’s Reno Summit last year.

What he loves the most about the business: “I think sometimes its giving people what they wanted.”

“Getting the team to always mesh is important, too,” he points out. “They do a lot of the organization and resolving problems without me.”

On his wish list of things that would make his business easier is greater clarity among the rules and regulations at WSIB. “The rules are always obscure,” Bryant said. “For whatever reason the other government departments that I have contact with—Canada Revenue Agency, for example—the rules are outlined well.”

“The other thing that slows us up is building permits,” Bryant said. “I’ve been waiting 19 months now to find out about tree protection on a particular project from the urban forestry department.”

Some of the changes he has seen include a much more extensive use of computers: “E-mail was barely getting underway 15 years ago.” Clients renovate more often now, even though the materials from 10 or 15 years ago are still all right, he said.

“There is more of a division of labour for projects than we used to have,” Bryant said. “My carpenter in the past would have done drywall and laid floors. But now we are using specialized sub-trades more.”

“The primary needs of advertising have switched more to online from print,” he noted.

Game changer?

“Green renovation is growing all the time,” Bryant points out. “Some clients want low VOC paint, no formaldehyde, and they have concerns about insulation and energy efficiencies. It doesn’t mean they want to install solar panels but some people want small things, such as infrared indicators where they are losing heat. The changeover of light bulbs to LEDs is just one more incremental change that is helping to improve the environment.”

Bryant Renovations has “been involved in green renovations forever,” Bryant says, “and where we can, we bring that to our project.”

Dennis Bryant congratulates Canadian Contractor on its 15th anniversary. “It wouldn’t still be here if it hadn’t played an important part in the industry.” cc

www.canadiancontractor.ca

January/February 2015

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OUR 15TH ANNIVERSARY

Derek Gretka

Former contractor, now engineering consultant, Mississauga, Ont.

A

fter running his own interior finishing company for 17 years, Derek Gretka decided it was time to put his masters of civil engineering degree to better use. Just over two years ago Gretka joined a consulting company to design infrastructure projects, including roadways and bridges for the City of Mississauga, and regional transit work for Metrolinx, to name a few. It’s an opportunity to exercise his degree and skills to their full extent, he said.

“The difference with me working for a major employer is that I don’t have to worry so much about lining up the next project,” Gretka said. “I’m also enjoying more intense intellectual work than I was in my own business. My daughter says I’m much more approachable now. I’m much happier.”

Lesson learned?

Being an employee rather than an entrepreneur is “just a different beast,” Gretka notes.

“Sometimes people are afraid to take a leap at this age (he is 56). You don’t know how long a company will keep you on.” It’s been worth the leap for Gretka. “But,” he says, “you can’t generalize.

It depends on the economy and the business. It’s not just a straight answer yes or no,” to run your own business or work for someone else.

Game changer?

New technologies are being implemented now much faster than they used to, Gretka said.

Building elevations are much higher now thanks to innovations in marble cladding, for example.

“It’s a lighter material, looks beautiful and is a piece of cake to install,” he said.

“The development of materials has been changing rapidly lately, especially because of LEED certification specifications,” says Gretka. Builders are required to produce less waste, meet stricter guidelines regarding air quality and energy consumption, for example. “More and more this is a requirement for new projects,” says Gretka. “This is a good thing, a large benefit to society.” cc

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January/February 2015

Sometimes people are afraid to take a leap at this age. . .

I am much happier.

www.canadiancontractor.ca

”

OUR 15TH ANNIVERSARY

2001

THREE CRUCIAL BUSINESS NUMBERS

A look back at some of the most important stories from our first 15 years Profit, cash flow and return on assets. We called them the “3 Business Amigos” in our Winter 2001 issue, and we’ve been revisiting these three important numbers ever since.

Net profit is the one that everyone talks about, but slogans like “ten plus ten” (10 per cent mark-up for profit and 10 per cent mark-up for overheads) will see you pumping gas for a living faster than showing up drunk every day and slugging the building inspector.

Gross profits of at least 33 per cent, giving you net profits in the low teens (given the cost of workers comp, private insurance, vehicles, gas, etc.) require markups of 50 per cent or more. Ten plus ten will also wreck your cash flow. And as far as return on assets goes, if your business isn’t worth anything if you tried to sell it, don’t kid yourself, you’re still a wage slave. cc

www.canadiancontractor.ca

January/February 2015

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OUR 15TH ANNIVERSARY

2004

WCB BEGINS TO TANK In Ontario, the sickness is now more than ten years old Boring as we know it is for contractors in other provinces (we apologize), Canadian Contractor has been reporting on the fiscal shell game at Ontario’s WSIB in almost every issue since our first printing in 2000.

This article from the spring of 2004, published only a few months after Dalton McGuilty became premier of Ontario for the first time (2003), looks sort of quaint now. “Can worker’s comp be healed?” we asked. What we should have asked was, “How long before the (then) $6.5-billion unfunded liability that Ontario’s WSIB carries, doubles?” Seven years. It took only until 2011 for Ontario’s obligations under the plan to exceed its actual assets – by a massive $12-billion.

Our articles on Workers’ Comp will continue – as in Ontario and Quebec it remains a total sinkhole of contractor funds. And undoubtedly the biggest fueller of the underground economy in our industry. cc

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OUR 15TH ANNIVERSARY

2004

MIKE HOLMES’ BIG BREAK

We knew the man when he was semi-humble Mike Holmes had only been on TV for two years when he became a regular contributor to Canadian Contractor in 2003. He was so smalltime back then that writing columns for Canadian Contractor was part of an ongoing effort in various print media to promote his “brand.”

The year we published the article shown here (Winter 2004) Holmes won a Gemini Award for TV excellence. And he’d begun to feature bigger and bigger contractor screw ups on his show. He was on his way. It didn’t take long for his (then) manager to tell us that he had noticed that we seemed to be selling more ads now that Holmes was in our magazine.

He asked for a share of the action for his client. We declined, and the free columns ceased. However, it all ended happily.

Holmes went onto success beyond his wildest expectations as an almost globally famous contractor. And we also exceeded our expectations. That is, we stayed in business. cc

www.canadiancontractor.ca

January/February 2015

25

OUR 15TH ANNIVERSARY

2006

FROM CARPENTRY TO CALVIN KLEIN Andrew Stetson went from remodeling to modeling Mike Holmes might be the most famous Canadian contractor to go from swinging a hammer to posing for the cameras.

But he never made it to the highfashion world of Armani, Chanel, Dolce & Gabbana and Calvin Klein. Andrew Stetson did. Stetson is the former Oakville, ON carpenter who modeled for all of the above and more during the peak of his photogenic career last decade. He was “discovered” by a talent scout at a Toronto nightclub in 1999, when he was 19, and his career hit its highest peak in 2006 when he signed a three-year contract to be the male model for Calvin Klein’s fragrance, Euphoria. We covered his career in August 2006 and it still remains our favorite opposite-insideback news story of all time.

Who knew we could be so... fashionable. cc

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January/February 2015

www.canadiancontractor.ca

OUR 15TH ANNIVERSARY

2008

OUR EPIC COVER FAIL

Well, that was embarrassing We must have been so excited, back in April 2008, that we had just launched our first ‘real’ website (one with new content every day), that the quality control on our printed magazine went to hell in a hand basket.

At least on the cover, where we spelled the word that is part of our name, CONCTRACTOR. Lots of you noticed. But sadly none of you were working on our team at Rogers Media, where we were publishing this magazine at the time.

Anyway, we decided to have some fun with our slovenliness and, in the next issue, we asked you to tell us what was the sloppiest mistake you had ever made in your career.

The winner was someone who managed to build a house’s foundation right up to ground level before he noticed that it was 180 degrees in the wrong direction.

He was a pretty unhappy conctractor the day he noticed that mistake.

Contractor. cc

www.canadiancontractor.ca

January/February 2015

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OUR 15TH ANNIVERSARY

2009

GREEN BUILDING

During the last recession it took a hit Green building products and green building techniques were going gangbusters before the 2008-9 recession hit North America. Then, suddenly, builders who had hung out their shingle as green building specialists hit major price resistance. In 2009 we wrote an in-depth “Reality Check” article about the financial challenges that even the most brilliant green builders in the country were facing. Such as Ben Polley of Harvest Homes, Guelph, ON, one of the highest profile eco-building contractors in Canada. At the time we wrote the article, Polley had been in business for nine years as a green builder, and had been profitable for only the past two. We’re happy to report he’s thriving today. cc 28

January/February 2015

www.canadiancontractor.ca

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO US!

2009

OUR FIRST SALARY SURVEY

Better businesses, more money, less cash We didn’t publish our first Canadian Contractor Salary Survey until 2009. It was (don’t we all remember?) a recession year. The U.S. housing market had just collapsed and the ripples were hitting Canada. As a measure of how things have improved, let’s compare our most recent Salary Survey, (March 2014) with our 2009 report. The median take home pay in 2009 was just shy of $50,000. Last year, it was $70,000. Only 29 per cent of you were doing more than $1-million in gross sales in 2009.

Last year, an impressive 38 per cent of you were. Things are a lot better now for most of you. cc 30

January/February 2015

www.canadiancontractor.ca

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO US!

2011

FROM $300,000 TO $3-MILLION

Getting serious about your business The difference between staying a $300,000 solo tradesman and building a $3-million revenue renovation firm begins with an attitude adjustment. It’s not an attitude adjustment everyone wants to make.

Staying a repair-oriented tradesman is a worthy goal for many. But for those readers of Canadian Contractor who really want to build a business they can retire from, wealthy, one day, Mike Draper’s ongoing articles in our pages have been essential reading. Draper, vice-president at Renovantage, the leading Canadian-based contractor coaching service, started it all off in 2011 with a four-part series called The 3 Million Dollar Road. We know from the volume of emails we received about this piece that it changed careers and helped some of you make some serious money for the first time. cc

www.canadiancontractor.ca

January/February 2015

31

DUE DILIGENCE

PROPOSALS AND QUOTES

Three signs your prospective customer is being coached

By Steve Payne

Although still a new concept, renovation coaches are beginning to get publicity in Canada. The coach, often a former or existing contractor, is hired by the homeowner to help them find and work with a reputable general contractor.

One of the better known renovation coaches in Canada is Toronto’s Reiner Hoyer, who brands himself as The Reno Coach (www.the-reno-coach.com).

Hoyer is a former general contractor who used to do this type of consulting work on the side. He found it so enjoyable that he decided to become one of Canada’s first renovation coaches.

While he also does business consulting for contractors, most of his business comes from renovating homeowners in the Toronto area.

We asked him to describe how he does his “due diligence” on contractors that he is considering for his clients’ projects. He describes the following three steps. As a contractor, whether or not someone like Reiner Hoyer is working with your prospective customer, you should be prepared to pass the following three tests of your competency.

1.

Your credit file is examined

Hoyer will use the services of the Lumbermen’s Credit Bureau to check you out. This bureau claims to be the leading construction credit bureau in Canada, and their database of information on renovation and homebuilding firms is deep and detailed.

“We pull their credit file and we get a good view of the contractor,” Hoyer says. “We can see any liens, lawsuits, NSF checks, bankruptcies. We can see how old the business is, who are the actual owners. And we get a hot sheet every week with updates on all of this information. If you have had any of these problems, you will very likely show up on this credit report.”

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Editor’s note: Lumbermen’s offers up-to-date lien information for Alberta, Sasktachewan, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec.

Alternate credit bureaus may need to be consulted in B.C. and Atlantic Canada.

2.

Your online reviews are audited

Hoyer advises customers not to take online reviews of contractors at face value. “Whether it’s HomeStars, Handy Canadian or Trusted Pros, we do an audit of the online reviews,” Hoyer says. “We randomly select reviews and ask the contractor for the address and phone number of that reviewer, so that we can actually talk to them. If that request is refused, that’s an indication that that particular review is not legit. And that’s obviously a red flag.”

3.

Your current jobsites are visited

Current jobsites matter much more than older, completed jobs when checking out a contractor, Hoyer says. “Small businesses like contracting firms can change fast,” Hoyer explains. “The guy could be really good for a couple of years. He’s got a few trades working with him and it’s all going well. Then he expands, new trades are called in, and he’s got too big, too fast, and it’s all out of control.” For that reason, Hoyer will visit a contractor’s current jobsites first, when doing due diligence for his client. “We want to see the quality of the workmanship, check out health and safety issues, see if the job is on time, talk to the trades to find out how long they have been working for the contractor.” A current job gives Hoyer much more up-to-date information than visiting a successful project location from the past. cc

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CREATIVE EYE

Oakville, Ontario Mid-Century Modern Design/Build Upside Development

By Kim Laudrum

The homeowners of this 2,400 sq. ft. house located on a tree-lined ravine in suburban Oakville, Ont. were inspired by mid-century modern design following their travels in Scandinavia. It’s light, spacious, uncluttered and highly functional.

They contacted Upside Development of Toronto to manage the design/build function.

Incorporating their clients’ vision, Upside Development created a new exterior and contemporary interior with Scandinavian flare.

The challenge was to convert the conventional four-bedroom side-split, which included large spans and different elevations, to create a continuous open concept design. Space constraints inspired creation of an open concept master bedroom with ensuite bathroom and a main-floor integrated office. To achieve the look it was necessary to customize extensive feature built-ins, including bars, a concrete bio-ethanol fireplace, brick wall, desk, floating vanities and an entertainment wall.

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CREATIVE EYE

OAKVILLE MID-CENTURY

MODERN

All Photos: Larry Arnal Photography

www.canadiancontractor.ca

January/February 2015

35

CREATIVE EYE

Oakville, Ontario Mid-Century Modern Design/Build Upside Development

Blending materials, including birch wood and glass, enlarging rooms and widening windows, all helped bring in light and the spectacular ravine views. Other European-inspired materials were used as well: glass railings, Italian kitchen porcelain counters, specialty lighting, and French linen draperies.

The predominant wall colour is white, used throughout. Yet in the guest and children’s rooms, a jolt of fuscia in the art work and bed textiles, or peacock blue on a feature wall, enliven the space.

The ensuite bathroom in the master bedroom includes a shower stall in an area adjacent to the bed. Coral pink refreshes the guest bathroom wall, as does the stunning scrunched paper motif.

The sum is a light, open, and spare but welcoming aesthetic.

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January/February 2015

www.canadiancontractor.ca

CREATIVE EYE

All Photos: Larry Arnal Photography

www.canadiancontractor.ca

January/February 2015

37

CREATIVE EYE

Oakville, Ontario Mid-Century Modern Design/Build Upside Development

This project shows early modern influences such as Frank Lloyd Wright’s idea that dwellings should merge into their natural environments – and that interiors should also operate as a single flow. Upside Development removed bulky walls in this home and installed glass to maximum effect.

You can see all of this openness and flow in the master bedroom design here. The home’s natural ravine setting bursts with life through the panoramic window.

A window which overlooks a bath tub in the corner of a bedroom?

Well, why on earth not? It looks naturally perfect.

Finally, the monochromatic white paint scheme of this house, very Scandinavian but also very Canadian, enhances the feeling of openness and reflects light into the house.

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January/February 2015

www.canadiancontractor.ca

CREATIVE EYE

All Photos: Larry Arnal Photography

www.canadiancontractor.ca

January/February 2015

39

ELECTRIC HEAT IS GREEN

EPOXY INJECTION

Page 43

Page 48

Page 49

STEVE MAXWELL’S

P RO D U C T S , T E C H N O L O G Y & T I P S F O R C O N T R AC TO R S

STUFF WE LIKE

LESSONS FROM A PRO

refurbished

RADS Cast iron beauty, economy and safety Page 44

www.canadiancontractor.ca

January/February 2015

41

Stainless steel grinder blade

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• Available in round front and elongated (ADA compliant) bowl styles

A PUMP COMPANY SINCE 1958

1.28 GPF

MAXWELL’S MIND

LIFE-CHANGING LESSONS FROM A CONTRACTOR

By Steve Maxwell

I

n 1975, my life was changed forever when my parents hired a contractor to build an attached garage onto our suburban brick bungalow. The contractor’s name was Andy Steier, a Hungarian Jew who as a boy had somehow managed to survive a ride on a Nazi death train. Mr. Steier started ABP Construction here in Canada, and watching him work was my first introduction to the entrepreneurial life.

I was only 12 years old at the time but I somehow understood that this was a man who was earning money in true proportion to his efforts and effectiveness. Mr. Steier didn’t just have a job; he was ruler of his own little kingdom and he was even about to let me experience this for myself, too.

It happened while our garage was being built, as I was riding my bike down the street. A friend’s father flagged me down with a question: “How’s that garage project going at your place?”

“Really good, Mr. Abernathy. The workers start early and finish late. They’ll be done the roof this week. My parents are pleased.”

A few days later, Mr. Steier drove up and handed me an envelope with my name on it. Inside was a cheque for $100. “That’s your commission money,” he said in his thick European accent. “Your neighbours chose me to build their pool because of what you said.” It was the sweetest $100 I’ve ever earned.

Later on Mr. Steier went on to make me into my own contractor, of sorts. He lived in a large country home with 5 acres of grass to mow and rake. He taught me how to use his John Deere lawn tractor, how to back up a trailer full of leaves, and the enormously motivating sensation of being paid for your results, not for time spent on the clock. “I’ll pay you $20 for each cutting”, he explained. “How quickly or slowly you do the work, I don’t care. Just get the job done right.” My days cutting grass never went so quickly as when I rushed around trying my best to get quality and speed to meet. My record time for a grass cutting was 6 hours 20 minutes, delivering me an unheard of $3.17 per hour. I was a wealthy boy.

Contracting is one of the few sectors left in society that still operates in the arena of risk and reward. Work well and you thrive. Work badly and you starve. Fewer and fewer people live with this level of urgency any more, and Canada is poorer for it. What would our country be like if more people worked like good contractors – kings of their own economic realms – instead of employees with an entitlement mentality?

”

Mr. Steier didn’t just have a job; he was ruler of his own little kingdom.

”

Steve Maxwell

Tools Editor

steve@stevemaxwell.ca

www.canadiancontractor.ca

January/February 2015

43

MAXWELL’S S t u f f We L i k e

Cast Iron Rads Simple, beautiful, practical heat

H

Ecorad (www.ecorad.ca) rescues beautiful old rads from metropolitan demolition sites and refurbishes them. As good as new, they are ready for another century of service.

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January/February 2015

www.canadiancontractor.ca

ot water heating is taking off in popularity in Canada because it offers a clean, quiet and superbly comfortable way to keep warm in winter. What you might not realize is that hydronic infloor heating is only one way to make beautiful, hot water heating happen.

Cast iron rads are another option. Sounds crazy? Iron rads are actually a more practical choice for some kinds of projects than you might realize. Beautiful old rads have been keeping Canadians warm for more than 150 years, and installing reclaimed rads offers an energy efficient option that’s perfect for some projects. And as I’ll show you, Canada also happens to be one of the best sources in the world for sourcing reclaimed iron rads.

Iron rads offer three virtues: they’re simpler to install than other hydronic heating options; they deliver classic good looks; and they’re a super-efficient way to deliver heat. You can’t beat them for warming hands, drying clothes, and standing next to when you’ve come in from the cold. It’s surprising how much some of your clients could come to love iron rads, if they only had the chance. And if you’re the one to introduce them to these rads, they’ll love you, too. Watch this video to get up to speed quickly: stevemaxwell.ca/ cast-iron-radiators-video

MAXWELL’S S t u f f We L i k e

Cast iron rad being stripped of paint with high pressure water. This method is recommended by restoration authorities and preserves all the detail cast into original iron rads at the foundry.

Pierre Lemieux, right, is a stickler for detail. Here he shows employees in his St-Jean Port-Joli, Quebec restoration plant how to coax new life into a grand old rad.

You can source new, reproduction metal rads, but the old originals are still the best in my book. Made successfully in North America from 1856 to 1960, there’s no way these things could be improved upon. Internal rust is rarely a problem when iron rads have been part of hot water systems, and the metal used is thick, substantial and often ornately beautiful.

Heat transfer analysis shows that cast iron rads are second to none for efficiency of heat distribution, and reclaimed iron rads also get the job done with a minimal input of resources.

The metal is already mined, smelted, cast and ready to use. In terms of efficiency, cast iron is measurably one of the very best materials for heat transmission. Emissivity is the technical term for how effectively a material radiates heat energy to the surroundings, and few things compare with emissivity of cast iron. It’s 13 per cent more effective than bare concrete, and roughly 50 per cent more emissive than wood.

While there’s no shortage of old rads to be refurbished, there is a shortage of people who know how to design traditional radiator systems properly from scratch. It’s something of a lost art, though

not completely gone. My research has uncovered a handful of excellent technical resources (See “Cast-Iron Know How” on page 48), along with a few people who know more about the world of cast iron rads than you’d expect. A guy named Pierre Lemieux is one of them.

Like a lot of people, Lemieux has always loved iron rads. That’s why he refurbished and installed his first set back in 1978. This eventually led to a venture that’s unique in North America. He calls it Ecorad (www.ecorad.ca; 418-598-3273), and it’s where his crew refurbishes antique rads rescued from demolition sites in Montreal, Quebec, New York, Detroit and other major cities. These rads don’t look like much when they come into his shop in St-Jean Port-Joli, Quebec, but things change dramatically when he gets his hands on them.

Almost all old rads are covered in ugly paint, and sandblasting is the industry standard for removing it. Trouble is, this degrades the patina and floral designs on the rads. Instead, Lemieux’s crew uses a high pressure water blast method for removing old paint. It leaves the metal looking just like the

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MAXWELL’S S t u f f We L i k e

Restored to new life (left) a century-old rad is ready for installation. The Ecorad installation crew (top) unloading refurbished rads in a church in Quebec. Lemieux’s clients find substantial energy savings because of the radiant heat distribution of iron rads, even in large spaces like these.

ProPEX Connections are King day it came out of the foundry.

Lemieux has also developed a proprietary method for equipping iron rads to use electricity as an energy source – either on its own or alongside the kind of hot flowing water these rads were originally designed to use. Electrical operation boosts flexibility on your projects a lot.

As with any heating installation, heat loss calculations are the only sure way to accurately determine the size and number of rads you need for a project. That said, a rough rule of thumb for Canadian homes built to current code standards is 1 watt of heating capacity for every cubic foot of room space involved. Each section of a standard 20-inch tall iron rad delivers about 100 watts of heat; each section of a 38-inch tall rad delivers 200 watts of heat.

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Modern piping technology makes it much easier to install iron rads, and PEX pipe is a case in point. Unlike the major wrestling match installers went through years ago cutting, threading and joining traditional rigid steel pipe for entire installations, PEX is flexible, it’s a breeze to cut and exceptionally easy to join. PEX is by-far the easiest way to plumb iron rads (and lots of other things) and a particular kind of PEX makes the most sense.

The fastest, most reliable connection method I’ve used for PEX is called ProPEX. It’s proprietary to Uponor, a major manufacturer of PEX pipe and hydronic heating hardware, and it’s as simple as it gets. Slip the end of an expander tool into the end of the pipe, swell the opening, then immediately slip it over the barbed ProPEX connector. Milwaukee partnered with Uponor on the

MAXWELL’S S t u f f We L i k e

expander tool, and nobody argues the fact that Milwaukee makes the best PEX expander tools anywhere. You can see the system in action at stevemaxwell.ca/propex-pipe In about 30 seconds the pipe shrinks down after removal of the expander tool, gripping tightly to the fitting as it does. When you’re settling on a design for your system, always remember that bigger pipes are better because water flows through them more easily.

All else being equal, a 1” pipe flows twice as much water as 3/4” diameter, and 1-1/4” twice as much again as 1”.

PEX may be practical, but it doesn’t look great for making visible connections on iron rads. That’s why I always make the visible pipes of an iron rad system either steel pipe or copper if those pipes are seen.

Most people love the look, feel and comfort of traditional cast iron radiators. They’re not for every project you tackle, but they might be just the thing for some. And it doesn’t hurt that they’re also an efficient and green heating option. cc

Canada produced some of the best cast iron radiators in the world in the 19th century.

Brothers Edward and Charles Gurney, Hamilton, Ont., were among the pioneers.

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MAXWELL’S S t u f f We L i k e

Electric Heat

The New Green Choice For years, electricity built a reputation for being an environmentally-dirty energy source because of the way it was generated. But as coal-fired plants and acid rain move aside for electricity created by certified-green wind, solar, hydro and other environmentally sustainable sources, the reality of electricity is changing. It’s now among the most environmentally sound energy sources around and Lemieux pioneered the use of electric heating elements as part of refurbished iron rads. A cast-iron junction box covers the end of an electric heating element that fits inside the opening that’s part of many antique rad designs. The other end of the rad includes two smaller openings for supply and return connections as part of a hot water system that the rads can be plumbed to as well.

Cast-Iron Know How You won’t find books on how to design and install hydronic iron radiator systems in your local home improvement store, but that doesn’t mean that excellent texts aren’t out there. One source is www.heatinghelp.com. I’ve found their titles Classic

Hydronics, Hydronic Radiant Heating and Pumping Away to be excellent resources. They’re written by Dan Holohan, a veteran hydronic heating contractor who really knows his stuff and how to explain it.

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MAXWELL’S PICKS

PE1000+ Epoxy Anchoring System Two-part epoxy injection is one of the simplest and fastest ways to anchor threaded rod and rebar into concrete – especially large diameter rod. And while epoxy anchoring technology isn’t new, it’s not always been conveniently available to contractors. This is where the Powers line of anchoring products can help (www. powers.com; 800-567-7188). I’ve been testing their PE 1000+ system and it works well. Based on a heavy-duty, double-barreled caulking style gun, the system includes epoxy tubes, mixing nozzle and tools for cleaning dust from holes after boring. Inject a clean hole two-thirds full of liquid epoxy, insert the rod and you’re done. The system can be used for horizontal and vertical holes – opening both upwards and downwards.

Workable in temperatures from 5ºC to 40ºC, the system is meant for rods from 3/8” to 1-1/4” in diameter. Gel time ranges from 20 to 180 minutes, depending on temperature and cost for epoxy tubes runs from $20 to $35 each. .

Load Bearing Warning Signs It’s the little things that create an impression of quality in your work, and it’s this impression of quality that leads to wordof-mouth referrals. That’s one reason you might consider visibly alerting future renovators about load-bearing walls. It’s simply the decent thing to do. Invented by Dennis St. Denis, a contractor in Cornwall, Ontario, his patented, adhesive-backed aluminum warning signs are designed for installation on load-bearing walls under drywall. Sure, you could scribble the same warning on a chunk of cardboard, but that wouldn’t attract the same level of attention – either before drywall goes up or years later when someone is about to remove a wall that matters. Even engineers sometimes have a hard time telling for sure if a wall is bearing a load, and these signs let your clients know you’re interested in the safety of people decades into the future. At $3.65 each, it’s a cheap way to promote both safety and your reputation as a pro. Learn more at loadbearingsupportsigns.com or 613-935-6157.

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WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

Pot of Gold?

Henry Bugden has a chance to go from odd jobs man to Property Manager, Zoller Jewelry. It will double his income. Is this his pot of gold – or is he walking into a minefield?

By Steve Payne

A

fter 15 years of struggle as a jackof-all-trades, Henry Bugden was finally seeing some good money. For two months now, Henry’s new client, Gunther Zoller, had been paying Henry $200 an hour to work through a long list of repairs and maintenance tasks on Zoller’s $15-million Victorian mansion in the Bridal Veil district. Bugden had made $20,000 on such work last month.

However, Zoller would sometimes call him at 3 a.m.

Before meeting Zoller, Henry was earning slightly less than $50,000 a year doing odd jobs for hundreds of middle class homeowners. He’d been serving the same clients for 20 years. Many of them were now his friends.

Zoller was a supremely rich man. He owned a chain of jewelry stores and his beautiful, bossy socialite wife, Matilde, couldn’t spend Zoller’s money fast

enough. Now the great man had a proposal for Henry.

“Henry, I want to put you on salary and have you oversee the maintenance and repairs for all of my stores,” Zoller said. “I’ll pay you $100,000 a year plus expenses and your title will be, Property Manager, Zoller Jewelry.

Now, understand that half your time will actually be spent at my residence working on projects for Matilde – but please don’t talk about that at the office.

Oh, and you’ll need to tell your former customers you’ve retired. You work for me and Matilde.”

It was twice the money that Henry had ever made. If he accepted the offer, he could finally replace his 20-year-old truck.

Should Henry jump at this offer or politely decline? See the options at right.

LAST ISSUE’S WINNER – “THE DOOR CAPER” In our last issue, general contractor Simon had a dilemma. His ace employee, James, had switched a manufactured door, for which James had signed off (carelessly, since it was the wrong size) with a door that James had made himself (to hide his error). James even took the sticker off the delivered door and put it on his hand-made door.

We asked if this was a fireable offence.

Here is the winning entry, from Linda Peters, Habitat for Humanity, Winnipeg…

“Keep James. He is slightly misguided but his intentions were honorable. Simon should let James know that he crossed the line… but life is a learning opportunity, not one of reprimands. Figure out what went wrong, talk about how it should have been handled, and then learn from it. However, I believe this still comes back to the boss. If Simon had established a much better open and honest business relationship with James, this would not have happened.”

WHAT SHOULD HENRY DO? 1. Take the job as described.

It’s double the money – and it’s a guaranteed pay cheque.

2. Take the job if extra compensation for house calls at night can be agreed on.

3. Take the job as in (2) with the added proviso that Henry can still work for his own clients on his off hours, as long as Zoller and his wife are taken care of.

4. Politely decline. Being asked to go from odd jobs man to property manager smells fishy. And it looks like Zoller is trying to find his wife a butler on the company dime, which is not even legal.

5. Politely decline. If there were more conflicts of interest in Zoller’s proposal he’d be a perfect candidate for elected office.

6. None of the above. Describe what Henry should do instead.

HOW TO ENTER Send the number that matches your best answer, with your comments, to editor Steve Payne at: spayne@canadiancontractor.ca.

We will select what we think is the most sensible answer and send a $100 gas card to the winner.

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