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Contents
32
I’ll Never Forget You Four renovations that left a lasting imprint
26 Filling the Gaps
39 Changing Minds
45 Smart Watch
The rising opportunities and challenges of infill
COVID-19 has some potential buyers thinking differently
Video surveillance and residential security is locked in
9 One Voice COVID-19 may have messed with the Annual Members Meeting & Awards, but it can’t stop work behind the scenes. 11 Ontario Report Engaging the Ontario government, OHBA Awards go virtual, Tarion looks for feedback and hands out 2020 honours. ohba.ca
@onhomebuilder
17 Inside Storey The pandemic has thrown a wrench into the home inspection process. 21 Trending Hot products for the home include vinyl decking from Al-Mar, Shouldice Estate Stone, a cool Tyvek Roof Protector, a bright white surface from Cosentino and removable murals.
51 Building Buzz A potential revolution in home electrical systems, Federated turns 100, a new tool for mass timber design and Energy Star awards.
ON THE COVER
Flynn Architect’s Bower Avenue project in Ottawa, a stylish example of modern infill.
55 Product Focus Has the pandemic been good for luxury kitchens? 62 Frame of Mind Healthy building materials take on new importance. ONTARIO HOME BUILDER FALL 2020
5
The official publication of the Ontario Home Builders’ Association FALL 2020 | Vol. 36 Issue 4
EDITOR
Ted McIntyre ted@laureloak.ca ART DIRECTOR
Erik Mohr ASSISTANT ART DIRECTOR
Ian Sullivan Cant GRAPHIC DESIGN
Marikha Saira, Megan Drummond COPY EDITOR
Barbara Chambers CONTRIBUTORS
Avi Friedman, Tracy Hanes, Tom Hogue, Joe Vaccaro ADVERTISING
Cindy Kaye, ext. 232 cindy@laureloak.ca PUBLISHER
Sheryl Humphreys, ext. 245 sheryl@laureloak.ca PRESIDENT
Wayne Narciso PUBLISHED BY
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One Voice
STAYING THE COURSE COVID-19 has forced us to adapt to extraordinary circumstances. It’s why some things won’t change. SEPTEMBER USUALLY MARKS the
time for renewal at OHBA. Time for a new president and new board members. And with all those new faces comes a renewed focus on our mission as the voice of the land development, new housing and professional renovation industries in Ontario. Just like every member in Ontario, though, OHBA has faced the uncertainty of the COVID-19 State of Emergency, asking lots of question, raising concerns and trying to find a path forward to ‘normal.’ As OHBA worked to support our members by providing critical health and safety guidance and keeping projects safely under construction, it became more and more evident that we need some continuity and consistency as we continue to live and work through the pandemic. Recognizing that need, I want to thank current President Bob Schickedanz for presenting himself to serve a second term at the upcoming Annual Members Meeting, with the support of 1st Vice-President Louie ohba.ca
@onhomebuilder
“THIS LEADERSHIP GROUP IS PREPARED TO REMAIN IN THEIR CURRENT POSITIONS.” Zagordo and 2nd Vice-Presidents Dave Depencier and Bob Ridley. This leadership group is prepared to remain in their current positions to support the continued work of the Association into 2020-2021. If the Annual Members Meeting supports this offer from this group, we will be in a great position to continue with the advocacy and strategic plan outlined and approved just before the state of emergency was declared in March. President Bob’s term began with the traditional President’s Gala and OHBA Awards ceremony. Of course, nothing would be better than a big party to once again mark a volunteer term in office of the incoming president, where we
hand out awards and acknowledge the contributions of so many outstanding members. And then there’s this fall edition of Ontario Home Builder magazine, the cover of which traditionally features the new president, with the inside pages highlighting their story and vision of the upcoming year. Unfortunately, as a result of COVID19, conferences and galas are on stand-by, while our annual Awards of Distinction will be held virtually this November. So the President’s Gala along with the feature profile of our next president will have to wait. But the work continues and OHBA is fortunate to have members who are willing to commit hundreds of hours away from their businesses to these important volunteer efforts. I know we say this a lot, but when these individuals and local associations are busy dealing with their own challenges created by the pandemic, we are particularly grateful for what they do for their communities and how they serve as the local voices of the Association. OHBA is equally thankful for the continued work that the Canadian Home Builders’ Association is doing to advocate for the Association at the national level, working to piece together multiple COVID-related programs to address the needs and realities of our members’ businesses. For our part, OHBA has been engaged in numerous virtual meetings, webinars, committee sessions and all the things that keep our industry at the front of the provincial government’s economic recovery plans. To that end, having President Bob and the team back in front of the provincial government will serve us all well, with familiar faces continuing to advocate for our industry as we take our next vital steps. OHB
JOE VACCARO IS THE CEO OF THE ONTARIO HOME BUILDERS’ ASSOCIATION
ONTARIO HOME BUILDER FALL 2020
9
Ontario Report
Stan Cho Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Finance
Steve Clark Ontario Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing
Monte McNaughton Ontario Minister of Labour, Training and Skills Development
Rod Phillips Ontario Finance Minister
Lisa Thompson Minister of Government and Consumer Services
Jeff Yurek Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks
Prabmeet Sarkaria Associate Minister of Small Business and Red Tape Reduction
Engaging Developments Submissions to Job Recovery program part of OHBA work to stimulate recovery
In April, Premier Doug Ford appointed an Ontario Jobs and Recovery Committee to support the province’s recovery efforts by consulting Ontarians and developing a plan to stimulate economic growth and job creation while maintaining health and safety. The OHBA Submission to Ontario’s Jobs and Recovery Committee included seven key recommendations and nine sub-recommendations: 1. M odernize the HST Threshold for New Housing 2. Home Renovation Tax Credit 3. M odern Surety Bonds as Financial Security for Municipalities 4. Infrastructure Stimulus 5. T emporarily Freeze Development Charges at Current Rates 6. R esources for the Local Planning Appeals Tribunal 7. S treamlining Approvals and Cutting Red Tape, including: • Interim Control By-Laws (ICBLs) •P lanning Act - Section 50 Subdivision Control • Streamline Site Plan Control •S treamline Archeological Assessments •P re-Zone for Transit-Oriented Communities
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• D ensity Transition Zones • Tall Wood/Mass Timber •F ast-track the Made in Ontario Environment Plan •A dopt Utilities Model for Water and Wastewater Infrastructure • M inimum Parking Requirements
Those submissions were part of what’s been a very busy summer for OHBA. As residential construction has ramped back up, the Association has kept busy corresponding with multiple government arms to facilitate the rebound. July provided an opportunity to engage members of the Ontario Cabinet on a variety of policy files following the impacts of COVID-19. Beginning with Finance Minister and MPP for Ajax, Rod Phillips, OHBA shared some of the important recommendations outlined above in our formal Ontario Jobs and Recovery Committee Submission. Minister Phillips, in turn, shared an update on the work being done by the Committee, with OHBA emphasizing key financial changes to modernize the HST threshold for new housing, promoting both affordability for consumers and the ability to accelerate housing supply delivery. Later in July, OHBA had the opportunity to speak with the Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks and MPP for Elgin-MiddlesexLondon, Jeff Yurek. We appreciated the
Minister sharing some updates on the Made in Ontario Environment Plan and the continued work on modernizing the Conservation Authority system. We underscored the importance of streamlining environmental approval processes to help support job creation, reduce burdensome red tape and facilitate a sustainable long-term economic recovery plan. Finally, OHBA met with Minister of Labour, Training and Skills Development and MPP for LambtonKent-Middlesex, Monte McNaughton. The Minister provided an important update on apprenticeship modernization, while OHBA reinforced the significant need for skilled tradespersons to be a catalyst for job and economic recovery. OHBA is continuing to schedule meetings with cabinet ministers who are members of the Ontario’s Jobs and Recovery Committee to advocate for the adoption and implementation of these recommendations. OHBA has strongly encouraged our network of 27 local home builders’ associations to share the submission with their local MPP(s). OHBA thanks our volunteer members who contributed their time and expertise in developing the recommendations above to support new housing supply and choice for #homebelievers across Ontario while supporting economic development and new job creation. ONTARIO HOME BUILDER FALL 2020
11
Ontario Report
QUINTE Skilled Trades Initiative Quinte HBA is helping to lend a hand to local members with a Virtual Roundtable Series. The second webinar, entitled “Closing the Gap – A Discussion on Skilled Trades in the Bay of Quinte,” discussed what's happening in the trades within Bay of Quinte and surrounding area in residential construction. Topics include existing needs, new programs, engaging youth in trades and trades education, as well as the promotion of working and living in the Bay of Quinte. This edition features panellists from the Centre for Workforce Development, Skills Ontario, Loyalist College, Ontario HBA and local trades professionals, including Martino HVAC. This second edition of the series can be viewed at: YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=SBMJKAU39S4 &FEATURE=YOUTU.BE.
TARION NEEDS YOUR FEEDBACK
Tarion Warranty Corporation wants to hear from you on ways to implement recommendations from the Auditor General of Ontario’s report on Tarion. Your feedback will help inform Tarion’s path forward. Input from OHBA builders is still required as Tarion is hosting additional builder roundtables in September regarding 10 consumer protection initiatives to improve service delivery and help build a more transparent, fair and accountable new-home warranty and program. The initiatives include the implementation of the following recommendations: •E stablishing new rules and processes to help homeowners better understand the importance of the Pre-Delivery Inspection. •C larifying information on new-home warranties and homeowners’ rights in the Homeowner Information Package. • Changing the Customer Service Standard to improve homeowners’ ability to seek assistance from Tarion. •E stablishing new rules for the timely Tarion resolution of homeowners’ disputes with builders. •E stablishing a timely and cost-effective Tarion mediation process for homeowners. •R equiring builders to provide Tarion with title information for high-risk proposed condominium construction projects and to disclose restrictions that could cause delay or cancellation of the project.
Celebrating OHBA’s Best — Virtually Can’t make it in person to this year’s OHBA Awards of Distinction? That’s OK, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, nobody else can either! But that won’t stop OHBA from celebrating Ontario’s best of the best when it comes to residential construction, design and marketing. With comedian and TV personality James Cunningham again serving as host, this year’s celebration will be conducted virtually with a live broadcast November 10. The event will include networking, a tradeshow and much more. Game-wise, ‘attendees’ will be encouraged to participate in certain activities, such as visiting a sponsor booth to receive points. Judging concluded September 4, with finalists scheduled to be released Monday, September 21. More than 440 submissions were received, including a number for a brand new category for 2020: Amenities. Registration to this year’s virtual awards—one that will feature a futuristic Tron theme—is free to all. But make sure to visit ohbaaod.ca and follow @OntarioHBA on social media for updates, and stay tuned to the conversation by using the hashtag #OHBA2020AOD. 12
ONTARIO HOME BUILDER FALL 2020
• I mplementing a risk-based inspection process to proactively identify potential deficiencies during construction, including those related to the Ontario Building Code during construction. • I mproving the Ontario Builder Directory to include additional information about builders. Tarion is also seeking input on the warranty compensation caps on claims related to environmentally harmful substances or hazards, septic systems and condominium common elements, as well as providing compensation to homeowners in instances where they have to relocate while repairs are underway that arose from a warranted item.
For information on the proposed improvements, please view the Q&A available on TARION.COM.
OHBA ANNUAL MEETING Tentatively Slated for Sept. 28 OHBA would like to issue a notice provision that its Annual Members Meeting will take place on September 28 at 1 PM. Although the date is tentative, the meeting will be held via Zoom. Details to be confirmed on the Association’s website: OHBA.ca.
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Hayhoe Homes’ Irvine model in St. Thomas C. Kelos Homes’ Sherwood Estates, Thunder Bay
Plazacorp’s Bijou on Bloor
Talos Custom Homes’ Madelina model from their Jackson Ridge site in Carleton Place
THE PEOPLE’S CHOICE Who loves ya, baby? Tarion will let you know. Ontario’s new-home warranty corporation announced the annual Tarion Homeowners’ Choice Awards in August, acknowledging builders who received the highest ratings from newhome buyers and homeowners across the province. Thunder Bay’s C. Kelos Homes Limited captured the Small Volume category, Talos Custom Homes Ltd. in 14
ONTARIO HOME BUILDER FALL 2020
Richmond claimed Medium Volume honours, Hayhoe Homes in St. Thomas captured the Large Volume category, while Toronto’s Plazacorp Investments was tops among High-Rise developers. “As an organization dedicated to improving consumer experiences in the home-purchasing process, it’s important that we periodically recognize excellence from builders
who, in the opinion of their homeowners, have provided positive customer service,” said Peter Balasubramanian, president and CEO of Tarion. “These awards are based on customer experience and service opinions gathered from homeowners through an independent survey process. As we continually work to modernize our organization to ensure fairness and predictability across the sector, we want to congratulate builders who have contributed to positive experiences for so many Ontarians.” The Homeowners’ Choice Awards focus exclusively on customer service and are informed by surveys completed by new-home buyers and homeowners from across the province. In 2019, Tarion surveyed 45,303 new-home buyers and homeowners and asked them about their builder’s level of commitment to their customers and performance before, during and after they moved into their new home. More than 8,500 homeowners responded in determining this year’s recipients. In the Small Volume category (5-20 possessions per year), the other finalists included Brexon Homes (Waterloo), Davis New Homes & Developments (Frankford), Lockwood Brothers Construction (Oxford Station) and Pinnacle Quality Homes (Mitchell). Finalists in the Medium Volume category (21-100 possessions per year) included Hilden Homes (Belleville), Klemencic Homes (Trenton), Royal Homes (Wingham) and Wrighthaven Homes (Fergus). Making up the Large Volume finalists (100+ possessions per year) were Activa (Waterloo), Branthaven (Burlington), Brookfield Residential (Toronto), Great Gulf Homes (Toronto) and Uniform Urban Developments (Ottawa). Near misses in the High-Rise category (100+ high-rise possessions per year) were CentreCourt Developments (Toronto), Madison Group (Toronto), Minto Communities (Ottawa), The Tricar Group (London) and Tridel (Toronto). ohba.ca
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Inside Storey them into contracts and under what circumstances they are triggered.” DO YOU EXPECT THE WHOLE PROCESS TO SLOW DOWN IN THE IMMEDIATE FUTURE?
“There is a backlog for inspections. Warranty claim forms that were due during the period of the suspension have to be submitted from homeowners by Sept. 11. Tarion introduced virtual inspections, but it remains to be seen how you measure accurately using a virtual inspection.” HAVE THERE BEEN NEW ISSUES FROM A HOMEOWNER’S STANDPOINT?
GREY AREA With COVID-19, record-keeping is even more vital BY TED McINTYRE WITH CHRISTINE KELLOWAN, LAWYER, GOLDMAN SLOAN NASH & HABER
CHRISTINE KELLOWAN is noting the tumultuous timeline of Ontario home inspections in the world of COVID19. Kellowan is a lawyer at Goldman Sloan Nash and Haber LLP, practising civil litigation with an emphasis on construction and new-home warranty (Tarion) matters. She represents various actors in the construction industry, including owners, general contractors, developers and subtrades. And it has been a busy year. “On March 13, Tarion Warranty Corporation suspended the holding of inspections, conciliations, common element meetings and other in-person meetings. Builder repair periods were also suspended,” Kellowan recalls. “On July 6, Tarion announced it would be reinstating builder repair timelines and in-person inspections on Aug. 27, in anticipation of the Government of Ontario’s Emergency Order being lifted on Sept. 11.” That gave builders 45 days, beginning July 13, to re-mobilize ohba.ca
@onhomebuilder
trades, suppliers and staff. The suspension of warranty processes has resulted in a large backlog, as builders and contractors play catch-up. It has been anything but a seamless process, and one that has resulted in brand new issues for the building industry. OHB: HOW HAS BUSINESS CHANGED SINCE THE ONSET OF THE PANDEMIC? CHRISTINE KELLOWAN: “Back in
March there were a lot of issues around force majeure clauses, where, in the event of unforeseeable events, the parties are either excused from performance or get an extension of time. A lot of contracts either didn’t have those clauses or, if they had them, they didn’t refer to pandemics. So people were wondering, ‘If I’m not on the site but incurring all these rental charges, etc., who’s going to be responsible for that?’ “Moving forward, people will be more careful about how they write
“Definitely. There were a number of homeowners who, for various reasons, needed more time to close because of COVID, but the agreement of purchase and sale did not address this scenario, so the builders were able to say, ‘You’ll be in default if you don’t close on time.’ The builder has an obligation to sell the property and mitigate their losses if the homeowner is unable to close on time, and at the same time the homeowner would lose their deposit. “During the pandemic I’ve dealt with issues, acting for the builder, where the homeowner was saying, ‘We’re not letting you in to do warranty work.’ But on the other hand, they actually let Tarion’s experts come in and perform an inspection. I wrote to Tarion and said, ‘I’m confused. You suspended all inspections, so why are you hiring an expert to deal with issues like this?’ We weren’t talking about a health and safety issue or emergency situation, which the builder would have to deal with, even during the pandemic. I think because of the slower flow of information, the trust factor for the homeowner was definitely impacted.” MAINTAINING THAT TRUST IS EVEN MORE IMPORTANT NOW.
“It is always crucial for Registrants to maintain a good working relationship with homeowners. For many homeowners, buying a home is ONTARIO HOME BUILDER FALL 2020
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the biggest investment they’ll ever make. Even one misstep can poison the relationship, resulting in denied access for warranty repair purposes. Although Builder Bulletin 20 (BB20) does provide for an exception to the chargeability of a conciliation where a homeowner has denied access to the home, it’s been our experience that many builders do not strictly follow the proper procedure set out in BB20 to rely on this exception, and therefore, are unable to prove the exception. In an ideal world, matters should not escalate to the point where lawyers are involved; though, sometimes they can create a helpful buffer between the parties to deal with contentious issues. “It’s trite to say that the warranty relationship will last for seven years, which is longer than many marriages these days. Any relationship coach will tell you that effective communication and a timely response time is crucial to maintaining a good relationship, whether it is a personal or business relationship.” I TAKE IT COMMUNICATION IS PARTICULARLY CRITICAL WHEN SOME HOMEOWNERS ARE DENYING ACCESS.
“Absolutely. But that’s an example of where good record-keeping is vital. In one case I had, the builder had complied with all the obligations in BB20 to try and schedule warranty repairs and left notices on the homeowner’s door. But the builder didn’t take pictures or keep copies of the records. So when they went to the Builder Arbitration Forum (BAF) to appeal a chargeable conciliation based on denied access, although they had in substance followed the rules, they lost the appeal because they didn’t document things correctly. “In a more severe example, I had a lawsuit involving six figures of damages being claimed by Tarion for unperformed warranty work. In that case, the builder went out of business. Tarion was saying, ‘We’ve incurred all these costs to perform your warranty repairs. You should be paying these invoices.’ But the builder was saying, ‘Hold on here—these homeowners ohba.ca
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were aggressive and belligerent. I made several attempts to work with them and did perform the work, but they damaged what we did.’ “It was basically a he-said/she-said scenario. You want to believe the builder. But at the end of the day, if they don’t have any activity logs, invoices or timesheets to demonstrate that they showed up and did what they said they did, it’s very difficult to go to a judge and say my client is not responsible for paying these invoices.” Registrants should diarize key dates, such as builder repair timelines and warranty anniversaries, to ensure that warranty obligations are performed on time and any required notices are sent on time. They should also keep records of communications with third parties (e.g., homeowners and regulatory and licensing authorities) as part of a proactive risk management strategy. We routinely rely on written records in BAF appeals and litigation matters. We also use these records to respond to routine requests for information from regulatory authorities.” WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO APPEAL MATTERS TO THE BUILDER ARBITRATION FORUM?
“A Registrant that disagrees with Tarion’s assessment of whether a claim is warranted or not, or whether a conciliation is chargeable or not, may dispute Tarion’s assessment by filing a Request to Arbitrate to the BAF. We’ve come across Registrants who have made the business decision to forgo an appeal, despite disagreeing with Tarion’s assessment, due to the cost and time associated with it. “In our experience, the decisionmaking process oftentimes neglected to factor in how chargeable conciliations may result in Tarion applying the escalating consequences set out under Builder Bulletin 43 to a Registrant. That would result in Tarion increasing the amount of security required upon the renewal of a registration and/or a poor record on the Ontario Builder Directory. “A Registrant should consider the long-term consequences of failing to appeal to the BAF.” OHB ohba.ca
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COOL COMFORT It has been a long, hot summer for construction workers, with roofing contractors particularly at risk for heat-related illnesses, including heat stroke and heat exhaustion. DuPont Performance Building Solutions’ new Tyvek Roof Protector has come to the rescue with a cooler grey colour surface for contractors to work on and a wrinklefree, slip-resistant surface that allows for better traction and grip. DUPONT.COM 22
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THE WHITEST WHITE Ultra-compact surface Dekton by Cosentino has launched its newest colour, Uyuni—the purest and smoothest colour of white available on the market, the company notes. Inspired by the world’s largest natural salt flats, Bolivia’s Solar de Uyuni, the product features a high-tech matte finish and soft textured surface paired with “unparalleled durability.” Featuring a subtle crystalline blue tone that gives it an icy, pure look, Uyuni’s attributes makes it ideal for innovative spaces and architectural designs that promote spaciousness, light, order, cleanliness and freshness. DEKTON.CA
NAILED IT AGAIN Optimized for small jobsite applications, DeWalt’s new 20V MAX 15° Coil Roofing Nailer is ideal for service and repair jobs, small production work, flashing and shingling around windows, skylights and vents. It drives 500 nails per charge and can fire up to three nails per second, while including multiple features standard among pro-grade corded equipment. DEWALT.CA 24
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FILLING T
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Flynn Architect’s Bower residence in Ottawa, a highperformance modern infill.
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THE GAPS Exploring the infill option BY T R AC Y H A N E S
B
uilders in many parts of Ontario have been forced to adopt a small-is-beautiful mindset when it comes to newhome construction sites. With wide, open spaces for building in areas such as the GTA, Golden Horseshoe and Ottawa as elusive as a yeti, infill lands are the new reality. These sites, of course, pose unique challenges from traditional greenfield properties. They may be awkwardly sized, pose design dilemmas, be subject to additional municipal requirements and restrictions, and spark push-back from neighbours. Ottawa’s greenbelt has constricted land supply similar to the GTA and Golden Horseshoe. Thus, infill building is the only option for builders such as Roy Nandram, president of the Greater Ottawa Home Builders’ Association and owner of RND Construction. There is no perfect infill site, says Nandram. “There are some that are easier to work with, but most hold different challenges such as neighbours, trees, streets where you can’t park. Some places have no room to put a dumpster, so construction waste has to be managed on a daily basis.” A noise bylaw restricts the hours construction crews can work after hours or on weekends in established neighbourhoods. Nandram has to ensure the street his crew is working on is kept clean and may have to repave in front of his property if there are too many road cuts. The City of Ottawa has infill protocols for builders to follow as a guide, says Nandram. If trees are removed, for instance, they have to be replaced or money paid into a fund. “There is a lot of building height restriction ohba.ca
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and streetscape analysis,” says Nandram. “If you’re putting a new house in the middle of the block, you have to submit a streetscape of your house with the others on the street, to make sure yours doesn’t stick out like a sore thumb.” The height restrictions presented a challenge for Ha² Architectural Design’s Houry Avedissian, who designed a two-storey contemporary house on a 30-foot infill lot that Nandram recently finished. Because of an 8-metre height restriction, the garage had to be lower than normal. “We had to ramp it down to the lower level, and because winter is cruel, we had to do a heated ramp so you can get up and down it,” says Nandram. The house also required a flight of stairs from the front yard to the main-level entrance. For another Ottawa firm, Flynn Architect, the convenience of city living and shorter commutes is a clear selling point for the infill option. “The dream used to be estate lots in the suburbs, but we’re seeing some people moving back to the city, but designing to suit their lifestyle,” says proprietor Jason Flynn. And with COVID-19 front of mind, that means a low-rise lifestyle. “Not to knock the condos that are being put up, but I think people do look for something tailored for their specific requirements,” Flynn says. “And there’s a real appreciation for being able to walk out of your home and be on the ground.” Zoning changes are contributing to the increase of infill projects, but it’s creating new challenges, Flynn notes. “Unfortunately we’re still not at the stage where the majority of people are willing to ONTARIO HOME BUILDER FALL 2020
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As with this Grimsby project, all Phelps Homes projects are infill.
“KEEP THE NOISE DOWN!”
“CLEAN THAT DEBRIS OFF MY STREET!”
“SAY THE PROPERTY IS WORTH $10 AND THE COST OF CLEAN-UP IS $10. YOU’RE INTO THE PROJECT FOR $20 AND HAVE TO ABSORB $10 YOU WOULDN’T IN A GREENFIELD.” David Samis, President, Phelps Homes
CAN I DUMP STUFF THERE?
give up their vehicles. But many of these projects are controlled by parking. We have a project where we’re looking at squeezing 16 units on a 66’ x 100’ lot. But you can’t house 16 cars on a 66’ x 100’ lot and still get a building on it. And with a project like that, the investment for an underground parking system would be very, very expensive. So we’re trying to find the balance between providing some parking to relieve the stress on street parking, while getting people away from car ownership. Fortunately, our light rail system is three to five minutes from some of these hubs.” The red tape of such construction is not for the faint of heart, though, Flynn cautions. “We have mature neighbourhood zoning overlay in Ottawa, where crucial older areas of town have been overlaid with a secondary zoning mechanism, which is far more complex than standard zoning,” he explains. “So making sure the infill conforms is the trickiest step. We have a project now that has gone through so many iterations because of the constraining factors: hydro lines, corner site triangles—it goes on and on for these inner-city lots. The toughest constraint of all, of 28
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course, can be managing the client. “You’d be surprised how often client expectations don’t match the building height and space limits,” Flynn says. “Part of my job is to reel them in and curb their enthusiasm. It’s a delicate balancing act.” Flynn’s Bower Avenue residence in Old Ottawa East is a striking example of modern infill. A high-performance home with double-wall construction, sandwiched between two traditional detached brick homes, the three-storey stone and glass design employs an L-shape footprint to maximize the site’s efficiency, while bathing the interior in natural light. Appeasing neighbours with a dramatically new design that can require a year to build is another obstacle. “The guys I work with are so good at managing the neighbours, though—knocking on doors and talking to them to explain what they’re doing, even after the clients have spoken to them,” Flynn says. Niagara Region builders have also been taking advantage of infill sites. “It could be an old industrial use that’s ceased and presents a development opportunity,” says David Samis, president of Phelps Homes. “Or you could
have one or two old houses on large lots that you could consolidate.” All of Phelps’ sites are infill, with multiunit projects ranging from 21 to 96 units. Some Niagara municipalities are more receptive than others to proposals, Samis says. Builders may run into front-end issues such as demolition of old structures and are mandated to follow property standards while waiting for approvals. “We may be cutting grass on sites from two to 10 acres that has not been cut in two years, but we’re required to do it,” Samis says. “There are also trespassing issues. You may have neighbours dump stuff on your property; for example, if they are putting in a pool and dispose of their dirt on your property.” A brownfield site is always more challenging, says Samis, as developers often have to contend with poor fill or soil and different levels of contamination. “Say the property is worth $10 and the cost of clean-up is $10. You’re into the project for $20 and have to absorb $10 you wouldn’t have to in a greenfield,” Samis notes. “Yet, there is a regulation that expects you to spend $10 in cleanup before you can start construction, ohba.ca
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when you could move the soil and do the work at the time of construction (thus not duplicate the cost). Some municipalities are not comfortable working with you on those type of infill sites. That’s a challenge we have and many municipalities aren’t getting there yet.”
KNOWING THE ANGLES Henry Burstyn, Director and Senior Practice Lead of Architecture for IBI Group in Toronto, says infill lots are particularly challenging for mid- or highrise projects. For such developments in existing low-rise neighbourhoods, the City of Toronto requires that higher buildings have 45-degree angular planes to transition down to adjacent houses and to minimize shadowing. “Most sites have at least two angular planes and that results in a terraced building that is frankly bigger at the bottom than you want it to be. At the top, where you wanted the biggest floor plate, that’s the smallest,” says Burstyn. He says the city is starting to recognize that terraced buildings create a wedding cake-type effect at the rear that is a challenge to construct. “For efficiency, you want floor plates that can run through multiple floors. With terracing, every single floor is different, with mechanical and structural differences that make it expensive.” With narrow-frontage buildings, the ‘sweet spot’ is in the middle of the building in terms of creating the most efficient suite designs. On the lower levels, the solution is usually loft-style, long and slim units because price point is “a big issue in terms of trying to keep units affordable and a certain size,” says Burstyn. Traffic may have to be disrupted during construction and overhead power lines dealt with. Planning for parking and back-of-house functions such as pick-up by garbage trucks is another issue when designing for narrow infill lots. At 210 Simcoe, a 294-unit mid-rise avenue project, designers Page + Steele/ IBI Group managed to incorporate a two-car elevator, pass-through for garbage and a residential lobby on an approximately 65-foot lot. Burstyn’s office was also involved in designing MuseumHouse condo across from the Royal Ontario Museum. It has 26 luxury units in an 18-storey building, a singlecar elevator and sits on a 50-foot lot. It ohba.ca
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FAIRWAYS ARE FAIR PLAY Exploring the golf option
While Ontario’s golf industry has prospered since the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic, golf courses still present an opportunity for infill, provided you can navigate the accompanying issues. Geranium, a company that builds large masterplanned greenfield communities as well as infill projects, is familiar with the territory. “Our team is really good at looking at land through a different lens and finding opportunity where others can’t,” says Geranium President Boaz Feiner. “With infill, you have to look at the particulars and nuances of the micro community against the macro and understand who the clientele is. Often, people who want to buy already exist in that area.” A current Geranium project, Allegro, consists of 159 executivestyle homes on the former Highland Gate GC in Aurora between Yonge and Bathurst Streets, where the local municipality and provincial policy encourage intensification. Still, existing homeowners whose homes surround the golf course objected.
“We tried to respect the existing residents,” says Feiner, and the local ratepayers group believed “this is my golf course and these are my walking trails” and considered the lands to be public, when they were actually private. Geranium held discussions with more than 400 households and group meetings to explain the steps it was taking to protect the site’s natural attributes. Still, the matter went to the OMB, which approved the development with slight revisions to the original plan. Feiner says where possible, it’s prudent for a developer to add benefit for the entire community, not just the residents of the new homes. At Allegro, a large portion of the golf course will be designated as greenspace, many mature evergreens preserved and a large central 22-acre park added, along with walking trails. Geranium forged a positive relationship with the residents’ association at Canterbury Commons adult lifestyle community in Port Perry in gaining support to build bungalows and lofts on the community’s former golf course. Notes Feiner: “We provided a community benefit by enhancing the clubhouse and relocating the pool to give new members and existing ones a better social life.”
Geranium’s Allegro project made the most of Aurora’s former Highland Gate GC.
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“ON A SITE LIKE MUSEUMHOUSE, IT’S ALMOST LIKE DESIGNING A SWISS WATCH. EVERY MILLIMETRE COUNTS.”
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helps when downtown projects such as those have a reduced parking standard, so don’t have to accommodate a lot of vehicles, says Burstyn. “On a site like that (MuseumHouse), it’s almost like designing a Swiss watch. Every millimetre counts,” says Burstyn. He predicts the super-tall, super-skinny pencil towers that are rising in New York City will soon migrate to the 416 “as sites get more challenging.” Infill projects require paying close attention to the context of the neighbourhood when designing the building, says Burstyn. “It may be more related to the podium at the base and its relationship to the street. It depends on the site. Some buildings are intended to be iconic and stand out, but most of infill is a building that will fit into the neighbourhood with a continuity of materials.” Mid-rise infill projects are especially tricky, he says. On avenues, Toronto has tried to tie building height to street width—for example, a 20-metre street width would require a 20-metre building—but that’s costly for a developer and
some are shying away from avenue projects as a result, says Burstyn.
STARTING ANEW Pioneering infill development in a community can be tricky, says Feiner. Geranium was the first developer to kick off the redevelopment of Main St. in Stouffville with its PACE on Main six-storey condominium/mixeduse building. It had to work with the municipality, the local heritage committee and business association to satisfy their various requirements – the stakeholders wanted to revitalize the main street and bring people back to the core, but wanted to ensure Geranium’s and any future downtown development wouldn’t jeopardize the small-town feel. Geranium also had to create a market for condos that hadn’t existed in downtown Stouffville before, as people tended to move elsewhere when they got to certain stages of life, such as having to downsize from larger houses. The company was successful in attracting buyers to the project, and now owners include ohba.ca
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From left to right: IBI’s MuseumHouse in Toronto, a rendition of R-Hauz’s six-storey townhouse and RND’s/Ha2 Architectural Design’s Galleria custom home in Ottawa.
retirees, investors, empty nesters and people at all stages of life. “Doing midrise is tough,” agrees Leith Moore, former adjunct professor at the University of Waterloo’s School of Urban and Regional Planning and president of Waverley Projects, a Toronto builder with a focus on mid-rise and urban infill. “It takes a few years to assemble land, get approvals and build, and the return is a lot less than high-rise. Most people just don’t do it.” Moore’s latest role is principal and cofounder of Toronto’s R-Hauz, a company that addresses the market’s ‘missing middle’ with mass timber laneway and mid-rise infill units manufactured off-site and assembled on-site. The concept allows for homeowners to build more housing on their existing property with no additional land costs or development charges. R-Hauz offers two turn-key products: a two-storey, one- or two-bedroom laneway suite over a one- or two-car garage (or no garage) that works with the City of Toronto’s new Laneway Housing Guidelines; and a six-storey townhouse designed for main streets and avenues ohba.ca
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that can be configured as a singleoccupant unit, a two-storey owners’ suite with income rental units, or as a five-plex or six-plex rental. The goal was to get rid of one-off designs and have repeatable designs that conform to municipal regulations and don’t require zoning variances, so units can be built affordably and quickly, says Moore. R-Hauz’s laneway products are designed for lot types with 15, 20, 25 and 30-foot frontages. Basic pricing is $350 to $370 per square foot plus connections. “If someone has a 22-foot lot and I have a 20-foot product, they may ask to widen it to 22-feet, but the cost is not worth it,” says Moore. “If you have an 18-foot lot, a 15-foot house will work for you and provide a good solution. It doesn’t need to be customized to your width.” The City of Toronto has been encouraging laneway and avenue housing and “they’re as helpful as you want, but it’s not easy,” says Moore. The City has done a good job on the laneway guidelines, he says, but some requirements have been more problematic. “The mid-rise
guidelines are like a chart of the planning process from application to draft plan approval, but they don’t address getting beyond that into the ground.” There have been issues on the ease of water connections, for example, and “a lot of nervousness” from the building department about mass timber construction, even though it’s common in provinces such as B.C. For the mid-rise R-Hauz townhouses, stairs must be noncombustible, thus require concrete. Moore has come up with an alternate solution for his pilot townhouse project, but at present each subsequent project must get re-approved, when one R-Hauz’s objectives is to make its products repeatable designs without requiring new approvals. But when the Ontario Building Code is harmonized with the national code by the end of the year, that should eliminate some of the current issues, says Moore. One of the biggest challenges for infill building, be it a small project or a large high-rise, is NIMBYism. Samis says even in neighbourhoods where older, neglected houses can be torn down and a denser residential use is the best use, “some people don’t realize the benefit of new investment to their neighbourhood.” That can be challenging from the approval side, as councillors have to deal with phone calls and constituents’ opposition. “We spend a lot of time designing to mitigate issues and may vary density to put the higher density inside of a development and lower density on the outside,” he says. Nandram had to modify plans he had for a large corner lot that contained one older house in Ottawa. “We wanted to put six lots of 40 feet each on it. All of the neighbouring lots are 60 feet and the people living there objected, so we had to compromise and do four lots. You have to deal with the community where you require a severance. Everybody has a say and the right to object, but it can really delay a project,” says Nandram. Despite all of the challenges, Burstyn says there are some advantages to building on infill sites. “An established neighbourhood will have a lot of amenities and flavour. With projects where you trying to create character in a new neighbourhood, you’re still at the beginning of process and it could take a number of years to achieve that.” OHB ONTARIO HOME BUILDER FALL 2020
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r e v e N l l I’ rget You! Fo Four renovators deconstruct their most memorable projects BY TO M H O G U E
A
dream. That’s where a renovation journey often begins. The conversation over warm lighting in comfortable surroundings might have started with pages torn from a design magazine, or a TV episode that transfixed a client with an idea for a kitchen well overdue for an updo. In almost every case, inspiration hatched over a glass of wine swiftly takes shape with a somewhat unrealistic set of expectations on a budget and deadline imagined in a bubble. In the pursuit of clients’ dream projects, illusions can often be shattered, but Ontario’s experts in the renovation sector are continually advancing methods to guide their customers through the many stages of home re-invention. Gene Maida from Georgian Renovations in Mississauga refers to helping clients get through the “terror barrier” as they awaken to the dust and acclimatize to the thought of doing dishes in the laundry sink for months. “We’re not afraid to have that sometimes tough conversation,” Maida says of the company’s approach to those inevitable surprises that spring up during a tear-down. An educated view about setbacks separates true experts from the pack, because experience has provided seasoned renovators with a perspective on how the “dream” runs parallel to the potential of an opposite reality—the nightmare lurking just beneath the plaster of older homes that manifests in shortsighted circuitry, shaved joists or under-engineered spans. “There is a saying that bad news doesn’t get better with age,” Maida says. But the dream doesn’t have to die. What the following examples reveal is how collaboration between the homeowner, design teams and on-site trades all contribute to keeping the spirit of the endeavour a positive force—from initial concept to completion. Like all dreams, they take shape in a variety of shapes and forms. 32
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WINDRUSH HILL CONSTRUCTION
ENGINEERING NO SMALL FEAT
BEFORE
Engineering ingenuity contributed to the restoration of this circa-1874 St. Catharines home.
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As with many other established renovators, Tony Alfieri of Windrush Hill Construction came up through house building. Dig the hole, pour the foundation, frame it up, roof and all the rest. Repeat. But it is the challenge of oftencomplex renovations that most satisfies him. “Building is a black and white process—there’s a lot more grey matter in renos,” notes Alfieri. And no riddle was quite as complex as the Norris Place. The St. Catharines home is in the oldest section of one of the oldest cities in the country. So the task of removing walls to create more room with a contemporary edge and not disturb the original grandeur of the 1874-era home was “a serious challenge.” Especially difficult was the request to remove a double-brick wall downstairs but keep the double-brick wall upstairs. To reinforce the main floor structure to carry the weight of the wall above—and support the portion of the roof above that—was a feat Alfieri credits to the unsung renovation heroes: the engineers. “Everyone sees the before and after pictures of a job, but no one talks about the dynamics of engineering that went into the in-between,” he notes. Old radiator systems were removed and concrete poured before design elements came together to create what Alfieri describes as a “funky dichotomy” of crisp white trim set against clean new lines in an opened-up space. The job cost $400,000 and took the 13-member crew almost seven months. And though there were sleepless nights, it is clear Alfieri is enlivened by what he calls “the reinvention of homes.” ONTARIO HOME BUILDER FALL 2020
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PIONEER CRAFTSMEN
RESTORING HERITAGE, BRICK BY BRICK It’s hard to think of century-old homes on the historic streets of Kitchener’s Victoria Park as being part of a subdivision. But these homes were laid out along a planned set of streets and are united by a shared model of construction— mostly double-brick, true two-by-four dimension pine with generously adorned trim details on windows. Postwar families left behind these 19th-century downtown dwellings, preferring new ‘modern’ homes in sprawling developments with cul-de-sacs at the expanding outer edge of the city. With the convenience of city core restaurants, amenities and transit in mind, subsequent generations led a reverse migration from the suburbs back to these neighbourhoods, attracted by the other-era charm and the very anachronistic details their grandparents chose to leave behind. The trouble is that those stately abodes were originally built as a series of small rooms, each with its own purpose— parlour, kitchen, pantry, dining room, etc.—with hallways and plenty of doors. Pioneer Craftsmen in Waterloo Region was chosen by a young couple to rethink their century-old Kitchener home. They wanted new space created for their growing family, but worried about losing the home’s older touches. “They came to us saying, ‘We absolutely love our home, but we need a big open kitchen space, and a new bedroom space,’” says Pioneer’s Jamie Adam. The design team got to work and crunched numbers and design options on a year-long project. “We quickly determined that they really needed to be moving out during the renovation, because we were going to be involved in every aspect of the home,” Adam says of a plan to open up the back portion of the house for a 24’x16’ two-floor addition that included excavating a basement. Very quickly cost became a factor. “I think the budget always comes into play,” Adam says. “And in their case, it was a 34
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Repurposing original trim and brick and a committed client were critical in successfully maintaining this century-old home’s original character.
BEFORE
healthy budget, but it was still something that we needed to work around.” The couple’s initial budget of about $300,000 would have to climb by 20%, but some accommodations were made to repurpose materials in imaginative ways. Trim and brick, for example, were refurbished and reused as adornments inside to maintain the character the couple feared losing. Throughout, Adam says the couple were “fully on board and driving the idea of showcasing the home’s original character. They knew this wasn’t going to be an easy process, but they were investing in this
home because this is where they were going to continue to raise their family and live for many many years.” To Adam and his 24-member Pioneer team, the patience and persistence displayed by a young couple through a long process was the secret to fulfilling their wishes. “For me, it was the level with which the client wanted to preserve the feel of the home,” Adam says. “Too often people are fine to drywall over every square inch of brick or old materials they can to create what looks like a brand new home. This client was absolutely not there.” ohba.ca
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An inspired design opened up a 35’ x 30’ living space with a fireplace focal point, but evolving changes during this reno made it truly memorable.
CCR CALLAHAN
BEGIN WITH THE END IN SIGHT Seldom do established renovation firms encounter enthusiasm of this order. “They loved it from day one. When I was there handing over the final basket to thank them, they came up and gave me a big hug and said thank you,” CCR Build + Remodel founder Arne Madsen notes of the family who hired the London firm to transform a crammed living area. “They were more appreciative than most customers in this day and age and were so excited during the whole process. It was a lovely project.” So how exactly did CCR engineer this dream project? The problem was easy enough to identify. For 20 years, the family had been living in a crowded section of the 1960s-era home where living room, kitchen, family room and mud room were packed into a matrix of separate spaces. “We knocked out that whole area and installed two beams from the front of the house to the rear,” Madsen says. “When we opened it up, we had a square opening of basically 35 feet by 30 feet.” Six months later, a focal-point fireplace and open-concept kitchen now frame the skylight-lit space—all united by hardwood flooring throughout. “What can you do for us?” That was the open invitation to CCR from the couple in their late 50s. But they had a specific number in mind. On the topic of cost, Madsen says he “was fairly scared when I sat down with them and presented them with the design” that was about $30,000 more than the $150,000 the couple had budgeted. “But when I laid it out for them, they ohba.ca
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BEFORE
said ‘When can we have it? When can we move in?’” Madsen shares. The resolution resided in the 30-yearold firm’s reputation for identifying extra items, such as improvements to this home’s attic insulation and other repairs recommended as preventative measures to head off potential problems later on. Too often a contractor doesn’t want to raise other issues for fear it might delay the project. “We are quite different in that respect,” Madsen says. “If we see something we can improve and have a better overall result at the end, we like to bring it up. I’ve talked to different homeowners who learned later that they could have done this and that, but nobody spoke up, and they become annoyed, knowing that the issues they’re dealing with now could have been addressed during the renovation.
“That’s always been my hallmark,” Madsen continues. “It’s not always a matter of the dollar or the time from start to finish; it’s a matter of when we get into the project, if something comes up, let’s talk about it.” What helped make this a dream project for CCR was successfully matching their design-build philosophy with the right client—those who regard their dwelling as a home, not a house. Those buying a property with the intention of flipping it into the red-hot real estate market, on the other hand, are not an ideal match for CCR. “One of our first questions is, ‘How long do you want to be in the home?’ Because you’ve got to spend at least five to 10 years to get some of the value out for yourself,” Madsen says. “We don’t renovate for resale; we tell them that right up front.” ONTARIO HOME BUILDER FALL 2020
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Georgian doubled the size of this striking Thornhill kitchen to accommodate family gatherings.
GEORGIAN RENOVATIONS
BEFORE
A SUNDAY TRADITION TRANSFORMED After the death of his mother, a son sought to maintain a Sunday tradition by gathering family members in his home for the big meal. That was the inspiration behind a project that Gene Maida of Georgian Renovations recalls as being particularly satisfying for everyone involved. With a deep interest in cooking, the Thornhill homeowner was looking for a way to transform the kitchen of his 2,400-square-foot, 1980s-era house. This was the natural space for grown family members and their children to gather every week as they had with Grandma. The vision was a modern hearth, double the size of the previous kitchen but done in less time than previous projects. In the past, the homeowner had work 36
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done with what Maida refers to as “oneman renos” and had grown frustrated with the delays from a lean approach “that ended up taking double the length of time.” The client “was a well-established accountant but acknowledged that he had little experience with renovation,” Maida relates. What sold this owner was a professional, “photo-realistic” 3D computer model design from Georgian that allows their customers to see the concept from different perspectives and vantage points with all of the paint finishes, flooring applications and lighting placements. Including structural changes, appliances and design elements, the presentation of the $600,000 plan involved 60 days of preparation, according to Maida. “He was quite comfortable with the design results and we got started a couple of days after that point,” Maida says, adding that the homeowner was shocked
by how quickly the two dozen on-site trades moved things along. “He went out for lunch, and was surprised that a beam had been installed by the time he got back,” Maida recalls of a first big event in the home last summer. Outside of some deficient electrical work from a previous job, Maida says there were few delays and the project was completed in November—120 days after launch—and ready just in time for the holidays. It’s a rare experience for the company that does $30 million in projects every year to see a job go so remarkably smoothly from concept forward, says Maida, who is all too familiar with the problems related to “production houses of the last few decades that are not meant to last 40 years.” That he didn’t have to administer “terror barrier” therapy here was a dream unto itself. OHB ohba.ca
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CHANGING MINDS The pandemic has current and potential buyers thinking differently BY T E D M C I N T Y R E
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W
ith a 2 1/2-year-old girl in tow, Kim and Shawn Hughes were planning to move to Oakville in the near future. The COVID-19 pandemic, however, hastened their departure from a two-bedroom, 16th-storey condo at Richmond and Sherbourne in Toronto. “I asked my mom one weekend in early March if we could come stay for a few days and see what happens. It’s six months later and we’re still there,” Kim notes. “But we’re planning on buying a place (in the suburbs) later this year. “We didn’t feel comfortable with the prospect of our daughter in daycare or going up and down an elevator with her,” she says. “But it didn’t feel like there was enough room just walking up and down the streets of Toronto either. We always felt on edge. “It was sad leaving—our jobs were there, our friends, our lives,” Hughes adds. “But as the days and weeks have gone by, we’ve felt so lucky. I can’t imagine having kids in a condo right now.” Trevor Heyd, 31, and Megan Holbrook, 30, have also changed their mindset. Although they currently live in an 11-storey condo in the Queen West and Dovercourt area, the couple will similarly be moving into Megan’s parents’ home in Oakville come October to save up for a place of their own. With entertainment and the vibrancy of the city curtailed and their condo amenities still closed as of the end of July, “we figured there’s no point in paying a ton of rent if you’re not getting the full downtown experience,” Megan explains. “I think it has shifted priorities for many,” she says. “We’re on the third floor and are grateful that we have stairwell access and are able to limit exposure to the elevator. But we have friends in high-rises and it’s a completely different situation for them.” The long-term goal is to eventually move back to Toronto, Heyd notes, “but this has changed the way we look at 40
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2.8 MILLION it—maybe more toward less populated areas or a home instead of a condo, where we’re able to avoid elevators.” Both couples fit the mold of a recent study from research group Finder, suggesting nearly one in 10 Canadians have seen their living situation change due to COVID-19, with a whopping 5% of adult children—roughly 1.5 million— indicating they have moved back in with their parents. “And the number may jump to over 2 million, with a further 607,706 saying they’re considering moving home,” the study notes. Ontario leads the country in that trend, with 6% of adult children returning to the nest. The recession had previously taken its toll, though, the study indicates. “In fact, 13% of those aged 18 to 24 are already back living with their parents and another 3% are thinking of making the move.” The Q2-2020 Condominium Market Survey from Urbanation showed a significant slowdown of Toronto’s condominium market in the early months of the pandemic, with second-quarter sales dropping to their lowest levels since 2009. But more recent numbers have shown a major rebound, with housing starts in Toronto leaping 22% to 48,466 units on an annualized seasonally adjusted basis, according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. But there is still anxiety in the marketplace when it comes to big cities. A Nanos survey conducted for the Ontario Real Estate Association (OREA) in the final week of June indicated that “close to three in five Ontarians actively in the real estate market agree or somewhat agree that living in a rural area or the suburbs is more appealing now than before the pandemic.” Such was the case for Cherryl Mackinnon and her partner Mark Glendenning. At a time when many couples in their 50s are contemplating downsizing in advance of retirement, Mackinnon and Glendenning went the opposite direction.
Canadian adults who have seen their living situation change as a result of COVID-19.
1 MILLION Canadian adults who have thought of moving in with family as a result of COVID-19.
5% Canadians who say they have moved back in with their parents as a result of COVID-19.
3% Canadians who say their children have moved back in with them as a result of COVID-19.
278,000 Canadian parents who have moved in with their adult children as a result of COVID-19.
Source: Finder Research Group ohba.ca
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“We came over from England two years ago and were renting in Yorkville. But with Covid, our jobs went, and rents were crazy,” says Mackinnon. “The reason we moved downtown was that there was so much going on and we could walk to anything. But when the lockdown came, it felt like sitting in a little prison of glass, and we didn’t know how long it would last. At the end of April we started looking and found a place in St. Catharines. It’s so much cheaper here—we’d only get a shoebox in Toronto for what we paid here. “I thought I would miss Toronto, but I don’t. It’s so beautiful here,” she says. “And if there ever is another lockdown, at least we now have our own home and backyard to walk around in without having to worry about wearing masks or catching covid from another tenant.” Similar activity is taking place in cottage country, where baby boomers might be pulling the trigger a few years early on retirement, muses Chris Crozier, founder and CEO of Crozier Consulting Engineers. “In the Collingwood and south Georgian Bay Area, we’re seeing a big post-COVID-19 uptick in the market,” Crozier says. “We have builders and developers coming to us—some with projects that were dormant for years, asking how quickly we can get building permits. And we’ve already had a strong run for five to seven years up here. I don’t think we’ve ever been busier, and the forecast is very strong.”
REMOTE CONTROL The decision to leave the city, and the GTA in general, is being made easier by the mostly seamless nature of the pandemic-induced transition of working remotely. “One of biggest problems used to be what we called the ‘Trailing Spouse Syndrome,’” Crozier says. “Someone might want to live in the Collingwood area, but their spouse was, say, a lawyer in Toronto. But now we’re hearing of those same lawyers saying they might work from home indefinitely. So people will move outside the core since they don’t need to worry about that onerous commute. I think this could change the entire landscape.” “This has also shown businesses that ohba.ca
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“WE HAVE DEVELOPERS COMING TO US (IN THE COLLINGWOOD AREA), SOME WITH PROJECTS THAT WERE DORMANT FOR YEARS, ASKING HOW QUICKLY WE CAN GET BUILDING PERMITS.” CHRIS CROZIER, CROZIER CONSULTING ENGINEERS
they can save money on rental spaces and travel, that you can bring people together through technology,” adds Avi Friedman, an author, social observer and professor of architecture at McGill University. That’s good news when it comes to employee retention and recruitment. “The net we use to attract employees to our company is much broader now than it was pre-Covid,” Crozier explains. “Our rule of thumb was that you had to live within 45 minutes of one of our offices. But now it’s conceivable to attract people in Ottawa or Regina, for instance. Great ideas occur spontaneously around the water cooler, and we will continue to provide office space to our employees, because there’s a great value in being together. But I do see a hybrid moving forward.” Those fearing an all-out exodus from the city core, however, need not fear. “David Amborski, a professor at Ryerson University’s School of Urban and Regional Planning, and a professional urban planner, suggests the effect of COVID-19 on high-density living is yet to be determined,” writes Tracy Hanes in the Toronto Star. “But, he notes, recent polls have indicated just 3-5% of highrise dwellers will consider relocating.” And as counterintuitive as it sounds, while the OREA poll highlighted that 60% found the concept of living in
suburbia or rural areas more appealing today, 31% of respondents said they actually find living in the city more attractive since the pandemic began. “It’s likely that people who like downtown living, like it a lot,” OREA President Sean Morrison surmises. “The appeal could also be from an amenities perspective. Large urban downtown areas are more walkable, and tend to have more services such as better internet, more grocery delivery options and more access to healthcare.”
ROOMS TO GROW If nothing else, however, the pandemic has served as a reminder of the need for flexible—and more efficient—living space within the home, be it a home office or the movement to age in place. “This has shone a light on how the elderly are treated and how they are more prone to getting infected,” says Friedman. “I believe many who previously placed their parents in old-age homes now feel guilty about it, wondering if they should have dedicated more space within the home for them. How we design for aging is going to change. We’ll see more multi-generation arrangements—not just among cultures that are already accustomed to it.” ONTARIO HOME BUILDER FALL 2020
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Another sure thing is need for home offices to be routinely incorporated into the schematics. According to an Angus Reid poll released in June, only one-third of Canadians working remotely expect to resume working from the office as consistently as they did pre-pandemic. “Most anticipate splitting time between their workplace and home, while one-in-five say they will remain primarily at home,” the poll noted. Some architects have already adjusted for the changing times. “We have modified all of our design work in the early design phases over the past few months, adjusting their program to accommodate things like greater emphasis on home offices or spaces to work, including soundproofing or other ways for people to separate themselves from the family,” says Jay Lim, founder and lead designer at Ottawa’s 25:8 Architecture + Urban Design Ltd. “Acoustic isolation has become a real issue—I’ve found myself wanting to mute the humans in my space rather than on my screen,” says Natasha Sandmeier, an adjunct assistant professor of architecture and urban design at the UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture. “But the thought of maintaining privacy and acoustic isolation in a two-bed apartment occupied by more than four people is a very real situation shared by many today, and one that will require innovative responses by both architects and furniture designers.” Ensuring that the home office “feels like a workspace,” is key, explains Lim. “We try to engage the client to help their space be more productive. And where you can’t dedicate an entire room to it, we’re good at being creative. A Zoom-call room could be a reformatted closet or a hidden room that’s soundisolated with a professional backdrop. We have one in a New York City condo that’s maybe three feet wide by five feet deep. We’re also actively thinking about the way the room is lit so that you have light on your face and the background. I think you’ll see a lot of our work coming into the 42
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market with these unique spaces.” There might also be consideration for home schooling and activity areas for youngsters, notes Friedman. But don’t expect homebuyers to turn away from openconcept designs. “I don’t think we’re going to see more cellular spaces, but I do see modifications to our lifestyle,” Lim says. “We do something called kinetic architecture, where spaces or furniture transform, where you’d never realize they were the same space. A lot of our clients live in great neighbourhoods and they don’t want to leave; they just need more creative use of their existing space.” The pandemic has also instilled an increasing need for accessibility to the outdoor environment in condo design, Lim notes. “The ability to go outside and interact with nature, whether it’s a more substantial balcony or larger windows that can be opened—I think they’ll be larger trends. You don’t want to be stuck inside anymore.” “People are paying so much attention to gardens now,” Friedman adds. “I think landscaping becomes more important, including home and condo gardens and solariums, which have already been trending.”
ANGUS REID POLL Do you anticipate going back to your place of work as you did before the pandemic, OR do you anticipate continuing to work from home?
44%
20% Probably a mix of both Likely to go back to place of work Likely to continue working from home (Among those working from home, n=433)
Because of the coronavirus outbreak, have you or someone in your household, been working from home?
18%
CHANGES TO COME In the immediate future, there should be government assistance for builders and renovators, Friedman predicts. “I also see a huge package of incentives coming from the government in four months or so, renovation being one of them.” The market is also ripe for a ‘healthy home’ builder upgrade package, Friedman predicts. “Say it’s $15,000. That’s nothing for some extra air filtering, easily-cleaned surfaces, soundproofing and ultraviolet lighting that kills germs. Elevators, for example, can be made safer, with air filters and buttons with ‘eyes,’ where you just put your finger in front of a button to activate it. “People are scared, and will remain a degree scared for years,” Friedman says. “We will remember this crisis.”
36%
56% 16% 11%
No, neither Yes, I am Yes, someone else in household Both (All respondents, n=1,501)
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Double door entrance serves as an airlock maintaining the negative pressure system within the shed.
Air filtration box with integral fan is embedded in the end wall.
Layered corrugated cardboard ribs.
Flexible pleated air filtration fabric skin prevents airborne particles from escaping the room and infecting other people.
Bedhead with integrated HEPA air filter (MERV 7 or 8) that connects to exhaust outlet at window.
Aluminum air duct attached to vertical duct boot at base of bedhead with 6 inch diameter inline fan (320 CPM @ 0.2”, 120V, 62 WATTS).
PVC dowels or cardboard tubes are threaded through cardboard ribs to provide additional stability and strength.
SAFE SPACE Don’t expect this to be a regular in future home design, but in late June, the COVID-19 Design Innovation Grant award from the International Design Awards went to designer Sarah Goldblatt, who conceived the Safe Shed. Inexpensive and easily assembled, the in-home isolation pod provides
Compact kit-of-parts, flatpacked, easily shipped and constructed. All packaging is repurposed and used for the structure itself.
Allows for safe delivery of food and medicine and connectivity for hospital or clinic monitoring.
One way or the other, expect there to be changes in residential construction design, multiple experts predict. “Disease has often driven change in architecture and design,” writes Avishay Artsy, University of California, Los Angeles, on website Science X. “Cities cleared slums and opened up public spaces in response to the bubonic plague, and widened boulevards and added indoor plumbing due to yellow fever and cholera. The open-air sanitariums designed to treat tuberculosis and other pandemics inspired the ohba.ca
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residents with a space to self-isolate safely from others. Safe Shed is a low-cost, easily assembled in-home shelter that allows symptomatic individuals to recover while isolating from family members or roommates to effectively contain and prevent the spread of infection within households.
Integrated fan/duct system pulls aerosolized particles out of shelter to exterior exhaust location which protects others from airborne particles.
streamlined look of modernist buildings and minimalist furniture, which leaves few places for dirt and germs to hide.” “If things don’t change now, this will at least mark the beginning of thinking about change,” says Friedman. “It will provide planners, architects and builders with new ideas. We are not seeing a single phenomenon. There was the SARS pandemic, Ebola, H1N1. People think this will be a recurring event as we continue to encroach upon nature.” Friedman sees it as an opportunity for builders, architects and manufacturers.
Easily disassembled when the patient no longer needs isolation.
“Things happen when people are pressed to the wall, and this is one of those occasions,” he says. “There is a wide open canvas for innovation here. There should be a competition for innovative thinking.” While some are leaders, most are slower to adapt and adopt, Friedman observes. “The National Association of Home Builders in the U.S. did a study and found that only a tiny percentage of builders, maybe 5%, were true innovators and will wake up tomorrow and do something different. But where there is money to be made, change will happen.” OHB ONTARIO HOME BUILDER FALL 2020
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Smart Watch Online video surveillance and security moves ahead of the curve BY TED McINTYRE
You never know what might go missing from a construction site. Traditionally it’s tools and appliances; oftentimes copper wire and wood. Sometimes heavy machinery. In mid-March, crews with Barrie’s D.W. Construction noticed that toilet paper and sanitizers had been stolen from its portable washrooms at its King Street and Bayview Drive jobsites. Hey, sometimes market demand changes a little. But make no mistake—peddling stolen building supplies is always a thriving market. According to insurance provider Aviva Canada, $46 million in equipment is stolen annually in Canada—$15 to $20 million of that in Ontario alone. “An independent survey of 100 construction companies found they experienced an average of two thefts per year, with losses averaging $25,900 for licensed vehicles and $1,600 for tools,” Aviva notes. “In the U.S., 70% of thefts are from worksites that have inadequate or no security. Only 25% of all stolen equipment is ever recovered.” Of course, it’s not simply the cost of replacing stolen goods and repairing damaged property, it’s the time required to address the issues and the possible resulting delays in a project. To prevent such crimes, builders, developers and property managers are increasingly turning to technology and the unblinking eye in the sky of video surveillance. While the very presence of a security guard might be more likely to dissuade would-be thieves from ever attempting a crime to begin with, a perpetrator has to actually first see the guard in order to be deterred. Further, manned patrols are also more costly (not including the associated insurance coverage in case of accident or negligence). “Security guards provide a valuable service, but they can’t be everywhere at once,” explains Blake Mitchell, V.P. of Marketing for Stealth Monitoring. “To get 24/7 coverage, you’d need to hire a team ohba.ca
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High-tech Caliber Communications logs everything from worker movement to open gates, with hi-res video that can monitor equipment and ID faces and licence plates in the dark.
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ONTARIO HOME BUILDER FALL 2020
of guards. On the other hand, a virtual guard, on average, costs 1⁄4 of that. And using remote video monitoring allows for cameras to view multiple parts of the site at once from vantage points that may be impossible for guards to access. “It also eliminates the guesswork (afterward),” Mitchell says. “Remote video can provide an accurate portrayal that is sometimes missing from human recollection. And unlike a typical security guard, the video service has an entire team
that can monitor your cameras. Video cameras don’t need breaks or sleep.” But it’s the ability of a surveillance system to actively communicate with trespassers that is pivotal, Mitchell adds. “Live voice-down audio deterrents are just as effective in repelling intruders as security guards are. Subjects often flee before they cause damage, loss or liability.” Stoney Creek’s rapidly expanding Caliber Communications has been front and centre in terms of technological leaps in the past two years. The first in Canada to be certified by international safety/security evaluator UL for its live video monitoring centre, Caliber has fully engineered and developed a CSA-approved modular unit and an innovative communications platform that operate through a cellular infrastructure. Although builders rarely have internet lines available for several months on a new site, “with our cellular platform, our units can be installed absolutely anywhere across the country since we don’t have to worry about pre-wired internet,” explains Caliber’s Marketing Coordinator Antonio Neglia. “So we only require power. And where there’s no power, we use solar kits.” And speed kills in this industry, Neglia notes. “Typically with the hard-wired internet on site, you only have limited speeds of 1.5 to 3 MB per second. How many times do you watch the TV news and when they try to zoom in on a security camera image, it looks like a bunch of pixels. But we reach speeds of 50 MB on average. That means very high-res images ohba.ca
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and video that can be streamed to our monitoring centre. We like to say, ‘For everything we do, we want it to be courtquality evidence.’ Because if you can’t use it in court, well what kind of a result is that if you’re in the security business? And we can supply it with date and time stamps and images of the person’s vehicle and plate.” Caliber has also developed a proprietary system for two-way communication with individuals on site. “For example, if you’re on a builder’s site after hours, and it’s evident you’re there suspiciously and there’s a high probably of crime about to be committed, we can say, ‘Hey you in the black hat—this site is being monitored by Caliber Communications. Please leave the site immediately or we will dispatch police,’” Neglia explains. Caliber has also developed a security reporting platform (syncroReports) that “is a game-changer,” Neglia says. “Typically with security monitoring, the company will set up cameras and give you a report saying, ‘All clear,’ or ‘This happened.’ Sometimes it’s accurate, but oftentimes you don’t get the whole story, and there’s no data to correlate to any of your staff, project manager or shareholders. People want to know what they’re paying for and want to see results. Upon logging into syncroReports, you’re met with an overall dashboard, with metrics that show number of deterrences made, police calls made (incidents), tracked licence plates, amount of log reports, active investigations and live camera views. We’ll scan through the site and take photos around the site and identify such things as gates left open, workers showing up on site. They don’t pertain to a crime at all, but they generate meaningful content.” There’s also a health and safety monitoring element, including observing people who aren’t wearing PPE or those who are maybe breaking health and safety codes. So we’re also trying to prevent injury and loss of life.”
MAKING AN ENTRANCE Technology is also now on full display when it comes to condo access— and that display is as convenient as your cellphone. Founded by a pair of ex-Apple employees (which might explain the product’s simple but elegant and intuitive design), Latch Smart Access provides residents and building managers with access to every door of ohba.ca
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INSIDE THE PANIC ROOM
Ottawa firm is busy designing the ultimate safe space The current pandemic reminds us that there is no greater responsibility than to protect one’s family in times of strife. But threats can come in many forms. “Even before COVID-19, we saw an uptick in panic-room interest. All of our new homes have a panic room option,” says John Liptak, president/CEO of Ottawa’s OakWood, noting that up to 20% of the company’s new custom homes now include such ultra-secure facilities. “And it wasn’t motivated by severe weather events in Ottawa; it was home invasion. A panic room is like an insurance policy—something you get for maximum peace of mind that you hope you’ll never use. We expect a higher demand in the future.” OakWood Panic Rooms is a specialized design and build service within the company that harnesses key innovations in energy, technology and security to create high-quality, ultra-secure spaces for family members or employees during any emergency. And forget bunkers or holes in the ground—these can be concealed, luxury safe rooms and mini-fortresses. “Simple, impregnable, short-term-emergency safe rooms start at $10,000,” Liptak says. “But we’ve built complex underground bunkers for $2 million— fully appointed, net-zero facilities. They can be designed to meet the most stringent emergency and threat protection requirements, including natural disasters, bioterrorism, bomb attacks—even nuclear war! And design plans are reviewed by specialized professionals with top security clearance.” Secure electricity is also vital, as are washrooms and a water supply, Liptak says. “And surveillance is a must, so you can see what’s going on outside.” OakWood can create a panic room by converting an existing space such as a den, walk-in closet or storage area, or with a custom addition. But the most cost-effective and efficient way is during new construction, “since all framing, concrete, mechanical, etc. can be planned into the work, and since a hidden room is easier to include in the design,” explains Liptak, whose company’s years of experience includes work for military and embassy clients. And who are OakWood’s go-to panic-room suppliers? “If we told you, we would have to hurt you,” Liptak quips (we think). ONTARIO HOME BUILDER FALL 2020
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Intuitively designed, Latch can provide access to every door in a building, but also share temporary access with others.
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the building, from front entrance to base building to unit entry. With Latch, residents can use an app, keycard or code to unlock their doors and share temporary access with visitors and service providers. For building managers, a single web-based platform makes it easy to let the right people in, handle lockouts and oversee staff from anywhere. Last November, Latch announced plans for expanded app functionality and partnerships with third-party smart-device makers like Sonos and ecobee. It indicates a market opportunity where access and smart home technology can merge seamlessly into one unique platform, with residents able to monitor and control all the smart home devices in their unit, while building managers gain a holistic view of all the devices installed in their building, adding operational efficiencies. And in a world where smart devices continue to grow and capture personal information, Latch has carefully designed its products—from access history to smarthome device data—to keep residents’ privacy secure. While demand in the U.S. continues to grow, with one in 10 new apartments being built with Latch, the opportunity is equally ripe in Canada. Last December, Latch announced its official expansion into the Canadian market. “We’re incredibly excited about our plans,” says Latch Chief Operating Officer Ali Hussein. “We’re re-imagining the way buildings, communities and people interact.” OHB ohba.ca
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2020
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MAKE COMFORT A PRIORITY. The T10 Pro Smart Thermostat with RedLINK™ Room Sensor extends the thermostat’s reach into the rooms that matter – like bedrooms and living spaces. Homeowners can prioritize different rooms at different times of day, or, they can allow each sensor’s motion-detection technology to shift priority automatically as they move around the house. It’s a smart, simple way to help your customers feel right at home. Visit ForwardThinking.HoneywellHome.com/TSeries to learn more.
©2020 Resideo Technologies, Inc. All rights reserved. The Honeywell Home trademark is used under license from Honeywell International, Inc. This product is manufactured by Resideo Technologies, Inc., and its affiliates. 03-00463 | TG | 02/20
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Building Buzz NEWS AND MOVES FROM THE INDUSTRY
Amber’s robust sensor and control architecture embeds intelligence directly into the building electrical grid, including the world’s first solid-state smart outlets and smart circuit breakers.
CIRCUIT BREAKERS
Amber Solutions is poised to bring digital control to electricity BY T E D M c I N T Y R E
Amber Solutions, the young Silicon Valley company that recently introduced a groundbreaking AC/ DC enabler and AC switch that makes possible the digital control of electricity in solid-state architecture, is moving closer to making this control a mainstream reality. The company is developing solidstate-based, fully functional models and pre-production products for a range of categories that include multi-function smart capacitive touch dimmer switches and smart outlets and circuit breakers. “The combination of our internal and partner-aligned development initiatives are reinventing a foundational technology of modern life that hasn’t changed materially in over 50 years, and this is happening faster than anyone would have ohba.ca
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thought possible,” says Amber founder, president and CEO Thar Casey. The prospect of Amber and its partners powering the wholesale upgrade of every electrical endpoint in every building, to solid state with embedded intelligence, is compelling. Its core innovation is a programmable solid-state power system, with a clear path to a silicon chip. The system uniquely controls the flow of electricity digitally, enabling integration of unique intelligence into building electrical products and infrastructure. The solution introduces the world to a much safer, more reliable and dramatically smarter functional alternative to the 1970s-era electro-mechanical components that are standard in electrical infrastructure products. “Current industry standards rely
on products with mechanical moving parts that can create dangerous electrical arcs and start fires, suffer fatigue and break, or even trip unnecessarily simply because they lack modern machine intelligence,” Casey emphasizes of the system, which can disconnect live power up to 3,000 times faster than a physical circuit breaker can trip, thereby essentially eliminating the risk of fire (common with current circuit breakers and light switches, which can reach more than 30,000 degrees Fahrenheit). And size matters for builders and manufacturers. Amber’s solid-state technologies deliver a much smallersized power management system, which opens space for substantially more features in the same footprints while reducing costs. It enables every ONTARIO HOME BUILDER FALL 2020
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electrical endpoint—outlets, light switches, bulbs and more—to become a hyper-intelligent IoT node that communicates with the rest of the home’s/building’s sensors and smart systems. Beyond simple improvements such as flicker-less LED lights, individual Amber endpoints can be controlled in real time through its cloud service, enabling builders and owners to also develop their own custom smart-home solutions while encouraging better energy usage.
AWA R D S
ENERGY STAR SHINES ON TERRA VIEW, NAVIEN
ANNIVERSARIES
HAPPY 100TH, FEDERATED! This year marks the centennial of OHBA member Federated Insurance Company of Canada. Federated traces its roots to 1890 and a group of farm implement dealers in Minnesota who formed an association to reduce their insurance costs. In 1920, the company’s Canadian division was formed. “It’s a time to reflect with pride on our long-standing relationship with OHBA and other home builder associations across the country,” notes Mauro DiTullio, Manager, Association Partnerships at Federated Canada, whose company is again a 2020 Award of Distinction sponsor. “We’re really delighted by the mutual support we’ve been able to provide each other over our nearly 20-year partnership with OHBA and wish continued success and safety to all its members.” Federated Insurance is now a 100% wholly Canadian-owned direct commercial insurance specialist, owned by Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. and a division of Northbridge Financial Corporation, the thirdlargest commercial insurer in Canada. “Federated is a direct provider of business insurance, meaning you deal with the insurance company directly and not through the intermediary of a brokerage firm,” DiTullio says. “We currently partner with over 70 associations and buying groups across Canada, and that number is growing!” 52
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Ontario-based green home builder Terra View Homes received the 2020 Energy Star Canada Builder of the Year Award in June. Recognized in the small builder category for new home construction, Terra View was noted for its commitment to excellence and best practices in the Energy Star for New Homes (ESNH) program, while always building beyond the ESNH standard. Terra View builds all homes to a Net Zero standard as well as communities that are completely Net-Zero-Ready. Homes in their latest developments, Hart Village and NiMa Trails, are 80% more efficient than those constructed at the current regulated building code, allowing homeowners to save more than 30% on utilities while benefiting from natural energy sources. Navien, meanwhile, got the nod as Manufacturer of the Year – HVAC. The North American leader in condensing technology educated and increased awareness of Navien Energy Starcertified combo-boilers and boilers to installing contractors, service technicians, building facility managers, building owners, wholesalers, architects and specifying engineers. NEW OPENINGS
CONVOY OPENS IN KITCHENER Convoy Supply, a North American leader in the distribution of construction materials, has opened a new site in Kitchener. The 45,000 SF
facility is located on 5.35 acres and is Convoy’s largest greenfield build to date, boasting 5,000 SF of showroom and office space. The building was designed and engineered by Gateman-Milloy, Witzel Dyce and WalterFedy, and built by general contractor Gateman-Milloy. Centrally located five minutes off the Conestoga Parkway, the new Kitchener location was purpose-built as a full-service distribution centre, stocking product specified for use in roofing, waterproofing, insulation and wall cladding, manufactured by some of North America’s finest companies within the construction industry.
E D U C AT I O N
“BUILDING LASTING CHANGE” A VIRTUAL AFFAIR The Canada Green Building Council’s (CaGBC) Building Lasting Change online seminar series will kick off this month during World Green Building Week. Re-imagined as a dynamic real-time virtual event, the series will feature interactive online programming over five half-days in September and October, with three additional stand-alone live webcast symposiums later in the fall. The new theme of “Ready, Set, Recover” will focus on the unprecedented opportunity for the green building industry to offer actionable solutions. This year’s themes are familiar to those who follow CaGBC, and especially the focus on promoting a green recovery post-COVID-19: ohba.ca
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September 22 - Ready, Set, Recover: Re-igniting Canada’s Economy
Your builds aren’t cookie cutter. Why should your HVAC systems be?
September 29 - Zero Carbon; Make Zero Today October 6 - Resilience and Adaptation: Responding to Change
Take your builds to the next level with Navien’s
October 13 - Retrofits: Beyond Energy Efficiency
The H2Air Kit comes with the highest rated performance using CSA P9.11 test standard.
October 20 - Health and Livability: Pillars of Green Building For information, visit Cagbc.org/blc2020. I N N OVAT I O N
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Royal Building Products has expanded its virtual selling capabilities throughout Canada thanks to a partnership with One Click Contractor. That latter company, the premier all-in-one virtual sales software solution, has helped transform the way in which home improvement projects are sold. Contractors can run their entire sales process—from measuring to payment—without setting foot in a customer’s home. By making the transition from paper to digital, contractors can easily deliver an accurate, professional and customized sales process that would typically happen at the customer’s kitchen table. “Royal is excited to expand our partnership with One Click Contractor into Canada. We know that the shift to virtual selling is the ‘new normal’ for our industry,” said Steve Booz, V.P. of marketing and product development at Royal Building Products. “We are confident that we’re equipped to meet the current and future needs of distributors, building professionals and homeowners.” C
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T E C H N O L O GY
MASS TIMBER DESIGN MADE EASY
Fast + Epp Structural Engineers’ new Timber Bay Design Tool is ideal for architects, designers, developers and builders exploring mass timber projects. The new computer tool provides column/beam sizes, volume outputs and a 3D visualization of any mass timber grid. Calculations are performed in a background script to size up the deck, purlins, girders and columns, and are displayed in 3D in real time. The Bay Data Output table, meanwhile, displays all the results, including structural depth.
I N N OVAT I O N
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DUPONT EVOLVES BLUEDGE FLAMERETARDANT TECH DuPont has partnered with Shandong Sunris New Materials Co. in enhancing its Bluedge Polymeric Flame-Retardant Technology. Bluedge is a sustainable, polymeric replacement for flame retardants currently used by the industry in extruded polystyrene and expanded polystyrene foam insulation products. It replaces hexabromocyclododecane, a common flame retardant with a less favourable environmental profile that has been phased out in much of North America. “Technology like Bluedge is essential for enabling the transition to sustainability in the built environment,” notes Tim Lacey, global V.P. and G.M., DuPont Performance Building Solutions. OHB ohba.ca
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Product Focus I DE A S FOR B U I L DE R S & R E N OVAT OR S
AKT KOMP EN KITCH NS IG N T DE S EFFICIE E AT ING UP A R E H . 58 P
Featuring two totally independent ovens, Broil King’s Imperial XLS Built-In model is an ideal fit for the luxury backyard trend.
COOKING UP A STORM
Has COVID-19 whetted the appetites of homeowners? BY TED McINTYRE
THERE’S NOTHING quite like a
pandemic to help one appreciate their surroundings—including what might be lacking in that department. In a July webinar entitled “Brave New Business: Consumer Confidence and the Discretionary Dollar,” the National Kitchen and Bathroom Association (NKBA) noted that extensive savings and record-low interest rates have made loans for home improvement quite appealing. And with travel, concerts and other events on the wane for many, luxury spending is shifting, notes J. Walker Smith, Chief Knowledge Officer, Brand & Marketing, at South Carolinabased Kantar consulting group. “Highearning consumers are still looking for escapism, so they’re diverting to ohba.ca
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things related to home, (including) entertainment and cooking.” But it’s more about smart money than blind spending, observes author and market researcher Pam Danziger. People won’t pay just for the logo today, Danziger suggests, “but they will trade up to luxury brands if meaningful value is there—long-lasting quality, superb workmanship. Once you make the case for value, the price becomes secondary.” In these anxious times, building consumer confidence has never been more critical, Smith notes. “Reassure them that their health and safety are secure when they engage with you in the marketplace, particularly the high-end consumer,” he says. “Communicate that you’re more flexible, responsive to new
perceptions and in tune with some of the big changes going on.”
FUELLING THE TREND As an NKBA report revealed in June, indulging within the home was trending even before Covid-19 threw barrels of fuel on the fire. Entitled Living Impacts Design, the NKBA’s benchmark research examined the outside influences transforming how kitchens and baths will be designed over the next three years. “The role our homes play has never been so evident as it has these past (six) months,” noted Bill Darcy, NKBA CEO. “But even before the quarantine, understanding the impact of how we live in these spaces and its effect on design, specifically in the kitchen and bath, was ONTARIO HOME BUILDER FALL 2020
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Product Focus
Liebherr’s Monolith Wine Columns make for a striking kitchen display.
something we wanted to investigate. It’s critical to know how people’s personal goals and habits change the way the kitchen and bath are designed, as well as the products used in them.” Four overarching themes emerged from the data: connected living, simplified living, healthy living and living in place. With respect to connected living (the need for increased human interaction, information access and a connection with nature), 87% surveyed listed the need for greater inclusion and visibility, including open kitchen layouts, with multi-function spaces for a variety of activities, ranging from meal prep and entertaining to school and work-from-home. Although the study was U.S.-based, drawn from more than 750 design professionals in North America, there’s plenty of Canadian data to support the trend. At January’s Interior Design Show in Toronto, Suzy Margorian, showroom manager at Cosentino City, noted, “The kitchen, more than any place in the home, gives us insight to how we are changing and where we are going.” Working from home is a biggie. Although an average of 11% of the world uses the kitchen as a workspace, according to Cosentino research, 56
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Fisher & Paykel’s new Integrated Wine Column includes a generous 91-bottle capacity and a UVfiltering glass door.
Canada rates the highest in the world in this department, coming in at 27.2%. And that was before the pandemic.
EFFICIENCY AND LUXURY That means making kitchen space more efficient, giving rise to designs like the Kompakt Kitchen. Measuring 6’ wide x 7’ tall x 2’ feet deep, the multi-appliance configuration provides an oven, microwave, cooktop, sink, dishwasher, hood, fridge and storage capacity. “And you can upgrade to a TV instead of a cabinet and even expand it out two feet and toss in a two-in-one washer/dryer combination,” notes Mark Eglington, president of Oakville’s Euro-Line Appliances. “When it comes to value per square foot, there’s nothing on the market that can even compete.” TA Appliances, meanwhile, is also helping builders increase living space with efficient designs such as those found at the Bradshaw Lofts in Stratford. It’s a Toronto-like trend that’s taking root beyond the GTA, notes Jay Kressler, V.P. of TA Appliances’ Builder Division. “It’s almost like a bar area. The fridge and dishwasher are panelled with cabinetry,” Kressler explains. “We’re seeing high-density smaller footprints.
That European style is not new in Toronto, but it is new to places like Kitchener-Waterloo. “We can get in on the ground level and work with the design team in selecting the right products for a large project,” Kressler notes. “We have a dedicated builder program, separate from our retail channel—from custom homes to high-rises—with our own delivery crews that only work on builder projects and construction sites. We’ll deliver and install at the same time, coordinating with the builder. Our team is the only one handling the appliances—no trades, HVAC or plumbers are involved. If there’s a damaged piece, it won’t even make it inside the door. And we have our own internal customer service, so we’ll work with the builder or condo owner/tenant on behalf of our suppliers.” Trends at the other end of the spectrum are pretty cool as well— literally. “We’re doing record sales in freezers!” Kressler says. It’s indeed a growing market, with expansive refrigerators fast becoming the centrepieces of luxury kitchens, echoes Eglington. “We now have our new refrigeration and freezer Monolith Wine Columns by Liebherr. These things ohba.ca
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Product Focus EMERGING TRENDS
FROM NKBA’S LIVING IMPACTS DESIGN KITCHEN Larger kitchen islands — multifunctional for meal prep, dining, work-from-home
Smeg appliances are famed for splashes of colour, but a new collaboration with Dolce & Gabbana includes a more elegant blue & white range.
Open floor plan with fewer walls, allowing increased visibility and broader sightlines to other rooms, entertainment, media, nature/outdoors Increased number of charging outlets Landing counters for groceries and food delivery Larger sinks and refrigerators to wash and store fresh produce Commercial finishes and fabrics for easy cleaning and durability
The Kompakt Kitchen and the Bradshaw Lofts in Stratford (below) are models of stylish efficiency.
Recycling and composting stations
BATH arge-format tile, thinner L grout lines for easier cleaning ompartmentalized storage C with integrated outlets (hairdryer, razor, toothbrush, phone) Self-cleaning toilets arger, zero-clearance showers L with integrated seating and decorative grab bars
are monstrous—84” tall and up to 36” wide fridge and freezer, with an 18” or 24” wine column in the middle—so you have a really impressive display. If you have the space for it, it looks awesome.” Eglington is also high on the ultraquiet Liebherr technology. “They changed the way refrigeration works altogether—essentially a reverseconvection cooling system, where all the air is taken from inside the fridge, which 58
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means it doesn’t need to work as hard to cool it down,” he notes. “And it maintains moisture levels, has a maximum cavity and beautiful lighting and adjustable shelves—and an amazing price of $15,000 for a pair of refrigerators/ freezers. If people can fit it in their home, they’re immediately taken by it.” The luxurious complement to the movement toward sleek walls of refrigeration is the splash of colour
Heated flooring Wifi connectivity oice activation for shower, V lighting, entertainment arger windows for increased L natural lighting se of natural materials U including bamboo, stone, live plants
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Product Focus
NKBA DESIGN THEME BASED ON LIFE STAGE MILLENNIALS / NO KIDS KITCHEN: Health-conscious, connection with nature Mirolin’s new Nuan tub is offered in two sizes, allowing room to share.
offered by Smeg, says Eglington. “It’s surprisingly been a huge area of growth for us during the pandemic, since it’s so easy for people to shop for these items at home. We have standard pastels, chrome, gold, rose gold. And everyone is going gaga over Smeg’s colourful new Portofino cooking platform—the detailing, nice trim, beautiful curves. They also have a brand new Dolce & Gabbana collaboration. Instead of the bright orange and teal colours, it’s whitebased with French blue. Very elegant.” With homeowners increasingly enjoying their own property, backyard entertaining has also prospered. “We’re seeing people expanding backyards with outdoor kitchens—a lot more built-in systems, with nice stonework around it. We can completely furnish with fridges, sinks, etc.,” says Kressler, whose parent company manufactures Broil King Barbecues. Smart-home appliances are heating up here as well, Kressler notes. “I can look on my phone and see what temperature my brisket’s at.”
BATHROOM SANCTUARIES A more private indulgence has taken hold in the bathroom. For those seeking to literally immerse themselves in luxury, Mirolin Industries, now under the Masco Canada umbrella, has launched seven new styles of freestanding tubs. “Traditional to modern, they really add drama and a focal point,” says Vince Cramarossa, Ontario Regional Trade 60
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Sales Manager of Masco Canada. Among the new models, Mirolin’s Nuan features a sloped back support, with two size options providing a choice of solo comfort or extra space to share with a partner. Mirolin’s contemporary Mistaya, meanwhile, is highlighted by distinctive curves and rounded edges to give a bathroom a warm and abundant look. And a depth just shy of 24” means luxurious immersion and full shoulder support. Delta’s Portage Bath Collection (an exclusive Canadian product line) balances strong, poised footings and fluid lines to bring a sense of contemporary elegance to the bath. Offering quality construction at an attractive price, its full suite includes a single-handle bathroom sink faucet, a two-handle widespread sink faucet, a three-hole roman tub faucet with hand shower, as well as showers with H2Okinetic raincan showerheads. “Contemporary styling remains very popular, particularly in the condo market,” says Cramarossa. “Special finishes are continuing to build momentum. Matte Black was already a popular finish choice, but it’s growing even more. And goldtoned finishes like Delta’s Champagne Bronze are becoming a finish of choice for homeowners who want to add an on-trend element.” Also front of mind is safety, Cramarossa says. “With the impact of COVID-19, everyone is looking for ways to minimize touchpoints. With this new mindset, hands-free
MASTER BATH: Limited impact on the environment, outdoors feeling
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faucet solutions have picked up in our conversations with builders and designers. Delta’s Touch2O Technology for kitchen faucets has been a popular upgrade, adding the convenience of merely tapping the faucet on and off with your forearm or wrist. And the desire for hands-free lavatory faucets and soap dispensers with Delta’s Touch2O.xt Technology—which gives the choice of hands-free activation, touch or manual—is now a key consideration for new residential construction and home renos.” OHB ohba.ca
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Product Showcase
A WIDE SELECTION OF NATURAL STONE AND PRECAST CONCRETE PRODUCTS www.beavervalleystone.com
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Frame of Mind
AIR SUPPLY
It’s time to take a breath and examine our building materials WITH PUBLIC ATTENTION shifting to health issues, indoor air quality is drawing increasing focus, and that includes the noxious compounds emitted from building materials. For home builders seeking healthy materials, there’s often a tradeoff between constraining environmental aspects. Particle board, for example, made mostly from sawdust, is attractive because it reduces the need for solid sawn lumber. The binders used in its manufacture, however, are toxic. The exercise becomes one of finding the right balance between replacement needs and toxic emissions. But the process is complicated because there are no simple rules. There is also a common misconception that natural is better. Compounds like arsenic, lead, formaldehyde and asbestos are naturally occurring substances, yet are much more toxic than many synthetic substitutes. Further, natural materials are usually susceptible to quick degradation, and require treatment and/or protection with compounds that may emit toxic substances. Emissions can be either wet or dry. Wet emissions are usually solvents, water-based primers, paints, sealants, adhesives, caulking and sealers. Dry emissions come from products that do not involve an on-site wet process but 62
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emit harmful substances, nonetheless. This is most noticeable when the product was packaged soon after its manufacture, which did not leave the volatile substances enough time to evaporate. The most familiar scents are that of a new car or new carpet. Building surfaces may also emit substances and particles they have absorbed from the surrounding air. So what’s a builder to do? Consider the 18th Avenue South home in Seattle, Washington. Designed by Dwell Development, the building has a total floor area of 1,684 sq. ft. on three floors. This urban infill development consists of four detached single-family homes constructed with an emphasis on resource conservation, energy efficiency, sound material choices, community integration and a healthy indoor environment The high-performance building envelope insulated with EcoBatt ensures that a stable interior temperature is maintained while effectively preventing moisture and mould accumulation. Certified by Greenguard, EcoBatt is free of toxic chemicals and artificial colours and is highly resistant to microbial growth and insects. A whole-house radiant heating system provides superior thermal comfort and helps maintain a healthy indoor
air quality by avoiding the discomfort of allergen production often associated with forced-air systems. And strategically placed operable windows provide natural ventilation and updraft cooling throughout the house. While two units have no garages, the other two contain a small garage with a sealed exhaust fan to protect indoor air quality. The interior finishes were carefully chosen to ensure a long-lasting healthy indoor environment. Wood flooring, ceramic tiles and sealed concrete offer better alternatives to carpeting by effectively safeguarding against allergens and mould growth. And to avoid harmful emissions, all cabinetry and trim were coated with formaldehyde-free products, while interior walls were finished with lowVOC paint. Some world events have short-term effects on how we conduct our affairs. It seems safe to say, however, that the recent pandemic will heighten attention to public and personal health, and the construction of homes will not be an exception. OHB
AVI FRIEDMAN IS AN ARCHITECT, PROFESSOR, AUTHOR AND SOCIAL OBSERVER. AVI.FRIEDMAN@MCGILL.CA
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ONTARIO "Well Trained. Highly Skilled Labour. Simply the Best, since 1903". When a community is built from the ground up, there is no labour force on the planet, better skilled to get the job done right the first time. LiUNA members and retirees made a commitment to their careers, which means a commitment to our communities. A commitment to build the BEST schools, airports, hospitals, office buildings, tunnels, power plants, roads, bridges, low rise and high rise housing in the country. When the work is done, LiUNA members and retirees continue to live, play and grow in their communities, with the guarantee of a pension that is also....simply the BEST!
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