News Archive

Awards honour association volunteers and achievers

Posted November 8, 2011 12:00 AM    

The Greater Vancouver Home Builders' Association (GVHBA) presented its annual Association Awards of Excellence at the Executive Plaza Hotel in Coquitlam on Wednesday, November 2.

"The awards honour association members for their exceptional level of volunteer commitment and dedication to enhancing the professionalism of the homebuilding and renovation industries in the Greater Vancouver area," said GVHBA President Peter Simpson.

Builder Member of the Year
Wallmark Homes, Burnaby

Corporate Member of the Year
FortisBC, Surrey

Association Marketing Award
Yosh Kasahara, ParkLane Homes/Bluetree Group of Companies, Vancouver

Technical Excellence Award
David Fisher, Mitsui Homes Canada Inc., Langley

RenoMark Renovator Member of the Year
Graeme Huguet, My House Design/Build Team Ltd., Surrey

Supplier Members of the Year
Dick’s Lumber & Building Supplies, Burnaby
Marketplace Events, Vancouver

Community Service Member of the Year
Valhalla Roofing Ltd., Aldergrove

Gary Santini Education & Training Awards
Wallmark Homes Ltd., Burnaby
Dick’s Lumber & Building Supplies, Burnaby

BuiltGreen Multi-Family Builder of the Year
Adera Development Corporation, Vancouver

BuiltGreen Single-Family Builder of the Year
Avant Contractors Inc., Whistler

Handshake Award (Builder)
ParkLane Homes Ltd., Vancouver

Handshake Award (Renovator)
CCI Renovations, North Vancouver

Hall of Fame Inductees
Chuck Marr
Milan Ilich
George Pinch

Chairman’s Award of Honour
Peter Simpson, Greater Vancouver Home Builders’ Association, Surrey

Rooftopper of the Year (Builder)
Troy Abromaitis, Wallmark Homes Ltd., Burnaby

Rooftopper of the Year (Renovator)
Todd Senft, reVISION Custom Home Renovations Inc., Vancouver

Rooftopper of the Year (Supplier)
Barb Rush, Wholesale Blind Factory, Coquitlam

Rooftopper of the Year (Corporate)
Dick’s Lumber & Building Suppliers, Burnaby

Greater Vancouver Home Builders' Association is comprised of 732 companies representing developers, builders, renovators, sub-trades, suppliers, manufacturers and other industry professionals.

HPO's New Building Enclosure Design Guide

Posted September 14, 2011 07:00 AM    

New Building Enclosure Design Guide for Wood-Frame Multi-Unit Residential Buildings

Available from the HPO's Online Store

A new publication designed to enhance the quality of residential construction in B.C. is now available from the Homeowner Protection Office (HPO).
The Building Enclosure Design Guide – Wood-Frame Multi-Unit Residential Buildings is the industry’s most widely accepted reference guide on building enclosures. It’s an invaluable resource for builders, designers, architects, engineers and educators in British Columbia and in other jurisdictions.

Endorsed by the Architectural Institute of British Columbia and the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of B.C., this comprehensive 290-page illustrated Guide:

• Outlines design and construction best practices
• Explores building enclosure performance issues and solutions
• Presents design guidelines for assemblies, details, components and materials
• Describes building enclosure systems and related code requirements
• Covers energy provisions for the building enclosure
• Addresses maintenance and renewal planning over the service life of the building enclosure
• Recommends other helpful references    

Visit the HPO website to learn more about the Guide or view sample pages.

Purchase a printed copy of the Guide for $70 CAD (plus taxes and shipping) from the HPO’s Online Store.
 

Member Valhalla Roofing steps up to the plate with new roof for youth safehouse

Posted August 11, 2011 12:00 AM    

Knowing the tight timeline and limited grant resources available, a call was made to the board of the Surrey Homelessness and Housing Society. Board member Peter Simpson, who is also President & CEO of the Greater Vancouver Home Builders' Association, reached out to his contacts. Valhalla Roofing responded and installed a new roof on the six-bed youth shelter.

See the full story here.

GVHBA Members lead BC with 10 nominations at Built Green BC Awards

Posted July 22, 2011 12:00 AM    

The Greater Vancouver Home Builders’ Association (GVHBA) is proud to announce GVHBA members earned the most finalist nominations in the Canadian Home Builders’ Association of British Columbia’s 2010 Built Green™ BC Awards. 

Leading the province with five finalist nominations including Built Green Builder of the Year is North Vancouver-based Naikoon Contracting Ltd.  Vancouver-based Adera Development Corporation, which was also named a finalist for Built Green BC Builder of the Year, received a total of two nominations.  CCI Renovations of North Vancouver and My House Design/Build Team Ltd. of Surrey each earned one nomination.
 
The Built Green™ BC Awards recognize the achievements of builders, developers, renovators and suppliers in British Columbia who focus on building and renovating residential homes with high environmental standards, according to the Built Green™ BC standards.

Winners will be announced at the Built Green™ BC Awards Ceremony on September 30, 2011 in Vancouver.
 

18th Annual Parade of Renovated Homes a Success!

Posted June 13, 2011 12:00 AM    

GVHBA's 18th annual Parade of Renovated Homes on Sunday, June 12 was a hit with the hundreds of people who toured 12 homes renovated by professional RenoMark renovators. Mother Nature co-operated, as the sun shined brightly all day. There was a steady stream of folks eager to view some of the best renovations in the Lower Mainland and perhaps incorporate some of the design and construction features in their own home transformations. Participating renovators and descriptions of their homes are posted here. The parade would not have been as successful as it was without the generous promotion in GVHBA-member publications -- Black Press regional newspapers, Vancouver Sun, Province, Real Estate Weekly, Metro Vancouver, Renovations magazine and Shell Busey's radio show on CKNW.

Residential Construction Industry Economic Impact

Posted May 17, 2011 12:00 AM by GVHBA    

Metro Vancouver Future of the Region dialogues on construction and demolition waste diversion

Posted May 2, 2011 12:00 AM by Peter Simpson, President and CEO    

I am pleased to participate here today in the beautiful Morris Wosk Centre for Dialogue. And kudos to Metro Vancouver and the Vancouver Board of Trade for hosting today’s dialogue.

When it comes to important issues such as waste management, we are all in it together – except the scoff-laws.

Frankly, Greater Vancouver Home Builders’ Association members are somewhat ahead of the curve. Nearly half of our 730 member companies are builders and/or renovators. Leaders in the residential construction industry, they have for some time been committed to waste reduction and diversion.

With 76 per cent diversion already achieved, our industry is exceeding Metro Vancouver’s target of 70 per cent diversion by 2015. Many of our members have adopted waste management practices associated with green labels such as LEED, BUILT GREEN and others.

The organization I represent and Metro Vancouver share the same vision for waste reduction. How we achieve this vision is where we might have differences of opinion.

We believe, for example, that the draft sample regulatory mechanism, as it is currently written, will be an increased burden on the construction industry, homeowners and municipalities.

It will also penalize those who choose to operate above-board and play by the rules.

It is tempting for homeowners to choose inexpensive and less onerous avenues. This year, in Metro Vancouver, 4.4 billion dollars will be spent on home renovation, improvement and repair. About the same amount Alex Burrows should get for scoring his overtime goal on Tuesday.

Seriously, and astonishingly, at least 30 per cent of those 4.4 billion dollars will be spent in the underground cash economy, where there are no written contracts, permits, inspections, WorkSafeBC compliance, liability insurance or tax remittances. In fact, no paper trail at all.

We fear introducing onerous waste-management regulation and associated fees will have the unintended consequence of exacerbating an already burgeoning underground cash economy.

Instead, we support a method that allows whoever applies for a demolition, renovation or building permit to make an agreement that their construction/demolition waste will be sent to an authorized licensed facility. This ensures the waste will be dealt with appropriately.

Because of constant contamination of sorting bins on-site from waste being dumped in them by other parties during off-hours, and the extra eight to ten hours a week staff were spending to sort waste, a number of our builder and renovator members have already moved to an offsite recycling model where a licensed facility sorts the waste. It seems to be working well for them.

This would avoid a significant amount of administration, paperwork, costs and confusion for homeowners, renovators, builders and municipalities.

It will take away any uncertainty about how much of a "recycling fee" the permit holder will receive back, eliminate any subjectivity as to who decides what percentage was recycled, and any possible disputes regarding what diversion rates were achieved.

Since the 1980s I have been involved with effective waste-management initiatives associated with new construction, renovation and deconstruction, and I am sure I will have an opportunity to expand on them during the interactive question phase of today’s dialogues.

Kermit the Frog said it’s not easy being green. Far be it for me to debate such a lovable character, but Kermit is wrong. It is easy being green.

We just need all stakeholders to work together to agree on responsible, efficient and cost-effective ways to deal with the waste issue without imposing unreasonable impediments on homeowners, industry and municipalities.

And, to make it all work, we need to ferret out and punish the scoff-laws who operate outside the rules.

Thank you.

 
Written and presented by Peter E. Simpson, President & CEO, GVHBA

HPO’s newest Builder Insight #8 Bulletin: Compatibility of Fasteners and Connectors with Residential Pressure Treated Wood

Posted April 6, 2011 12:00 AM by Renée Auer    

Builder Insight #8 Bulletin: Compatibility of Fasteners and Connectors with Residential Pressure Treated Wood Now Available

Builder Insight is a series of bulletins designed to provide practical information on new technologies, research results, good building practices and emerging technical issues in residential construction to Licensed Residentail Builders and others in the industry. Past Builder Insight bulletins can be viewed on the HPO website.

HPO launches Residential Construction Performance Guide online

Posted February 22, 2011 12:00 AM by Renée Auer    

The Residential Construction Performance Guide is an essential tool for owners of homes with policies of home warranty insurance and Licensed Residential Builders. It helps owners to determine when they should file a warranty insurance claim. The Guide also helps builders to meet or exceed the standard to which their homes will be measured in the event of a claim. The Guide is designed primarily for conventional low-rise, wood-frame homes.

This FREE searchable online Guide:

• Explains the minimum required performance of new homes under home warranty insurance
• Features more than 200 performance conditions
• Addresses possible defects in 15 major construction categories
• Covers the most common defect claims submitted under a home warranty insurance policy 
• Provides uniform criteria to help consumers self-evaluate possible defects

To review this guide, click here.