Canadian Contractor June 2012

Rooms with a

View Building ultra-modern

light-flooded homes page 16

BUILD | GROW | PROFIT

CONTRACTOR

CANADIAN

also:

Contracting as a

professional practice page 22

Health, safety

and your jobsite page 30

The wisdom

of wainscoting page 42

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CONTENTS

features B

BUILD

The wisdom of wainscoting

G

GROW

Being professional

P

42

22

PROFIT

Build your brand

27

Special Report

36

The Renovator Supply Chain

Working the buy side

Contractor Online

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Maxwell in Venice Cabinets in two weeks Cover Photo: Roger Yip

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Building ultra-modern light-flooded homes

16

CONTENTS

Rooms with a view

CONTENTS

distractions Editorial 08 Job site changes

Voices 08 Koci: Negotiation Hofstee: WSIB Caldwell: Accessibility markets VanderWal: Skilled trades Site Notes 14 Contractor troops Mandatory home audits What’d it cost winners

departments Creative Eye 16 Rooms with a view

G

Design Build 22 Practice makes profit

P Photo: Robert Lemermeyer

Contractor U 27 Building your brand

B Stuff We Like 42 Wainscoting for profit

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Mechanical Room 46 Really warm floors Products 45 Moen...Newport Brass...

Twin Maple Marketing...

Masterlock Win me!

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What’d it Cost? 50 Hidden closet door

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ONLINE

CANADIAN

ONLINE @

Head to the Web for more exclusive stories and videos…

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CONTRACTOR BUILD | GROW | PROFIT

More stories, more help, more information for renovation contractors than any other website VIDEO

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What can Cabinetsmith 2.0 do for your business?

Find out in our interview with Dan McArthur, president of CanSave at the CanSave Expo held in June.

FEATURES In an exclusive series, tools editor Steve Maxwell travels to Venice to tell us what renovations and contracting mean in that ancient city.

WEEKLY E-NEWSLETTER Don’t have time to surf the web every day? Subscribe to our free weekly e-newsletter and stay up to date on current trends, stories and expert opinions.

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CONTRACTOR.ca BUILD | GROW | PROFIT

Volume 13, Number 3 Print 3, Released June 2012 canadiancontractor.ca | Tel: 416 442 5600 | Fax: 416 510 5140 80 Valleybrook Drive, North York, ON, M3B 2S9 Canadian Contractor, established in 2000, is published 6 times a year by BIG Magazines LP, a division of Glacier BIG Holdings Company Ltd.

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Editor: Steve Payne spayne@canadiancontractor.ca Contributing Editor: Lori Smith lsmith@hardwaremagazine.ca Art Director: Mary Peligra Publisher: Stephen Dempsey sdempsey@bizinfogroup.ca Associate Publisher: Rob Koci rkoci@bizinfogroup.ca Production Manager: Barb Vowles vowlesb@bizinfogroup.ca Circulation Manager: Beata Olechnowicz bolechnowicz@bizinfogroup.ca

BIG Magazines LP Corinne Lynds, Editorial Director Tim Dimopoulos, Executive Publisher Alex Papanou, Vice-President of Canadian Publishing Bruce Creighton, President of Business Information Group Subscriber Services: To subscribe, renew your subscription or to change your address or information contact us at 416 442 5600 x3547 Subscription Rates: Canada $45.95 per year, Outside Canada $83.95US per year, Single Copy Canada $9.95.

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Contents of this publication are protected by copyright and must not me reprinted in whole or in part without permission of the publisher.

Publications Mail Agreement No. 40069240, ISSN 1498-8941 We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Periodical Fund (CPF) for our publishing activities.

Contributors: Steve Maxwell, Mike Draper, David Godkin, Steve Goldie, Jim VanderWal, Mark Hofstee, Alec Caldwell, Heidi Filici, Jim Barnes, Brynna Leslie, Tibor Kovacs

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DISTRACTIONS

Voices

WHAT MAKES YOU DIFFERENT

By Rob Koci

“

“

It is the process of negotiation that sets apart those in business from the rest.

Rob Koci

Associate Publisher

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Nothing tells the truth like negotiation. What I mean is, when you have to enter into a negotiation with someone – your customer, your boss, your employees, your subtrades, your spouse, your kids – you learn more about them during that process than at any other time.

I was in a negotiation recently that reminded me a lot of when I was renovating and negotiating with my customers on just about everything. I've known the person for some time, but it was the first time the relationship was tested by a serious negotiation.

What I learned about the person was generally positive or at least neutral. I have an ongoing relationship with them. Now I know a bit more, which will make the next negotiation just a little bit easier.

It is the process of negotiation that, I think, sets the self-employed contractor apart. You do a lot of it, and when you do it, the stakes are high. How you do it defines your character, your business style and, ultimately, your brand.

But much more importantly, it opens your eyes. It is a window on the world that no one else accesses in the same way. People who are employed all their lives by a corporation and are never required to literally negotiate for their daily bread can’t see reality in the privileged way you can.

When I stopped renovating, started writing and eventually ended up the editor of this magazine, I fell into that sweet comfort of not having to do much negotiating. My salary just landed in my bank account every two weeks. Now that I am moving over to the associate publisher role, I am back in the negotiating game, and all the memories of my renovating days are flooding back. It’s quite a revelation.

DISTRACTIONS

Voices

CHANGES ON OUR JOBSITE

By Steve Payne

First of all, a few words of re-introduction.

“

This magazine has been very outspoken about the industry it covers.

“

I’m the new editor of Canadian Contractor.

I say re-introduction because I was a staff member on this magazine for its first seven years.

In recent years, I’ve been freelancing all over the place, mostly within the home improvement industry. This business is well-served by some terrific publications.

Rob Koci, who was the editor since the magazine’s first issue, back in 2000, has been promoted to associate publisher, which means he’s less on the words and more on the business side of this publication. Which for him, might be a bit like getting off of the tools, as a contractor, and actually starting to manage a business from the top line to the bottom. If so, I’d trust him to get it right. He’s framed more houses than any other writer I know of in the business press. He’s had more coffee truck lunches. And he’s paid his dues on the jobsite.

As the new editor, I’m reviewing all the issues of Canadian Contractor that we’ve published since 2000. And I’ve been having a chuckle at some of the “tell it like it is” opinions that Mr. Koci and his contractor contributors have vented over the years. This magazine has been very outspoken about the hard facts of the industry it covers. At times we’ve variously annoyed government agencies, lumberyard chains, trade associations, and even our previous management and owners. And our contractor readers have loved it. We’ll keep on standing up for you.

Steve Payne Editor

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DISTRACTIONS

Jim VanderWal

“

“

To all the members of the carpenters’ union, your dues paid at least $50K for legal fees, you gained 10 members with less than three months experience, and above all gained no additional work.

Heading to skilled trade shortage Who’s fault is it?

Jim VanderWal

We have heard several times in the news and read in the newspapers that Canada will have a shortage of professional workers.

Our company has hired unemployed persons for 24 years and introduced them to the carpentry and drywall trades. Some now have impressive resumes, some work for large construction firms and some are supervisors or construction company owners.

In 2000, we completed an out-of-town project in Durham, northeast of Toronto. Three local men requested work. They said they had experience in cold-formed steel. We found out two weeks later these men were organizers for the union and one was the son of the union organizer for that area.

In 2010, we again found ourselves at 505 University Avenue [Toronto] fighting a losing and blatantly one-sided battle with the union and the Ontario Labour Relations Board. We were accused of unfair labour practice by the Carpenters Union because there

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would not be a majority vote. The Ontario Labour Relations Board, in all its wisdom, has forced us to use union carpenters to install all industrial, commercial and institutional (ICI) projects as of November 24th, 2011.

Our company can still hire nonunion carpenters for residential construction because there would be no unfair labour practice in the residential field.

We are no longer competitive in Ontario in the ICI construction market. We now request our past sub-trades to quote directly to the general contractors.

Canada may have a shortage of professional construction trade workers in a few years but the unemployment of non-trades persons and manufacture/line workers will be higher than ever.

All our manufacturing jobs are going to the USA, Mexico or China. CAT closing Electro-Motive Canada, its locomotive plant in London, Ontario, is a perfect example.

To all the members of the carpenters’ union, your dues paid at least $50K for legal fees, you gained 10 members with less than three months experience, and above all gained no additional work.

Jim VanderWal is president and CEO of VanderWal Homes & Commercial Group.

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DISTRACTIONS

Mark Hofstee

“

“

There were no red flags to warrant the audit.

Our number just came up. This is a privilege, I suppose, of being an established business.

Means to an end What colonoscopies and WSIB audits have in common

By Mark Hofstee

Recently, I reached a certain age, and with that age comes certain privileges.

During my most recent physical, my doctor looked me in the eye and told me it was time for a colonoscopy. It is one of the pleasures of getting older he told me with a sense of irony. The appointment was set and detailed instructions given.

For the uninitiated, a colonoscopy is a medical audit of the bowels. The focus of such an exam is to see if polyps exist and if they do, remove them for further study to determine if they are benign or cancerous. The test is completed with a tiny digital camera mounted on the end of a flexible probe carefully manipulated by a (hopefully) skilled physician.

If you have not had the pleasure of such an examination, know that the actual test is not really a big deal. The worst part of having a colonoscopy is the preparation. The day before the exam you drink some nasty liquids and hang around a toilet for a whole day. Next day, arrive at the hospital, disrobe, put your hospital robe on—backwards—and wait for your turn.

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You enter into an operating room that looks like the deck of the Enterprise and wait for Captain Kirk to “boldly go where no man has gone before.”

Recently our firm had an experience that was remarkably similar to having a colonoscopy. We were contacted by WSIB (Workplace Safety and Insurance Board); they wanted to audit our books.

There were no red flags to warrant the audit. Our number just came up. This is a privilege, I suppose, of being an established business.

The exam day was scheduled well in advance and we were given detailed instructions to gather two years’ worth of documentation on every labour payment we made. It is amazing how much information was printed, collated, stapled and neatly arranged in anticipation of the examination.

When the day finally arrived, we were ready. The WSIB sent one of their top “proctologists,” who set about probing. Polyps were discovered and we were assessed without further study of these polyps. We balked and were allowed to do our own tests. This testing determined that, indeed, we did owe the WSIB some money for a couple of minor sub-contracts. However, most of the polyps were benign.

In the end, both events, as disconcerting as they turned out to be, were, well, not the worst experiences I have had.

Mark Hofstee is co-owner of Rammik Construction Inc. in Guelph, Ontario.

He can be reached at mark@rammik.com

How do you get your share?

By Alec Caldwell

How can there be a market out there that’s untouched? I can tell you, it’s under our noses and many contractors don’t even realize it. I’ve decided to share this with you, because it’s a market that’s about to explode over the next 15 years.

Maybe you’d like to get on board?

It’s the accessibility market, and with baby boomers aging, it’s going ballistic. One in every four Canadians will be retiring and the majority will want to continue to stay in their own homes as they age and will need renovations to accommodate this. They’ve got the money with more made available through programs for the elderly and disabled.

If you want a share of this market, get the knowledge you need by taking courses like “Customer service for the disabled” certificate

“

One in every four Canadians will be retiring and the majority will want to continue to stay in their own homes…

“

The accessibility market’s booming

DISTRACTIONS

Alec Caldwell

course and the “Contractors Accessibility Training.”

It’s also about asking homeowner questions like: Do you intend to retire in your home here and if so, what changes are needed to accommodate this?

This type of question will make you stand out from the crowd and also show that you care.

Alec Caldwell is the founder of Canadian Association of Renovators and Home Services (CARAHS). He can be reached at alec@carahs.org. For more information on courses visit www.carahs.org.

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SITE NOTES

Paying for college Wanna give $84 million in tax over to the Ontario College of Trades? Maybe you should know what this new bureaucracy does first. “Our goal is to encourage more men and women to work in trades and give the industry a greater role in governance, certification and training,” says the College website.

And the first thing to get them started is to hand an invoice over to you for $84 million. The College is looking to impose an annual membership fee on all Ontario tradespeople, many who already pay for licenses and countless additional fees to the government.

"Ontario has struggled for years to attract people to the skilled trades. The College bureaucracy will only make it a lot harder to work in the trades in Ontario. This $84 million trades tax is a job killer and the reality is many people now in the trades will be forced to look for other work," says Karen Renkema, co-chair of the Ontario Construction Employers Coalition.

The Ontario Construction Employers Coalition employs over 80,000 people across the province.

As far as they’re concerned, the Ontario College of Trades has yet to demonstrate any contributions it might have made to the industry since its establishment in 2009.

Heidi Filici

The troops are among us Any day now, you might find yourself working on a jobsite alongside a Canadian Forces veteran who has recently returned from Afghanistan.

At least, that’s the goal of the Helmets to Hardhats program, a trades training program offered in partnership with Canada’s building trade unions.

Launched earlier this year, it is modeled on a similar program that has been running south of the border since 2003.

The program will provide members of the armed

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There are 85 trades in the Canadian military, about 15 per cent of which are compatible with the building trades. Here, combat engineers hammer in spikes to make a helicopter landing pad in Kandahar, Afghanistan.

forces, veterans and reservists with special access to training opportunities leading to possible careers in the construction industry.

Funding has been provided, in part, through Canada’s department of Veteran Affairs and by the provinces of Ontario and Alberta. Helmet to Hardhats executive director Gregory Matte expects the program to be in full swing by January 2013.

Rob Koci

Scaling back A recent Bank of Montreal (BMO) Home Renovation Report says, among other things, that: • Plans for home renovations in Canada are down by 11 percent.

• Kitchens still top the reno list.

• Painting provides returns of up to 300 percent while kitchen and bathroom renovations see returns of up to 120 percent.

"The scaled-back plans for home renovations likely reflect increased caution on the part of households as they continue to reduce discretionary spending to rein in debt," said Sal Guatieri, Senior Economist, BMO Capital Markets. "After averaging nine

SITE NOTES

percent in the past decade, consumer loan growth has slowed to almost two per cent recently, suggesting Canadians are taking recent debt warnings to heart."

The report was based in part on a survey done

by Leger Marketing. The survey was completed on-line from Thursday, March 19th, to Monday, March 22nd, 2011, using Leger Marketing's online panel, LegerWeb, with a sample of 1,000 Canadian homeowners.

Rob Koci

Last issue’s “What’d it Cost?”

Congratulations to the winners of the What’d it Cost contest in the Print 2 issue: Scott Manning, Robert Niesing and Ronald Wowk.

The actual cost of the Calgary home reno was $98,000.

Thanks to everyone who submitted an estimate. For this issue’s contest and a chance to win an Irwin level, turn to page 50.

Home Energy Audits to be mandatory?

In a recent open letter, Gord Miller, Environmental Commissioner for the Province of Ontario, makes the argument that homeowners should be required to supply energy audits for their homes when put up for sale. He says the “second bill” for homes—the cost of the energy to run the home—is becoming significant enough that it is only fair that potential buyers know from third party consultants exactly how big that bill be.

Says Miller in the letter: “An energy rating recognizes that high efficiency houses should be worth more. By contrast energy sieves should have a lower value because they mean high energy bills year-after-year. They should be worth less to reflect that ‘second bill’—the higher annual operating costs that the unfortunate owner will incur. An energy rating would alert buyers to this and let them factor this into their purchase decision.

It would also provide people with assurance that they could recover any investment in efficiency upgrades with a higher resale value when they sell.”

To which we reply, “Can’t anyone read a Hydro bill anymore?” To read the entire letter, go to wwww.canadiancontractor.ca then search “Do we need energy audits?”

Rob Koci

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THE CREATIVE EYE

with a view Building ultra-modern, light-flooded homes

WYKE HOUSE OKOTOKS, ALBERTA BERNIE NECKER MEADOW SAGE BUILDERS “This was a one-off project.

Yes, it’s unusual. It was designed by Jeremy Sturgess [a renowned architect who has helped transform downtown Calgary]. There were hardly two pieces of lumber that were cut the same size.

“That overhang you see there on the left, it’s supported by a steel structure – huge steel beams that cantilever into the house, anchored in a 3’ x 6’ x 6’ block of concrete.

“All the funny angles, there’s no magic in building them. You just work in one corner at a time. We didn’t need any laser levels, just used strings and measuring tapes.

“The complexity of the building wasn’t our biggest challenge. It was the shortage of subtrades. So we put our finish carpenter to work as a framer, which worked great.”

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THE CREATIVE EYE

Photos: Robert Lemermeyer

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THE CREATIVE EYE

OCEAN VIEW HOUSE BOWEN ISLAND, BRITISH COLUMBIA BRIAN BOYD & DANE MATHIESON BODA CONSTRUCTION Brian Boyd “This house has a northerly outlook over the ocean and I think the architect did a fantastic job in maximizing the light and view…

“It was designed and built on concrete pedestals to give a floating look, which proved quite costly as the floor framing system was very detailed with a difficult layout. “[Building with] off-square shapes consumes more time… but the real costs come into play with the high walls and varying sloping roofs.

“Clean, modern homes like this, with minimalist details, leave no room for error as the lines, reveals and details must be as close to perfect as possible.”

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THE CREATIVE EYE

Photos: Robert Lemermeyer

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THE CREATIVE EYE

SINGLE FAMILY HOME HAMILTON, ONTARIO PATTI & DAVID BECKETT Patti Beckett “The architect was Ken Coit. We wanted to make the most of our view of the city from the escarpment here (Hamilton Mountain). We built it five feet above grade, for that purpose.

“To maximize the view, we went with 50 feet of windows at the front, nine feet high. We’ve got triple-ply windows and it’s all well-insulated and the heating costs are very low.

“We went with a poured concrete floor with radiant heat, finished in black slate. We went through a lot, building it. We ran into bedrock when we excavated the basement.

“It’s obviously not a typical house.

It has lots of custom elements.

Structurally, it’s actually a typical wood frame house, with some laminated veneer lumber where needed.”

Photos: Roger Yip

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THE CREATIVE EYE

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DESIGN BUILD

Paul Gallop Men At Work General Contractors Ltd. Toronto

Practice makes perfect Operating as a professional practice can lower your costs, boost your satisfaction and give you happier clients

By Jim Barnes

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W

ho hasn’t had the rags-to-riches dream of starting out small and gradually growing a reno business to the point where you can swap it for a nice nest egg when you retire?

However, some contractors today are looking askance at that idea. There is a lot to be said for taking a more professional, consultative approach to the business – operating it as a practice, like a doctor or lawyer, instead of frantically chasing a more traditional ”business” model.

A case in point is Paul Gallop, owner of Men At Work General

DESIGN BUILD

Contractors Ltd., Toronto, who was recently named Renovator of the Year by the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD).

The award cited in particular his professionalism and high levels of client satisfaction.

Photo: Arnal Photography

Mobility and freedom Like many others, Gallop took a roundabout route into the business. He started out as a rock-and-roll musician, performing in a band called Buxx in the 1970s and 1980s. He then took a job as a television editor at the CBC. He found it rewarding, but missed the mobility and freedom of being a travelling musician.

At about that time he bought his first house – an old row house that needed a lot of work. He became an enthusiastic and expert do-ityourselfer, taking on all sorts of jobs including underpinning the foundations. “I realized that I was really enjoying it. I walked in, quit my job with the CBC and started work as a renovator in 1989,” says Gallop.

He started out by himself, doing small renos like kitchens and bathrooms, mainly in his neighbourhood in the west end of Toronto. “As referrals grew, we took work wherever it came,” he says.

Business took off in the mid-1990s when he became an authorized contractor in a Consumers Gas program selling kitchens, bathrooms and basements. He partnered with another contractor to become the biggest participant in the program.

“At the peak of the program, we would get about 25 to 30 leads a day.

We had a dozen people out on the road pursuing the leads and had something like 50 projects going simultaneously,” says Gallop. He describes “the quest for that kind of big, profitable business — and ultimately, the failure of it,” as an exciting time and a valuable education.

Consumers Gas ended the program about two-and-a-half years after it started. From Gallop’s point of view, there were problems with finances, logistics, the clientele the program had attracted and his partner. After he got back up and dusted himself off, he was tempted to start trying to build a large business again, but the challenges were daunting.

Reno pro Administration was the first concern.

“How do you develop the control and training systems to coach all the people you need? It’s very difficult and very costly. And you need the personality to make it all happen,” says Gallop. “There are certainly examples of companies who have done it, but they didn’t do it overnight and they didn’t do it without a tremendous investment.”

“It just wasn’t in my DNA to make all those things happen. I started to question whether it was really a worthy objective,” he says. “All I had to do was change my perspective.

Rather than try to make the business a sellable entity, it was better to establish a strong, efficient, well-regarded canadiancontractor.ca

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Practice makes perfec DESIGN BUILD

practice as a home-renovation professional.”

He scaled back. Since 1998, he has done all the sales and most of the project management himself. “At the moment, the model is me, my assistant and a network of subcontractors that we have strong relationships with.”

The firm is usually working on four to six projects at a time, ranging in value from about $50,000 to $700,000. “The average would be a $200,000 or $300,000 major reno – an addition project or a basement lowering,” says Gallop. At the peak, they were doing about $4 million a year.

Now, they are in the $1.5 to $1.8 million range.

“Now, I make a healthy, sixfigure income out of this lean machine. At the peak, when we were doing all that business, I was lucky to be taking home $15,000 a year.” His plan is to work the current model for ten more years and then retire.

Non-compete Part of Gallop’s strategy is to avoid competing on price. “That isn’t to say that we can charge whatever we want – we can’t.

We are constantly bumping up against price and it is an ongoing and frustrating aspect of what we do,” says Gallop.

“When we try to make a sale, we don’t try to sell the project.

We are trying to sell design

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and our expertise in helping the customer define the project, while identifying a realistic budget for the project at an early stage. Once they accept that, our cost – relatively speaking – appears to be a very reasonable and justifiable expense in the total cost of the project.”

“I make it clear to them what my personal compensation is going to be. So, the sale is convincing them that they are getting their money’s worth,” he says.

Gallop objects to the belief that consumers need to get three quotes before selecting a contractor. “I don’t recommend that. If I am going to compete against anybody, I want to compete against a qualified Renomark renovator – against someone who is sensible enough to understand what the true costs of being in business are, who is committed to being a pro, putting in the effort and spending the money to stay in business.”

However, “I don’t want to compete! I want to be chosen early in the process where it’s recognized that I am adding value as a consultant who can help them make the most of their budget,” notes Gallop.

Calmer clients He takes a laid-back approach to sales. “Step one is, ‘Let us be your guide, help you figure out what you want and what it

is going to cost,’” says Gallop.

“Step two – and you don’t have to take this step if you don’t want to – is to move forward with us on construction.”

This relaxed, low-pressure sales technique seems to be comforting for people. “For many, it’s an expensive, scary and exhausting process to be marching into a project for maybe several hundred thousand dollars,” says Gallop.

He prefers customers who do not have designs yet. “We have the best chance of the customer feeling the greatest sense of value if we are in the process from the beginning. We can also minimize the conversation revolving around competitive pricing,” says Gallop. “When a customer is sending out drawings that are already pretty finely tuned, they are most likely just shopping for the best price.”

If a contractor presents himself to his customers as a professional, like a doctor or lawyer, there will be better relationships, more collaboration and less focus on price, he says. “The whole spirit of the conversation with clients shifts completely.”

Repeat business Gallop’s attitude toward customer service shows his professional leanings.

In the early days, mistakes were sometimes made and

rfect Practice makes pe DESIGN BUILD

Gallop would find himself making good on a warranty.

When you are just starting out and don’t have much money that can be painful.

“But it was extraordinary how quickly there were dividends paid,” says Gallop. Early on, he was putting together a newspaper ad at a cost of several thousand dollars.

Coincidentally, he found himself paying a warranty claim for several thousand dollars. It was interesting to compare the effects of the two in drawing new business. The quantity and quality of business he got from referrals after reaching into his pocket and satisfying the customer with the warranty claim was astonishing.

“Now, I almost embrace a warranty problem. I take the attitude that it is my marketing money. When there is a problem, I’m going to show up like Superman. I'm going to make it clear that it is not an easy thing for me to do and that it is costing me money, but I am going to do it willingly and with enthusiasm. Every single time, it pays dividends.”

More than 80 percent of the business now comes from past customers and referrals. “It is interesting how taking extragood care of people can lead to a strong foundation,” he says. “If I look at the 30 or 40 jobs we have done in the past couple of years,

one customer might have been indirectly responsible for a third of those projects, through referrals.”

One of Gallop’s most powerful tools for building relationships with customers is an online project management system supplied by a third party, Co-construct. It acts as the hub for documentation and communication for each of his projects. Clients have direct access to it. Documents, contracts, drawings, quotes, photos and so on are all available there. The customer can also upload his own documents. In addition, the system sends out alerts and updates to the participants in the project.

“Our experience is that jobs always take longer than expected, usually because customers didn’t make decisions that needed to be made or changed their minds about things. If we don’t set deadlines or milestones for them, explain what the decisions we need are and when we need them, they don’t know.” Customers can see all the actions they need to take on the site, together with a considerable array of supporting tools, documentation and information to help them make a decision.

Solving problems It is difficult acquiring all

the skills to be a renovation renaissance man. “One of our biggest challenges now is accounting – keeping track of how much projects are costing, because a certain amount of the work we do is on a costplus or allowance basis. We do not necessarily have a preestablished fixed price for all aspects of the project.

We need to let customers know, as regularly and accurately as possible, what is being spent and how much the goalposts have shifted. It’s a very difficult thing to do, yet it’s critically important to avoid conflict and maintain trust.”

The professional approach is working for Gallop. It is more manageable and his stress levels are lower.

It may not be the route for everyone, though. Other contractors, with other personalities and motivations, might very well want to focus on building big businesses. It is a question of “know thyself.”

“I am in my early 50s, now,” Gallop points out. “If I were to start again as a younger contractor getting into this with more business training early in my career, I might have a very different view of it.” cc Jim Barnes is a Toronto-based writer with 30 years of experience in business journalism.

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CONTRACTOR U

Build Your Brand

three steps to marketing your business effectively

O

ne of the biggest challenges facing the renovation industry in Canada is the lack of a common trusted “brand.” Ask a hundred different homeowners in a hundred different neighbourhoods who the most recognizable renovation contractor is and you’ll get a hundred different answers. So, as an individual contractor you’re competing against every other contractor for homeowners’ mindshare.

Properly branding and marketing your business will give you a distinct advantage in the marketplace.

Building an effective plan to promote your business is a daunting task. Here are three major steps to get you started.

1.

Know your target client Knowing your target client is key to your marketing efforts. Every decision should be made with that client in mind. You can begin to define your target client by deciding what geographical area you would prefer to

By Mike Draper

work in. This could be based on your office or home location, the age of the homes in the area, the type of work that you want to do or the area in which you are best known.

Next, you should consider the types of clients that could potentially suit the work that you do. For example, if you love to do basements, then you might be looking for clients who have young kids and unfinished basements – they need the extra space for the kids to play, entertain their friends, watch TV, play video games, setup their larger toys, etc. Another type of basement client might be a couple with aging parents.

They need a space that pairs proximity with privacy.

Even though you’re finishing the same space – the basement – you would have to develop different marketing efforts to reach these two, distinctly different client groups. It’s critical that when you develop your marketing plan you separate the construction from the client’s need. canadiancontractor.ca

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CONTRACTOR U

2.

Target your market To figure out where to target your marketing efforts, ask yourself the following questions: • Where would I find my target client? At the golf club? At the nursing home visiting their parents? Running back and forth from a daycare or school?

• When they are not speaking with me, who are they talking to?

Once you have the answers to these questions, you’ll know where to focus your marketing initiatives for that target client. Think of it like this: If your target client is a family who needs to renovate their basement to make room for their growing family, then you need to be marketing to their lifestyle. Since daycare or school is somewhere they frequent and it is important to their stage of life, participating in school-related events and school fundraisers would be a good use of your marketing resources.

3.

Build your brand The most important thing to understand about branding is that it’s not about getting your target client to choose you over another contractor. It’s about getting him or her to view you as the only one who can provide the renovation of his or her dreams.

In order to succeed in branding, you must understand the needs, wants and dreams of the homeowner.

People buy from a brand because they trust it. There are many examples where people continue to buy a brand knowing the products they offer are not necessarily the best. In some cases, people buy things that might not even be healthy for them. Why do they buy from them? Because no matter where they buy it, they know exactly what they are getting and they know the company will stand behind their product.

Homeowners who want to do a renovation are no different. The main problem in contracting is that there is no national renovation brand. So people ask their friends at dinner parties, look at lawn signs, notice

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names on trucks, etc. How many times have you received a call or had a neighbor drop in while you were working on a home and ask you if you could help them with something? The fact is that the trust they have in their neighbor is now being transferred to you.

This is a great example of a passive transfer of trust.

However, since it is passive it means that you did nothing to make it happen. Branding plays a very active role in transferring that trust from one homeowner to the other.

You do this by marketing your brand at every point of contact with a homeowner and while at a the job site. For example, having branded trucks in the driveway/on the streets and the job site sign prominently displayed on the lawn in full view of all people passing by is critical to building your brand. Far too often a beautiful sign is placed in a great spot on the lawn only to be blocked by a big white van with no branding on it. That’s a waste. Not only is the lawn sign blocked from view during the day when there is a lot of traffic, but the sign is blocked by a vehicle that is not displaying your company name or, even worse, has someone else’s brand on it.

The more on-site workers that wear your branded clothing the better. Every time a worker walks onto your job site without a uniform you have missed an opportunity to promote your company. Getting trades to wear your brand might be tough at first. One suggestion might be to make it a mandatory requirement for those working with you. You may even have to provide the shirts, but the exposure you’ll be getting will be well worth it. Plus, it will make your company look far bigger than it might actually be.

Your brand resides within the minds of homeowners.

It is their experiences and perceptions of your company (some of which you can influence and some you cannot) that build up your brand. So make sure your company is always making a positive impression. cc Mike Draper is a business coach for Renovantage and a frequent contributor to Canadian Contractor. www.renovantage.ca

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Health & Safety

E C

2012

I

Use your common sense and follow these five ways to site safety and compliance

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By Brynna Leslie

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he phrase “safety is everyone’s number one concern” has become a cliché. But worksite safety should never be considered an afterthought to your business. More than just compliance, safety should be top of mind to ensure the health of you, your employees, and your clients.

Making safety a top priority means you also don’t have to spend time hopelessly navigating your way through the complex and varying provincial and federal legislation on the subject. Chances are, if you use common sense and do your due diligence to

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make sure you, your employees, sub-contractors and clients are protected, you’re already compliant with provincial, territorial and federal occupational health and safety laws.

Regardless of whether you’re a sole proprietor, a family business, or a medium-to-large-sized corporation, you have a responsibility to abide by at least some of the laws.

What laws?

As with most things in Canada, it starts at the federal

HEALTH & SAFETY

level. Part II of the Canadian Labour Code lays out mandatory requirements for workplaces across the country, regardless of the type or size of business.

It’s within this mammoth document that – should you be inclined to read it – you’ll find laws that tell you head protection is mandatory where there is a risk of head injury, outline the proper labelling of controlled substances (chemicals), and explain that Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System (WHMIS) training is mandatory where employees may come into contact with controlled substances.

The code also establishes legal requirements for protecting employers, employees and passersby from dangers that might arise from things like excavation, scaffolding, electrical work, and ladder use.

The Canadian Labour Code is essentially hundreds of itemized pages of common sense. If you consider safety in every situation – in other words, put guardrails up if you’re several feet above the ground, or wear steel-toed boots if you think you may drop a hammer on your toe at some point – you don’t have to concern yourself with each and every law.

It’s at the provincial and territorial level where safety laws are actually administered and enforced. Most provinces have what’s called The Occupational Health and Safety Act. The equivalent in British Columbia is the Workers Compensation Act. Manitoba has the Workplace Safety and Health Act. The Northwest Territories and Nunavut have joint legislation called, quite simply, the Safety Act. Specific safety regulations vary from region to region. Some are prescriptive – they explain precisely what must be done in order to be safe – but most laws state, more generically, that employers are responsible for demonstrating “due

diligence” and providing safe work conditions.

“Due diligence is a moving target,” explains Jim Leblanc, director of occupational health and safety for the Department of Labour and Advanced Education in Nova Scotia. “It’s based on what you know and knowledge you should reasonably acquire as an employer.”

TOP FIVE WAYS TO BE SAFE AND COMPLIANT 1. KNOW WHO’S LIABLE You are. If you own a business, you are liable to be safe. Awareness is the number one issue, and that starts with understanding that the laws apply to everybody.

Put simply, if you have employees – even subcontractors – you have a responsibility to ensure their safety and your own. Things may seem a bit murky if you are a sole proprietor who works alone, or sometimes works for other people, or if you’re an individual contractor who partners with others or hires sub-contractors to help you on jobs.

It’s best to think of it as a hierarchy. Nine times out of ten, if you are the one planning and implementing most of the job, you are ultimately liable for the safety of anyone who comes on your work site. If you hire a tradesperson, even another independent business owner, you’re still responsible for their safety and the safety of the site. And if you’re a tradesperson – an independent business-owner – working for someone else, you’re liable for your safety and that of the people working around you.

Exactly how liable you are for another worker’s safety depends largely on the nature of the relationship.

“In Nova Scotia, we have a concept called a

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dependent contractor,” explains Leblanc. “If I’m a contractor and I hire a trade who only ever works for me, and relies on me for his entire annual income, even if the trade is organized as a separate entity, the law will treat him more like an employee.”

But what happens if you’re doing a job completely on your own and you get injured on the job? You could be putting your client at risk.

“The laws state that the contractor, which could be the employer, property manager, owner of the property, or a general contractor, is obligated to provide a safe work environment,” says Gerry Culina, manager of general health and safety services for the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS). “One of the problems we often run into is defining who is the contractor.

In the case where I’m a homeowner and I hire a subcontractor who falls off my roof, I’m responsible.”

And frankly, that’s just bad for business.

R E P O

2. FORMALIZE SAFETY POLICIES AND PROCEDURES Depending on the size of your company, the Canadian Labour Code requires you to have a formal set of health and safety policies and procedures and an Internal Responsibility System (IRS) in place. Companies with five to 19 employees must appoint an in-house safety officer, who is responsible for maintaining health and safety policies and records, responding to complaints,

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monitoring and managing safety issues, and participating in investigations. Companies with 20 or more employees must establish a health and safety committee to take on these responsibilities.

There are variances among provinces on what, precisely, goes into these policies.

In Nova Scotia, for example, the law doesn’t stipulate everything that goes into the policy, but it does insist that companies with at least five employees have a document that demonstrates the employer’s commitment to occupational health and safety; a commitment to cooperation with employees to pursuing health and safety; and enunciates the responsibility of the employer, supervisors and employees in meeting those commitments.

“It doesn’t have to be created from scratch,” says Jim Leblanc, director of Occupational Health and Safety for Labour for the Province of Nova Scotia.

“There are a lot of user-friendly guidelines and draft policies on our website.”

Don’t make the mistake of thinking the policies are a one-time project. Most provinces require that policies be updated annually at a minimum.

Ontario has an additional requirement that you re-examine your business’s policies whenever your business changes.

“Anytime there’s a change to operating circumstances, the policy must be revisited,” explains Mike Chappell, head of Construction, Health and Safety at Ontario’s Ministry of Labour.

“If you created the policy in your first year out when you just had one or two jobs where you were on site, and you now find yourself doing multiple jobs where you are unavailable to supervise, you need to ensure the policy is altered to reflect that change in operations.”

HEALTH & SAFETY

3. CREATE A SAFE JOB SITE The Canadian Labour Code stipulates minimum safety requirements for employers across the country, regardless of the sector they work in or the nature of their work. It’s within the Labour Code’s Occupational Health and Safety Regulations that you’ll discover specific laws around elevation and temporary structures, like when and how to use a ladder (e.g. an employee has to use one if he or she is 450 millimetres off the ground), proper ventilation and lighting, and procedures to avoid slip and fall incidents.

While provinces vary in how much of this has to be assessed up front, in Alberta it’s mandatory under the law that every employer conduct formal hazard assessments of job sites before work begins. This requires the contractor to think the project through from beginning to end, thoroughly examining and recording potential trip and fall hazards, height restrictions, identifying times during the project where the work of trades may conflict or cause risk to others, and putting in place all necessary measures to ensure those risks are accounted for and mitigated.

“Very often, if there’s an incident, one of the first things our officers would look for during an investigation is a record of the hazard assessment,” says Barrie Harrison, spokesperson for Alberta Occupational Health and Safety. “If no hazard assessment was conducted, it can go a long way toward potential charges and eventual fines for the employer, which may have otherwise been completely unnecessary.”

Not all provinces and territories legally require employers to conduct a hazard assessment, but having a pre-assessment filed away can protect you, the employer, in the long run.

“Our law is not as formalized as Alberta, but there is an underlying indication that it’s part of an employer’s due diligence to make sure he has

properly assessed a situation and that controls have been put in place to prevent injury,” explains Don Schouten, construction manager at WorkSafeBC. Employers who have demonstrated this due diligence are much better protected if there’s an infraction and subsequent investigation.

In the case where an employee has been provided with fall protection equipment and training and has chosen not to use it, for example, it may be the employee, not the diligent employer, who is fined or ordered to stop work as a result.

4. HAVE THE RIGHT PEOPLE AND TRAINING FOR THE JOB If you want to ensure safe practices, spend the time and money to train your employees. If there is ever a safety-related accident, you will find yourself in hot water if you or your employees are found to be unqualified for the job. Certain minimum requirements, such as fall protection training and WHMIS, are required for most workers in the construction sector, just by virtue of the work they do. Training doesn’t have to cost a lot, and many courses are available online through provincial ministries of labour, local industry associations or the CCOHS. But even if it’s just new tools, setting up a ladder or using a particular substance, it’s up to you to demonstrate due diligence toward employee training.

“As an employer to a new employee or subcontractor, you have to ask enough questions to make sure they’re qualified for the job,” says Leblanc in Nova Scotia. “If you go out and hire a well-trained, established contractor who has a relationship with you, you’re much better off than if you hire someone walking off the street who’s offered to shingle a roof for you.”

Under most provincial and territorial laws, if you have more than five people working on a job

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site, you have to have a knowledgeable and skilled supervisor on site at all times. The supervisor can also be a worker, but it has to be established who that person is, and there should be some record of why he or she was chosen to oversee the project.

Beware of organizations that insist you require unnecessary certifications, or that you have to fork out a lot of money or time to get the proper training.

It’s best to consult with your local provincial authority – such as WorkSafeBC or the Ontario Ministry of Labour – to find out what type of training is actually required.

CANADIAN LABOUR CODE CHEAT SHEET Employers • Have the responsibility to provide a safe work environment for employees • Must appoint a health and safety officer in workplaces with five or more employees • Must appoint a health and safety committee in workplaces with more than 20 employees • Have a responsibility to create, maintain and update Occupational Health and Safety Policies and Procedures and Internal Responsibility Systems • Must report any incidents and cooperate in any subsequent investigations

I A L R E P O R T 34

5. BE EQUIPPED AND PROTECTED AT ALL TIMES There’s really no point in training your employees on fall protection if they opt out of using the equipment when it’s needed.

Barrie Harrison says he's seen roofers working without safety gear. “They think the laws don’t apply to them, or they find fall protection gear gets in their way. They’ll wear the equipment for the illusion of having it on, so if someone passes by on the street, it looks like they’re in compliance, but that doesn’t do much good if you actually fall.”

Alberta only recently lifted a two-year exemption on roofers to have proper fall protection equipment in place. Harrison recalls a death earlier this year in the province where a roofer was wearing full fall protection equipment, but incorrectly. “The rope was too long,” says Harrison. “People have to get this idea out of their heads that they don’t need the equipment, or that they don’t need it all the time.”

In the same vein, having tools that are up-to-code and in good working condition is the responsibility of the employer, regardless of where you live. cc

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Temporary structures • Employees need to be properly trained to install and use temporary structures • Temporary stairs need to be uniform, have a handrail between 900 – 1100 mm above the steps, and have a slope that doesn’t exceed 1.2 in 1 • Temporary ramps need to be securely fastened and braced, and have cleats to provide a non-slip surface • Scaffolding must be installed or overseen by a trained individual, be capable of carrying four times the applicable load, and have a platform at least 480 mm wide.

• Ladders must be used if an employee is going to be 450 mm above the ground and must be placed on firm footing. In addition, don’t use the top three rungs or steps; and don’t use a metal or wirebound ladder if there’s a risk of coming into contact with electricity • Safety nets should be used if there is a risk that something could fall from the structure onto someone’s head.

Excavations • All pipes, conduits and cables need to be identified beforehand • A highly visible barricade must be installed around the excavation site • Shoring needs to be put in place for excavations deeper than 1.4 metres or with a slope of more than 45 degrees • Tools, machinery, timber and excavated materials must be at least one metre from the hole For complete information go to http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/L-2/

YOU CHOSE TREX.® NOT “JUST AS GOOD AS TREX.” AND THAT MADE ALL THE DIFFERENCE. LIFE DECKING RAILING LIGHTING STEEL FRAMING FURNITURE PERGOLA DESIGN TREXPARTNERS.COM

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e h t g n i k r Wo

Buy Side

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With a little legwork and a sound knowledge of the supply chain, you can lower costs and add to your business’s bottom line

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By David Godkin

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kay, you do a bang-up job selling your clients on comfort, safety and a great warranty on a quality end product. You’re easily selected over the legions of low cost reno providers out there, justifying the 40 percent profit margin you constantly work toward. But that’s the marketing side of the business. What about the back end, the buy side where lowering costs also contributes to the bottom line? What influence can a contractor have on that end of the business?

Contractors are increasingly finding new ways to answer that question, doing their own research into new products or finding new suppliers who are tapped into the latest in electronic “smart catalogues” and other innovations along the supply chain. But for Dave Litwiller it begins with the people closest to him on the job, his sub-trades.

“Don’t care where they source their products?” asks the owner of Litwiller Developments in Calgary. “You should.” Witness one installer who

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got a great price point on good quality extruded aluminum railings from a historically suspect source. “He just got back from China yesterday where he’s buying wonderful product. Over the last five or 10 years when I buy stuff made in China the parts actually fit and the screws are all there, whereas 25 years ago it was all garbage. Does that help lower costs? Absolutely.”

Litwiller says his core sub-trades – plumbing, electrical, roofing, etc. – have been with him for 20 years precisely because they are mindful of costs. But for Steve Barkhouse, owner of Ottawabased Amstead Construction, product cost is not the sole criteria. “If you save 20 bucks on a toilet but it doesn’t arrive for three days and is chipped” then you’re out the 20 dollars, he says. Like Dave Litwiller, Barkhouse subjects his suppliers to an annual review. “So if it’s a plumbing supplier and the toilet arrives late, we collect that information, create a file and that’s what we talk to them about

SPECIAL REPORT

in our annual review.” Too many strikes against the supplier and they’re gone, he explains.

Want to know if your supplier is really doing all it can to source great products and keep costs low? Talk to the end user, advises Barkhouse.

He says his company calls every client and questions them about their experience with the suppliers and the condition the product arrived in.

Barkhouse also points out that while most suppliers don’t take it on themselves to lower product costs, he is noticing increased product knowledge among supplier reps, which in turn can lead to better product and lower costs. “My message to the guys who don’t see value in better informed reps is that we do and that’s who we’re buying from,” he says.

Doing the legwork, getting what you want Richard Fearn is pretty blunt. The reno industry is a commoditized industry in which all contractors are buying from the same pool, says the owner of Fab-Form

to do and it doesn’t show to the end customer, they’ll never do it even though it makes a better house.”

Scott Sedam hears comments like this a lot but says Fearn couldn’t be more wrong. Product innovation and lower costs are easily had if the contractor does a little legwork, says the president of TrueNorth Development, a building industry consultant in the United States. He cites the example of an Alberta flooring contractor who found a smaller mill anxious to get established that provided a quality wood product at a 20 percent cost reduction. “That’s a huge reduction. He didn’t have to give up any margin,” Sedam says, adding that he’s “constantly amazed” at the variety of new and alternative products he discovers at builders shows.

Another example is concrete. There are “hundreds of mix designs” out there, says Mike Szep, owner of ready-mix contractor and supplier Yard-At-A-Time Concrete in Delta, British Columbia. “Every year I attend the World of Concrete in Las Vegas and attend seminars and follow the trend of what’s new and up-and-coming. We’re always on top of what’s emerging,” Szep thinks contractors should be too.

Industries in Surrey, British Columbia. Suppliers, such as lumberyards, “are not in the business to provide information. They’re not in the business to suggest improvements.

They’re in the pure order fulfillment business.”

It’s a surprising comment from the head of a company that develops and manufactures an alternative to plywood formwork. But with profit margins so low, says Fearn, suppliers can’t do more than compete on price. “The builder is in the business of buying the cheapest stuff and getting the most he can for the house when it sells…. If something is much more expensive www.canadiancontractormagazine.ca

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Part of the pressure is coming from consumers themselves. Homeowners are Googling new manufacturers and products. “They’re doing their homework, says Szep, “hence, contractors are being asked tough questions.” Contractors, in turn, are doing their own online research.

Not everyone thinks that’s a great idea. Mike Draper, a partner at Renovantage (a contractors’ organization and buying group in Toronto), discourages the impulse to Google among its members. “What ends up happening is they spend so much time trying to save just a little bit of money that the costs associated with doing so are actually greater than the savings,” he says. It’s one thing to Google a new product manufactured on the other side of the world, agrees Barkhouse, quite another to determine its quality.

Scott Sedam believes this is short-sighted. If a contractor is not researching product you can bet his competitors are. A great example is drywall clips. Slow to catch on among most builders, some are saving “a ton of time” and “a lot of lumber” by understanding this product and using it, he says.

Getting it from there to here: Lower costs and product quality are driven by more than price and innovation. How manufacturers ship their product to you or your supplier – the cost, speed of delivery and a product’s condition when it arrives – can impact your bottom-line too. Inventory management and how distributors and suppliers make building supplies available to you affects cost as well by facilitating your construction schedule.

Transportation: Historically, suppliers and contractors try to

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lower transportation costs by ordering in multiple units. What’s newer are online services that give suppliers and contractors their pick of delivery modes and cost. Richard Byers of Byers Product Group (a manufacturer of domestic electric lifts based in Oklahoma City) uses YourFreightRate. com, which provides half a dozen of the best quotes for transporting the product to site.

“You pick the one you want, print out the bill of lading; it automatically orders the truck line to come and pick it up. It streamlines that whole process.

You pick the one with the lowest cost but one you also know has the kind of quality and best service that you want to ensure your shipment gets there,” he explains.

Inventory Management: Contractors admit it: they’re not great planners. That’s where a company like Brock White Construction Materials, headquartered in Calgary, has an advantage over retailers and smaller distributors. It’s not just that its eleven branches stretch from Thunder Bay to Vancouver; it’s the ready availability of core building materials, especially in the presold housing market, says Larry Benner, business development manager for southern Alberta.

“Everything is a panic and having inventory here certainly helps the contractor when it comes to meeting those possession dates.”

Manufacturers: Believe it or not, manufacturers are not solely focused on product price and quality as a way to entice the building community, they’re also thinking distribution. Some turn their orders over to distributors. Others cut out the middlemen altogether to

More than meets the eye. . .

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deal with contractors directly. Either way, says Mike Draper, a contractor benefits by understanding how these two distinct distribution models can help or hurt them.

But of all the factors that will assist contractors on the buy side in future, says Scott Sedam, none is bigger than BIM or Building Information Management. By this he means the eventual integration of 3D design plans with material take offs, product costing and ordering to facilitate the contractor’s construction schedule. But it only works, Sedam says, if suppliers and manufacturers employ software technology known as “smart cataloguing.”

“If I’m the window supplier I can’t just say I’ve got a 3060 window and four different brands. Each one of those has got to be a ‘smart object’ bringing with it costing information as well as information on installation, flashing, etc., so that my CAD guy can click on that window and boom, it all goes into the plans,” he explains.

Predictions on how quickly BIM and smart cataloguing will be fully embraced by suppliers and builders range from three years to 15 years and will depend upon development of the common software platform. However long it takes, says Sedam, “if you aren’t on this train, you’re going to get left behind.”

Contractor and supplier: pulling in the same direction What will continue to characterize the buy side, however, is the attention paid to acquiring existing or new product inside and outside the traditional supply chain while lowering costs for everyone.

Michele Strawn of Vancouver’s Excelsior Kitchens

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and chair of the Greater Vancouver Home Builders’ Association’s (GVHBA) suppliers’ council, says she spends about 30 percent of her time exploring the buy side, a percentage that may rise as time passes. This trend will likely be driven by green suppliers like Kay Valley of The Zero Point, a green building supplier in Toronto. Valley sources highly specialized, more expensive products but can lower costs in other ways: for example, sealing in off-gassing conventional materials using non-toxic adhesives.

“So instead of going higher end, we can go with the least disruptive materials on the lower end and protect the contractor as well as the homeowner from some of the more potentially derogatory effects of those materials,” she explains.

Developing product solutions at a reasonable cost cannot occur without strong lines of communication between contractor and supplier.

One way to ensure this is to get suppliers involved early on in the planning stages. Contractors’ savings really occur on the logistical side, says RONA's director of business development, John Longo. But, he says, the more they know about when and what a contractor needs, the better able they are to give a certain price guarantee.

Bringing everyone to the table from the getgo, says Strawn, also helps to address the issue of getting costs down. And, meeting early and communicating throughout a project, adds Mike Draper, helps contractors better understand the challenges suppliers face along the supply chain.

“If they can work within the parameters of the supply chain, they’ll reduce their costs. I totally believe in that.” cc

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Wrapped profiles are e remarkab ly convinc conomical, eco-frie ing facsim n such as te iles of fine dly and ak, rosew ood, imbu hardwood ya and ch s erry (show n)

The Wisdom of Adding wainscoting to your bag of tricks makes dollars and sense

By Steve Maxwell

L

ike it or not, most people are motivated by appearances and feelings. That’s why beauty and emotion can boost the perceived value of what you build in proportion to the material cost – that is, as long as you do it right. Wainscoting is a case in point. Develop the know-how to efficiently add real wainscoting to your projects and it’s going to pay off. The trick is to make it happen on a budget and without the need for insanely skilled people.

You can put up wainscoting in three ways. There’s the common shortcut of applying paint-grade trim directly to walls, creating the illusion of wainscoting. I figure the world already has enough of this, so I’m not even going to talk about it. Another option is to create one-of-a-kind wainscoting on site and I’ll show you one way to do 42

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this profitably. Wainscoting kits offer a third approach.

Choose the right kind and it’ll make you look like much more of a genius than you are.

Understanding kits Wainscoting kits – especially the ones that save you from milling raised panels – are a good way to get into the game. The only Canadian supplier of wainscoting kits that I know of is Elite Mouldings (www.elitemouldings.ca). I’ve worked with three of their kits and everything always fits. You can also find wainscoting kit suppliers south of the border.

Most kit designs use five main elements. Baseboard runs along the floor as it does in any trim installation.

The vertical elements surrounding the panels are stiles

W

f

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Wainscot bit Raised panel wainscot kit

Wainscoting and the horizontal elements are called rails. The top is capped by a chair rail-type profile of some kind.

The main thing to understand about wainscoting kits is how quick they are to install. If you’re putting up paneled or beadboard wainscot on bare wall frames, install ½-inch plywood up to the height of the installation with drywall extending up to the ceiling from there. You can certainly install wainscoting kits directly on drywall in a reno situation, but why not give yourself a solid base for nails and screws if you can?

There are two more things about kits that I know will help you. First, shop-cut, tapered wooden plugs are an excellent way to hide screws used for installation, especially when you’re dealing with solid wood and stain-grade finishes. Also, if you’re not already using

a 23-gauge pin nailer for fastening fine trim work, wainscoting is a great excuse to invest in one. The fasteners are small enough that they virtually disappear into the wood. No filling, no dents and no question you know what you’re doing.

Site-built, elegant beadboard wainscot Kits cost money. Depending on your crew and your inclinations, you can sometimes make more money building wainscoting from scratch. Non-standard detailing is key to site-built wainscoting that stands out canadiancontractor.ca

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STUFF WE LIKE / Maxwell’s Best

ing the l for hold uring a ti n e s s re e ce d boards a against the fen routing.

Feather ly d d a li e o b wood s bullnose

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Kreg Forem an Benchtop

pered wooden Use shop-cut, ta rews. plugs to hide sc

from the all-too-common V-matched pine. I’ll show you how this can happen efficiently on a particular kind of vertical beadboard installation.

The installation you see here began with inexpensive 1x6 tongue and groove pine boards. The bathroom it’s part of has eight-foot ceilings, so at least 36-inch tall wainscoting is required. Nine or ten-foot ceilings call for at least 42-inch tall wainscoting to look right. Either way, trim your tongue and groove

Now it's time to rout your top molding and baseboard.

You've got options here; and one of the best is also one of the simplest. A thick bullnose top cap sitting on top of 1-inch wide cove molding is a traditional cottage favorite. You’ll find 6- or 7-inch wide baseboard topped with 1/2-inch thick bullnose nicely completes the design. I could mill the cove moulding I like to use underneath the bullnose, but I always end up buying it.

boards to length, then sand the face of each board with up to 180-grit paper in a 1/4-sheet finishing sander to remove mill marks. This is crucial if you’re to avoid the amateur look of mottled, stained woodwork that so often diminishes trim jobs that I see. Be sure to use an especially light touch if you'll be staining your wood dark. Too much hand pressure on the sander creates swirl marks that look worse after staining.

Next, use a 1/4- or 3/8-inch diameter bearing guided half-round bit in a table-mounted router with a fence to create the all-important edge beading. Adjust the height of the bit so the profile is cut just above the tongue as the wood travels over the router table on its edge. You'll find featherboards essential for holding the wood solidly against the fence as it’s milled. Be sure to rout a few more boards than you need, just in case you ruin some later. Pre-finishing your wainscot parts before installation makes the most sense, but not yet.

Pre-finish all wainscot parts (dark stain and satin urethane looks great), then get ready for installation.

Most existing stud frame walls don't include horizontal blocking to hold nails, but that's okay. Use 2 1/2-inch long finishing nails to secure the top and bottom ends of each piece of beadboard into studs wherever you can. Be sure to locate nails where they'll be covered later by the top trim and base board. Use construction adhesive to glue those beadboards to the wall wherever they land between studs.

There’s so much standardization in buildings these days that a significant number of people are starved for indoor spaces that deliver emotional experiences.

They’re also willing to pay for this if you sell it properly.

Add wainscoting to your bag of tricks, document the results in a decent photo portfolio and it’ll go a long way towards making you look better next time you’re negotiating a job. cc

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THE MECHANICAL ROOM

Hydronic Radiant Heating PART II

How radiant floor heating is installed

By Tibor Kovacs

T

here are “lots of ways of skinning the cat” as the saying goes, and it is very true considering the technologies, components and materials that are available today for installing radiant heating systems. To get a picture of what is involved let’s look at the how we go about heating the largest, most effective heat emitter – the floor.

Once a radiant heating professional has determined the heat loss along with other critical considerations involved in the build/retrofit, the installation can begin. Generally the first step is to install the floor piping.

There is a piping method for every floor type used in building construction. Floor heating systems perform at their best when the pipe is installed in a large thermal mass. Concrete is the perfect medium and the natural choice. Most buildings have a basement slab, or built as slabon-grade. Installing the piping into the slab is the easiest and most cost-effective way to create floor heating.

The most important consideration is the ability to use thermal insulation under the slab in order to minimize heat transfer to the ground. Heat flow in the heated slab is governed by the resistance of the surrounding material.

Thermal insulation under 1. the slab represents a heat

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barrier magnitudes larger that the slab itself. As a result, most of the heat accumulated in the concrete will travel towards the space we intend to heat.

The pipe is placed on top of the insulation before the concrete pour (see image 1). In most cases, the parallel pipe runs are secured to wire mesh or rebar. If steel is not used in the slab there are other fastening methods available.

The piping is laid out in certain patterns to provide even heat distribution. The spacing is defined by the usage of the area, floor covering and anticipated heat loss.

When preparing the piping layout drawing, the radiant heating professional must take into consideration all anticipated effects and compensate for them by manipulating the pipe spacing. For example, placing the piping closer together at the outside wall compensates for the naturally occurring higher heat loss. Ideally, the piping layout should compensate for the floor covering too. Hard floor coverings

2.

THE MECHANICAL ROOM

– marble, tile, slate, etc. – conduct heat the best and are more sensitive to spacing than hardwood or carpet. Usually a closer spacing is used to minimize temperature variation between the pipe runs. Hardwood absorbs a substantial amount of heat so wider spacing can be used to achieve even floor temperature. Carpet is used sometimes (beware: carpet is an “insulating blanket”) so piping is placed on the heating surface using the widest spacing.

People often ask where the pipe should be positioned in the slab relative to the surface.

Manufacturers recommend placing the piping approximately two inches below the finished surface. This is a very important criterion when there is no insulation used.

When insulation is used under the slab – which is required by the building code – the vertical position of the pipe becomes irrelevant. The variation in resistance in the concrete above the pipe is minimal compared to the high resistance below the concrete.

A variation on the slab installations is the method called topping pour or over-pour. All the features and benefits of a concrete installation are transferred to this installation except that the layer is formed

on an existing surface. Topping pour on concrete is often used when the base layer is poured in advance. The top layer or finishing layer is a perfect chance to install radiant heating. The pipe, by default, is in the top part of the slab so even if there is no insulation the performance will be good. Insulation can be used between the layers if minimizing the downward loss is critical. Generally a light wire mesh is used to hold down the piping.

Topping pour is more often used on suspended floors. The best method to install floor heating 1. Pipe placed on top of insulation before concrete pour.

2. 1 ½" to 2" lightweight topping pour on suspended wooden floor 3. Sandwich structure using wood spacers and a second layer of subflooring 4. Joist space installation – staple-up system 5. Joist space installation – reflective insulation

4.

5.

3.

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THE MECHANICAL ROOM

6.

6. Heat transfer plates on suspended wooden floors is using 1-½ to twoinch lightweight topping pour or over-pour (see image 2). The benefits of high mass heating are transferred to wood floors with this method. The wood acts as an insulator while the majority of the heat is directed to the heated space. The joist space below, with drywall on the lower floor ceiling, acts as an additional insulator further reducing radiation moving downwards. The pipe is stapled to the wood floor using a special staple gun to avoid crushing the pipe.

Numerous companies offer lightweight overpour. This is a special mixture, usually liquid slurry, applied on the pipe. It is self-levelling and creates an ideal surface to install the selected floor covering.

Tile and marble is directly installed on it while wood flooring can be used with different installation methods. The most direct application is gluing engineered hardwood or use a floating engineered hardwood floor. If nail-down hardwood is used a nailing surface must be created by gluing plywood on top of the over-pour. Carpet is laid down using thin rubber under-padding. Certain types of the material can also be finished to provide a polished concrete floor look.

When over-pour cannot be used on a suspended floor the pipe can be installed in other ways without using concrete. In order to keep the piping close

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to the surface, a sandwich structure is built using wood spacers and a second layer of subflooring (see image 3). The pipe is stapled to the subfloor and wood spacers are spaced in between to support and secure the top floor layer. It is a similar arrangement to the over-pour, the main difference is the materials surrounding the pipe are much less conductive than concrete. In order to improve the conductivity special aluminum heat transfer plates can be used. Various manufacturers also provide pre-formed “snap in place” floor panels, some with built in heat transfer plates.

When it is impractical (or impossible) to install pipe on the surface of the suspended floor there are methods for installing it in the joist space. However, the operation of the system changes substantially.

So far all installation methods are built on conducting heat into the floor and onto the surface.

Joist staple-up systems (see image 4) use heat radiation from the pipe to transfer heat. In order to work well, much higher supply water temperature is used to heat the joist space. The essence of the process is heating up the airspace and using direct radiation to heat the surface. The pipe is suspended in the joist space and reflective insulation (see image 5) is used below to recapture the heat radiated downwards. The pipe can be mounted on the underside of the floor or on the sides of the joists. When nailed hardwood is installed, practical reasons dictate dropping the pipe away from the subfloor.

In order to improve heat transfer in joist stapleup systems, heat transfer plates (see image 6) can be added to the system. These specially-formed plates wrap around the pipe and are nailed or stapled directly on the underside of the subfloor.

In this setup, regular insulation replaces the reflective insulation. cc Tibor Kovacs is the owner of Hydronic Panel Systems/Hydronic Comfort Systems Inc. He can be reached at info@hydronicpanels.com.

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It’s accurate, rugged framed, and with a continuous edge for scribing complete and accurate lines anywhere. It includes Irwin’s Plumb Site feature, which provides dual viewing from awkward angles. Embedded earth magnets allow for hands-free use.

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A CLOSET PRICE Here’s how Toronto renovator Andy Foote of Dwell Design Build described this storage room door/bookcase installation: ”The bookcase swings on a special pivot hinge that supports up to 500 pounds per bookcase. What is unique is that you can’t tell it opens to the storage unit behind it. You see a lot of single swinging bookcases, but not many doubles with some kind of crazy, expensive hardware frame. Our lead carpenter, who has built many a secret door, says this one was the hardest he’s ever done.

The bookcase is made from standard casework materials, but we’ll warn you, the hardware was expensive.”

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