Inside Storey important—doesn’t change the way that Tarion administers the warranty. The majority of Ontario builders are proud of what they build and stand behind their product. And in the vast majority of cases we don’t need to be involved. But when we do get involved with warranty issues, or the general process for warranty administration, that’s not changing in terms of our approach or our commitment.” DO YOU EXPECT THERE TO BE A LEARNING CURVE? PB: “My commitment as the CEO
Tim Hadwen
Peter Balasubramanian
SIDE BY SIDE
With a separation of duties, how will Tarion and the HCRA work together? BY TED McINTYRE WITH HCRA INTERIM CEO TIM HADWEN AND TARION PRESIDENT/CEO PETER BALASUBRAMANIAN
IN SOME RESPECTS, life has gotten a little simpler at Tarion. While the consumer protection organization had, for more than 40 years, been responsible for ensuring that buyers of newly built homes in Ontario receive the coverage they are entitled to under their builder’s warranty, the agency had also been tasked with licensing new builders and sniffing out illegal builders. But with the launch of the Home Construction Regulatory Authority (HCRA) on Feb. 1, the latter duties of Tarion have been handed over. What does that mean for builders, consumers and the respective agencies? We asked both Tarion President/CEO Peter Balasubramanian and HCRA interim CEO Tim Hadwen. OHB: HOW HAS STAFFING BEEN AFFECTED AT TARION? PETER BALASUBRAMANIAN:
“We’ve separated the licensing process and the management of conduct complaints and enforcement side, so ohba.ca
@onhomebuilder
that has seen us reduce our staff in certain sections. For example, our enforcement inspection team has moved over to the HCRA. At the same time, other parts of our business have seen an increase in resourcing. We’ve actually added resources to increase our customer service teams. We have added additional internal expertise on building code matters, and increased areas of our underwriting and risk management, such as the risk-based inspection program that we’re going to be implementing. “So yes, there is a lot of change, but it isn’t just about the creation of two new authorities, it’s also a longer-term strategy that is the combination of almost five years of public review to improve overall services in the sector.” DOES THIS ALLOW YOU TO BE EVEN MORE FOCUSED ON THE WARRANTY SIDE? PB: “The creation of the HCRA—
and this is the message that is
of Tarion is that as we work through the implication of these changes, we will continue to listen closely to our stakeholders. And where there are bumps in the road or elements of change that don’t make business sense, we will listen and work through our processes with our stakeholders to make reasonable adjustments. One example was the feedback we received from folks who specialize in buying and selling contract homes, where the homeowner owns the land that the home is built upon. Some of the business processes we put out for consultation didn’t really fit well with some of the elements of that sector, and we were able to listen to feedback from builders who specialize in that area, and make changes to the process to make it work more smoothly. The system isn’t going to be perfect, we’re gonna have to test it as it goes, and where there are issues we can reasonably fix, we are open to listening and fixing them.” IS THERE ANY GREY AREA BETWEEN THE TWO GROUPS? PB: “It’s really important that we both
focus on communications and explain the differences between HCRA and Tarion. But I do think that the separate mandates between the two is very clear: The HCRA will take over Tarion’s registration function, so licensing and conduct is now with the them, and warranty protection is with Tarion. “Both organizations are really working together towards a smooth ONTARIO HOME BUILDER EARLY SPRING 2021
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