Combine this with the increasing focus on sustainability and environmental stewardship, and we are finding ourselves at the turning point of what our homes, buildings and communities will look like – and how they will function – going forward.

Starting at home, after spending so much time here during the last two years, has led many to consider how they can get more out of their living space. We have started to challenge the traditional thinking of what we do, or what we can do, in any given room.

Dev Mehta, principal at architecture and design firm BDP Quadrangle out of Toronto, talked to Canadian Apartment magazine about what space in a home can look like when we think of multipurpose use: “A bedroom is not always a bedroom and a dining room is not always a dining space. We have already overcome this psychological barrier of rigidly programming our spaces and architecture.”

From a design perspective, this means moving away from partitions to segment a living space to opening it up. Many office buildings have been doing this for years to provide a sense of flow throughout a floor, and it can be the same for apartments and houses. That openness can lead to using rooms in different way. Why have a dining room where you just eat? Why not have a space that you can use for a studio or a space for art that you can also eat in if you choose?

Going beyond individual home design, more attention is now being put into how buildings support health and wellbeing. Research has linked air quality to the cognitive performance of people who work and live in buildings. A 2015 Harvard study revealed that people who work in greener environments scored 61 percent higher than those who worked in adverse conditions.

Acknowledging this issue, the International WELL Building Institute has developed a certification for standard core design concepts that improve the health of people who live in buildings, including air ventilation and the fresh air coming into a building; light, in particular, natural daylight in a building; fitness, brought about by promoting movement and active lifestyles in a building; and mindfulness, whereby the landscape and common areas in a building connect people with nature.

One of the ways to achieve some of these goals may be found on the very top of buildings. Rooftop gardens are an opportunity for people to be exposed to an outdoor setting without having to leave their building. On top of an office building in Staten Island, New York, for example, there is 32,000 square feet of space that is being used for urban farming where the produce goes to local non-profit restaurants.

Mayor Eric Adams, who cut the ribbon for the garden, said, “We are really going to explore how we use urban farming to have a job, healthy foods on our plates and be environmentally friendly.”

Closer to the ground, we are looking to get more out of buildings in general. The lines between retail, office, and residential are fading and more options are opening up as a result. To see this in action you need look no further than Fayetteville, Arkansas.

TheatreSquared is a multipurpose building that has combined office space with three levels of outdoor terraces and an all-day café and bar with a professional theatre as a central focus. The building also happens to be located about a block away from an active freight railway line on what was underused land near the University of Arkansas. The challenge was to create a space that serves a number of purposes, including providing superior acoustics for live performances.

As part of taking a sustainable approach to the construction, Marvel Architects, the design firm behind the building, sourced local materials like charred wood for a protective coating that should last for 50 years or more. The team made sure the walls were 24 inches thick to maintain the temperature, reduce the power needed for HVAC systems, and keep the theatre silent even as trains pass by. The project also reclaimed a 150-year old structure and converted it into guest artist apartments, making this a facility that combines work, residences, entertainment, and culture for Fayetteville.

As TheatreSquared demonstrates, there are a plethora of wellbeing and sustainability arguments for building more multipurpose buildings. At the same time, there are also some strong financial motivations.

When one building is doing the work of many, there is an advantage in infrastructure savings in parking, utilities, various events use, and bathrooms when different things can take place under one roof. There are also partnership opportunities that come from a building that is flexible to accommodate schools, community groups, and businesses, all of which can contribute to the building’s financial health.

Stepping outside of our nice multipurpose building and looking around can lead to the question, just how do all these buildings fit together and how should we rethink our neighbourhoods to make them better for residents and the environment?

One of the big concepts for sustainable communities is the “15-minute city” which, as it sounds, is about neighbourhoods in a city that are set up so that people can get the majority of what they need within a 15-minute commute or walk from their home. The hoped-for result is that more open public space is freed up, more walking and less driving takes place, local emissions are lowered, and business picks up, including employment opportunities. The concept comes from Portland, Oregon where planners have been putting these into development since 2010.

Achieving these all-encompassing neighbourhoods means a lot of changes for communities. We have to rethink roads, namely dedicating fewer of them for cars and more to public walkways and spaces for businesses to expand outdoors. One of the main areas of expansion takes place on the roads as merchants stretch out beyond sidewalks and onto streets.

We’ve had a glimpse of this during the pandemic with far fewer cars on the road. During this time, traffic in the U.S. slowed by as much as 70 percent and bike lanes also began appearing, along with bike sharing transit options, making for greener ways to get around in cities.

Montreal, for example, has closed certain popular streets in the city’s downtown during summer weekends so that restaurants can stretch out into the streets for diners. This has become so popular that the city is now planning to make 10 streets pedestrian-only during the summers and is allocating $12 million during the next three years to provide merchants with larger outdoor gathering spaces.

“We’ve seen how popular they are, how much people love and enjoy them, and how much they contribute to the dynamism of the street,” Montreal’s mayor Valérie Plante says about converting streets into pedestrian-only zones.

The irony in all this is that as we maximize what’s in our local neighbourhoods while reducing their sprawl, it takes us back to the way cities were designed in the 19^th century. Francesca Romana Strabile, an urban historian at Roma Tre University, Italy points this out in an article for Politico, discussing the Testaccio neighbourhood in Rome.

“Back then, cities were planned with residential areas as close as possible to workplaces and services were concentrated throughout,” she said, also noting how public housing blocks had leafy interiors and localized health care and child care centers. “It was all very progressive.”

We have focused on the good that comes from multipurpose building and walkable cities. More people are living in more complex buildings in smaller geographic areas to reduce the impact on the environment and people themselves. But all of this adds up to greater density. And density in larger cities is also a hotly contested topic. On the one hand, there is a growing need to reduce our environmental footprint by building up, not out, but there is always that underlying “not in my backyard” mentality that urban planners come up against from concerned residents.

There are also larger ideological challenges. If you design and build 15-minute neighbourhoods, does that mean you actually just have a string of neighbourhoods or do you have one city? It is important to think about how these neighbourhoods interconnect. As economist Edward Glaeser sees it, “All cities should be archipelagos of neighbourhoods, but these neighbourhoods must be connected.”

This will need to be debated and thought through as we make changes to the places where we live for the future. And we need to answer these questions, because our cities are only going to get bigger. According to the UN, nearly 70 percent of the world’s population will be living in cities by the year 2050.

If we don’t start finding workable solutions, what will our cities end up looking like?

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Numbers don’t lie, they say, and yet statistics can be presented in such a way that they don’t show the whole picture. It’s the interpretation that matters.

Take statistics on homelessness, for example. Using the most recent figures available from government websites, we find that in the U.S., in 2020, 0.2 percent of the population was homeless, meaning of no fixed address, while in Canada in 2021, 0.6 percent of the population was homeless. At less than 1 percent of the total population, those percentages might not seem significant.

But what they mean is that in the U.S., 552,830 individuals have no permanent shelter, a basic human right, while in Canada, 235,000 are considered homeless. Put bluntly, they’re the people we try not to see on our inner-city streets, lined up outside soup kitchens, sitting on sidewalks, sleeping in tent cities under bridges, and in parks – people who are marginalized, hurting, and hopeless.

For countries as rich as the U.S. and Canada, with the U.S. ranking number one in terms of GDP and Canada in tenth place, it’s shocking that there should be even one homeless individual. And although the homeless rate in the other top 10 GDP nations – China, Japan, Germany, United Kingdom, France, India, Italy, and Brazil, is on par with Canada and the U.S., saying that we’re no worse than other wealthy nations is not a workable approach.

Moreover, the true number of homeless people is impossible to calculate or compare between nations because different methods of calculating them are used. There is the Point in Time method, where people who are homeless are counted over a limited time, with the final number extrapolated, or are counted by the number seeking refuge at shelters, or the number seeking emergency medical help with no fixed address.

In addition, there are the hidden homeless, who shelter beneath bridges or in lean-to shacks in the woods, who couch surf, who are precariously housed in rooming houses slated for demolition, or, in the case of people fleeing abusive relationships, have temporary shelter but need to find permanent accommodation.

Further worsening the situation are inflation and skyrocketing real estate prices, placing home ownership beyond the reach of many working young adults who are living in rental accommodations but may be required to move as a result of “renovictions.” This recently coined term refers to a landlord’s decision to do unnecessary renovations, and then increase the rent beyond the tenant’s ability to pay.

Stepping into the breach are non-profit organizations such as Habitat for Humanity, which builds family homes, often with volunteer labour and materials donated by construction companies, including many we’ve been proud to feature. However, solving the housing crisis cannot depend on the generosity of construction companies, who would soon go out of business themselves if they tried to do it all.

In 2016, the Canadian government “committed $2.2 billion to tackle homelessness across the country,” which it recognized impacted “every community – individuals, families, women fleeing violence, youth, seniors, veterans, indigenous peoples, and people with disabilities, and in rural areas as well as urban centres,” in hopes of reducing it by 50 percent in the fiscal year 2027-2028.

Then in November 2017, the Liberals announced a further $40 billion investment in a 10-year national housing strategy. No one can say they are ignoring the problem, yet, while the amount of money invested to deal with homelessness has increased, the number of homeless Canadians has also increased, from 129,127 in 2016 to an estimated 235,000 in 2021. (About Reaching Home: Canada’s Homelessness Strategy, Canada.ca)

A similar pattern has emerged in the U.S. What’s going on? Maybe there’s a better way of dealing with homelessness than Band-Aid solutions such as increasing the capacity of temporary overnight shelters, which both Canada and the U.S. have done.

“Equal doesn’t always mean fair,” as Andrew Cameron told us when we spoke with him about the efforts his company makes to access government funding for affordable housing in rural areas (see our Northumberland Properties feature in this issue). Some regulations may require the units to be located near public transit, which rural areas don’t have, or may require a building larger than municipal zoning will permit. And yet, as he pointed out, by providing safe and affordable housing in small towns, an added stress on urban affordable housing units is alleviated, so everyone benefits when regulations are applied fairly, but not necessarily equally.

It turns out that Finland, which is ranked 42^nd in terms of GDP out of the world’s 193 economies, has been taking the issue of homelessness very seriously since 2008 and is hoping to have it eradicated by 2027 (see Housing is a human right: How Finland is eradicating homelessness).

Between 2008 and 2018, Finland created 5,900 new units, converted shelters into supported housing for the chronically homeless, and bought private apartments to rent to people on the brink of homelessness.

Finland’s success is based on the Housing First model, first proposed in the 1980s by Sam Tsemberis, a Canadian psychologist working in New York, on the premise that the best way to solve the homeless problem is to give people homes. So even though the idea was conceived here in North America, it was dismissed, as common belief was that issues like addiction and mental health had to be addressed before someone could be offered long-term housing.

But as Juha Kaakine, CEO of Finland’s largest housing non-profit, the Y-Foundation, told the CBC’s Michael Enright on The Sunday Edition (Jan 26, 2020), “The main thing is treating homeless people like everybody else – people who have the same rights and see housing as a human right. So, you give a homeless person a home, a flat, or a rental flat with a contract, without preconditions. You are not required to solve your problems or get sober first. But when you have this home, you can get support to solve your issues. This is a simple basic principle of housing first.”

Kaakine went on to explain that another reason Finland has avoided the homelessness issues that most European countries have, is its policy of providing affordable social housing, with at least 25 percent of each new housing development designated affordable. While that’s a simple solution that works, it’s also one that is not popular among some with a “not in my backyard” attitude.

What about costs to taxpayers? Kaakine says that a cost analysis showed it was cheaper to give people a home, with savings amounting to at least 15,000 Euros per person, per year. Why? When people are in stable living situations, they are more likely to deal successfully with substance abuse and mental health issues, more likely to reintegrate into society and less likely to regularly consume services such as emergency health care, police, and the justice system.

Other innovative projects are tackling homelessness around the world, according to an article published by the World Economic Forum late last year.

In the UK for example, a University of Cambridge study looked at the impact of providing homeless people with modular mini-homes of their own, and found that drug and alcohol abuse was reduced, and physical and mental health improved. The cost per house was $50,000 U.S., the equivalent of public spending on one homeless person, per year, in the UK.

Another solution to the housing crisis is the use of 3D-printing technology to produce low-cost homes. In India, International Habitat for Humanity has invested $411,000 in Tvasta Manufacturing Solutions to boost production of 20 million of these homes that generate less waste than traditional construction methods and can be put up in just five days.

3D-printed homes are also being tested in Malawi and Kenya, in a joint venture between a Kenyan-based company, 14 Trees, CDC Group – the UK government’s development finance institution – and the European building materials multinational LafargeHolcim.

The same article applauded the U.S. firms NAC Architecture and Bernard’s, who used shipping containers, made liveable with windows and insulation, to build an apartment complex for the homeless in Los Angeles.

The Hilda L. Solis Care First Village, a Housing First initiative, has 232 units (each equipped with a bed, microwave, refrigerator, television, and bathroom) and a common building with cooking, dining, and laundry facilities. Because of the urgency during the pandemic, the project was completed in just six months, opening in April 2021 at a cost of $57 million, with most of it paid for by the U.S. government as part of its coronavirus response.

In Canada, the Calgary-based company ATCO has taken the lead in partnering with governments and non-for-profit agencies to provide creative solutions for affordable housing for seniors, the homeless, Indigenous families, and veterans.

For example, in British Columbia, in partnership with BC Housing, ATCO completed My Place, an apartment complex in response to the homelessness issue in the city of Vernon. The 40 modules were built in ATCO’s Calgary plant to create 57 studio-style apartments, along with common areas, a medical office, laundry, and reception, as well as a garden, to provide a supportive lifestyle.

Also in Canada, the Homes for Heroes Foundation, with funding from all three levels of government and using the Housing First approach, has joined forces with ATCO to create communities of tiny, detached homes for Canadian Armed Forces veterans who are suffering from PTSD and as a result are homeless and unable to re-integrate into society.

Each community consists of 15 to 20, 275-square-foot fully furnished dwellings, engineered for energy efficiency and with lots of natural lighting. In addition to the homes, the communities include a resource centre, on-site counsellors, community gardens, and recreation space.

The goal is to have each veteran eventually re-enter mainstream society, employed, stable and self-sufficient, recognizing that the process may take several months or even several years. Everyone will be allowed to recover at their own pace and will be supported throughout the process. When the veterans have recovered, it is to be hoped that affordable housing will be available to them.

The first two communities opened in Calgary and Edmonton, AB, in 2019 and 2020. On May 25, 2022, a third such community, with assistance from the Kinsmen Club, was announced for Winnipeg, MN, where it’s estimated seven percent of the city’s homeless population are returned veterans.

Plans are now also underway to construct a fourth community in Kingston, ON, where a parcel of land has been secured. Homes for Heroes is looking to build more such villages across the country.

Homes for Heroes also operates in the U.S., where it helps not only veterans, but also police officers, firefighters, and anyone who served their community to stay in their own homes by helping with associated maintenance costs, or renovations to accommodate disabilities.

These various solutions are a testament to the miracles that can happen when the ingenuity of construction professionals is combined with political will at all levels of government, along with the generosity of non-profit agencies. They each offer models for municipalities, whatever their size or need, to create a society where everyone’s human rights to safety and security are met through housing.

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After its introduction, rental housing providers began seeing negative financial impacts because of it and the stunting of further growth opportunities with very little incentive to expand. This led to a lot of frustration from rental property owners who felt that the provincial government was turning a deaf ear to their problems. Only five years after the introduction of rent control, IPOANS entered the market and, to this day, acts as a platform for these concerns on behalf of property owners across Nova Scotia.

IPOANS operates under three pillars. The first is advocacy, as the association concerns itself with lobbying government departments about policies that negatively affect the housing industry and for changes in regulations to improve the livelihoods of its members. These actions can also lead to renters reaping the benefits of the association’s efforts.

The second pillar is education, specifically with programs the association offers to its clients. One such is the residential property management course, a ninety-hour online course in which students receive a Nova Scotia Community College professional studies certificate in Residential Property Management, as well as a residential building service excellence course, an upcoming thirty-hour online course in enhanced customer service techniques. The latter’s curriculum is currently in high demand as it will help to educate participants on the critical operating system components of buildings and best practices for essential building services. These classes allow for better communication for residents, and the association has high expectations for the residential building service excellence course, launched in May of this year.

The final pillar is membership services, in which the association offers best-in-class opportunities for its members to gather and improve skills and connections through in-person networking events like the Annual Awards Gala, Dinner and Trade Show, in-person Lunch and Learn sessions, online learning opportunities, and more. The association is “constantly elevating the game of members,” Russell affirms.

Rent control is still impacting the housing market in Nova Scotia today, as a temporary rent control regime implemented in September 2020 is currently in place and will be until at least December 2023 and, dependent on government thinking at the time, possibly longer. Russell sees this as affecting the current rental housing supply, as rental housing providers are unable to raise the rent sufficiently to cover operating costs, which further demotivates rental housing providers to remain in the industry.

Russell feels the situation is at a critical juncture, as more rental housing supply is needed; in fact, a survey published in December 2021 revealed that about 9,000 duplex and single-family homes usually three-to-four-bedroom units suitable for families are being sold back into the single-family ownership market, which is serving to put current renters at risk of homelessness while taking away living spaces from prospective renters.

Developers in the market cannot build affordable housing due to the spiking of land costs, property taxes, wages, material and labour costs, and the scarcity of trade labour in the market, leading to the critical situation faced today. Now, with new investment property owners entering what is a high-priced market and these same duplexes selling for around $500,000 per unit—considerably higher than for its previous owners—there is a pronounced need to increase affordable rental housing which will in turn begin to resolve Nova Scotia’s ongoing housing crisis.

A typical sight on the metro Halifax skyline today is the many cranes in operation, which Russell admits will not help affordable housing right now but more so in the next three to five years as new units come to market. Along with the new construction, there is a heightened market demand for apartment living over homeownership, the latter of which many new buyers see as simply out-of-reach. Nowadays, prospective buyers want to live in a luxury space that offers the same amenities and advantages that a condo or single-family home would offer.

Amidst all this, IPOANS has commissioned economics consulting firm Gardner Pinfold Consulting to research ongoing construction costs of developing a forty-eight-unit residential building in 2022. After an update in March of this year, costs were estimated at $337,000 per door in a wooden building and $398,000 per door in a concrete building, a $100,000 increase over the previous year. Russell is firm that the government needs to get involved with meaningful solutions or else costs like these as well as rent costs will only grow.

IPOANS is committed to leading the way for property owners by focusing on solutions to the challenges in the housing market. Russell explains how the association has put forward five government solution policies to help combat high development costs in the province. The five solutions are as such: make land available at no cost, offer building permits at no cost, offer a 50 percent personal sales tax rebate, provide capital subsidy per unit, or waive annual property taxes on affordable units.

These ideas certainly come at a necessary time as so many renters in the province who live in core housing need are spending more than thirty percent of their income on shelter, and today’s workers—especially those in entry-level positions or working for minimum wage—need homes closer to workspaces, which is currently unfeasible due to construction costs.

There is also a need to renovate existing rental housing, as the stock will play a critical role in the housing crisis soon. The most affordable housing Nova Scotia has is its existing rental stock. Russell outlines how sixty percent of rental stock in the province was built before 1996 and the stock is nearing the end of its building lifecycle, further underlining the need for action. Existing rental housing providers must be allowed to re-invest into their properties to extend the building lifecycle and receive a reasonable return on their investment.

Another big factor negatively impacting the rental housing industry is the need for modernization in the Residential Tenancies Act (RTA), which Russell describes as, “the bible that governs the rights of Nova Scotia’s 6000 plus landlords and 300,000 renters.” Landlords and renters both feel that the RTA is currently a broken process biased toward the other end of the discussion and against their interests.

He feels that there is a need for a quick, transparent, unbiased, and consistent decision-making that will result in final judgements in these conflicts but that does not seem to be currently possible. However, Russell sees it all as a game of inches, meaning that progress is indeed being made by the efforts of organizations like the IPOANS but more slowly than they would like.

He says that, in the last couple of years, the association’s efforts have helped to cool the temperature on anti-landlord rhetoric among renters, which he feels will help ongoing discussions. With a lack of political will to make much needed changes to the RTA and a hostile market, Russell is still firm that the association will keep advocating on behalf of its members and that “we will eventually get there.”

As 2022 hits its mid-point, IPOANS will continue to expand its membership based on its three pillars. When asked about the best steps that property owners in the province can take, Russell encourages managers to oversee operating expenses as closely as possible—especially with only an allowable two percent rent increase—strengthen the applicants’ screening process, and engage with local politicians at all levels to alert them to the problems being experienced.

IPOANS stands as a positive voice for residential landlords and a respected force that can help managers get their message out and advocate for them effectively. “The wider our geographic area, the stronger our memberships become,” Russell says, emphasizing that strength in numbers and solidarity between property owners is what will not only help the association continue its growth but will also help in the ongoing challenge that is the Nova Scotia housing market.

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Northumberland Properties, of Yarmouth and Amherst, Nova Scotia, designs, builds, and manages properties, bringing options in rental, size, and design to those who live in small towns and rural areas.

Cameron, who grew up in Amherst, told us that in 2009 he and his wife, who were teaching and developing curricula for ESL programs in Osaka, Japan, were considering a return to Canada. At the same time, his father, Gordon Cameron, deciding to sell his Honda dealership in Yarmouth, began investigating other business opportunities and invited Andrew to join him.

A community need

Cameron says his father had recognized a need for rental housing in Yarmouth, NS. This was especially true for seniors who were downsizing and wanted to live independently. They required smaller, barrier-free living spaces as opposed to the older two- or even three-story houses they owned.

Many of these houses, he says, needed a great deal of maintenance and caused much inconvenience, for instance if relying on wood for heating, with the consequent chopping and carrying inside.

“My grandmother, for example, with severe rheumatoid arthritis, had to get down six steps from her back door to reach the driveway in icy winter conditions. That was enough of a worry for her that in winter she would rarely go out, and so lost connection with the community. Seniors lose freedom when they are unable to go out or even get around inside their own homes. Those sea captain’s or Victorian houses or farmhouses are lovely, but a lot of challenges come with them,” he shares.

“Our plan was to start with one ground-level, four-unit building and rent it, and then decide if we wanted to do another. But we had it fully rented while it was being built, and we thought, ‘this is great, let’s do another one.’ And it was rented and then we did another and another. We just kept going, because it seemed that people needed this kind of apartment in Yarmouth, so we never hit that spot where we had to wait to see if the demand was there,” Cameron says.

That year, 2010, may not have been the most promising time to start a new business, Cameron admits, as the country was just coming out of the 2008 depression. Then in 2009, the government dealt Yarmouth an economic blow when it cancelled subsidies to the ferry service that connected Yarmouth with Bar Harbour, ME, resulting in the loss of 120 jobs and a sharp decline in tourism. (Fortunately, the ferry re-launched its service of scheduled crossings from May through October in 2022.)

“The closure impacted the economy and the psychology of the area,” he says. “It created challenges for construction funding, but we tackled each challenge as it came up, because once you start a project, you don’t have the option not to deal with it. You look at the problem in front of you, decide the best way – and then you deal with it.”

Twelve years later

In 2015, Cameron, his wife, infant daughter, and two dogs, moved back to his hometown of Amherst, opened a second office, and began construction, recognizing that Amherst’s central Maritime location offered options for further expansion in northern Nova Scotia and south-east New Brunswick.

Today, Northumberland Properties includes a total of 206 pet-friendly rental apartments (120 in Yarmouth and 86 in Amherst) with plans to construct another dozen in Amherst this year.

These include a mix of two-level, two-bedroom town houses, designed for professional people; two-bedroom villas, with or without attached garages; two-bedroom suites designed for people who want a smaller space, and one-bedroom suites, designed for those with fixed incomes of $33,500 or less per year.

Rent for these one-bedroom suites is $795/month and includes appliances, washer and dryer, utilities, snow removal, and lawn maintenance. They are interspersed among the higher-priced units and feature the same exterior finishes to avoid any suggestion of “affordable housing.” “We treat everyone the exact same way,” Cameron says.

Each unit, no matter the size, is constructed as part of a townhouse building, with between four and six units adjoined. Each has its own front and back entrance with rear patio, driveway with parking space for two cars, and a garden space for flowers or a vegetable patch.

Each unit also has its own individual air exchanger, so there is no cross-contamination between units of airborne particles, a boon in the age of COVID. The newer units have mini-split heat pumps/air conditioners, and there are plans to install these in the older units.

While some of the units meet the official guidelines for wheelchair accessibility, most are designed as wheelchair friendly, with 36-inch-wide doors, open concept living areas, walk-in showers, grab bars, and levers instead of knobs on doors and faucets, helpful for people with arthritis.

“It’s those little things that make it easier for people to remain independent and look after themselves,” Cameron says. He notes also that there are no carpets, and floor and countertop surfaces are easy to clean.

“We have dedicated staff and we take time to develop relationships with our tenants. If they go to an apartment to fix something, we encourage them to stay and chat for a few minutes and perhaps change a light bulb if someone has trouble getting up on a step stool. I want our tenants to know we value them, that we’re there to help and we want to give them that extra care.”

IPOANS – community service

As actively as he maintains relationships with tenants, Cameron fosters connections with colleagues, something he’s been doing since 2018, when the company joined IPOANS (Investment Property Owners of Nova Scotia).

Established in 1978, the association is the collective voice representing residential property owners, with a focus on providing advocacy, education, and membership-services programs.

According to Cameron, IPOANS has done an excellent job helping members deal with the changes that were precipitated by COVID, providing information and advocating correct strategies for dealing with the pandemic. IPOANS also does an excellent job of continuing education for landlords, updating them on changes to programs, including government funding sources.

He goes on to say that prior to joining IPOANS he was concerned that rural landlords were being forgotten, “because rural areas don’t get heard from as much, but IPOANS gives them a voice.”

It was this concern that prompted him to take advantage of the association’s advocacy services. “I found that Kevin Russell [Executive Director of IPOANS] has been very open to talk with me, listen to the concerns we have, and work those concerns into advocacy issues that he’s taken on.”

Additionally, Cameron stresses the importance of landlords maintaining positive working relationships with all levels of government – municipal, provincial, and federal.

Aiming for equity

Much attention is focused on affordable housing in urban areas but, as Cameron explains, accessing funding for construction in rural areas through government programs has some difficulties – and surprising outcomes – when the rules designed for urban areas are applied to rural areas. “Equal doesn’t always mean fair,” he says.

For example, one of the government programs to which construction companies can apply for funding for affordable housing is based on how close the site is to public transportation. The closer it is, the more likely the project is to be approved. But there is no public transit in rural areas or in most small towns and there is no provision for that.

For instance, Yarmouth, (population 6,830) a progressive small town, does have public transportation, while Amherst, slightly larger with a population of 9,400, does not. Fortunately for Amherst citizens, Cameron was able to get an exemption to build affordable housing there. The alternative was that people in need would be driven to migrate to Moncton, NB, the nearest urban centre, placing an added burden on that city’s already stressed capacity.

Another hurdle for construction companies wanting to build in small towns concerns the number of units.

Cameron says that “typically, Housing NS would agree to fund half the units in a proposed building, with a minimum number of four. So that would mean, to get funding, we would have to construct an eight-unit building. That would be fine in a centre like Halifax, but in a town like Amherst, it’s more challenging to construct an eight-unit building, because of municipal zoning regulations, than a four-unit that doesn’t have all the red tape,” he explains.

“Then if you look at smaller, rural communities in the area that, unlike Amherst, don’t have municipal services, it’s even more challenging to build larger buildings. But if smaller projects could be done, then not-for-profit groups could take them on,” he says.

“People shouldn’t have to leave their communities for affordable, safe, accessible housing. Someone shouldn’t have to leave Joggins [home of the famed Joggins Fossil Cliffs and an UNESCO World Heritage Site] and move to Amherst where they have fewer connections, or leave Musquodoboit Harbour where they have lived all their life and move to Halifax,” says Cameron. “That shouldn’t have to happen, and programs should be designed with these conditions in mind. All across the country there should be programs designed for rural areas, programs for urban areas the size of Halifax, and programs for large places like Toronto, so that housing needs are met in an equitable manner.”

In addition to benefiting rural areas, Cameron maintains that providing a variety of housing solutions would relieve the stress on urban housing, so that in the end everyone benefits.

Small town champion

Cameron is so passionate about maintaining viable small towns, he started another organization, The Centre for Small Town Success.

“Through it, I want to look at the systemic issues that are preventing small towns from thriving and I want people in small towns to have the same opportunities and same controls over decision making that they had in the past,” he explains.

“But communities are disappearing — the towns of Springhill and Parrsboro have been dissolved and no longer exist as municipal units. They used to have their own mayors and councils but now they have been folded into much larger districts. It’s hard to quantify, but people lose hope when they don’t have control over their own lives or their town’s destiny,” Cameron shares.

“My thinking is if governments can create programs to help with housing in small communities, we could keep more people in them, but we’ve seen businesses leaving small towns. They move to urban areas and that puts pressure on the cities with regards to housing. If we could get more jobs back into smaller communities, it would take the pressure off the cities, and make it possible for people to live where they want to live.”

The post Don’t Move – Apartment Communities Coming to Where You Are<p class="company">Northumberland Properties</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

The budget addresses the issue with its first chapter, “Making Housing More Affordable,” and touches on how the goal of achieving a safe, reasonably priced home — “one that was taken as a given for previous generations — is increasingly out of reach for far too many Canadians,” especially amongst younger persons. “Foreign investors and speculators are buying up homes that should be for Canadians to own. Rents in our major cities continue to climb, pushing people further and further away from where they work.”

Shortage of housing stock

The lack of housing in Canada did not suddenly emerge, but has been simmering for years. The issue is multifaceted; out-of-reach prices are one factor, and lack of supply is another. According to data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Canada has a far lower number of homes per person than many other OECD countries, such as France, Germany and Japan.

Every year, on average, Canada builds some 200,000 new housing units. To meet demand, Canada needs to double its present rate of new construction over the next decade. In fact, Finance Canada and the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation estimate we need to construct a minimum of 3.5 million new homes by 2031.

Creating a list of Key Ongoing Actions, the federal government is slated to deliver over $72 billion via the National Housing Strategy by 2027-2028, allocating billions of dollars for building and repairing rental housing, affordable housing and shelters, support for housing in Indigenous communities, joint funding with the provinces and territories, and other initiatives. The budget also proposes tabling legislation to implement the nation’s first national vacant housing tax, applying to non-Canadian, non-resident owners.

The role of CHBA

Serving as ‘the voice of Canada’s residential construction industry for almost 80 years,’ the Canadian Home Builders’ Association (CHBA) represents one of Canada’s biggest industry sectors, with approximately 9,000 members, including land developers, home builders and renovators, contractors, insurers, manufacturers, building product suppliers, lending institutions and others. Supporting its members, CHBA plays a vital role in ensuring Canadians have access to housing that meets their needs “at a price they can afford to pay,” and conveying the interests of homebuyers and homeowners to all levels of government.

Under the leadership of Chief Executive Officer Kevin Lee for almost a decade, CHBA continues to call for the creation of, and access to, housing in Canada. “It is really important to distinguish between affordable housing, and housing affordability,” says Lee. “We typically talk about housing affordability, which is very much about market rate. Can a young family afford to buy a home in their community and become first-time homebuyers? Housing affordability applies to rentals as well. Can you afford a rental unit in an area where you should be able to afford to do so? It’s very different in affordable housing, which is social housing for all intents and purposes.”

A fine balance

While all kinds of housing are important, about 95 percent of Canadians live in market rate housing and are concerned about housing affordability, while the remaining five percent need affordable housing units. Worldwide, there is a movement toward inclusionary zoning, where a certain percentage of units must be affordable (half the price of a normal unit in the market, for example). However, this raises the question: where will the subsidy come from – the general tax base, municipalities lowering development taxes, or different types of offsets?

Although some say developers should pay, this ignores the fact that developers need to operate a profitable, functional business. If developers are compelled to pay the difference, this will come out of the price of the market rate housing units, drive up prices, and can lead to fewer houses being constructed, since it will be less desirable for developers to build in some areas.

“So we are very concerned about municipalities when they look at inclusionary zoning, that they do it in such a way that is not going to drive up the price of market rate housing, and that is not going to mean less market rate housing,” says Lee. “Those are the two things that we can least afford to have right now.”

What is ‘housing?’

For many of us, the image of ‘housing’ in our mind’s eye usually evokes a single-family dwelling in the suburbs, or perhaps a condo in the heart of a large city. With a massive shortfall of much-needed housing, we must address how we view neighbourhoods and communities, especially the “missing middle,” such as medium density housing, multi-unit construction, and stacked townhomes.

Altering views on newer types of housing products – such as laneway and backyard housing – also means changing Nimbyism, the ‘not in my backyard’ perspective where residents are opposed to changes in their areas. It requires recognizing that today’s housing needs are not the same as those of the past. Along with laneway houses and secondary suites, Canada needs other types of housing, including higher buildings with greater density.

Another benefit of varied housing stock is the creation of walkable communities, complete with amenities that make neighbourhoods great, such as shops and restaurants. “The big change isn’t how we view housing — some people want single-detached of all different sizes; for others, it will be the semis and townhomes, or condos that are four-storey or six-storey or towers — but we need more of everything, and that includes more of those things in our existing communities.”

The need for immigration

This year, Canada plans to welcome 431,645 new permanent residents, another 447,055 in 2023, and 451,000 in 2024, according to Federal Government data. While some are critical of these targets, CHBA is very much in favour of immigration. Canada-wide, many industries, especially the skilled trades in construction, are facing labour shortages. Combined with an aging population and about 22 percent of the nation’s workforce set to retire over the coming decade, it is plain that immigration is critical to future sustainability and growth.

“The issue with Canada’s shortfall of housing supply — which is dramatic — is not a function of immigration,” states Lee. “We haven’t kept up with household formation, and that is not new.” Just five years ago, CHBA stated that at current rates, Canada would be 300,000 family-oriented housing units short in the coming decade, a figure which became reality.

And what if Canada fails to address its housing shortage? According to Lee, many kinds of housing will be in jeopardy, including affordable and social housing, with residents stuck in a cycle, unable to afford to move into market rate rentals. Others, eager to move from their first home to a second house, will be unable to do so with skyrocketing prices.

“Historically, 80 percent of the rental units in Canada that come available every year come from first-time homebuyers vacating rental properties,” comments Lee, “so it’s really important that you continue to have first-time homebuyers. And if we don’t get the supply going, we will have all kinds of issues across the continuum.”

While some feel additional taxes on foreign buyers, tighter mortgage restrictions, and increasing lending rates will help quell house prices and somehow ‘help’ Canada’s housing crisis, the opposite is true. “Tighter mortgage rules and raising interest rates make housing actually less accessible,” comments Lee. “By definition they say, ‘you can no longer afford to buy this house because of mortgage rules.’ So we need to go and create actual supply, because if we don’t get this done, we will forever see accelerating house prices to the point where we will continue to see big drops, not only in homeownership, but in the ability of all Canadians to afford even rentals.”

The post The Need for Housing is Now<p class="company">Canadian Home Builders’ Association</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

Building Knowledge Canada supports homebuilders with a trained team of expert advisors who have over thirty years of consulting experience. With their help, home builders certainly will not build them like they used to, and that is a good thing.

The company collaborates with home builders, renovators, and developers as a registered advisor for energy efficiency, net-zero qualifications, and the overall scope of building science. It focuses on Part 9 of the National Building Code of Canada and the Canadian Code for Residential Construction, which includes buildings with three storeys or less.

Building Knowledge Canada is also involved in industry-wide education efforts. The company often participates in public presentations about building science and developing high-performance homes. It aims to encourage discussion about the challenges of balancing new building regulations with the need to keep housing affordable. It works closely with several industry committees to offer training and educational resources that will help improve the industry’s knowledge of building science. By focusing these efforts on efficient and sustainable building patterns, the company hopes to raise the bar for home builders across Canada and beyond.

Its centre of operations is in Ontario with its headquarters in Cambridge. It provides consultation services to builders across all Canadian provinces, as well as to a few large home builder clients in the United States.

As it stands, the homebuilding industry is in a bit of a perfect storm. As material costs and labour shortages have continued to rise, so have the costs to build a home. “We recognize, along with our clients, that housing affordability is not only under threat, it’s almost become untenable,” explains Vice President and Director of Building Science Andrew Oding. “The world of building, developing, and renovating is becoming more and more complex due to all of the societal concerns and burdens.” Building Knowledge Canada is determined to apply its building science expertise to solve the problem of affordability in the housing market.

Over the last two decades, the world has awoken to the impending threat of climate change, and the home building industry has been transforming. Homes have become significantly more efficient in using energy to keep them operating. Designs have been adapted to manage and make use of solar heat; insulation materials have been substantially improved; windows and doors are installed with better seals, and much more. The enhancements are many and varied, and the resulting structures represent a drastic improvement in sustainable housing.

Home builders are continually adapting their practices as we refine our understanding of climate change, but requirements and recommendations change so quickly it can be a challenge to align regulatory compliance with customer needs. Building Knowledge Canada’s team of expert advisors specializes in applying building science to navigate these challenges.

Often, when building a modern home, the instinct is to focus on the most obvious environmental concerns, and there is a rush to implement those. Building Knowledge Canada consultants bring a deep understanding of building science to help home builders consider the less obvious concerns as well. With their expertise, builders can design a strategy that is sustainable and follows regulations, all while maintaining affordability in the final product.

For example, one way to reduce carbon emissions in a home is to focus on installing high-performance insulation, robust assemblies, more panes of glass, and specialized roofing material. A properly sealed home will reduce its carbon footprint throughout its lifecycle. This approach is necessary for building sustainable housing, but Building Knowledge Canada understands that there is more to this story.

“These things are good, and we will need to do them,” says Oding. “However, if we use certain materials in a house to reduce the carbon emissions while it operates, we could end up using materials that have high embodied carbon already in them, and the problem with that is we actually may make the problem worse. We may actually emit more carbon if we’re not careful about the materials that we’re using.” Embodied carbon is the total greenhouse gas emissions released during the complete lifecycle of material from manufacturing and delivery to installation and disposal. It is a balancing act, but one that Building Knowledge Canada understands well.

The complications go even further. Many of the low embodied carbon building materials best suited for these projects have drawbacks. These products are often naturally grown and harvested wood fibre products that can be prone to water damage. This makes it even more important to focus on rainwater management in the design of the home, to ensure that low materials can be used without adding the burden of water damage risk to the homeowner.

Building Knowledge Canada is committed to helping home builders balance all these concerns and design reasonable solutions that address them together. The company has identified three key focus areas that are helping to drive the industry in the most sustainable direction. These are energy efficiency, carbon reduction, and climate resiliency.

Energy efficiency has been heavily codified in the tiered energy code, reaching net-zero requirements for the highest tier. Canadian provinces have already adopted the requirements for some of the mid-tier levels, and these regulations will continue to move toward more efficiency going forward.

“What we have to remember though, is that energy was really just a surrogate for the real conversation, which is about carbon reduction,” says Oding. “Over the next five to ten years, we’re going to see more of an emphasis on not just reducing energy, but also reducing carbon.”

Beyond energy efficiency and carbon, resiliency is beginning to take on a bigger role in the design of modern homes. As the world continues to see more unprecedented climate events, homes will have to be built to accommodate extreme weather and other environmental threats.

The industry is evolving and so too must the tools and technologies used by home builders and advisors like Building Knowledge Canada. Recently, Chris Magwood and his team at the Endeavour Centre in Peterborough, Ontario released an innovative new tool called BEAM Estimator. BEAM is an acronym that stands for Building Emissions Accounting for Materials. An advisor can submit the main dimensions of a building and get back a list of raw materials with details about their carbon cost.

Tools, like Natural Resources Canada’s ‘HOT2000,’ have existed for calculating the energy cost of a building, but now with BEAM, the complete carbon footprint can be calculated as well. This includes not only operational carbon—the carbon released in heating, cooling, and providing electricity to a building—but also embodied carbon. These two metrics are being combined into a measurement that industry leaders have begun calling ‘carbon intensity.’

Carbon intensity is a relatively new concept, but some research is already being done. Chris Magwood, one of the members of the group behind BEAM, headed up the world’s first greenhouse gas benchmarking study, called Emissions from Materials Benchmark Assessment of Residential Construction (EMBARC). This research studied greenhouse gas emissions from building materials used to construct homes in Toronto and Hamilton. The results of this study revealed more than 840,000 tonnes of carbon and demonstrated the value of a more comprehensive metric for carbon measurements.

Building Knowledge Canada has long brought an understanding of both operational and embodied carbon to its consultations but the addition of these new tools and techniques will greatly improve carbon measurements not only for itself but for the industry at large.

As the director of building science, Oding keeps a very close eye on industry advancements. He is a past chair of the technical research committee for the Canadian Home Building Association and the Net-Zero Council. He is also a member of the Net-Zero Council Management Committee and has been since it was originally founded in 2014.

“To me, it’s been an absolute privilege to get to know the industry experts and stakeholders that participate in these committees. There’s really no other forum like it in Canada,” says Oding.

This year, Building Knowledge Canada President Gord Cooke was recognized with the ‘Clean 50 Lifetime Achievement Award’ for his ongoing contributions to sustainability in the Canadian housing market. Last year, Huso Ashimi, a Building Knowledge Canada energy advisor with nearly two decades of experience, won the energy evaluator of the year award from EnerQuality. But beyond these recognitions, Building Knowledge Canada feels that the real reward is watching its customers achieve new levels of sustainable home building.

Recently, one of its clients, Mattamy Homes has begun closing on properties in a new development called Springwater, one of the first net-zero-ready communities in Canada. Another of its clients, Activa Homes announced this last spring that every single-detached home it builds going forward will achieve net-zero-ready performance.

“This is really exciting to us because these are builders talking about building the best homes that Canadians could possibly live in. They’re efficient; they’re lower-carbon; they’re healthy; the air is fresh and clean. You’re giving the homeowner a place where their family can thrive, and you’re building them an asset that is not going to depreciate in the face of climate change,” says Oding.

The post The Science of Sustainable Home Building – Balancing Energy Efficiency, Carbon Reduction, and Climate Resiliency<p class="company">Building Knowledge Canada</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

Elviano strives to provide top-notch services for every project, utilizing 3D renderings, competitive pricing, and a commitment to excellence that sets the company apart from competitors.

“We think of ourselves as a one-stop shop,” says Pooya Sayyadi, Vice President, Operations. “We like to start off with the clients from their planning stage, understand what they want to do within their property and what they’re envisioning.” Once Elviano has that feedback, the design phase follows, allowing the company to understand client criteria and needs. Based on that, a preliminary plan is created for the client’s review.

“Once we know the clients are comfortable and the plans are within their criteria, we submit that to the city,” says Sayyadi. “Then we do all the building permit work, and once the permits are ready and issued, we demolish if there’s a house on the property, and then we build.”

Fostering close relationships with everyone involved in a project is key to ongoing success, he says, along with Elviano’s distinctive and exquisite design ideas and its efficient, meticulous work ethic, all of which have contributed to the success of this family-owned firm.

“What’s a little bit different with us is that when the construction phase is done, a lot of the finishing details in the house are done by our own co-workers,” says Sayyadi. “Because we have that capability of building the finishings and the furniture ourselves, we plan ahead. In our design phase we plan a lot of the illuminations and where the HVAC vents are going to be.”

Elviano pre-plans for “everything,” he adds, including all detailed construction work, potential problems they might face in the future, and even building the right furniture for the house.

“That’s where we finish off,” he says. “Then, if there’s any maintenance or any help the clients may need in the future, we’re always there to provide that.”

Elviano prides itself not only on working with clients until they’re satisfied with what they see, but also on building homes in a timely manner while creating designs that reflect current market desires, and staying within budget.

“We try to really take care of the entire process because it’s time-consuming and clients don’t have that time to invest in building the house,” says Sayyadi. “We really try to support them in making it as time-efficient as possible.”

Elviano also doesn’t work with investors, as properties are developed with their own investments through the company, along with clients it does project management for. “We don’t have any other investors in our company or any other properties that we’re doing work with through investors.”

Although Elviano has faced the recent challenges of how COVID has changed workloads and daily lives, along with supply chain issues that have impacted pricing, it has remained committed to its goal of keeping estimates steady in the face of ongoing fluctuation.

“Because the time span for a project can range anywhere from three months for a design project to two or three years for a construction project, our biggest challenge is understanding the timing of things and being able to estimate in a way so we don’t have to go back and change the pricing that we’ve done,” says Sayyadi. “However, we have high hopes that everything’s going to balance out and go back to normal.”

In an industry where price ranges are vastly affected by different shortages, it can be difficult when building a wide range of houses priced from $5 million to a whopping $17 million. Elviano’s $17 million home, located at Yonge and York Mills in Toronto, is truly spectacular, boasting an indoor basketball court, home theatre, gym, pool, backyard soccer field, firepit, and outdoor kitchen.

“It was a pretty cool project, and one of the first projects where we tried to do all the finishings ourselves,” says Sayyadi. “All the furniture and all the finishings, feature walls, hand railings. A lot of the work has been either custom-designed by us or actually built in our workshop. It was one of the projects that really pushed us forward.”

This impressive accomplishment was due in part to having that workshop set up and being able to create finishes to the client’s liking.

“What’s really difficult in building houses is when it gets to finishing it’s very time-consuming and very hard to finish the little details of the house perfectly,” Sayyadi says. “But when you have the workshop, if something’s not to your liking it’s always easy to adjust and fix. The more time passes the better the finishing get, so it was really a big accomplishment as we were struggling with finding groups that could do the finishing for us. That’s one of the reasons we decided to do them ourselves.”

With finding skilled labour also being hampered by the pandemic, Elviano’s ability to fulfill projects in-house allows the company to take control of every aspect of a project. “We really like to keep our group together,” says Sayyadi. “We’re not interested in having co-workers that are just there for a while. We really want to have our people be happy in the company and enjoy it and really want to stay within.”

He adds that it can be a challenge to find the right people. “It makes our life very hard to find these good people, but we’re happy that we found the group that we have now because it’s pushed us forward,” he says. “A lot of companies are struggling with finding people to work, but we’ve been able to keep our people. We’ve been blessed in that sense.”

Looking forward, Elviano aims to further establish the furniture side of its business and continue to help clients get the best furnishings during the final phase of house construction.

“We’re really invested in getting our furniture to the best quality possible and being able to produce any kind of furniture you can imagine, plus do it locally so it doesn’t affect our programming in terms of time,” Sayyadi says. “We control our lead times and make sure the house is turnkey and move-in ready at the time that we promise our clients.”

Again, putting clients first and helping them achieve their desired goals remains at the heart of the company’s competitive advantage.

“I think there are a lot of businesses that are also very good in the industry, and I don’t want to compare ourselves with other people. I don’t see them as competitors, but as people who work in the same industry as us,” says Sayyadi. “There are a lot of other good project managers and other good designers in the industry, but our vision is we do only projects that we love. When we take on a project we want to make sure that everything in that project goes well and there’s nothing off about it or something that doesn’t make sense. We really go into detail.”

To that end, Elviano’s different phases of work involve fully embracing those detail-oriented aspects to ensure everything goes as planned. This approach allows Elviano to take pride in presenting the finished project to the client and seeing the client use the space. This involves “lots of pre-planning” well in advance via 3D software used to render images showing how the house will look prior to work ever beginning.

“It gives great detail in terms of a vision of how the house is going to look before we even start building,” Sayyadi says. “So if we see any problems we change it prior to construction rather than having to do a lot of changes of plans during construction.”

This detailed 3D rendering provides much appreciated assistance, he adds, particularly with high-detail homes, allowing clients to view all aspects of design beforehand, saving both time and energy for all involved. That attention to care and detail is an essential aspect of Elviano’s overall process, and one that can be found throughout its entire company culture.

“We’re really family-oriented,” says Sayyadi. “Our company is a family company and no matter how big we grow, we’re accustomed to that family feel. We don’t even like to say we have ‘employees,’ because we see everybody as our co-workers. We’re working together to achieve our goal. Our relationship with our coworkers is like family, and everybody who comes into our office will get that feeling,” he says.

“We really love what we do, and we want to understand the families that we’re building homes for,” says Sayyadi. “We really incorporate their needs and how their family will function better within that house, and create that for them. It’s a practical home that they can use and also have it be their forever home. We really take pride in that.”

The post Welcome Home: A One-Stop Shop for Beautiful Buildings<p class="company">Elviano Homes Ltd.</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

“We’ve always tried to do something a little different, always tried to be a leader with energy efficiency, accessible housing, whatnot,” states Karwood President Greg Hussey, adding that the company asks itself “‘how do we advance the industry to the next level?’”

Karwood specializes in residential projects including duplexes, bungalows, split entry, and two-storey houses. Customers can select from multiple design options at different price points and provide input on various features.

“The majority of our stuff is residential but we have a full-fledged architectural firm. We can tackle any project,” he says. Outside of residential, the company has worked on everything from veterinary clinics to restaurants, retirement homes, and a church.

From its original base in Paradise, Newfoundland, Karwood has expanded and now has a branch in Dorchester, Ontario. “Our push is to expand across the country and to be super-flexible to be able to go where demand is. What we’re trying to do is develop a company that has zero footprint wherever we go, so the whole thing can move tomorrow if we have to,” says Hussey. “Our system is designed to be operated out of anywhere.”

To this end, the company relies on small, technology-savvy construction crews who work in a highly efficient manner. Its on-the-ground team for single-family homes typically consists of “a project coordinator, a renovation-level carpenter, and a labourer, and that three-guy team can do twenty-five to thirty [assignments] a year, and everything is web-based or electronic-based. There’s no paper. That team functions as a unit, and they can go anywhere,” he says. Some duties such as drywall and painting are handled by subcontractors, but Karwood remains the builder of record on its projects.

The company is constantly looking to streamline its already nimble operations. Wall and floor panels offer a case in point. In most residential builds, wood panels are manufactured offsite and then transported to the worksite. To speed this process, Karwood partnered with a firm to create a portable wood-panel production plant. “We can move the plant to a subdivision and build in the plant,” says Hussey.

Reducing construction site wastage and energy consumption in new homes are also top of mind. “Most builders, if they get wastage down to ten percent, they figure they are doing pretty good. But that means, for every ten homes we build, we throw one away. So, how do we improve wastage? Not the way we are doing things now,” he states, remarking that wastage can be reduced by using recycled materials.

Hussey has been working in the construction and real-estate field since 1995. Back in Newfoundland, he worked for his father, a land developer turned building developer. In 1999, he split the building and engineering side from the original company, “and we grew from there,” he recalls.

Karwood has only been in Ontario for a few years but has already made a strong impression. In addition to home building, the company is taking part in several high-profile initiatives. These include a pilot project with Panasonic involving ductless mini-splits. A ductless mini-split is a home heating and cooling system with temperature controls in multiple locations. People in different rooms can adjust the temperature according to personal preference. Ductless simply means a home with no ducts.

The Panasonic project, which was announced last year, involves a pair of nearly identical homes in St. Thomas. One home was constructed with ducts and a conventional heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system (HVAC). The other home, built by Karwood, uses a ductless air-source heat pump (ASHP) system. Operating and capital costs for each home will be compiled and compared over ten years.

Karwood is also involved with the ‘Net Zero Initiative for Multi-Unit Residential Buildings (MURB)’ project. Launched in June 2020, this initiative by the Canadian Home Builders’ Association (CHBA) in partnership with Natural Resources Canada features teams from around the country constructing net-zero buildings.

Net-zero structures produce as much or more energy than they consume annually. To achieve this, net-zero buildings sport features such as solar panels, high-performance water heaters, thicker insulation, and triple-glazed windows. The building Karwood is working on in St. Thomas is three storeys high with fifteen units.

“We’re one of six builders looking at different types of MURB projects, to see if you can do net-zero in a multi-storey building and how it would look and function. We’re going to use that pilot project to help shape new codes for MURBs coming forward,” Hussey explains.

The company has partnered with Doug Tarry Homes (a well-respected developer in St. Thomas), the YWCA, St. Thomas Elgin, and Sanctuary Homes (a faith-based affordable housing organization), on another initiative called Project Tiny Hope. The project aims to create miniature but functional and aesthetically pleasing residences called tiny homes and a multi-unit building for low-income residents in St. Thomas. Karwood was brought on board to help with design and planning work.

“Effectively, the project is a group of tiny houses that the ‘Y’ is going to operate as affordable rentals. What we’re trying to do is not only design this but make something that is affordable and repeatable,” he says.

Being an early adopter of technology has helped Karwood stay ahead of the curve. The company was using PalmPilots on worksites back in the 1990s, a pioneering move at a time when construction crews were not usually equipped with any technological devices. The company uses three-dimensional design software and business information modelling (BIM) solutions and is excited by the possibilities presented by virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR).

“My techs fitted me with VR goggles to walk me through one of our buildings,” states Hussey. As for AR, “We’re looking at being able to go onsite, hold up an iPad, and you see your house and all the houses that are going to be around it,” he continues.

Karwood is not just about futuristic solutions, however; the company has a strong preference for old-fashioned construction materials such as wood. It likes to use cross-laminated timber (CLT) as an alternative to concrete and steel. This is “an engineered wood product consisting of layers of kiln-dried dimension lumber (usually three, five, seven, or nine) oriented at right angles to one another and then glued to form structural panels,” explains Naturallywood.com.

“If we want to build a building that has zero carbon footprint, then you have to build without materials that have a lot of carbon. Single-family is mostly wood anyway. It’s in the multi-family, multi-storey stuff where the cross-laminated timber comes in,” states Hussey.

Like all other businesses across the continent, Karwood had to deal with COVID. The pandemic began around the same time the company was expanding into Ontario.

“Starting in a brand-new market in a brand-new province and having to do that in a pandemic is a challenge like no other. The fact that we’re still able to advance all these things despite all the headwinds shows that nothing is impossible as long as you stick to the dream,” he notes.

Still, COVID did not affect Karwood quite as badly as might be expected. “We kind of got lucky at the very beginning, because we had recently moved into a brand-new market. We were already one hundred percent set up to work remotely,” Hussey recalls.

Office staff relocated to home while construction work continued apace. “We didn’t miss a beat on our backend. Our sites remained open the whole time,” he notes.

This is not to say COVID did not present certain challenges. With operations in both Ontario and Newfoundland, Karwood had to abide by different regulations in each province regarding the virus.

For all this, Karwood is growing fast. It currently has roughly sixty employees, up from forty-five this time last year. The company likes to hire problem solvers who “want to make a difference,” says Hussey. Being familiar with technological tools also helps. “You can’t join our company, even as a carpenter if you’re afraid of an iPad and want to have paper. It’s pointless to even apply,” he says. While it does not expect all of its staff members to have Bill Gates-like abilities, the company strongly values technology and out-of-the-box thinking.

“We’re trying to push the boundaries on everything. We want people that are going to come on board who appreciate continual learning. Where is the industry going? How does energy efficiency construction work? They also need to understand building science,” he explains.

As for the future, “the expansion into Ontario was sort of a first step on how to be able to have a small company that can operate in multiple jurisdictions,” he continues.

The plan is to continue to embrace technology and new construction methods “so we build better homes that are more affordable. That’s where I’d like to be in five years,” adds Hussey.

The post Karwood Does It Differently<p class="company">Karwood Contracting Limited</p> appeared first on Construction In Focus.

“When we build houses, we usually look at, ‘what can we create that is family-oriented?’ because we all have our own families,” says Masoud Sanai. “We look at tiny details, like putting in a small closet here, a crawlspace there, or a corner for a desk. Even things like a glass railing instead of a normal railing to give a better view and create spaciousness. The small things make it more liveable.”

Along with brothers Farhad and Amir, Masoud is one of the co-owners and Directors at Azora Group, one of Vancouver’s premier residential developers for over 12 years. For the privately held company, the word ‘family’ doesn’t just apply to the brothers, but also to new home buyers.

For the Sanai family, construction has been a part of their lives for decades. About 80 years ago in Iran, their grandfather was a renowned architect and construction developer who created many successful projects; in fact, some architectural monuments are still under protection from United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Following in the family tradition, Farhad, Amir, and Masoud’s father and uncle created their own building company, focused on developing houses and road construction.

At age 13, Masoud — the eldest of the brothers — moved to Germany where he lived for 17 years before coming to Canada, while Farhad and Amir moved with the rest of the family to Dubai, where they lived for a few years before meeting up in Canada. Masoud received his education in Germany in Economics and Mechanical Engineering before attending Harvard Business School. One brother studied Integrated Engineering at the University of British Columbia, while the other brother attended the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) alongside his degree from Iran in Integrated Mathematics in Economics, and earned his real estate license.

“So we put all this knowledge and education together,” states Masoud. “We are the third generation.” Even though they didn’t have the same network and connections as in Iran when they came to Canada, a passion for building has led them to great success. “We had the luck to be the third generation and have the mindset of being a developer.” Starting off small, one of the first projects in Canada for the brothers was creating a duplex house in the British Columbia city of Coquitlam. Soon, this led to the creation of other duplexes, then fourplexes and increasingly larger townhouse projects.

No matter the type of project – multi-family, single-family, or custom – they are backed by new home warranties of two years, five years, and 10 years. Clients are always thrilled with their homes and the service they receive, which reflects Azora Group’s longstanding commitment to craftsmanship. “We look at our projects for the long run, and don’t skimp on quality, because our names and reputation are out there,” states Masoud. On the rare occasions where there are deficiencies, Masoud or his brother will visit the homeowner personally with one of their sub-trades to correct any issues. “Sometimes we do more than we should, because we think the relationship is worth more than saving $100 or $200 on deficiencies.”

This type of customer service, along with backing from one of the province’s best-known warranty companies, keeps paying off in repeat clients and word-of-mouth referrals.

Building residential projects that they themselves would want to live in, the Sanai brothers’ outstanding projects include Shannon 18 and Brock House. Now selling, Shannon 18 will be a collection of 18 contemporary three-bedroom townhomes of 1,300 square feet in Vancouver’s west side, at 7659 Granville St. With luxurious finishes and private balconies, Shannon 18 will offer homeowners stunning views of Vancouver, gorgeous landscaped entryway patios, an open, common courtyard, and much more. It is, says Masoud, a way of getting new neighbours to know one another in a community setting while still having their own private oasis.

Always mindful of creating outstanding properties, Azora Group also provides homeowners with great value. Priced at around $1.5 million, Shannon 18 is in a location where most homes sell in the $4 million to $10 million range. Popular with young families who want to be in an excellent area near quality schools, the project is also a hit with empty-nesters who don’t need much space but still want to live near their children and grandchildren. “I would say 70 percent of our buyers are young families, professionals who want to be in that area, because we are always looking to create something valuable for people,” comments Masoud, adding that instead of spending $2 million, Azora buyers can purchase one of their townhomes for $1.3, which boast the same infrastructure, spaciousness, and number of bedrooms.

Along with Shannon 18, another recent project is Brock House, a collection of 10 exclusive homes — eight duplexes and two single homes — all with three bedrooms and competitively priced between $1.3 and $1.5 million. Four of the properties also have downstairs rental units complete with separate kitchen and bathroom.

Situated in East Vancouver’s Kensington-Cedar Cottage neighbourhood at 2310 Brock St, these two- and three-storey homes seamlessly combine contemporary materials with classic architecture and design. Brock House features private patios for every unit, and an open, common space courtyard.

While the property offers the beauty of General Brock Park — which evokes feelings of being in the middle of a natural oasis with a children’s play area — homeowners are also close to nearby conveniences, including a community centre with a 4,000-square-foot fitness centre, gym, ice rink, music studio, licensed preschool, dance studio, art studio, café, and plenty more, truly embodying the best of modern family living. And since it is a strata-managed property, homeowners can enjoy the grounds without having to worry about gardening.

Previously the site of two older homes, Brock House is an ideal property because it has three-corner sides. “That’s an advantage for us, because if you have three-corner sides, you can have much more exclusivity for parking and entrances and so on,” explains Masoud. Negotiations with the city took two and a half years, since Vancouver wanted nine homes, not the 10 requested by Azora. “If we went for nine units, they would have been much bigger, but it wouldn’t have been that affordable for families to live in,” he says. “That’s also another thing to think of: affordability for a family to live in a three-bedroom house, possibly with the mortgage helper downstairs.”

Prior to planning projects, Masoud and his brothers review the drawings of their long-time architect, who is open to collaboration and suggestions. Operating with a modest back-end team, the company works with about 30 to 40 others, including sub-trades, who are treated like extended family members. This friendly, community mindset is carried over to all Azora developments, which sees neighbours become friends and enjoy get-togethers and barbecues.

Today, many of Azora’s projects are in the $20 million to $30 million range. Operating mainly in Vancouver itself, the company is eyeing North Vancouver, Coquitlam, Richmond and Burnaby. And while the desire to expand is strong, Masoud and his brothers remain realistic. “We want to grow as much as our abilities,” he says, “and do the job we are doing now, but on a little higher scale with more projects, and grow organically instead of exponentially. We want to be safe, keep our clients safe, and let them know they have a partner they can work with for years.”

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That fascination with real estate seems to be a trait that came down through the family.

Nick’s entrepreneurial great-grandfather came to Canada from Macedonia in the early 1900s and became involved in the restaurant and banquet hall business, along with the building sector. Nick and Jim were also inspired by their fathers, who were involved in insurance and real estate brokerage after emigrating from Greece.

“I guess the real estate and construction industry is in my blood,” says Nick. The co-founder and CEO of Fusioncorp Developments, self-made Ainis earned a Bachelor of Technology degree in Architectural Science and Project Management from Ryerson University before immersing himself in the construction industry.

One of his first jobs was a $5,000 bathroom renovation. Soon, he began working for developers, steadily gaining experience on large projects including a 12-storey/five-level-underground building in Toronto’s Yorkville area at Bay and Cumberland, and later the Pantages Towers on Victoria Street.

Near the heart of the city’s downtown at Yonge and Dundas, the sleek 44-storey structure was one of the tallest at the time in all of Canada.

Growing by knowing

Growing his knowledge and fuelled by his passion for construction, Nick incorporated Fusioncorp Developments in 2005. Starting off as a part-time operation, Fusioncorp became a full-time endeavour in 2007. Joined by his cousin Jim, who today serves as principal and vice-president, Fusioncorp steadily grew its client base, and became registered with Tarion – a not-for-profit consumer protection organization founded by the Ontario Government to oversee the new home warranty program – in 2010.

“At the beginning it was just the two of us,” says Nick. “Today, we have close to 30 employees, and have grown and learned a lot.”

Part of the learning experience for Fusioncorp is getting to know its markets inside and out.

The construction company behind many successful small to large-scale, multi-unit residential and commercial developments, Fusioncorp has forged a reputation for expertise in medium-density projects. From project management services to new constructions, refurbishment, renovation, custom homes and commercial construction, Fusioncorp’s projects encompass low-rise and mid-rise, condos, and conversions.

Wide experience, wide expertise

Taking on projects ranging from about $20 million to $60 million, the company also has a general contracting division responsible for smaller, mainly fixed-price works up to $5 million.

“We cover a wide range of mid-rise types of projects,” says Ainis of Fusioncorp, which operates within a two-hour radius of Toronto, going as far east to the Niagara region as Belleville, and as far north as Georgian Bay and Collingwood.

Taking on different constructions, including low- and mid-rise wood frame, pre-cast, cast-in-place condominiums, conversions of historic buildings, commercial buildings, office buildings and others, the company also covers many mid-rise type projects and conversions.

“We are always interested in doing amazing modern homes, and design/build,” says Ainis. The company also has a design/build partnership in general contracting with a well-known Toronto firm.

At present, Fusioncorp is handling preliminary work on a super home project in the Georgian Bay area, which, when complete, will measure between 9,000 and 10,000 square feet.

Many of the company’s baseline projects are in the mid-rise, 150-unit range of about 150,000 square feet. For Ainis and his team, smaller condos present more of a financial challenge. “We see a lot of stacked townhouse projects,” he says, “and we cater a lot to new-development companies as well.”

From wood panelization to cast-in-place concrete systems, Fusioncorp’s expertise encompasses a wide range of building types and sizes. These include low-rise condos such as the Roncesvalles Lofts, mid-rise works like Amik II and Amik III, the Garment Factory Lofts conversion, commercial works (College Office Building, Firkin on the Danforth), and general contracting projects Gatehouse, Markham Road and The Palisades.

Values and vision

Founded on construction knowledge and guided by the values of integrity, safety, longevity, sustainability and transparency, Fusioncorp Developments is proud of its track record as one of the most accountable and open boutique construction / project management and general contracting companies in Canada.

As a key point of difference from some other construction organizations, Fusioncorp is less about one-off projects than about forging lasting relationships and moving forward with clients into the future.

Along with delivering works professionally – on-time and on-budget – Fusioncorp’s customer commitment includes meticulous planning, problem-solving, transparency, safety, sustainability, and always working in the best interest of the client by keeping them informed from project inception to completion.

To ensure the company maintains its dedication to all clients, Fusioncorp has built a team of dedicated staff who are not only professionals in the field but uphold its values.

“We want people who have experience in the construction industry, primarily multi-unit residential construction, as project managers and site supervisors,” says Ainis of the family-oriented business. “And we are also interested in making sure we have people who have the right attitude and are the best fit for our company. Our culture is hard work and fun, but we also want people who are honest and loyal.”

Sustainable building

On Fusioncorp’s website, Nick Ainis points out that the company is building a green future and scrutinizes every project through this lens.

“We strive to achieve that goal by assessing your project from an environmentally responsible perspective. While our obligation and responsibility to the planet is incorporated into our daily practices, as builders and project leaders we are committed to developing a sustainability plan that is within your means and budget to help ‘build a green future’ for our planet.”

Responsible for a number of LEED-certified projects over the years, Ainis acknowledges that although sustainability is a company-wide touchstone, there are plenty of trends in the construction sector that need to be considered.

“It’s an old-school industry, and change does not happen quickly,” he says. Although many municipalities have adopted sustainable buildings and more green standards than a few years ago, Canada could be further ahead with green building.

“We have a passion for innovation, and we have a passion for technology, so as a company we’re looking to see where the trends are and aiming to be at the forefront of those trends.”

New solutions

As a veteran of the construction industry, Nick Ainis follows Canada’s housing shortage very closely. For things to improve, however, he believes the government must change how it handles the issue. Ainis doesn’t mince words: “We need the government out of that. We need them not to create policies: they need to be a partner in this.”

Canada’s construction sector is already facing many challenges, from a shortage of skilled tradespeople to rising material costs. Wanting to build affordable housing is one thing – having the resources and funds to do it is something else.

“We need tradespeople and labour to build it,” he says. “So when situations arise like this, we need to think outside the box and create new solutions. Maybe those solutions just don’t exist right now. And as an industry, it’s a challenge how to make housing more affordable, and how to create more housing for the larger population. We need innovative solutions, and those don’t come from the government, they come from private companies, and innovation comes from the marketplace.”

From concept development, budgeting, and scheduling to estimating and tenders, contractor and project management, cost control and quality control, risk analysis and more, Fusioncorp works with clients to create strategic, custom-tailored services to fit their exacts project needs.

“We consider ourselves very creative, adaptable and innovative,” he says. “We are a company of integrity, and we want to maintain that. There are a lot of good companies out there, and we are one of them.”

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