B.C. government’s warranty agency circulates hopes for ‘professionalization’ measures to reduce presence of ‘pickup truck’ builders
Bob Ransford
Sun
VANCOUVER SUN FILES All the advances in residential-construction methods brought on by our province’s leakycondo crisis are purposeless if the men and women who need to know about them don’t know about them, the government’s homewarranty agency argues. Recently the agency released plans to raise training and performance standards for members of the home-building sector. The plan includes a recommendation for mandatory training of any homebuilder acting as a general contractor on a new-home project.
The home-building industry in B.C. is about to become more professional and that should be welcome news for anyone out shopping for a new home, and just about everyone else who lives with a roof over their head.
More than once in this column I have pointed out that anyone can become a home builder, without any mandatory qualifications.
A small number of very professional homebuilding firms in this province, who employ a whole range of qualified people involved in the design and construction process, build quite a number of the new homes.
But there are still “pickup truck builders” who may build two or three single family homes per year and are nowhere to be found after you have moved into your new home. They represent what the rest of the industry regards as the “black-market” building activity that gives everyone a bad name.
I’ve been an advocate for a higher degree of consumer protection for new-home buyers, simply because purchasers of many other products, from toys to automobiles, have more protection than what is offered to new- home purchasers who are entering into the single largest transaction most consumers make in their lives.
Finally, that is all about to change.
The Homeowner Protection Office (HPO) has recently floated a sweeping proposal to raise standards in the homebuilding industry.
This is the provincial agency created in 1998 to strengthen consumer protection for new homebuyers and help bring about improvements in the quality of residential construction after the leaky condo crisis. The legislation under which this agency operates offers mandatory warranty protection and some financial protection for purchasers of new homes and little else.
But the HPO has now recognized there is a glaring absence of any meaningful entry requirements for the homebuilding profession. The black-market builder is a problem for all of those trying to promote a reputable industry. Raise the bar to entry and you immediately enhance the reputation of those in the game.
There have been some great improvements in building science and technology since the leaky condo crisis, but the HPO admits that the many training and technical skills programs that exist in the industry are all voluntary in nature. There exists a patch-work of qualifications among the good builders and the fly-by-night builders can still operate out of the back of a pickup truck, so long as they have the financial capacity to qualify for warranty insurance.
The regulators also admit that the Homeowner Protection Act lacks the necessary teeth to respond to infractions and enforce regulations in the industry.
In an effort to “raise the bar”, the HPO has issued a discussion paper that proposes a whole range of new measures to make the industry not only look but also act more professional.
The HPO is recommending mandatory education for any homebuilder acting as a general contractor actually constructing a new home. Those with vast prior experience would need to demonstrate “measurable and relevant knowledge”.
“Vendor developers”, a term the HPO uses to refer to those developers who simply hire general contractors to build their product, would still need to be registered but would not have to meet the same knowledge assessment as general contractors.
Another new twist in the recommendations is mandatory registration for individuals building a new home for their own personal occupancy. This closes a loop-hole through which many pick-up truck builders have tried to skirt current registration requirements.
The HPO is also suggesting that it take on the responsibility for assessing the qualifications for licensing. Today, the only real qualification for licensing is decided by warranty providers who merely assess the financial ability of builders. The financial qualification requirement would remain, but a new point system would be established where the HPO would assess a builder based on things like technical expertise, business expertise, past conduct, and industry involvement.
The HPO is self-financing. Currently, licensing fees and a mandatory assessment on each new home constructed pays for the agency. This new more stringent licensing system will cost more to implement. The HPO is proposing to pay for this by imposing a new system of fines for infractions of the Homeowner Protection Act and also with a new fee for owner-builder registration.
The HPO wants to know what you think before they proceed with raising the bar in the residential construction industry. They are holding a series of public meetings across the province to discuss the proposals. The Vancouver meeting will be held on Monday October 17th. You can access the HPO’s discussion paper and details about the public meetings by clicking on “What’s New” on its websiten hpo.bc.ca
Bob Ransford is a public affairs consultant with COUNTERPOINT Communications Inc. He is a former real estate developer and a director of the Urban Development Institute – Pacific region. Email: [email protected]
© The Vancouver Sun 2005