Construction industry reps offer input on housing planks

Photo Supplied/Canadian Home Builders’ Association of BC

Publishers Note: This story originally appeared in the Oct. 11 edition of BC Today.

is generally agreed upon that B.C. needs to build more housing, do it quickly, and make those homes affordable. How to best do this is a major election debate topic.

BC Today spoke with representatives of two non-partisan construction associations to see what they thought of party platform promises on this issue, and what those platforms lack.

Mark Bernhardt of the Canadian Home Builders’ Association of British Columbia (CHBA BC), which includes 2,400 small-home builders, likes the NDP’s willingness to think outside the box with novel programs and policy, but wants change to development cost charges, which the Conservatives seem more open to.

Chris Atchison of the B.C. Construction Association (BCCA), representing 10,000 businesses in industrial, commercial and multi-unit residential construction, wants payment certainty for construction work, something only the BC Greens have explicitly supported.

These organizations are not endorsing candidates, and the BCCA created an online “builders vote” tool where people can go find out where each party stands on issues that matter to the B.C. construction industry.

Another major B.C. construction association, the Independent Contractors and Businesses Association (ICBA) — which only represents non-union companies — has endorsed the BC Conservatives.

BCCA perspective
Atchison is pleased with the NDP’s focus on multi-unit residential construction and commitment to reducing barriers to that type of development. He is also happy about the recent commitment to double the number of apprenticeship seats for aspiring tradespeople.

He also applauds the BC Conservatives’ plans to reduce regulation, including their “presumption of compliance” plan to reduce the number of inspections. And he likes that party’s interest in tailoring the immigration system to industry needs.

But Atchison wants payment legislation to ensure contractors get paid for services within 28 days, along with an adjudication process to resolve disputes. This is something most other provinces and the federal government have already created, and something neither of those parties advocate for in platform planks.

“We’re falling behind other jurisdictions from a standpoint of fairness and competitiveness,” he said.

He said it can take up to six months for money to trickle down from owners to developers to tradespeople.

“This is putting tremendous strain on the economic viability of the contractors and the skilled tradespeople that we need,” Atchison said.

He also thinks more can be done to provide better consistency in municipal regulations, so developers know what to expect when they work indifferent districts. The difference in permit wait times can range from days to months to a year when municipal boundaries are crossed.

“That’s not a friendly environment to work in if you’re a business,” he said.

The small-scale builder perspective
Bernhardt echoed this concern. For smaller owners and operators, long delays can mean paying interest on loans without having income.

“That’s a very expensive waiting game,” he said.

He applauded the NDP for a pair of legislative amendments through Bill 44 and Bill 47 which shorten the rezoning process, but said more needs to be done.

Bill 44, Housing Statutes (Residential Development) Amendment Act, compelled municipalities to end single-family home zoning and forced them to stop holding public hearings for rezoning, while Bill 47, Housing Statutes (Transit-Oriented Areas) Amendment Act, forces municipalities to allow apartment buildings near transit hubs.

For builders like himself, it is not just consistency in wait times, but consistency in process. He wants a permitting process that is the same across municipal boundaries.

“That makes it easier for us to operate,” he said. “There’s less mistakes. Things move faster.”

Bernhardt is a bit worried about what he hears from the BC Conservatives about repealing Bill 44 and ending step code requirements, saying this could lead to uncertainty.

“It is not good for industry to have flip-flopping government policy,” he said.

Repealing Bill 44 might interrupt projects in mid-stream, he said, and ending the step code likely won’t lower building costs, but could mean lost jobs for insulators, air-tightness people and engineers.

He added that B.C. builders designed the current step code, which he thinks is better than the national version.

“We really want our made-in-B.C. solution,” he said.

But what Bernhardt wants most are lower development cost charges. Depending on the municipality these can reach upward of $100,000 for a single-family home, which he said is passed directly on to the buyer.

The Conservatives have talked about change, though not about decreasing the amount.

“It’s really a hidden tax,” he said. “Why should new home-buyers be funding the city, things like sewers and parks? Those are things that benefit everybody.”