contractor advantage september / october 2012

ALSO:Marketing Tools + Wood Moulding +

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September/October 2012

CONTRACTORADVANTAGEC A N A D A ’ S M A G A Z I N E F O R P R O F E S S I O N A L C O N T R A C T O R S

COMPLIMENTARY

PLUS:FIREPLACES & WOODSTOVES

GREEN BASEMENT RENOVATIONS

FLOORINGTRENDS

®

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DOW

Dow insulation and air sealing solutions can help builders and contractors offer homeowners long-term thermal performance, moisture management, durability, energy savings and improved indoor air quality by protecting the home from entry of dust, allergens and pests.

Take comfort. Dow products can help you exceed building codes, prevent callbacks and save installation time.

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Inside

Contents

CONTRACTOR ADVANTAGE SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2012 | 3

Contractor Advantage

Castle Building Centres Group Ltd.,with building supply outlets in every province, is Canada’s leading supplier of lumber and building materials to professional contractors, builders

and renovators.

Publications Mail Agreement #40006677 Return undeliverable Canadian

Addresses to: 100 Milverton Drive, Suite 400

Mississauga, Ont. L5R 4H1

Advertising EnquiriesVendors whose products are carried in Castle Building

Centres stores have the opportunity to advertise in

For more information or to reserve space in the next issue, contact:

Jennifer Mercieca Director of Communications

Phone: 905-564-3307 Fax: 905-564-6592

E-mail: [email protected]

Published and designed exclusively for Castle Building Centres Group Ltd. by Business Information Group

Material Contact: Jessica Jubb 416-510-5194

Copyright 2012

Editorial Director Castle Building Centres Group Ltd.

Jennifer Mercieca

Managing EditorPaul Barker

Art Director Mark Ryan

ContributorsNestor E. Arellano Lawrence Cummer Victoria Downing Stefan Dubowski

Josh Kerbel Charlyne Meinhard

Paul Rhodes David Chilton Saggers

John G. Smith

2734

46

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2012 Vol. 18 No. 5

NEWS WATCH / 5 Alberta Awards Of Excellence

NEW PRODUCTS / 7 New and improved products

BUSINESS STRATEGIES / 12 Cash flow dialogue

SMART MONEY / 14 Explaining the SR&ED

ECONOMICS 101 / 16 How to be a better manager

ONLINE MARKETING / 18 Generating online leads

LEARNING CURVE / 19 Building up performance

FeaturesNet Worth / 20Anyone who wants to stand out will need to take a close look at their online marketing strategies.

The View From Inside / 27Changing demographics, increased style choices and improved installation options is giving the interior door new life.

Making moulding magic / 34Moulding creates its effect through the artful play of light and shadows, but there is nothing artificial about the profits contractors can make.

Burning Issues / 40When it comes to installing wood-burning appliances the focus should be on location, chimneys and surrounding spaces.

Get more from the floor / 46Durable, eco-friendly, cost effective and attractive: customers want it all in their flooring material. New products aim to please.

Greening the Basement / 54Listen closely to homeowners when helping them with their dream basements and suggesting green appliance options.

Dow insulation and air sealing solutions can help builders and contractors offer homeowners long-term thermal performance, moisture management, durability, energy savings and improved indoor air quality by protecting the home from entry of dust, allergens and pests.

Take comfort. Dow products can help you exceed building codes, prevent callbacks and save installation time.


Comfort by Dow

®™TrademarkofTheDowChemicalCompany(“Dow”)oranaffiliatedcompanyofDow

Below GradeAbove Grade Windows & DoorsAttic Penetrations

ContractorResAd_Can_Castle.indd 1 8/16/12 8:16 AM

mailto:[email protected]














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News Watch


Alberta Awards of Excellence in Housing finalists announcedThe Canadian Home Builders’ Association – Alberta (CHBA – Alberta) has announced the finalists of the 2012 Alberta Awards of Excellence in Housing. White Eagle Homes of Edmonton leads the competition with five finalists. Broadview Homes, Douglas Homes, Jayman MasterBUILT all of Calgary and Habitat Studio & Workshop of Edmonton followed close with three finalists each.

This year, Calgary region leads the com-petition with 25 finalists, close behind is Ed-monton region with 22 finalists, Lethbridge and Central Alberta each have two finalists.

The Alberta Awards of Excellence in Housing, presented by RBC Royal Bank, will honour the top builders and renovators

from across the province during a special ceremony on Sept. 21 in Jasper.

Winners of each category will be reward-ed and one builder will be recognized as the winner of the prestigious Ralph Scurfield Builder of the Year Award. CHBA – Alberta had a record-breaking 383 entries this year from builders and renovators across the province. The organization had 141 judges participate in the process and narrow down the entries to a select group.

“CHBA – Alberta had both a record num-ber of judges and entries this year, which made for some very tight competition in many categories,” said CHBA – Alberta chief executive officer Jim Rivait.

“It is always thrilling to see so many build-ers participate in the annual competition and this year being our Association’s 50th anniversary adds to the excitement.”

CHBA – Alberta also announced the Safety Leadership Award finalists.

Sponsored by ATCO Gas, this year’s final-ists are Broadview Homes, Falcon Homes, Parkwood Master Builder, Carpet Colour Cen-tre, Great Canadian Roofing, A&B Concrete Pumping, Kitchen Craft Cabinets, Lee’s Sheet Metal, Landmark Group of Builders, Qualico Communities and Sterling Homes.

Winners will be announced at the Indus-try Leader Awards Breakfast on Sept. 22 at the BUILD Conference in Jasper.

Housing starts in Canada were trending at 218,500 units in June, according to Can-ada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). The trend is a moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR) of housing starts. The stand-

alone monthly SAAR was 222,700 units in June, up from 217,400 in May.

“The monthly increase posted in June was mainly attributable to multiple urban starts in Quebec and British Columbia,” said Mathieu Laberge, deputy chief economist at CMHC’s

Market Analysis Centre. “The rate of starts; however, remains close to the six month aver-age. CMHC still expects the pace of housing starts to moderate as the year progresses.”

For some markets, CMHC uses the trend measure as a complement to the monthly SAAR of housing starts to account for con-siderable swings in monthly estimates and obtain a more complete picture of the state of the housing market. Analyzing only SAAR data can be misleading in some markets in some situations, as they are largely driven by the multiples segment of the markets which can be quite volatile from one month to the next, the organization said in a release.

The seasonally adjusted annual rate of urban starts increased by 2.6% to 199,500 units in June. Urban single starts decreased slightly by 0.3% in June to 67,500 units, while multiple urban starts increased by 4.1% to 132,000 units.

June’s seasonally adjusted annual rate of urban starts increased by 7.7% in Atlantic Can-ada, by 17.3% in Quebec and by 31.2% in Brit-ish Columbia. Urban starts decreased by 6.9% in the Prairies and by 9% in Ontario.

Rural starts were estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 23,200 units in June.

June housing starts up from May

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New Products

Building Blocks


+

+DEWALT TAPE MEASURE DESIGNED TO IMPROVE PRODUCTIVITY DeWalt’s 1.25”, 25’ Short Tape contains innova-tions that let contractors work alone on jobsites. Where traditional tape measures can only grab worksite materials from the bottom, an oversized end hook gives the tape measure high grabbing capabilities. As well, the tape measure features 13’ of blade standout to maximize productivity and ease-of-use. A durable rubber slide lock on the blade standout can withstand the daily rigours of use, while a Mylar coating protects the tape mea-sure from wear and tear.

A patented 3M Thermoplastic film on the first 6” of the blade extend its lifespan. The new tape measure also includes a high visibility blade, so contractors can see it in poor lighting.

The tape has a limited lifetime warranty and retails for approximately $29.99. Further infor-mation is available at www.dewalt.com.

MORTAIRVENT RAIN SCREEN MAT PREVENTS TOXIC MOULD The Mortairvent Rainscreen Drainage Mat from Advanced Build-ing Products Inc. provides effective drainage and ventilation spe-cifically designed for use with most exterior siding materials.

Moisture that penetrates outdoor siding can cause toxic mold growth and possible structural failure, but the Mortair-vent system’s 95% open design creates a continuous capillary break and channel for moisture to drain, while accelerating the drying of the exterior cladding. It also helps to minimize stain-ing, peeling, and blistering of exterior finishes and includes a built-in insect screen.

Made from durable polymer material the mat is resistant to most known corrosive chemicals and resistant to mold or mil-dew. Easy to install, a two-ply design feature gives the rain screen strength, and serves to deflect mortar when used with stucco or masonry veneer siding.

The Mortairvent Rainscreen Drainage Mat is made from re-

cycled materials to assist in qualify-ing for LEED credits. Further information is available at www.advancedflashing.com

Innovative Products for Today’s Renovators

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New Products


+BLACK & DECKER INTRODUCES MOTION-ACTIVATED SCREWDRIVERBlack & Decker’s Gyro 4V Max Lithium-ion Re-chargeable Screwdriver is the first motion-activated screwdriver that controls speed and direction, according to the company.

The screwdriver uses gyroscopic technology to allow speed and direction changes to be made with a twist of the wrist. By rotating their wrist one-quarter turn to the right users can switch to forward direction, or to the left for reverse. This eliminates the need to engage a switch to change directions.

The Gyro rechargeable screwdriver’s lithium-ion battery

holds a charge for up to 18 months, while remaining lightweight and compact. It costs $39.99, and features two standard screw-driving bits, jack plug charger and a two-year warranty. Further information is available at www.blackanddecker.com.

+DELTA BATHROOM FAUCETS CONTAIN TOUCH

20 AND

TOUCH20.XT TECHNOLOGY

Delta Faucet has introduced a line of bathroom faucets using the company’s Touch2O Technology, which allow users to turn the faucet on with messy or occupied hands with the tap of a wrist, elbow or arm.

First launched in 2008 for the kitchen, Touch2O allows the faucet to be tapped anywhere on the spout or handle to be turned on, or be operated manually with the handle. The faucets also automatically turn off one minute after being tapped.

For a more convenient hands-free option, Delta is also introducing Touch2O.xt, which allows the user to turn the water on by approaching the faucet’s sensing field or tapping the faucet anywhere on the spout or handle.

With Touch2O a Blue LED flashes to indicate that the faucet is in hands-free mode and remains con-stant to indicate the touch feature is activated. The LED turns red to alert the user when batteries need to be replaced.

The lavatory faucets, part of Delta’s Addison and La-hara bath collection, are available in a variety of finishes. Further information is available at www.deltafaucet.ca.

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Majestic and refi ned; bring luxury to your home with IKO’s new Royal Estate shingles.

Royal Estate is a perfect example of how engineers have combined IKO’s patented colour blending technology with their proven manufac-turing process to create a premium product that protects your home from the elements and offers the sophisticated look of natural slate tiles.

Royal Estate shingles are designed to offerhomeowners exceptional beauty, durability and value. They’re available in four natural-stone colors: Shadow Slate, Mountain Slate, Taupe Slate and Harvest Slate. All have algae-resistant granules embedded into the surface layer to keep Royal Estate roofs looking spectacular, year after year making this a lasting investment.

For additional information on our full line of premium roofi ng products please call: Eastern Canada 1-888-766-2468, Western Canada 1-800-661-1034, or visit our web site at: www.iko.com

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New Products


SICO OFFERS PAINT COLOUR MATCHING TOOLS Sico Inc. has launched several new colour selection tools to assist contractors and homeowners with mix-ing and matching colours.

The company’s Colour Finder online application calibrates paint colours to give users the best possible matches using three simple steps. Users place a card-board frame available at Sico paint retailers on the item they are matching, take a photo and upload it to www.sico.ca/colourfinder. Colour Finder then presents the nearest Sico paint colour and offers a choice of paint schemes to complement it.

Sico Deco Colour Lab, available for download at the Sico Website, allows users to upload room photos and experiment with different paint colours on their walls, ceilings, trim, furniture or accessories. Using more than 1,800 Sico paint colours, the tool recommends paint schemes, and prints out colour choices and required paint quantities.

For iPhone users, the company launched the Sico Colour Lab ap-

plication, which allows the selection of home décor colours on the go. Users can simply point their iPhone over an object or image to get a colour replica on their screen and identify its corresponding Sico paint colour, as well as colour schemes that might go well with it.

In the next issue of

• Green Material Advancements

• Window & Ener-gy Star Ratings

• LEED 2013: Look Ahead

• Engineered Wood

• Interior Paints


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Business Strategies

BY VICTORIA DOWNING

Victoria Downing is president of Remodelers Advantage Inc. and is a leading authority in the remodeling industry. She has authored and co-authored several industry books, including The Remodeler’s Marketing PowerPak. She can be reached at [email protected] or by phone at 301 490-5620 ext. 105.

12 | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2012 CONTRACTOR ADVANTAGE

If you are working by the ‘seat of your pants,’ you are setting yourself up for some serious business problems in the dollars and cents department

Cash Flow Dialogue

Cash flow can be friend or foe. I have seen renovators racked by lack of cash, and that has never been so true as in the last several years. When cash is limited, the business owner’s fo-cus becomes robbing Peter to pay Paul instead of running an effective business.

If you are finding yourself dealing with the problems of too little cash in the busi-ness, spending hours each week trying to make too little cash stretch to pay too many bills, avoiding calls from vendors looking for payments, there is good news. I have seen renovators make striking comebacks with the help of vigilant money management.

There are four golden rules of cash flow that all successful businesses obey. They are:• Collect early. • Take advantage of all early-payment dis-

counts from vendors. • If you cannot pay early enough to receive

the discounts, then pay as late as you can without damaging credit.

• Last, but most importantly, be profitable. What follows are nine proven practices for

creating favorable cash flow in your business,by setting up contract draws that favour your com-pany and collecting your money smartly.

Optimize contract drawsFew businesses have the cash flow potential of remodeling, collecting a down payment up front to finance the cost of the job. (Us-ing your client’s money is one of the most attractive benefits of our business.) It is not unusual for a renovator with a million dol-

lar volume to have $60,000 to $90,000 of un-earned client money on hand.

1. Whatever your system is for staging client payments, be sure that it keeps you reliably ahead of job costs until the very last draw.

2. Always word draws to become due “upon start of” a phase rather than “completion of” and you will maximize your cash and minimize your arguments with the cus-tomer. In doing this, you do not have to change the timing of the draw. For in-stance, you can substitute “upon start of trim” for “upon completion of drywall.” You are simply trying to make the draws less open to conflicting interpretation.

3. Collect a first draw that is fair to the buy-er, but gives you as much leverage as pos-sible. Review any applicable local law. Of-ten renovators ask for 20-30% down with mid-size jobs, and 50% with small jobs. If the job is particularly material-heavy, consider a larger first draw. For instance,

renovators will typically collect 50% of the contract before commencement on a kitchen remodeling to compensate for the large volume of special materials that must be ordered.

4. Create two draws from the final draw: the first is substantial completion (when the space is ready for occupancy), and a smaller draw upon completion of the punchlist. If there is some material on backorder or some few punchlist items that must wait, many renovators let the client hold 200% of the value of those items until they are accomplished.

Be a Smart Collector5. Hand deliver invoices and personally pick

up cheques. Over a one-year period, this practice can make major inroads on cash flow problems.

6. When doing business-to-business work, such as commercial work or insurance re-construction, find out at contract signing who will approve bills and pay them, and ask about the firm’s payment procedures. Different offices may have to approve an invoice before it is paid. An invoice may need two or three signatures. Find out the client’s preferred system and work within it to obtain prompt payment.

Make bill collecting a person-to-person effort. Do not just print and mail additional invoices. Phone, discuss, and meet the customer in person to settle any confusion, questions or problems quickly.




Business Strategies


7. Charge extras for change orders and overages on selection allowances ASAP. Change orders can be collected upon signing by the homeowner. Selections that exceed the allowance can be billed as soon as you know the final amount.

8. Close out jobs smartly and quickly. The final bill is the most likely draw to be held by a ho-meowner. When you are slow finishing, they have no reason to be prompt in payment.

9. Make bill collecting a person-to-person ef-fort. Do not just print and mail additional invoices. Phone, discuss, and meet the cus-tomer in person to settle any confusion, questions or problems quickly. Collection experts know that every day a payment is late, collection becomes more uncertain.

And remember the bottom line: Be profitable. If you are working by the seat

of your pants, you are setting yourself up for problems. Instead, embrace your role as a business leader and learn about the dollars you need to run your company right.

Need help? Visit our website at www.

remodelersadvantage.com for your copy of our best selling book, The Remodelers Guide to Making and Managing Money: A Common Sense Approach to Optimizing Compensation and Profit.

See the friendly professionals at Castle Building Centres for more information on Therma-Tru and other great door brands provided by Alliance Door Products!

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If you are finding yourself dealing with the problems of too little cash in the business, spending hours each week trying to make too little cash stretch to pay too many bills, avoiding calls from vendors looking for payments, there is good news.

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Paul Rhodes is a partner at Soberman LLP. His professional experience includes providing assurance and advisory counsel to a number of clients in construction, manufacturing, real estate and internal audit engagements. Paul is a member of the Toronto Construction Association.

Smart Money


BY PAUL RHODES

For contractors investing to stay ahead of the competition, this investment tax credit could reduce costs and preserve cash flow.

Explaining the SR&ED

A previous article provided the business owner with an overview of how the Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED, pronounced shred) investment tax credit sys-tem works and the conditions for qualifying.

Still, many business owners may not be aware that these types of expenditures qual-ify for federal government tax incentives. This article will provide an overview of the credit program and the criteria and in addi-tion, the changes proposed in the 2012 bud-get will be explained.

Incentives for research and development activities do exist at the provincial level; however, this article will consider only the federal program. For a Canadian controlled private corporation (CCPC), the federal program works as follows:

A qualifying SR&ED project must:

1. Be undertaken in a systematic manner by qualified personnel;

2. Address scientific or technological un-certainty; and

3. Aim to either create new scientific knowledge or advance the technologi-cal base of the company, even if that advance is incremental.

This definition means that certain activi-ties are excluded, such as quality control and the routine testing of materials.

The company is entitled to an investment tax credit (ITC) calculated as a percentage of qualifying expenditures. The investment tax credit can be calculated using the follow-ing table:

The $3 million expenditure limit is an annual limit that applies for tax years that end on or after February 26, 2008.

Qualifying current expenditures include operating costs such as wages, materials, an amount for overhead and the cost of SR&ED contracts; while qualifying capital expendi-tures include the costs of capital equipment which endures over time. Any SR&ED work that has been subcontracted may qualify, depending on the specific terms of the con-tract in relation to the qualifying conditions.

Investment tax credits are first used to re-duce current federal income taxes payable to zero. Any excess refundable ITC may be refunded to the company. Any remaining non-refundable ITC’s at the end of a tax year can be carried back to the three preceding tax years to reduce federal income tax paid, which will give rise to a refund of the income tax paid for those years. If there are still un-used ITC’s they can be carried forward for up to 20 years, provided they were earned in tax years ending after 1997.

Budget changesThe 2012 budget proposed the following changes:

• The ITC rate for expenditures in excess of the $3 million limit will be reduced to 15% from the current 20%.

SR&EDExpenditures

ITC rate

Refundable portion of ITC earned on:

Current expenditures Capital expenditures

Up to $3 million*

35% 100% 40%

In excess of $3 million*

20% 40% 40%

SR&EDExpenditures

Non-refundable portion of ITC earned on:

Current expenditures Capital expenditures

Up to $3 million*

N/A 60%

In excess of $3 million*

60% 60%

Smart Money


• Under the existing program rules com-panies claiming the credit can estimate SR&ED related overhead expenses us-ing a rate of 65% of the SR&ED-relat-ed staff costs (referred to as the proxy amount). For calendar 2013 the proxy amount will be reduced to 60% and to 55% for calendar 2014.

• To date it has been possible to contract out the SR&ED function and include the contractual amounts as qualifying expenditures. The budget has pro-posed to limit this expenditure to 80% of the contractual amounts.

• Credits will no longer be received on capital expenditures incurred in 2014 or later years, whether the cost is incurred directly or as part of contract payments.

In order to stay ahead of the competition, many business owners in the construction field are forced to constantly improve their

products. The SR&ED incentive program is a way to reduce the actual cost of projects and therefore conserve cash flow. A business owner undertaking experimental work should con-sider a review of the business to determine if the SR&ED program is available.

When project expenditures qualify for this incentive, the next step is to ensure that the claim is maximized. It is important to ensure that your independent accountant is knowledgeable about the incentive pro-gram and is aware that a claim is to be made because there is often a conflict between income tax driven advice and incentive tax driven advice.

Any business owner working with a SR&ED consultant should ensure that the consultant and independent accountant work together to make sure the claim is max-imized. For example, the expenditure limit is progressively reduced when either: tax-able income for the preceding year exceeds

the small business limit or taxable capital ex-ceeds $10 million.

The deadline for the company to file the claim is 18 months after the year end. Therefore, if a project qualifies for the in-centive and a claim is to be filed for the first time, the prior year should also be reviewed to see if a claim could be filed for that year also. This will ensure that the maximum benefit is obtained.

The budget changes will reduce the ben-efits available under the SR&ED program to some degree. However, for a business owner performing research and development work that qualifies the program is still of consider-able benefit in reducing costs and ultimately in preserving cash flow.

This article has been prepared for general in-formation. Specific professional advice should be obtained prior to the implementation of any sug-gestion contained.

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Economics 101

Bad managers ruin good employees; good managers create good employees. Learn to be a better manager in seven steps.

How To Be A Better Manager


BY CHARLYNE MEINHARD

You can hire the right employees for your business, but if your managers do not manage them well, those good employees may wind up messing up, rather than stepping up.

Jen and Tim are managers of two totally different functions within Mid-Road Com-pany, but they share the same frustrations about their employees.

“You won’t believe it!” Jen grumbles over her morning coffee in the company cafe. “We’ve got to rework the entire proposal that Ronald turned in. I paid for his overtime last week to get it finished, and today I find he didn’t follow the prescribed format. I’m so mad at him for making us miss this deadline.”

Tim nods and snorts, “Yeah, my employ-ees are worthless, too. They all start out so upbeat and sunny, but it doesn’t take long before they’re upset and slacking.”

Quick to blame their employees for mis-takes, these two managers seem blind to their own failure to give needed direction and encouragement to their employees. They do not see how much their poor man-agement skills are contributing to their em-ployees’ low performance.

Bad managers are everywhere. Like Jen, they may be new to managing others or, like Tim, may have been promoted reluctantly into management. Good technical manag-ers can be bad at managing others when they have not received management train-ing or mentoring by a good manager.

What to Do About ItThree decades of field research with 100 mid-large size organizations across a broad industry cross-section give us seven key behaviours of

managers that encourage good employees and help them become top performers.

Jen and Tim became better managers when they learned to:

Challenge employees with new op-portunities: Jen pigeon-holed her employees into routine tasks and of-fered little chance for them to learn new skills. Jen is applying this better management skill when she identi-fies which employees are ready for cross-training, are excited to take on additional tasks or show interest in growth opportunities.

Recognize results in real time: Tim was so immersed in his own work that he ignored the daily accomplishments of his staff members. With management training, Tim knows to observe em-ployees’ on-the-job performance and praise an employee’s good results at the time of achievement. Employees feel appreciated for their efforts and want to achieve even more.

Ensure a healthy rate of change: Prior to coaching by her experienced man-ager, Jen regularly changed directions to her employees several times a day. Her manager taught her how to avoid passing down knee-jerk reactions that confused employees and drained their confidence. She now holds short “huddles” every morning with staff to clarify goals and direction for the day.

Adopt an open climate: Before get-ting valuable guidance from his boss, Tim would spout the company state-ment of “open-door policy,” then sputter when no employee would approach him about issues or con-cerns. His boss encouraged him to set specific times to meet with each employee each week. Tim is now more accessible, and his employees feel empowered to list their questions and issues to cover in their weekly 30-minute individual meetings. Transcend the goal of making a profit: Previously, Jen hammered cost-savings so much that her em-ployees began taking short-cuts on time and quality. She saw a bigger picture once she read and discussed the company’s annual report with her director. Jen now heightens employees’ awareness of their role in customer perception and long-term satisfaction. Em-ployees respond readily to meeting and beating customer expectations. They are more committed to accu-racy, completeness, and timeliness.

Encourage flexibility and innova-tion: Before his “field trip” to key client sites, Tim demanded that his employees follow the same pattern of processing orders established years ago. Seeing and hearing client problems in real-time opened Tim’s eyes to the need for his department to change. Tim now regularly initi-ates problem-solving discussions with employees. They are energized by the opportunity to contribute and often surprise him with practi-cal solutions that he never would have thought of on his own.

Charlyne Meinhard is a speaker, trainer and Chief Results Officer of Next Level Consulting, a consulting firm specializing in change leadership, tal-ent development and innovation. She is also the author of Change Agents to the Rescue! and Ahead of Change. She can be reached via email at [email protected] or by telephone at 804-382-5054.

C:

R:

E:

A:

T:

E:


Economics 101


Strengthen employee strengths: A significant step forward into good management for Jen and Tim was learning to set individual goals for employee development. Complaining in public about faults previously dominated their interactions with employees. Private discussions on performance strengths now have Jen and Tim working positively with each employee. Building a strength-development plan of-fers more insight into each employee than either of them imagined.

“Haven’t seen you around the café for quite a while,” exclaims Tim when he sees Jen. “Would you believe my employees just presented to our director the new processing sys-tem they designed? I never thought they had it in them, but my extra attention has sure increased their productivity.”

“Yeah, who knew?” exclaimed Jen. “We’re seeing some real improvements in my area, too, since I’ve been communicating more with my employees. They’re actually a good bunch, some with potential that I didn’t see when I used to complain about them,” she admits.

© 2012 Elm

er’s® Products Canada, Corp.

How About You?Think about yourself as a man-ager. Do you use the kind of management skills that will help your employees be the best they can be?

Now more than ever, all em-ployees and managers need to be the best at their jobs, becoming highly productive problem-solvers who help grow the business. Businesses can no longer afford to let managers get by with bad, or even average, management skills.

Focus on applying the tips above and you will upgrade your management skills for today’s world. You will create better employees, get better results and have less rework and frustration for yourself.

Think about yourself as a manager. Do you use the kind of management skills that will help your employees be the best they can be?

S:


BY JOSH KERBEL

Josh Kerbel is Managing Director of Sales Funnel, a digital marketing agency that specializes in lead generation and prospect management systems. To get a copy of the free white paper, 8 Steps to Internet Marketing Success, please send an email to [email protected].

Online Marketing

Having worked on many new businesses, I know just how difficult it is to attract customers with a non-existent marketing budget. Much like fairies and unicorns, the “build it and they will come Website” simply does not exist.

The good news, though, is that things have changed. Social media and networking means that the Internet now offers so many free and low-cost marketing options. If your customers are online, and few people are not, you genu-inely do not need a marketing budget any more, just your time.

Here are six ways to turn online market-ing efforts into sales leads:

1. Start BloggingHowever cliché it sounds, if your business does not blog it is wasting the biggest free market-ing opportunity available today. Chances are you have lots of opinions about your industry and even if they seem like common knowledge to you and your colleagues, there is a good chance they are brand new to your customers. Blog about repointing bricks, different types of weeping tile or home insulation options. Your husband or wife might be tired of hearing about the virtues of mineral wool insulation, but your prospects might never have considered it.

The benefit of blogging is that the search engines love fresh, topical information, which is why blog posts are twice as likely to appear on the first page of Google as static Web-pages.

2. Capture Email AddressesNow do not go running to your nearest com-puter and dump all of your experience on to the Internet for others to use for free. Bundle

your expertise into a digital product, like an e-book, which interested prospects can down-load in exchange for an email. While a short book titled “Everything you wanted to know about window frames” might not be of interest to most consumers, you can be pretty sure that someone who wants to download such a book from your site is probably a qualified customer if you are in the window frame business.

3. Tweet Like Your Life Depended on It Despite its silly name, Twitter is fertile hunting ground for prospects and free PR. You would be amazed at what people tweet about. Seem-ingly mundane aspects of everyday life fill twit-ter 24 hours a day. What people bought, what they are doing, what they plan on doing, what they are currently have problems with. You could probably spend hours a week responding to peoples tweets about home building, renova-tions and the like. What better way to build up a reputation by aggregating a group of followers who rely on your honest and unbiased advice.

The other great thing about Twitter is that journalists love it. The best way to reach out to journalists is to be where they are and short of sitting across a table from one during an inter-view, you will not get any closer than Twitter. Even in industries where Twitter is not popular, it will be for journalists covering that industry. Seek them out and find out how you can be-come a valuable resource for them. Do not automatically go into sales pitch mode. These people are hit up by hundreds of people, each with “great stories.” Start out by commenting on one of their recent stories and build the re-lationship from there.

4. Harness The Power of Online VideoPretty much every smartphone comes with a built-in video camera and rather than just us-ing it to take funny videos of your family pet, why not put it to use building your business. Make online video reviews of products you use, project you have completed or industry issues; anything that conveys your knowledge and ex-pertise to prospective customers.

5. Start Working LinkedinLinkedIn is the world’s leading business net-working site. By building up your connec-tions and sharing your latest news and blog posts regularly, you can generate leads and referrals. Add your blog RSS feed to your Twitter Profile and connect your LinkedIn status with your Twitter account to channel your news seamlessly to your contacts.

One of the most over looked features of Linkedin is LinkedIn groups. Any LinkedIn member can create and host a LinkedIn Group. In addition to providing a forum for discussion and sharing news, you can email all of the group members if you are the group manager. Create a niche group on LinkedIn that relates to your business and use it as forum for answering industry related questions.

6. Host an EventWant to get face to face with a group of pros-pects in the least amount of time, hold an event. Rather than random, time-consuming sales calls, invite your potential and existing customers to a free event.

Use your blog, Twitter and Linkedin to promote the event and then use an online service like EventBrite to manage tickets and attendees. Remember to call around to local bars and restaurants as many will give you a function room in exchange for running a tab for the group.

There are many ways to generate sales leads using online marketing. Here are six ways to turn the Web into new prospects for your business.

Generating Online Leads



Learning Curve

Rules of the Hunt from McGraw Hill is written to cut through trendy advice and complex theories and give business own-ers straightforward, down-to-earth advice on growing their companies.

Author Michael Dalton Johnson, a successful entrepreneur of 30 years, acts as a mentor to the reader, outlining how to build and run a profitable business.

He shares insights into all elements of entrepreneurship from ne-gotiations, recruiting and time management to “soft skills” like mental agility and personal growth.

The book aims to teach what business schools cannot. Anec-dotes, tutorials, case histories and business horror stories are de-livered in a casual, tell-it-like-it-is style.

Readers will learn:• Leadership - Creating loyalty, inspiring trust and motivation• Relationships - Forming bonds with customers, employees,

suppliers and investors• Sales - How to engage and excite buyers• Marketing – Identifying, locating and promoting professionally• Technology – How to master the Internet• Operations – Getting things done the right way to grow profits• Foresight – Avoiding the pitfalls and planning for challenges

before they come• Survival – How to maintain health and sanity while pursuing

business goalsRules of the Hunt provides the art and science of successful

entrepreneurship devoid of subjective theories and ideologies.Both books are currently available from www.amazon.ca and www.chapters.indigo.ca.

RULES OF THE HUNTMcGraw Hill

Contractors and other building pro-fessionals are under increased pres-sure to achieve and deliver high-performance building design in the construction of residential buildings.

Design and Construction of High-Perfor-mance Homes from Routledge, a publisher of academic books, journals and online

reference materials, was developed to respond to that challenge by providing a complete guide on building performance issues. The guide features solar-powered homes and the technology they use to attain net zero energy. As well, it details case studies of innovative homes that have incorporated low-energy solutions, new materials, alternative building assemblies, digital fabrication, integrated engineering systems and op-erational controls. The challenges and opportunities that come from use of an integrated design principle are also discussed in detail.

Divided into four parts, Design and Construction of High-Perfor-mance Homes looks at case studies, the architecture, engineering and integrated design approaches used to provide readers with all aspects of the case.

The guide’s four sections cover off: • Building envelopes, new materials and architectural design• Renewable energies, building systems and simulations• Integrated practice and residential construction• High-performance homes: case studies

The book is edited by Franca Trubiano, a registered architect and assistant professor at Penn Design, University of Pennsylvania. Along with guest authors with specific expertise, she provides multi-disci-plinary insights on design, architecture, engineering (civil, mechani-cal and electrical), construction and energy management.

DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF HIGH-PERFORMANCE HOMESRoutledge

Two books present ways on how to build the ultimate home and business, respectively.

Building Up Performance

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We Canadians are apparently a wired bunch.Researchers who track Internet activity regularly identify Canadians as some of the most active Web surfers in the world. Ac-cording to the Ipsos Canadian Interactive Reid Report, an astounding 80% of house-holds have Internet access, and 37% are connecting through mobile devices. The numbers are even higher when focusing on those under the age of 55.

Online advertising and marketing ef-forts are making their own impact along the

way. Every month, 31% of Canadians click at least one online ad and 22% respond to email offers, the study discovered, and the online tools obviously deliver quality as well as quantity. Those who turn to the Internet in their search for household contractors are likely to be qualified business leads. After all, they are already demonstrating interest in a specific service. Would anyone really search for carpenters or plumbers just to kill some time?

Still, it is easy to become lost in the crowded online universe where competi-

NETWORTHOnline marketing can attract attention and build business leads, if it is based on a sound strategy.

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tors can take over higher rankings in search engines, dominate influential online reviews and ultimately secure a larger share of new business opportunities. Anyone who wants to stand out will need to take a close look at their online marketing strategies.

Search Engine People has helped a long list of national brands build their respective online strategies, and company founder Jeff Quipp suggests that contractors of every size could apply many of the same steps to their own businesses.

Consider these tips that he thinks should guide every online advertising and market-ing program:

Build a search-friendly WebsiteA Website’s structure can help to improve rankings through search engines like Google. It is simply a matter of taking the time to con-sider how the rankings are established.

The search engine’s virtual tool known as a “crawler” will read a Website’s content to determine where the information relat-ing to a search term can be found. If a single topic dominates the content on a page, it will be ranked higher than similar results on a page which includes a number of differ-ent topics. This is why Quipp recommends setting up a dedicated Web page for every unique service rather than lumping every-thing together. A general contractor, for example, might want to set up one page to discuss basement renovations and another

page to discuss kitchen upgrades.The Website’s home page will also carry

more weight than the pages behind it, so its text should include terms that are most im-portant to the business. If a contractor spe-cializes in bathroom renovations, the text should be dominated by phrases that would be used by people looking for the service.

Choose your language carefullySome terms will be more popular among po-tential customers than others. A quick visit

to Google AdWords’ Keyword Tool can help to establish the preferred wording, both at a local level and across the globe. Quipp also recommends matching the most popular phrases exactly, rather than choosing broad-er descriptions.

“You are going to want to prioritize,” he adds.

The most popular terms which match the contractor’s business should also be includ-ed in the Web page’s title, which will appear in the form of a link in any search results.

PAINT A PICTURE, AND A BETTER RANKING, WITH IMAGESThe choice of text is only the beginning. While search engines largely rely on written text to identify the subject matter on a page, they also give higher rankings to those pages that also include photos and videos.

The Website pages with video are 50 times more likely to rank in the first page of search results than the pages that have text alone, Quipp notes.

This content can be hosted a number of different ways, but he rec-ommends uploading the moving images onto YouTube along with an ac-companying description. Programming codes can then be used to add the video to a contractor’s own Website.

Meanwhile, any still photos of a contractor’s existing projects can also emerge in a search, helping to catch the attention of potential cus-tomers and even taking up more space in the list of results. “People’s eyes are attracted to pictures and the video,” Quipp says.

The added advantage is that the visual aids help to build the ever-important first impressions. Every image offers proof of a contractor’s past experience.

MARK THE MAPSContractors who use services like Google Places, and include “geographic delimiters” in their Website content to describe a home city or service area, will improve their listings under Google Maps, which will appear complete with online ratings and reviews. The details can also be supplemented with everything from an office’s hours of operation to a list of available services.“The more information you have, the better it will be,” he says.

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The “metadata” that is loaded in a site’s code will also appear alongside these links.

“Try to make it enticing,” he says, refer-ring to the choice of words in the metada-ta. “If you can include an offer and it gets pulled into the search results, this can help to attract attention.”

Establish “trust signals”The visitors to a Website do not have the chance to look a contractor in the eye, but there are ways that content can establish a feeling of trust. Quipp, for example, stresses the need to include information about every-thing from accreditation through the Better Business Bureau to awards from groups like a local chamber of commerce or newspaper.

An online presence also offers a great venue for testimonials, and online reviews carry added weight in search results. Noth-ing builds a sense of trust better than the

story from a happy customer.Crawlers also tend to rank reviews on

sites like Home Stars (www.homestars.com) quite highly because the service is vetted to ensure the ratings come from actual custom-ers. “If you tell them who the client is, they’ll contact the client in the search for a rating,” Quipp says.

Manage your online reputationSocial media sites such as Facebook, and des-tinations for online reviews, represent both a marketing opportunity and a challenge.

The Ipsos Canadian Interactive Reid Re-port found that 30% of Canadians log onto preferred social media sites every day, but that hardly means they will only find the positive stories about a contractor when they get there.

Angry customers were once limited to vent-ing to their friends. Today they can post nega-

PAY PER CLICKAnother sure-fire way to get noticed is to adopt a “pay-per-click” advertising campaign, which will push links to the top of search results. Any financed click should lead visitors to a specific Website landing page, complete with an enticing offer, Quipp adds. The goal, after all, is not simply to attract attention. Successful online marketers are looking to convert clicks into sales leads. “Whoever has the best conversion rate is going to win,” he says.

Many pay-per-click strategies fail when small businesses do not consider the nature of the of-fer, or even the way that staff members answer the phone.

“A lot of business gets blown right there,” he says. “Unfortunately, that’s when Website visitors are ready to buy.”

A reasonable budget for a pay-per-click strat-egy can be calculated by considering the share of phone calls that are converted into business opportunities, and the average value of the sales which follow.

Then it is a matter of testing different search terms and offers, and regularly measur-ing the results with tools like Google Analytics, which follow the paths that customers are tak-ing to the Website.

tive reviews for everyone to see. “It stays there indefinitely,” Quipp says. “Part of social me-dia is reputation management.”

One way to discourage competitors from writing false reviews is to ask for an invoice number so a specific issue can be solved, he adds. Reviewers will obviously lose credibility if they continue to vent about “problems” even after someone openly responds with a promise to address the issue.

Happy customers can also be enticed to post positive reviews, which can quick-ly drown out any negative reports and improve associated star ratings. It is why restaurants and retailers often promise re-wards to those who fill out online surveys. Contractors could do the same thing.

Still, businesses need to realize that indi-vidual social media tools support different goals.

Tools like Facebook or Twitter’s 144-character “tweets” will help to build long-term relationships, Quipp says. Photos of past projects that are loaded onto the im-age-sharing site known as Pinterest will of-fer a great way to showcase different work, and give users the chance to “pin” their fa-vourite photos to inspire future ideas.

Contractors looking to build traffic to any of social media sites should include re-lated links “above the fold” at the top of their Web pages, where they can easily be found, Quipp says. “Entice them to share what they are viewing or what they are reading.”

After all, he adds, “familiarity builds loyalty.”

Loyalty leads to business.


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Interior doors may have been viewed as a simple com-modity in past decades, but times are changing. As a re-sult, contractors would be well advised to shore up their

knowledge when it comes to trends and product options.“Doors had become almost like drywall in that they had lost

their identity,” says Mitchell Toews, business development di-rector at Lynden Door in Abbotsford, B.C. “It used to be that they were like wall furnishings, but the construction industry lost its feel for them.”

Toews adds that the “relentless amount of construction over the last 40 years,” resulted in interior doors inheriting a vanilla reputation; however, he and others are anxious to help hom-eowners rediscover the door through wider choices.

As well, thanks to increased availability of pre-hung door options, contractors can now offer costumers more choice and premium products while saving time.

By explaining material and construction options to a customer, the contractor provides much more value. Also, since homeowners will be typically focused only on form

The

ViewFromInside

Changing demographics, increased style choices and improved installation options is giving the interior door new life.

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and aesthetics, a good contractor will remind them of function.

“It creates an opportunity to be the ‘hero of the day’ and reap the benefits,” says Tom Eaton, regional general manager for Eastern Canada at Moulding and Millwork in Bramp-ton, Ont. “There is more margin opportunity when selling a design chosen by the consumer, and more margin opportunity for the contrac-tor when they are able to upgrade to a bet-ter functioning door.”o upgrade to a better functioning door.”Changing demographics, changing needs Population trends affect building trends, and in the case of interior doors, Canada’s aging population is no exception: empty nesters are moving into condos, or repurpos-ing their homes to take on renters.

This shift away from single-family homes to multi-family units, and smaller living spaces is causing inhabitants to select interior elements like doors with greater care, according to Toews. It is a development that is proportion-ately greater in Canada than in the U.S. and one that he says Lynden Doors and its distribu-tor Alliance Door Products have seen grow over the past four years.

“The baby boom bulge is a big part of it, since seniors are moving out of their family homes, or repurposing them,” Toews says. “Even new homes are being designed to make room for Granny in the basement.”

For contractors, it will pay to bone up on the needs of multi-dwelling units, and recog-nize that they might find themselves dealing more often with landlords than developers in the future. In particular, with multi-family homes, the importance of doors with better security and sound control become more top of mind with owners, and style becomes even more important to residents as a result of limited space.

Wood versus solid and hollow-coreHomeowner interest in real, solid wood in-terior doors, over moulded panel, is on the rise. “There is a popular trend towards wood doors,” says Eaton. “They are kind of blend-ing the elements of historical design and modern functionality.

“These are stile-and-rail constructed wood, not pressed panel doors; they are more crafts-man-style doors, and that adds a lot of char-acter and charm to a home,” he says. “Even when simple in design, a craftsman door adds elegance to a home.”

He adds that rather than being a “feature

door” that draws attention to the entryway of a single room, this trend is seeing homeowners outfitting the entire house with, for example, MDF or pine constructed-wood doors, rather than moulded doors that typically consist of MDF boards slapped together. Toews points to

maple and white oak as popular real wood op-tions for interior doors.

Eaton is also seeing a move from tradi-tionally popular hollow-core moulded panel interior doors to solid-core options such as Moulding and Millwork’s Safe ’n Sound

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doors. Solid-core doors have at their centre wood fibre, particleboard or steel, typically surrounded by an MDF, wood or fibreglass veneer to create a durable finish. Tradition-ally popular for bathrooms and bedrooms, solid-core doors, like their solid wood coun-terparts, provide better sound-muting ca-pabilities, privacy, and a heftier weight that may make them easier to open and close.

Importantly, while there is a premium for solid-core doors, they can easily be matched with the same “skin” as hollow-core doors to extend a consistent style throughout the home. The price differential of around $50 to $60 per door is not likely to break the budget of a major renovation.

Big, bold, but simple styles Homeowners sometimes tend to care about style over function and, while a good con-tractor should educate them on the func-tional values of solid-core, hollow-cores or wood, they also need to become familiar with the looks that are in demand.

“It depends on region, of course, but generally speaking there is a move to more clean and simple designs rather than busier, ornate types of design,” says Brad West, di-

rector of sales for Eastern Canada at Jeld-Wen Windows and Doors. “It used to be the most popular door was the six-panel mould-ed door, but we’re seeing a shift towards two-panel doors and shaker style.”

In the province of Quebec, though, there is some leaning toward more unique styles that do not really fly in other parts of Can-ada. West urges contractors to differentiate themselves by visiting their favourite lumber-yard or retail outlet and check out the de-sign options available. “Suggesting the right design option might just be what it takes to set yourself apart from your competition.”

Consider also about how a fresh door design can be an opportunity to upsell and provide added value during particular room renovations. A kitchen reno might introduce the opportunity to install a unique door fea-turing etched glass reading “pantry,” a new bedroom might be improved by hanging a special closet door.

“For example, we have a hanging closet door with a built-in mirror on the inside,” West says. “If you are aware of that and you’re doing a master bedroom you can sug-gest it to the homeowner, because, chances are, they are not aware of it.”


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Toews says there has been a shift to more con-temporary, “modernist” décor, but at the same time homeowners are looking for a bit more from their doors. To that end, Lynden Door has released the StileLine family of doors that bridges a gap he says exists between more expensive, cus-tom architectural doors, which might be found in an office space, and those commonly seen in budget-conscious houses and condos.

“It’s priced somewhere north of a typical moulded door and south of an architectural door,” Toews says, adding that his company lis-tened to the market to determine which species it could stock that would be both relevant and affordable in the residential space.”

StileLine doors have a clean, European-style with African mahogany, white maple or white oak finishes, and are available as hollow-core, solid-core or fire doors.

Interior designs are also following an exteri-or door trend and getting bigger, with the high ceilings of new homes allowing for 7’ and 8’ tall doors. These extra-tall doors are typically priced around the same as standard 6’8” doors.

Pre-hung for installation ease In recent years, the biggest improvement from an install perspective has been the increased avail-


ability of pre-hung doors. The pre-hung door combines the components of the door (slab, frame, hinges, jamb, mullion, latch hole and face hole) into one unit for easier install by contractors, as well as do-it-yourself types.

West says the pre-hung door systems have “taken over a big chunk of the market,” due to their convenience and the elimination of numerous install steps. “For a contrac-tor or carpenter it simplifies the process immensely.” Eaton agrees, saying pre-hung door systems now make up about 20-30% of Moulding and Millworks’ door sales. “Most contractors now are asking for pre-hungs over knockdown units.” Of course, pre-hung doors are a benefit only in new construc-tion or complete room renovations, not when replacing a pre-existing door that has already been framed and hung. West says a pre-hung system reduces install time by at least half and, while there is a premium to pay, costs come close to even when factor-ing the purchase of separate components.

Style choices do not pose a problem for contractors hoping to lighten workloads with pre-hung systems. In fact, even over-size doors are now available pre-hung, offering an opportunity for contractors to make mar-

gins on premium products; all while cutting time spent on installation. For homeown-ers, money saved from a faster install could mean an opportunity to afford a more ex-pensive, show piece of a door.

“A contractor will have a far easier time in-

stalling a 7’ pre-hung smooth skin door than they would in the past with a 6’8” slab door and they will make a heck of a lot more money do-ing it,” says Eaton. “I think that is what every contractor wants: finish things earlier and have a little more cash in their pocket.”

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W alls are often referred to as blank canvases with mouldings as their frames, an unfair analogy to mould-

ings, which in the hands of a skilled contrac-tor can be works of art themselves.

The array of moulding materials avail-able today spans a range of premium solid woods, cheap soft pine, MDF, synthetics and even reclaimed wood. This selection pro-vides contractors a lot of room to express their creativity and help homeowners en-hance the style of their abodes.

Importantly, specializing in mouldings or offering moulding installation and fin-ishing as an additional service can be very profitable for contractors. For example, the Website TheJoysofMoldings.com estimates that a finishing carpenter can easily charge $648 for material and labour for installing and finishing crown mouldings on a 12’x12’ masters bedroom. Add on door trims for entry and closets, baseboards, window trims and wall mouldings and the total tab can run up to $3,198.

To visualize how much profit can be made, consider that the Website estimates a hom-eowner tackling the same job as a DIY project will likely only spend around $957.

A show of light and shadowsWith the myriad of styles and patterns of mouldings in the market it is easy to over-look that moulding mainly relies on light-ing to produce its desired effect, says Peter Branidis, branch manager of Moulding and Millwork in Milton, Ont.

In its simplest form, moulding casts a combination of light and shadows onto a structural object in order to enhance ap-pearance without changing its basic con-struction or applying paint.

“It is not just about piling on one strip of moulding over the other. In order to use mouldings effectively contractors need to understand how they are meant to work,” says Branidis.

For instance, adding a horizontal over-hanging moulding to the surface of a wall will produce a dark horizontal shadow below the moulding. By adding a vertical element to the horizontal moulding, a light vertical shadow will be cast on the wall.

Graded shadows can also be created by using mouldings of different shapes. For ex-ample, concave mouldings produce a shad-ow that is darker at the top and lighter at the bottom. Convex-shaped mouldings produce

a shadow that is lighter at the top and darker at the bottom.

“Concave mouldings create a lighter shadow that can make a hallway look larger and give a room the feel of airiness. Convex mouldings will make a room seem darker or smaller but could add a sense of drama or seriousness,” Branidis explains.

Serving double dutyMouldings are not all for show. Traditionally, many types of exterior and interior mould-ings served practical and structural pur-poses. For example, the elaborately carved

MOULDINGMOULDING CREATES ITS EFFECT THROUGH THE ARTFUL PLAY OF LIGHT AND SHADOWS, BUT THERE IS NOTHING ARTIFICIAL ABOUT THE PROFITS CONTRACTORS CAN MAKE.BY NESTOR E. ARELLANO

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MOULDING

arches seen in many heritage buildings actu-ally serve to dissipate tensile stresses to keep the wall above it from crumbling down.

Inside the home, mouldings continue to serve many practical purposes says Bra-nidis. “Window and door casings and trim do double duty as decorative elements which also seal the cracks and seams of door and windows edges thereby providing better insulation.”

Baseboard or shoe mouldings were origi-nally intended to protect the base of walls from being scuffed and dinged. Chair rails were actually meant to be just that: they pre-

vent chairs from scraping the walls. Plate and picture rails are not just fancy wall ac-cents. Grooves are carved onto the top sur-face of plate rails to hold up plates, framed pictures and other treasured knick-knacks so they can be displayed.

Crown and cornice mouldings also effec-tively hide joints between ceilings and walls, and mask imperfections or unevenness.

Material worldPlaster and stucco may offer the ultimate in moulding high style. These materials allow for many intricately carved and moulded de-

signs and their sturdiness enables them to be used outside the home as well.

Still, plaster and stucco can be heavy ma-terials and are not easy to install. Manufac-turers today are able to replicate their attrac-tive designs on lighter and cheaper materials such as solid wood, MDF, and synthetics.

Tyler Murrell, branch manager for Madero Distribution in Winnipeg, says cherry, maple and oak are favourites among homeowners looking for high-end solid wood mouldings. “These are woods that stain very well and show beautiful grain when finished properly,” he says.


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High class woods also have top-drawer price tags. Expect to pay anywhere from $3/ft. to upwards of $6/ft. for these type of mould-ings, according to Murrell.

MDF mouldings which cost around 60 cents/ft. are an excellent alternative for cus-tomers seeking to cut cost. “Paint-grade MDF is ideal for treatments that need to be painted rather than stained. They are not ideal for staining but show off colour very well. MDF is available plain or with carved designs suitable for classical or modern interiors,” says Brani-dis. Those looking to save on time and labour cost can also go for pre-finished MDF such as the company’s FinTek pre-painted mouldings that are ready to install.

PVC or foam-core mouldings are made of cellulous substrates and are ideal for in-terior or exterior use, according to Angelo Sudano, vice president of marketing and product development at Plastibec Millwork.

Most PVC mouldings come pre-finished and cost around $3/ft. They come in vari-ous colours.

Plastibec specializes in rigid PVC products that are sturdy enough to resist dings and scuffs that most baseboards and chair rails are

exposed to in busy areas. The company also produces exterior-grade PVC that is well suited for trim in deck areas and front porches.

“One great advantage of PVC is that it is moisture and mildew resistant. This makes them the perfect moulding material for kitchens and bathrooms where the moisture could damage MDF and wood products,” says Sudano.

In recent years, PVC mouldings have become very popular especially for condo units that have cement walls. “Cement walls do not take well to nailing which wood and MDF products require. Foam-core mould-ings can be installed using only adhesives,” Sudano adds.

For a really unique look, contractors can also suggest so-called reclaimed lumber. They are actually salvaged and often rough-hewn used wood. Kept bare or stained, these woods have a natural patina that exudes a worn-yet-charming appeal.

Century Wood Products of Orton, Ont., is among the country’s pioneers in offer-ing reclaimed wood. The company sources wood from wooden barns up for demolition or torn-down homes and buildings, says Bill

Van Veen, manager of customer service for Century Wood.

“Some companies import distressed wood that has been banged up to look old, but for the natural weathered look, reclaimed wood is the best,” says Van Veen. “You do not need to worry about the bug holes, scratches and cracks they are all part of the look.”

He says the company’s supply of old hem-lock, pine and beech are sought after for flooring, stairs and cabinetry, but some ar-chitects and designers also specify reclaimed wood for door and window casing as well as fireplace mantles.

Beware though: reclaimed wood can cost twice as much as their newer counterparts. That is because preparing them for reuse is labour intensive. For example, Century Wood takes care to remove nails, bolts and other metals from the salvaged lumber and also kiln dries the wood to ensure it is moisture free.

ELEMENTS OF STYLEIn addition to convex and concave mould-ings there are a few other moulding styles to remember:

OGEEThis is a combination of convex and concave moulding that creates a particular effect of contrasting light and shadows.

GREEK CROWN MOULDINGThis slightly ornate style feature such high-relief details as acanthus leaves, embossed wreaths, egg-and-dart and rose-and-rope vine designs.

DENTIL CROWN MOULDING A popular design that uses alternating blocks and spaces that bring to mind the shape of teeth. This design generally has no curved relief projections and is often favoured for most minimalist décor.

TWIST OR ROPE DESIGNThis elegant design uses a pattern which con-sists of low-relief friezes of twisted rope. More ornate versions use an acanthus leaf frieze. This design creates a greater range of contrasts.

Contractors need not have a degree in design to dial up the drama for the client’s home, says Branidis.

“Aside from the basic styles, contractors can also mix-and-match two or more pat-terns to create what are called a built-up moulding,” he says.

For example, the streamlined Craftsman

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style that may be found in most minimalist interiors can be achieved for a doorway by using flat mouldings. To create a Victorian-inspired theme, a coved cornice can be add-ed onto the flat moulding.

The same principle can be applied to crown mouldings, wall trim, baseboards and chair rails.

“Don’t be afraid to mix it up, but be mind-ful of moulding proportions,” says Branidis. “If you are unsure of the look, try creating a small model first to make sure doorways trim does not clash with those on the windows.”

Such a predicament can be avoided by using moulding kits, according to Sudano of Plastibec. “For example our wainscot kits offer wainscots of the same pattern in varying sizes so that contractors will have the trim they want in whatever proportion they need.”

Many manufacturers offer full fireplace sur-round and mantle kits. These are typically one-piece units that come in size made to fit most popular fireplace dimensions. Such kits can help contractors cut down installation time.

Nail the perfect moulding jobMake sure your moulding installation is pic-ture perfect by following these simple tips:

Before installing mouldings, allow them to acclimatize to room temperature for 24 to 48 hours.

Remember to make allowances for existing constraints and fixtures such as air condition-ing ducts, heating systems, switches and outlets.

It is easier to cut and install a combined

crown than use a single-piece crown. This is because smaller mouldings are easier to han-dle and cut than to adjust larger mouldings to fit into place.

When cutting inside crown corners, cut the back point of the moulding with a sharp Exacto-type knife. This makes adjustments easier because wall corners are seldom a perfect 90° angle.

When working with hardwood, pre-drill the moulding before nailing to prevent split-ting. Use a moulding knife for a cleaner cut when dealing with small pieces.

Avoid wastage. When installing wall pan-els, use making tape first to plot where your

mouldings will go. This will help you evalu-ate the correct dimensions and quantity of moulding to use.

If you opt to stain your moulding, do a stain test on a small, sanded piece of the ma-terial before installation to make sure you will achieve the desired result.

If you are painting your moulding, con-sider using a higher sheen paint than the one used on the walls. This will make the treatment standout and make cleaning easier.

Installing mouldings is much like any carpentry work, says Branidis: “To make sure things come out right, remember to mea-sure twice and cut once.”


Feature

More than one million Canadian homes generate some of their heat with wood-burning appli-

ances, and there should be little surprise that the numbers are so high. Woodstoves and fireplaces have been heating Canadian homes for, well, about as long as there have been Canadian homes.

As familiar as the appliances may seem, however, today’s models share little in common with those that were in-stalled just a few decades ago. Advanced Technol-ogy Wood Burning Ap-pliances have been on the market since 1990, and are about one-third more efficient than old-er units such as the air-tight stoves available in the 1970s and ’80s, according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). Woodstoves are now limited to generating no more than 7.5 grams of smoke per hour. Some models create less than half that level.

Older woodstoves struggle to reach ef-ficiencies of 40 to 60%, adds Jesse Richer, product and technical manager for Sel-kirk, which offers chimneys and fireplaces through select Castle Building Centres

locations. “Most of your heat was go-ing into the chimney.” This changed when woodstove manufacturers began to introduce secondary burn areas and began to preheat the air fed into each appliance.

As efficient as today’s designs may be, contractors need to take care

when recommending where the appliances should be installed.

The process be-gins by consider-ing what the ap-

pliance will heat, says Richer. In most cases, the radiated or con-vection heat from a stove will be limited to the room where

it is located. Customers who want to heat an entire home with a wood-burning appliance will need to consider a certified fireplace that includes ducts.

Anyone who installs a woodstove in the base-ment with plans to heat the main floor will be disappointed because the heat will be slow to rise, and the fires will need to be so high that the heat around the stove itself will be unbearable.

Homeowners who lack easy access to piles of hardwood can be prime candidates for

BurningISSUESWhen it comes to installing wood-burning appliances the focus should be on location, chimneys and surrounding spaces.BY JOHN G. SMITH

Feature


Burning


pellet stoves, which deliver a strong and con-stant source of heat, she adds. Coupled with an automatic feeder, these designs maintain a consistent fire with very little attention.

Officially known as Desified Pellet Technol-ogy, the pellet stoves are fed with dried ground wood or biomass compressed into 1x1/4” pel-lets, which are stored in a related hopper that holds about 40 lbs. of fuel. A screw auger feeds fuel into the fire at a controlled rate.

As carefree as their flames may be, these appliances are a little more complex than traditional woodstoves. They include three motorized systems including the auger that transfers the fuel, a fan to control exhaust gases and the air for combustion, and a cir-culating fan that forces air through the heat exchanger. The auger and blowers alike will require ongoing care including daily, weekly and monthly maintenance. Firebox walls, the heat exchanger, burn pot and ash pan will all require regular cleaning.

The chimneyOnce a wood-burning appliance of choice is selected, it will be relatively easy to install.

Many insurance companies require wood-burning appliances to be installed by contrac-tors who are certified through the Wood Ener-gy Technology Transfer (WETT) program, but projects can also be inspected after the fact.

Most of the initial planning will focus on the location of the appliance’s chimney. When attached to one of the new generation of ap-pliances, it needs to reach through the warm space inside a house rather than up an outside wall. Otherwise, smoke in the chimney will condense and form unwanted creosote.

Today’s chimneys have also advanced like the stoves themselves. The space between the inner liner and outer shell on a certified double-wall flue pipe helps to retain the heat in the gases, and this will maximize drafts and minimize creosote.

The most effective plans include a flue pipe that runs straight up from the appli-ance’s “flue collar” to the base of a chimney and up through the roof. “The rule of thumb is the chimney should be within 5’ of the appliance,” Richer says. “You want to avoid long, hori-zontal angle runs.” Even if bends are required, there should be no more than two 90-degree elbows.

“Find the best path for the system, because it is a system,” she adds. “It’s a pretty easy installation as long as you read the instructions and follow the codes.” Those local

building codes will help to address the steps relating to joists or rafters that might need to be cut and braced to make a path for the chimney, especially in cases when the route needs to be altered to avoid a living area.

A single-wall flue pipe should be at least 18” from any combustible materi-al like framing, although that distance can be halved if there is a proper shield on the pipe or combustible

surface. There should be no more than 10’ of straight pipe and a maximum of 3’ in any unsupported horizontal length which slopes up at least ¼” per foot.

Meanwhile, there should be at least 15’ between the floor of the appliance and

the top of the chimney. The top will need to extend at least 3’ above the point it exits the roof

and be 2’ higher than any other roof, building or

obstacle that can be found within a 10’ radius.

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The crimped ends on every piece of pipe should also point toward the appliance, while every joint will need to be secured with no fewer than three screws.

Around the stoveDown below, the base of the stove itself should sit on top of a floor pad made of sheet metal, grouted ceramic tile or brick, mostly to protect against a fire caused by any live embers that escape the stove. These pads should extend at least 18” in front of the loading door, and 8” beyond the sides and back.

The space around the stove will be dic-tated by the model of appliance that is in-stalled. An uncertified radiant stove, which requires the most space, will need about 48” of room around each edge, while stoves sur-rounded by jackets for convection air will need at least 36” of space.

Still, there are options for those who want their woodstoves to take up less floor space. CSA Standard B365 identifies a number of shields made of everything from permanently mounted sheet metal to ceramic tiles that can be used to reduce the required clearances. There will need to be at least 7/8” between

any shield and combustible material, between 1” and 3” of clearance below the shield, and at least 3” of clearance at the top of the shield. Any related adhesives will also need to stand up to high heats, and any mounting hardware has to be located more than 8” from the appli-ance’s vertical centre line.

A shield made of 29-gauge sheet metal might reduce clearances at the side and rear of the ap-pliance by 67%, and half the distance required at the top, as long as non-combustible spacers like metal wall strapping are used to keep it 7/8” from combustible material. In contrast, ceramic tile can cut the required clearances at the sides and rear by as much as 50%, and reduce the space needed at the top of the stove by 1/3.

Commercially produced shields can make differences of their own, and in select cases can be attached directly to a combus-tible wall without any air space behind them.

Opportunities for upgradesAdvanced fireplace designs include a firebox and heat exchanger surrounded by an insu-lated sheet metal casing, while the sides and rear are enclosed with a wood or steel stud frame sheathed in drywall. They can also be

installed on a normal house floor without any reinforcements or air intakes. The room air is drawn in through a grill under the fire-box, passed through a heat exchanger, and returned through a grill at the top of the ap-pliance or through ducts that are routed to grills above the fireplace or in other rooms.

Conventional fireplaces can also be up-graded with glass doors or a special firebox liner in the name of efficiency. The inserts that work as well as a modern woodstove will simply need to be attached to a stainless steel liner that stretches from the flue collar to the top of the existing chimney.

Potential upgrades are not limited to the appliances themselves.

Rooms with a high ceiling can benefit from a ceiling fan to circulate the heat, while remov-ing drywall above an interior door can help some of the heat flow into an adjoining room, particularly if the opening is supported with a small fan that sits in the top corner of the door-way. The furnace fan itself can circulate the air fed through cold air returns.

Installers who follow steps like these will have the best chance of meeting their cli-ents’ burning desires.

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FLOORGet more from the

DURABLE, ECO-FRIENDLY, COST EFFECTIVE AND ATTRACTIVE: CUSTOMERS WANT IT ALL IN THEIR FLOORING MATERIAL. NEW PRODUCTS AIM TO PLEASEBY STEFAN DUBOWSKI

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H omeowners expect an aw-ful lot from flooring. It must be durable, attrac-

tive and, if not inexpensive, then at the very least, cost effective (read: if the material is pricey, it had better be especially durable, and it should score some major points in terms of appeal).

Fortunately, flooring manufacturers have new products designed to meet homeown-ers’ high standards. Contractors can point to cork and bamboo as versatile and envi-ronmentally-friendly options. Vinyl has shed its bargain-basement reputation, and carpet suppliers aim to make a comeback with long-lasting and comfortable offerings.

The case for cork and bambooCork certainly is not a new flooring material. It has been used in commercial projects for decades. Talk to John Vloet, director of cor-porate accounts at flooring distributor Mid-con Industries Inc., however, and you learn that today’s cork options are nothing like previous iterations.

In the past, cork was applied as a single sheet. Today, it comes in planks (solid cork or engineered cork applied to fibreboard) or tiles.

The cork itself comes from recycled wine corks or from cork oaks in Portugal. The bark is harvested by hand once every 10 years or so. Each tree yields 12 to 13 batches of cork over its 150 year lifespan. According to the Cork Institute of America (a member-supported organization that promotes cork) Portuguese law prohibits cork oaks from be-ing cut down, protecting the resource.

Midcon’s subsidiary Quickstyle Industries Inc. offers cork with a moisture-resistant HDF core, making it ideal for basements, fam-ily rooms and dens. It works well in high-rise condominium projects as well, since the HDF midsection is designed for click installation and relatively quick to install, Vloet says.

A variety of cork consistencies makes this material particularly versatile. Small gran-ules present the classic cork-flooring look. Medium-sized granules offer a more varied appearance. Large granules provide a highly textured appearance. In peeled cork floor-ing, the material is laid together in strips, displaying the tree’s natural grain. Burled cork combines chunks and smaller pieces for a wavy look. Cork can be left natural, stained or painted.

Bamboo is another option that is growing popular, Vloet says. Like cork, it is considered an environmentally-friendly product: bamboo

grows back relatively quickly. In just three to five years the plant is ready to be harvested again, making it a highly renewable resource.

Quickstyle offers nail-down or click-togeth-er bamboo flooring. “Most customers today choose the click-together product, because that allows it to go into high-rise condomini-ums, where it is becoming popular,” Vloet says.

There are different styles of bamboo flooringStranded bamboo consists of ground-up and glued-together pieces for a varied and deep-ly textured look.

In horizontal bamboo, the knuckles or nodes of the grass are apparent, highlighting one of the natural features of the material.

Vertical bamboo looks similar to plank hardwood. It is particularly popular among customers who want a clean, contemporary style, Vloet says.

Cork and bamboo can be less expensive than hardwood, he says, explaining that with more cork and bamboo in production than ever before, prices have decreased.

Cork and bamboo installation is similar to hardwood. The relative humidity in the house should be constant at approximately 40-50%, and the material should be left uninstalled in the project area for 72 hours so it can accli-matize to the location. Otherwise the flooring could buckle or gap over time.

A new spin on vinylCork and bamboo may be options for hom-eowners who seek a high-end finish, but vinyl is another contender in the luxury market. Al-though it used to be considered ideal for seri-ously budget-constrained projects, new luxury vinyl tile (LVT) options have elevated vinyl into a higher budget bracket. Products such as Tar-kett’s PermaStone and Congoleum Corp.’s DuraCeramic are among the contenders.

Flooring experts say luxury vinyl is attrac-tive, durable, and easier to walk on than ce-ramic and other hard surfaces.

“A ceramic or porcelain tile is very hard on your back,” notes Al Ridley, account executive at flooring provider Stevens Omni Inc. “You’re walking on stone. With luxury vinyl tile or vinyl

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plank, it’s a cushion floor. It’s more forgiving on the back. Plus it’s warmer.”

Canada’s demographics favour vinyl. As the baby boomer generation grows older, people in this age group will want flooring that does not exacerbate the aches and pains associated with advanced years.

Vinyl is also versatile, Ridley points out. He notes that it can be made in plank form to mimic hardwood or as a tile for installa-tion in areas where ceramic and stone tra-ditionally go.

Still, it can be difficult to convince cus-tomers to invest in a more expensive (if higher quality) material like luxury vinyl when there are less expensive options on the market. Ridley recalls a discussion with a cus-tomer who wanted to save money, but went about it in a way that would prove costly and time consuming.

“I did a university residence complex,” he says. “They had been buying 99 cent lami-nate. They bought it year after year, because the students would have a party, they’d fall over, they’d spill their beer. They didn’t care. It would ruin the floor.” So every year the school had to replace it. The customer told Ridley that it did not matter because the

flooring was so inexpensive. “I said to him, ‘Why don’t you spend $4 a square foot for a floor that lasts way more than a few years?’”

Longevity is the name of the game. Still, there will always be a call for inexpensive prod-ucts like laminate even though it is not consid-ered to be the longest-lasting material.

“Laminate is never going to go away,” Ridley says. Stevens Omni still sells quite a lot of laminate, but there are many manufac-turers, so it is possible that a market consoli-dation is in the offing. “Something’s got to give at some point,” he says.

Carpet’s comebackLaminate’s popularity has plenty to do with the trend towards hard flooring surfaces, and away from soft surfaces. Over the years, hard-surface manufacturers have made the case for oak, walnut and other durable ma-terials, arguing that they are not only eye appealing, but also better for homeowners’ health than carpet is. These days, common wisdom suggests that carpeting is relatively difficult to clean and not recommended for people who have allergies exacerbated by dust and dirt.

The Carpet and Rug Institute (CRI);

however, presents a different side to the story. Supported by carpet manufacturers, the group points out that carpet is better at trapping allergens than tile or wood is. Those trapped allergens cannot circulate in the air and cause allergy attacks. CRI-ap-proved vacuums suck up the dirt and dust from the carpet, effectively making carpeted areas better for allergy sufferers than non-carpeted areas are. (To learn more about CRI-approved vacuums, visit the group’s Website: www.carpet-rug.org. Click on “Resi-dential Customers,” “Cleaning and Mainte-nance,” and “Seal of Approval Products.”)

The institute also puts a different spin on the fact that carpet emits volatile organic com-pounds (VOCs). CRI argues that carpeting actually emits lower levels of VOCs than paint does, and VOC emissions from carpets dissi-pate quickly, within 72 hours after installation.

Even if the CRI is right, there is no ques-tion that the carpet market is not as strong as it used to be. Certainly the economic down-turn that started in around 2008 did not help matters. Steve Griffith, chief marketing officer of carpet manufacturer Invista, says the industry is still struggling with the effects of the global financial crisis. “We have seen

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very little, if any, recovery across the flooring market recently and the market is still off by approximately 40% since 2006. The carpet market remains about the same as last year; and we have seen an uptick in hard surfaces, specifically as it relates to hardwoods and luxury vinyl tile.”

Invista is pulling out all the stops to reig-nite the carpet market. One of its latest prod-ucts: Stainmaster TruSoft carpeting consisting of soft nylon fibres, making it Invista’s softest Stainmaster carpet ever. TruSoft is designed to stay soft over the long period while continuing to offer standard Stainmaster benefits such as stain and soil resistance.

Asked for installation tips, Griffith says that in addition to buying high-quality car-peting, homeowners should invest in a good carpet cushion and padding to extend the life of the carpeting.

Time will tell if new carpet offerings such as TruSoft will convince homeowners to reconsider soft flooring material. In any case, if customers continue to insist on hard surfaces, contractors have an ever-widening range of options to recommend, including durable, comfortable luxury vinyl, and eco-friendly yet attractive cork and bamboo.

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Any basement renovation, green or not, starts with what and why: what does the homeowner want, and

why does he or she want it?There is any number of answers to

each question, though, when the extraor-dinary have been eliminated, what is left is a commonplace. Most homeowners renovate because they want extra space; they might want to house a parent or a university-age child. It may be that they want a home office, home theatre or, in-creasingly, home gym. It could be that their basement, once remodelled into a separate apartment, will provide an in-come to help with the mortgage. It might

GREENING THE BASEMENT

Listen closely to homeowners when helping them with their dream basements and

suggesting green appliance options.BY DAVID CHILTON SAGGERS


BASEMENT HOME THEATRE ANYONE?In the last few years, advances in digital technology have forged ahead and have put sophisticated audiovisual equipment within reach of just about every budget. So why not consider a home theatre during your base-ment’s renovation?

The special cabling or wiring required for a home theatre installation should be done by someone who special-izes in such work. That really is best left to a professional. A homeowner or a contractor may be absolute wizards at other aspects of basement renovation, but when it comes to placing power sources correctly so the intended audi-ence can enjoy surround sound and big screen movie fireworks they may have to defer to others. It will be quicker for one thing, and will not hold up the finishing of walls, floors and ceilings. Of course, if the sound system is going wireless, an increasingly popular option, then pre-wiring frame walls is unnecessary.

After the wiring, which came after obligatory checks for moisture because that and electronics do not go together, of course, comes the acoustics. The best general recommendation is to soundproof or shut out as much noise as possible. There will be times when someone upstairs will want to read, not watch a movie or TV in the basement and it could get complicated. Remember too that the dimensions of the basement are an important factor. The length and breadth of the space should not be equal or multiples of each other. That is necessary to reduce the effect of resonance, as they cause peaks and valleys in the frequency of sound. Floor coverings will also improve acoustics and so will wood sub-flooring.

Lighting in a basement home theatre can be problematic. Viewers will want to watch in the dark but plenty of light before and after the movie, so ceiling lights with dimmer switches and blackout curtains across win-dows that let in natural light will be a godsend in both situations. Just about everything else about a basement home theatre is down to the homeowner’s desires, even the choice of popcorn. — David Chilton Saggers

even be that they want a modern version of that old standby, the rec room.

Adrienne Kavanagh, principal at AK inte-riors in Vancouver, puts it this way: “What is their vision? What will they do down there?” Remember too, Kavanagh continues, a ho-meowner may have a vision for a basement, but she suggests that a designer talk him or her through it to work out any possible kinks before a contractor is hired. At the same time, says Bob Assadourian, president and CEO of Triple R. Inc. in Hamilton, Ont., calling city hall to find out the permissions needed for basement renovation is crucial.

Answering what and why is the easy part; the next step is far more difficult. Hom-eowners and their contractors need a plan to work from. That may seem obvious, but it is not always the case among householders.

“The first thing they should consider is some plans, some drawings,” says Abram Mullett, owner of Abram’s Contracting in Toronto. “It depends upon the basement. If it is just a simple renovation like maybe a washroom and a rec room, it is pretty straightforward, but if it is going to be a bed- is going to be a bed- going to be a bed-room, washroom, that type of thing, then we need to get some plans.

“I know I go to do quotes and people have not got a clue what to do, so we start from scratch and get some drawings.”

The homeowners can do the drawings themselves, he continues, or can hire a pro-fessional to prepare them. Mullett says he has had clients who have been very good at drawing their own plans and others who lack even the basic skills to show him what they would like, so either they spend a couple of hundred dollars to get them on paper or, for the simpler jobs, he does them himself.

What must the plans cover? That de-pends on the renovated space’s purpose. For example, a home theatre and a university student’s separate quarters will differ. In oth-er words, understanding how the basement will be used means understanding any neces-sary mechanical changes that the renovation may require. In addition, building codes and municipal bylaws must also be observed.

Once the plans have been drawn up and approved, the next step is to repair anything that needs repairing. Major water leaks, and any flooding in spring, must be fixed. It could mean sloping the grade and direct-ing downspouts away from the foundation, and will require excavation, damproofing,

a drainage system and exterior insulation. Further, Natural Resources Canada says any sign of dampness must be addressed: stains, mold, a musty smell and so on. If it is minor dampness then it can be fixed from the in-side, but if it is more serious then it has to be tackled from the exterior. As for a crack in a basement, professional help is needed to see if structural repairs are necessary.

Something else to consider is the furnace. Will the one that is already installed be up to the job of heating the newly renovated area? Will a new appliance be needed? If it is larger and more powerful, will it be noisier and inter-fere with phone conversations in a home office or movie watching in a home theatre?

Let us suppose the plans have been fi-nalized and permits obtained and pre-ren-ovation repairs effected. What’s next? Un-less the homeowner is very handy and very brave, Moe Abbas, president of Ottawa Gen-eral Contractors, suggests turning matters over to a professional.

In his own business, Abbas says he takes any basement project up to a certain com-pletion level and then the homeowner can take on some of the work himself. “The work that they do is painting, at the end of the

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day. They may do trim, they may put floor-ing in, but that is where it ends because they are not going to go and do any of the critical trades work; anything that affects the critical path of the work we do not allow the hom-eowners to touch.”

Unless homeowners like risk and have a high tolerance for stress, they should leave everything to the pros and discuss with them any budgetary concerns they have, Abbas counsels.

Despite the record breaking heat wave that has overwhelmed parts of the coun-try this year, Canada remains in the cold weather camp and furnaces are the one indispensable item in any household. In any green renovation, fuel economy must be considered. CMHC says since calculating prices for electricity, oil and natural gas are “nearly impossible” given the unpredictabil-ity of energy costs these days, the best advice is to make a calculation based on current prices in one’s own locality.

To help out, CMHC offers a rough com-parison of heating an older house in Ottawa that allows the homeowner or his contractor to plug in fuel prices and the efficiencies of the furnace being considered to determine relative costs. The equation can be found at www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca.

CMHC says that a hypothetical Ottawa house would cost $974 a year to heat with a 92% efficient gas furnace installed. Since 2010 only high-efficiency gas furnaces have been sold in Canada and range from 89- 96% efficiency. There is also a heat-loss measure available from the Canadian Stan-dards Association, or a furnace sizing cal-culation from the Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Institute of Canada (HRAI) that homeowners must pay for.

Once a furnace has been chosen, it may be time to consider a greywater manage-ment system whose holding tank is installed in the basement.

The idea of reusing water from showers and baths, washing machines and hand dish washing to flush toilets and water gardens has not gained much traction in Canada; however, Brac Systems in Montreal is one such company that is betting greywater man-agement will eventually take off.

It sells tanks to collect washing machine and shower water that drain into tanks that hold up to 400 L of greywater. (Each has an overflow pipe leading to the sewer sys-tem when the tank is full.) Cold water pipes from the tank are routed to toilets in the house and they are flushed with greywa-

ter rather than fresh potable water, saving between 40 and 60 L of the precious com-modity every day.

Abbas says greywater systems are a small market for contractors and most demand for them comes from rural areas. It may also be that they have not yet reached critical mass because there is a patchwork of places across the country where they allowed. For example, Alberta does not allow them, says environmental group Green Edmonton, and Brac is the only residential system the Ontario government allows.

As for government discounts, rebates and tax credits to encourage all manner of green projects, they vary widely from prov-ince to province.

Provincial Websites are the best place to start looking. Federal government pro-grams, introduced as an economic stimulus, are now over.

In Ontario, for instance, the provin-cial government, under its Heating and Cooling Incentive, offers a cash reward to homeowners and businesses that operate from residential-style premises and which have bought and installed eligible replace-ment central heating or cooling equipment through a participating contractor. The $250 is payable if an existing furnace has

been replaced with a model equipped with an Electronically Commutated Motor.

One other appliance to consider dur-ing a basement renovation is the gas tank-less water heater, which uses high-powered burners to heat the water as it runs through a heat exchanger. Since heating water can consume as much as 30% of the average home’s energy budget it makes sense to see if switching to a tankless heater in the base-ment is worthwhile.

Perhaps it is. Abbas says, “They are great if you don’t have five girls in your family, but they’re not meant to be scaleable systems.” He says he would choose tankless because it is hot water on demand. As attractive as that and the energy savings are, it should be remembered that tankless systems will cost more because a tankless models need elec-trical outlets for their fans and electronics, improved gas pipes and a new ventilation system.

Whether a basement renovation is done by a contractor or a contractor and hom-eowner working in tandem, it is a major un-dertaking. Start at the beginning and work methodically, the professionals emphasize, because done properly the renovation might last 50 years or more and that, they say, is really green.

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Docket: RUST0058Account: Rustoleum

Item: Zinsser Print ad

Date: July 26, 2012

Trim: 8.125" x 10.875"

Bleed: 8.5” x 11.125”

Type Safety: 7.625" x 10.375"

Colours: CMYK

Proof: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Final

Artist: /

Studio Mgr: /

Production: /

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Creative Dir.: /

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ARTWORK APPROVAL

3 reasons why Bulls Eye 1-2-3 ® is the contractor’s choiceGREAT HIDE

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JOB NAME: CONTRACTOR ADVANTAGE MAGAZINE AD - FOAMULAR

ART DIRECTOR COPY WRITER CREATIVE DIR. PRINT PROD. STUDIO MGR. ACCT. MGMT.

DOCKET/AD#: 12-OWC-032

DATE STARTED: AUG 16

ARTIST: ID

REV#: 0

LASER %:

DISKED:

LIVE AREA: –

TYPE SAFETY: –

TRIM: 8.125" X 10.875"

BLEED: 8.5" X 11.25"

COLOUR: 4C

1-800-GET-PINK® or visit www.owenscorning.ca

ExcEptional pErformancE, a grEEnEr planEt. that’s pink™.

today, contractors, builders and homeowners expect more from their

insulation. that’s why we created foamUlar® rigid insulation. it has

the same trusted insulating performance that your customers have

come to expect from owens corning, while providing exceptional

moisture resistance and durability. Versatile in its application, it exceeds

all green expectations with its outstanding energy efficiency. so go

green and stock pink™.

Why choose FOAMULAR® Insulation?

• Complies with 2010 Montreal Protocol – CFC- and HCFC-Free

• Zero ozone depletion potential• 70% less global warming potential†

• Minimum 20% recycled content

Contact your Owens Corning Area Sales Manager to find out how PINK™ can make a positive impact on your business.

ZERO

OZONE

DEPLETION

FORMULA

FORMULE À

APPAUVRISSEMENT

DE L’OZONEZÉRO

thE pink panthEr™ & © 1964-2012 metro-goldwyn-mayer studios inc. all rights reserved. the colour pink is a registered trademark of owens corning. © 2012 owens corning. all rights reserved. †the insulation is manufactured with a blowing agent with 70% less global warming potential as compared to owens corning previous blowing agents. grEEngUarD children & schoolssm mark is a registered certification mark used under license through the grEEngUarD Environmental institute. owens corning pink™ insulation is grEEngUarD certified for indoor air quality, except bonded loosefill products. © 2012 owens corning. all rights reserved.

http://www.owenscorning.ca

PINK™ reNovatIoNs are greeNer aNd save moNey∆

1-800-GET-PINK® or visit www.owenscorning.ca

today’s contractors and homeowners demand products that are easy to use,

quick to install, safe and reliable - all from a name that they trust. that’s why we

created ecotouch™ PINK™ FIBergLas® Insulation with PureFiber™ technology.

made with 99% natural** material and over 70%* recycled content, this

breakthrough in insulation technology is easy to install and safe for homeowners.

and now renovation projects can pay for themselves‡ because homeowners

can save up to 28%^ on heating and cooling costs. so go green and use PINK™

in your next project.

Why choose EcoTouch™ PINK™ Insulation?

• Designed by a leader in energy efficiency

• Made from over 70%* recycled content – 3rd party SCS certified

• Made with 99% natural** materials

• GREENGUARD Indoor Air Quality CertifiedSM and formaldehyde-free

• Durable & dependable

tHe PINK PaNtHer™ & © 1964-2012 metro-goldwyn-mayer studios Inc. all rights reserved. the colour PINK is a registered trademark of owens Corning. © 2012 owens Corning. all rights reserved. *70% recycled content is based on the average recycled glass content in all owens Corning fiberglass batts, rolls and unbonded loosefill insulation manufactured in Canada. sCs certified. **made with a minimum of 99% by weight natural materials consisting of minerals and plant-based compounds. ‡Insulating levels recommended should result in energy savings over time above the cost of the insulating cost, however, if you buy too much insulation, it can cost you more than you save on energy bills. ^Up to 28% heating and cooling savings based on Hot 2000, version 8.7 run for a 2 storey 1972 type base house with 1149 sf per floor for an increase from r-8 to r-40 in the attic plus an increase from zero to r-20 in the basement walls in Canadian climates. ∆savings vary depending on original amount of insulation in your home, climate, house size, air leaks, and personal energy use and living habits. greeNgUard Children & schoolssm mark is a registered certification mark used under license through the greeNgUard environmental Institute. owens Corning PINK™ insulation is greeNgUard Certified for indoor air quality, except bonded loosefill products. this product has achieved greeNgUard Children & schools Certification and is verified to be formaldehyde free. © 2012 owens Corning. all rights reserved.

PUBLICATIONS:


JOB NAME: CONTRACTOR ADVANTAGE MAGAZINE AD - ECOTOUCH

ART DIRECTOR COPY WRITER CREATIVE DIR. PRINT PROD. STUDIO MGR. ACCT. MGMT.

DOCKET/AD#: 12-OWC-032

DATE STARTED: AUG 16

ARTIST: ID

REV#: 0

LASER %:

DISKED:

LIVE AREA: –

TYPE SAFETY: –

TRIM: 8.125" X 10.875"

BLEED: 8.5" X 11.25"

COLOUR: 4C

http://www.owenscorning.ca

contractor advantage september / october 2012

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