New head at home builders’ group embraces his ‘dream job’
The torch at the Greater Ottawa Home Builders’ Association has been passed to a new executive director who brings a policy and government relations background to members working in the building, land development, and professional renovation industry.
Jason Burggraaf, 39, is replacing longtime executive director John Herbert, who enjoyed 15 successful years overseeing GOHBA.
Burggraaf worked at the Canadian Home Builders’ Association before landing what he calls his “dream job.”
The Ottawa Citizen spoke to him about his thoughts on leading the association and what members can expect.
Q What drew you to the GOHBA position?
A It sounds silly but this has always kind of been the dream job. I came to Ottawa (from Newfoundland) with the vague notion in the back of my mind of being a Hill staffer. And then through pursuing that, you learn about all the other avenues and firms that influence public policy making, one of which of course is industry association work. Through that, I managed to get a job through the Canadian Home Builders’ Association, first as a secretary for education and training and for membership services, then I (worked) almost 10 years as an assistant to the chief operations officer. When he retired they asked me to take on an official position as government relations...for the past five years.
Q What is the value of membership in GOHBA?
A As builders and renovators, you join to really get that collective voice at city hall in dealing with the planning department, for example. And you also get a lot of experience in terms of what other people have done. So the lessons learned can be any number of things, from technical to marketing, just a range of what a home builder or renovator has to know. You gain experience and you get the benefit of everyone else participating. In terms of contractors and suppliers and manufacturers and such, they join to develop those business relationships and get a chance to really learn the industry, make those connections.
Q How are you going to communicate with the members? Will that change?
A There will be a membership survey (circulated) to get a better gauge on members’ perceptions of what we do, what helps them and what they would like us to do. And that will set the stage to do a strategic plan for each constituency to help shape what it is we do for them. Because they do all join for different reasons.
For builders and developers, they will … (deal with issues at city hall) on development timelines and stuff like that; and making sure that all those things come on stream at a reasonable timeframe.
For renovators it will be a bit different, it will be addressing underground operators, and there will be some city hall (topics) like working on parking permits and signage bylaws as well.
And then for your suppliers, contractors, and associates, they are the people who join the home builders’ association for business to business, to work with those renovators and builder firms.
Q I understand you are updating the communication tools too?
A Like any of us, society has kind of moved away from consuming a lot of print publications, so right now we are winding down a broadsheet paper that was produced ... that was sent out to members. So there’s a cost to all that, of course. And it’s not really the way members want to get their information anymore. Most members indicate they want to receive it in some form electronically, whether that’s by emails or social media groups.
Q How have you seen the building industry in Ottawa change over the past five or 10 years, and what are the challenges for builders these days?
A The biggest challenges are still the approvals process at city hall and timelines getting longer because it takes more and more resources to satisfy city planners. But also then your carrying costs increase and all that ends up in the price of the home. So all those little things carry on and add up to the end cost.
But overall Ottawa has been a very steady market. It’s sort of in a bit of a bubble itself from being that typical government town, but also being regionally separated from a significantly big city where we don’t have to compete. I expect the market to basically sort of stay the same. We might get a bit of an ebb and flow in terms of activity. It has been gradually going up over the past couple of years. Last year we hit 7,400 starts (compared to 4,972 in 2016), which is a significant amount for Ottawa.