Home construction in rural N.L. ‘in the dark ages,’ says contractor
Home Builders’ Association asks province to fully adopt and enforce National Building Code of Canada
“This place is in the dark ages and people don’t know,” said drywall and insulation installation contractor Harvey Walsh.
Walsh works in the Bay Roberts area, and he’s adamant that the government, or someone, should step in to enforce the National Building Code of Canada across the province.
“Nothing is being looked at,” he said, referring to homes that are constructed without any requirement to have the structural integrity inspected along the way.
“I really do see a desperate — and I can’t stress that enough — desperate need for anything past the overpass in new construction, especially in this day and age, especially considering the practices that are out here being done, for this stuff to be inspected as it’s being built, as it would be anywhere else in this country.
“It is appalling what people are getting away with out here,” he said.
The National Building Code of Canada is not wholly adopted by the provincial government — responsibility for enforcing the code as it applies to new home constructions and renovations is devolved to municipalities.
In practice, that means that outside of larger centres in the province, and outside of electrical and plumbing work, homes are not inspected as they are built.
One contractor and another builder told The Telegram that electrical work is also often not inspected in rural areas — that electricians are being trusted to do the work properly.
“Electricians are inspecting themselves. It’s unbelievable,” said Walsh.
Walsh said he has worked across the country as a contractor for about 35 years, spending the last few years in the Conception Bay North area. He said he has witnessed an array of poor building practices in the area that he did not witness in other parts of the country. He said “someone’s going to have to die” for this to change.
Advocating for change
The Canadian Home Builders’ Association – Newfoundland and Labrador (CHBANL) is asking the provincial government to make changes.
Association president Randy Oram said they recently had a meeting with Service NL.
“We are advocating for them to adopt and enforce the building code. We understand they’re under fiscal restrictions and they don’t want to, obviously, open up a big department that’s going to cost them a pile of money, but there are ways around it. They do it in other provinces across the country,” he said.
Oram said the association is speaking with the government about looking at ways to phase in inspections in rural areas. While St. John’s has many inspectors and several inspections that are completed throughout the course of a home construction, he suggested starting with more safety-oriented inspections first in rural areas.
“Our rural municipalities don’t have the capacity to have a building inspector on staff, so when you get outside our urban centres … if I go to Portugal Cove-st. Philip’s, if I go to Holyrood, Cupids, wherever, I stop into the town hall and pay a small fee for a building permit,” said Oram.
CHBANL CEO Victoria Belbin said the permit is essentially an honour system — by getting the permit, builders say they’ll abide by the code.
Belbin said the lack of inspections for builders is a “contentious issue” within the industry in the province.
“Because we’ve got lots of members who are educating themselves, doing it by the book, and really keeping the consumer and their home top of mind, and there’s others out there who are like, ‘Oh, that’s OK,’” Belbin said.
The association would also like to see a licensing process for builders, and mandatory warranties on new home constructions, which Belbin said is commonplace in other jurisdictions.
Oram sits on national boards through his work with CHBANL, and said he’s noticed this province tends to trail behind the rest of the country.
“They’re all talking about, ‘Well, our province is doing this, and our province is doing that.’ I’m up there saying, ‘Our province is doing nothing.’”
Qualified builders
Service NL Minister Sherry Gambin-walsh cancelled a scheduled interview with The Telegram with no opportunity to reschedule at this time.
Her office offered an emailed statement that outlined the code as it pertains in this province.
“The National Building Code of Canada is adopted provincewide under the Fire Protection Services Regulations and Buildings Accessibility Regulations, but not for private homes. Rather, municipal councils are required to adopt the National Building Code of Canada for this purpose under the Municipalities Act, 1999.”
The spokesperson also wrote that complaints about businesses can be made with the Consumer Affairs Division.
“To ensure that customers are protected it is important to ensure the builder, as with any individual performing a service, is qualified, experienced and dependable,” the emailed statement read.
As for warranties on new homes and licensing of builders, the statement said, “this matter does not pertain to the National Building Code of Canada.”