Rivait leaves CHBA-Alberta in better shape
The Canadian Home Builders’ Association-Alberta said farewell to its CEO Jim Rivait and welcomed interim CEO Donna Moore at its association’s annual conference in Jasper last weekend.
The change in leadership comes amid moves to initiate talks about amalgamation with Urban Development Institute-Alberta, a way to link the voices and advance the interests of builders and developers in the province.
Past and current presidents took the opportunity to celebrate Rivait by giving him a tool box filled with tools signifying compliments — a saw for his ability to cut to the chase, a hammer for nailing home his points and floor plans for his ability to create a plan.
When Rivait looks back at his 61/2 years at the helm of CHBA-Alberta, he is able to see the strength he brought to the organization.
“The things I’m most proud of are creating a strong organization and adding services for members,” he said.
He balanced the finances, brought up membership and was able to add services that added value for members.
They hired economic analyst Richard Goatcher, communications expert Paul Cashman and, in partnership with Alberta Construction Safety Association, a stand-alone safety expert.
“That matched up with the priority that the board had on safety. We’ve seen some great results on that this year,” Rivait said, noting that on-site safety ticketing by the government has seen a reduction by half of incidents.
Getting to know the new provincial government has been a big part of the association’s work this year.
“We had to switch gears from more of a lobby or an advocacy program to an education program,” Rivait said. “The government was very open to that.”
The introduction of mandatory warranty coverage in 2014 wasn’t much of a change in business for CHBA members, who already provided that coverage as a requirement of CHBA membership, but the change does lead to the coming licensing of builders.
The government announced it plans to introduce a bill to license builders this fall.
“When they created the mandatory warranty, in order to get a ( building) permit, you had to get a warranty,” Rivait said. “What we thought should happen is in order to get a permit, you should have a licence. That is what happens in Ontario and B.C.
“What that does is put the role of who is determining who is in the business in the hands of the government, not to a private sector company.”
Rivait is heading to the Alberta Roadbuilders and Heavy Construction Association as its CEO.
He leaves with appreciation for the members of CHBA-Alberta.
“They’re nice people, supportive members who weren’t afraid to roll up their sleeves at the committee and board levels, so that’s always a pleasure,” he said.
Amalgamation, meanwhile, is a familiar topic for Moore, who retired five weeks ago from CHBAUDI Calgary Region Association as co-CEO. She had spent much of her 32 years at CHBA-Calgary Region as its executive director.
Along with Guy Huntingford, representing the UDI side, they oversaw the two-year process of amalgamation of CHBA-Calgary Region and UDI-Calgary.
Huntingford remains as CEO of the Calgary association.
“To tell you the truth, I’m delighted to have this opportunity right now,” Moore said. “I’m looking forward to the opportunity to serve the organization at a different level. It gives me an opportunity to see things a different way and hopefully with my past experience, strengthen the great work we have going on at the provincial level to serve our members.”
The Alberta association deals with provincial issues, such as building codes and regulations, municipal government act or climate change.
“In the Calgary region, the members believed that as an amalgamated organization, CHBA and UDI, they would be a much stronger, larger and more effective organization to serve the issues of the region,” Moore said.
“All I can say at this moment in time is very preliminary work is being looked at a potential.”
A great deal of work would need to take place before members across the province voted on such a move. Supporting the organization and being active in it are key, said Moore.
“It’s important that our members take part and have a voice, and in particular, a united voice,” she said.
“It doesn’t really matter what the form of their organization might take. The key to all of this is speaking together on the key issues that impact us all in this industry.”