Building a house? Nail down the appliances

EDMONTON • The Labour Dayweekend theft of a $110,000 backhoe from an Edmonton construction site is part of a trend plaguing the home-building industry, police say.

Ed Demediros, vice-construction manager for Park Royal Homes, called theft his No. 1 workplace headache.

Mr. Demediros has been robbed of everything from windows and fireplaces to appliances and furnaces, despite checking on homes under construction at least once or twice a day.

“ As a house builder, basically anything that’s attached onto a house grows legs or something,” Mr. Demediros said. “It’s really frustrating.”

The problem persists despite efforts the company has made to combat theft, such as avoiding Friday afternoon deliveries so goods aren’t left over the weekend.

Bill Davidson, president of the Edmonton Region Homebuilders’ Association and managing partner of Burke Perry Homes, also is familiar with the phenomenon.

In one instance, his company had two fireplaces delivered to two homes being built side by side. The electricians installed the fireplace in one house and then walked next door to hook up the wires in the second home.

They returned to the first home a short time later only to discover that someone had come in, disconnected the furnace and whisked it away as they worked next door.

No one can say for certain how costly it is to the local construction industry because until recently a lot of construction-site theft wasn’t being reported.

Edmonton Police Detective Gerry Vercammen has created a witness statement specifically for the industry. Homebuilders can now fax the form to Det. Vercammen, who loads the information into the Canadian Police Information Centre database.

He said he receives a report almost every day. The latest trend, he said, are criminals who rent cube vans, drive to construction sites and load up.