Canadian Contractor - July-August 2015

Smart Tech
Kitchens
Designers
Talk Trends
page 22
LEED Platinum
Construction
Vancouver’s
North Shore
page 36
CANADIAN
Take Our
90 DAY
CHALLENGE
page 18
THE MAGAZINE FOR PROFESSIONAL RENOVATORS AND CUSTOM HOMEBUILDERS
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CONTENTS
18 Cover Story
Take Our
features
COVER STORY
The 90 Day Profitability
Challenge 18
Do you know how much money you are
going to make in the next 90 days? Mike Draper,
Renovantage, shows you how to figure it out.
90 DAY
CHALLENGE
Smart Tech Kitchens 22
We interview award-winning designers
on what makes an ultra-modern
upmarket kitchen sing.
Good Works
from Saint Gobain 30
The building products giant, celebrating
350 years in business, makes a serious
commitment to turning disadvantaged
youth into contractors.
Helping Clients Find
the Money 34
Calgary builder PLANiT partners up with
“merchant direct” credit company Financeit
to help their customers fund renovations.
Professional Painting in Calgary 42
A profile of The Urban Painter, an
entrepreneurial painting firm that is
riding high in The Stampede City.
Saint Gobain
30
350 years
42
Urban
Painter
www.canadiancontractor.ca July/August 2015 3

CONTENTS
Handy
Man
10
Maxwell’s
Picks
56
departments
Online 6
A look at some of the great
stuff we have online at
canadiancontractor.ca.
Editorials 8
Does your contracting business have
a brand name? Rob and Steve talk
about why it matters.
Site Notes 10
An interview with Wayne Jackson,
a one-man handyman dynamo in
Amherstburg, Ontario.
Voices 12
A sample of some of the online
comments from our 16,500 contractor
e-news subscribers.
Maxwell’s Stuff We Like 49
How to create incredibly sharp
hand tools in two minutes or less.
Enviroslate roofing. DeWalt
miter saw.
What Would You Do? 58
Tell us how you would handle this
sticky business situation. If we
pick your answer, you will win a
DeWalt cordless framing nailer.
49
Hone Run
58
What Would
You Do?
4 July/August 2015 www.canadiancontractor.ca

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ONLINE
Visit us online
CANADIAN
CONTRACTOR .ca
VIDEO
A WAY TO PUT ALL YOUR CONTRACT PAPERWORK IN YOUR POCKET
RENOMii is pretty cool. In a nutshell, it’s a way to upload all your projects’ paperwork so
that all those hundreds of pieces of job-related information don’t get lost. Your client can
log in and access them, you can access them. Your contracts, change orders and other
critical documents are all on your mobile device, or wherever you want them.
Type “RENOMii” in the search bar at canadiancontractor.ca to find this video easily
VIDEO
MAKING YOUR OWN MOULDINGS ONSITE USING A ROUTER
In under 3 minutes, our tools editor Steve Maxwell shows you how you can can do custom
handrails, door and window trim, crown moulding, wainscoting – endless types of "millwork"
– using a simple router and some attachments. As Steve says, this type of router usage by
contractors, onsite, is not "typical." But it can make you money.
Type “Router” in the search bar at canadiancontractor.ca to find this video easily
SALARY SURVEY
PRICE OF MATERIALS ISN’T THE BIG DEAL WE ALL THINK IT IS
Well, most of us kind of “knew” this, but now the proof is in. Contractors don’t rank the price of
materials, supplies and tools as highly as anxious lumberyards and big box stores often think
they do. Only 28 per cent of the contractors we surveyed, in our annual Canadian Contractor Salary
Survey, told us that “Price” was the most important factor when they shopped for an item.
Type “Salary Survey” in the search bar at canadiancontractor.ca to find this video easily
CANADIAN
CONTRACTOR
BUILD | GROW | PROFIT
.ca
Volume 16, Number 4
July/August 2015
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Steve Payne
spayne@canadiancontractor.ca
Contributing Editors
John Bleasby, John Caulfield, Mike Draper,
Kim Laudrum, Steve Maxwell
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Publisher
Rob Koci
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6 July/August 2015 www.canadiancontractor.ca

Rob Hauser
Hauser Home Hardware
Building Centre
Camrose, AB
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EDITORIAL
Voices
”
If you have no
brand affiliations,
your competition
is real.
”
Rob Koci
Publisher
rkoci@canadiancontractor.ca
WHY YOU NEED A BRAND NAME
By Rob Koci
The Holmes Referred Contractor Program went away last summer,
though you can still see that logo on the side of renovators’ trucks.
It doesn’t take long to apply to become a Baeumler Approved
Contractor – just go to their website and fill out a form. If you join
your local homebuilders’ association, the RenoMark brand is all
yours. If online exposure is important to you, you can pay HomeStars
or TrustedPros some money and get their logo on your vehicle, your
website, or anywhere else you want to put it.
The business of selling brand names to contractors and
renovators has gone into overdrive. Our industry is in a brand-rush
for at least three reasons:
• Increased regulation is scaring the hell out of some
independent contractors. They realize they must either get bigger
to cover regulatory costs, do more cash work or die. Getting bigger
means getting more work – and having a brand name appears to
offer it.
• Lack of skill in the face of today’s more educated homeowner is
making some contractors very nervous indeed. They are looking for
a brand to hide behind.
• Reno horror stories are scaring the hell out of most homeowners
and they are looking for a contractor with a brand they can trust.
If you have no brand affiliations whatsoever, the competition
you are facing from contractors with all those logos on their trucks
is real. So what do you do? Here’s my sincere advice if you decide
to go shopping for a brand:
• Look very long term. Does the brand have sustainable value?
Does it have any value at all?
• “You get what you pay for” is most true in the world of brands.
• Ask yourself if the brand name you are considering has a good
chance of being exploited by contractors with no skill or scruples.
If it does, don’t sign up.
Paying someone a couple hundred bucks just to show their logo
on your business card will do very little for you if there are clowns
and con artists waving the same flag.
8 July/August 2015 www.canadiancontractor.ca

EDITORIAL
IN PRAISE OF NO-NAMES
By Steve Payne
When a bunch of squirrels invaded my family’s townhome last
month (well, our attic), the condo management firm sent in one of
the biggest North American brand names in pest control to deal
with the situation.
The friendly, reassuring franchisee who waddled up a ladder
to our roof put a live-trap by the access hole in the fascia. The
next day, he’d caught a squirrel, whereupon he took the trap
down and sealed up the access hole with sheet metal. Never to
contact me again.
The whole thing took just 24 hours – to prove that he was
totally incompetent and his company’s brand name didn’t
mean squat.
The squirrels who remained inside let us know all weekend
that the clock was ticking on the stink they were going to emit
when they died.
I asked the property manager to send us a competent operator
to fix the mess. Two young lads arrived, without logos, a one-off
firm that was not a franchise. No brand name but their own.
They first walked all the neighbouring townhouse roofs for
20 minutes, trying to find out if there were other access points
before they dealt with ours. Then one of them entered the attic to
check things out – the brand name firm hadn’t even bothered.
Only after about an hour of these inspections did they go
about unscrewing the sheet metal from the original access hole.
They then screwed on an exclusion door – a one-way funnel of
wire – rather than a live trap. All the remaining squirrels exited
on their own in the next few days.
No brand name, no logo. Total expertise and attention to
detail. Problem solved.
Contractors, you don’t need a purchased brand name if you
operate like these pros.
”
No purchased
brand name
was necessary.
”
Steve Payne
Editor
spayne@canadiancontractor.ca
Voices
www.canadiancontractor.ca July/August 2015 9

SITE NOTES
Tips on Running a One-Man Handyman Operation
An Interview with. . .
Wayne Jackson, Wayne Jackson Handyman Services,
Amherstburg, Ontario.
Wayne Jackson is a
throwback to another
time. No puffed up titles
for him! He’s happy
to be what he is –
a handyman.
For the past 29
years, Wayne has been
building, renovating and repairing just about everything in the
homes and gardens of his many loyal customers. Currently he’s
based in Amherstburg, Ontario, in the extreme southwestern part
of the province.
Our Contributing Editor John Bleasby asks Wayne how he’s
managed to turn something so simple into a good living.
How long have you been handy?
Since I was six. Anything my mother bought I tore apart, just
to see what made it tick. I grew up on a farm and so I started
working for a lot of the farmers, making things work.
You market yourself as a handyman, pure and simple.
No grand titles?
I don’t want to step on anyone’s toes or hurt anyone else’s
business. Plus, I want to cover as wide a spectrum as I can with
small jobs. I don’t want to limit myself by saying I’m a contractor
or any kind of specialist.
Do you work solely on your own or do you have employees?
Mostly on my own. I do my own plumbing, carpentry, and tiling,
but I don’t touch anything electrical. I bring in specialty trades
when I need them, but I get the client to hire them directly.
You’ve recently moved to this new area. What are the challenges
you’ve faced marketing to a new client base?
I’m finding a lot of people here expect me to do the cash thing,
which I don’t do. When the GST dropped from 7 per cent to 5 per
cent, it wasn’t so bad. Now it’s the HST at 13 per cent, so the cash
thing has started again.
What would you say to someone starting up their
own one-man operation?
Put flyers everywhere: grocery stores and hardware stores.
Get the word out as much as you can. Put your name on your
vehicle. I have a red van with 5-inch letters on both sides saying
“Wayne Jackson, Handyman” and my phone number. It’s not for
my clients; I want neighbours five or six houses down to read
my name and number. It’s a business card that I drive around
in. Advertise in the local paper. Some people feel if you’re not
in the local paper, you’re not in business. My wife had them
create a heading for ‘Handyman’. I’m the only one in the section!
I also have a website that brings in about 20-25 per cent of my
inquiries. That’s been really good.
Are you able to enjoy 12 months of work?
I send out a mailing in the spring to promote outside work. In the
fall I do another mailing for inside jobs, like bathrooms, vanities
and so on. I ask customers to make lists of what they want done.
It’s more cost-effective for them. It’s expensive to hire me to
change a light bulb.
What are your Red Flags with prospective customers?
I can tell if it’s going to be a good relationship or if there’s going
to be trouble. I run into some who want a ‘deal.’ People with
money are often the worst. You give them a quote and they want
you to knock 10 per cent off to get the job or even 10 per cent off
at the end of the job! And people who say that Mike Holmes says
to get three or more references and quotes, stuff like that. My
answer is simple: ‘Hire Mike Holmes.’ If a customer is going to
start a relationship like that, I’m a bit hesitant to get involved. I
never drop my rates. I charge for my experience and the cost of
running my business.
Collections are not something many independent operators
like to do. How do you manage that part?
I ask for materials payments up front. And I get paid weekly for
the work done to date, every Friday. I try to avoid problems right
off. For example, I don’t pick colours for paints, but I choose the
brand. The guy in the paint shop doesn’t really care; he’s not
doing the job.
How has being a handyman worked out for
you financially?
Everyone wants more, I guess. But the fact I’ve been in business
for 29 years speaks for itself.
10 July/August 2015 www.canadiancontractor.ca

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©2014 Benjamin Moore & Co. All trademarks are registered trademarks of their respective owner.

VOICES
CRAPPY CHINESE SHINGLES
Alec Caldwell wrote an online post for us on June 17 called “Just What
Our Industry Needed: Cheap, Crappy Chinese Shingles.” It detailed
the appearance in Canada of thin, lightweight shingles that don’t
meet CSA standards. And guess what? They don’t need to, at least
for renovation applications. Only new homes require CSA-certified
shingles. Time to close that loophole, we think. Here is a sampling of
our online comments from contractors.
“What is cheap now, ends up costing more…”
Excellent article that shines a light on a growing problem in the Canadian construction
industry. It’s not just shingles, however. Stucco and plaster materials that are not up to code are
being used regularly here in Calgary by contractors who cheat innocent, unknowing customers.
This usually results in cracking, water damage, and mould on the frame of the house. Another
growing problem, at least here in Calgary, is windows made from cheap Chinese materials and
hardware. Not only are the companies selling these windows destroying the market with their
ridiculously cheap prices, I have my doubts about their certifications, as I have seen them first
hand and they are an abomination. People need to remember that what is cheap now, ends up
costing significantly more in the long run.
Michael
“Shingles falling in Milton, Ontario”
I saw shingles falling off of townhouses in Milton, Ontario last February. I inspected them and
found they are much thinner than the 25-year shingles from IKO. My roofing supplier told me
they are from China. So beware of your shingles. I try to avoid anything Chinese made. I never
frequent dollar stores. I make every attempt to investigate product origin. I do not support
sellers or manufacturers that pass along Chinese material or product. It is time we closed
the doors and started supporting Canada and the standards we need to stay safe. Punish
manufactures and companies that move their businesses to China.
Rey Talusa
ASKING CUSTOMERS TO RATE YOU
John Bleasby hired about 30 subtrades when building a house near
Coldwater, Ontario – and noted in his online post that not one of them
asked him, at any time, how happy he was with their work. This kickstarted
a discussion on our site about how few of us ask our customers
how we are doing. And what that ends up costing us.
“Make it simple for your clients to give feedback”
Asking for feedback is something we consider often when we deal with our clients. The simplest
answers to “Why Don’t More Contractors Ask for Feedback?”are: (1) It can be challenging to get
the feedback so contractors give up on even asking, and (2) Contractors don’t understand the
significant value that such reviews can bring to their businesses long term.
How to deal with these issues? First, make it simple for your clients to write feedback or to
give you a review. Give them options for places to do this as opposed to just giving them one
12 July/August 2015 www.canadiancontractor.ca

VOICES
spot. Second, teach your staff why and how they should ask for
reviews. Often the difference between getting feedback and not
is in the way you ask for it.
It should also be noted that many contractors are wary of
negative responses. They shouldn’t be. Disappointing feedback
is simply a tool to improve the way you do things.
Jess Sugar
“Paper feedback cards no longer seem to work”
Oh, how I love client feedback. Funny, though, when you do a great
job, you get a brief thank you. But when you make a mess, boy do
you find out about it. The client will badmouth you all over the
place, but never send you a note telling you what you did wrong. A
phone call, yes, but never a note delineating the problem.
We heard once that a client was so very ticked off at our
service that they were telling all their friends about it. Then they
told one of our really loyal clients about this – and got stopped
in their tracks. Our loyal client asked our unhappy one, “Did you
ever call them to tell them what was wrong?” The unhappy client
answered, “Why would I do that? No one ever comes back to fix a
mistake!” The reply from our loyal customer: “They do! Why did
you not call?”
So the next day, the customer calls and reams me out. I pull the
file and note that there has never been any contact from the client
since we left her premises two months ago. I ask what happened
– and why did she not call? Apparently, after we left, her son tried
to light a fire (in the fireplace we worked on) and smoked out the
entire house and caused her to have an asthma attack. She had
not used it since. So I offered her a free service call to find out
what was going on. The finding? Her son had neglected to open
the damper. It was that easy to solve. But because we had had no
communication, we were badmouthed.
For many years we left feedback cards with our clients, along
with their invoices. We used to get 95 per cent of them back
regularly – but that eventually changed to about 5 per cent.
Maybe it is because we are doing a lot of repeat clients, I don’t
know. We have tried putting a feedback area on our website – but
hardly anything ever trickled in. Seems that clients do not want
to give feedback anymore unless they are really mad at you.
I think clients are so inundated with the auto-calling after nearly
every service they have done, that when they see a paper or
internet or mailing opportunity to give feedback they just toss it.
We do still receive nice notes and cards with any incoming
cheques from time to time and we really appreciate these as the
clients have obviously taken more time and thought than just
handing us a form they feel they must return. We keep these in
a book in our sitting area. We also put any feedback that we get
up on our website under testimonials.
Yvette Aube
“Whip out a tablet or mobile”
I think one great way contractors can get immediate feedback on
their work is to whip out a tablet or mobile with the site loaded
up and ready to go. Have the client rate the service of work right
there! This takes all the work out for the client, takes less than
30 seconds to do, and you can reuse those testimonials to market
your work – for years! Just imagine if you did that for every job!
Win-win!
Marci
THE LITTLE VOICE THAT SAYS ”NO“
Steve Maxwell posted online about that worrisome feeling
that some clients just can’t help giving us
when we are pitching our services to them,
or giving them a quote. We have all blown
past that signal in our guts. And we have all
paid the price. Here is one reader’s personal
experience…
“Ask all potential clients this question”
I think all of us in the construction business have had that
negative gut feeling about potential clients, but have ignored
the signals. One thing that I was taught years ago that has
helped me immensely is to ask this question of a potential client:
”Have you ever built before and how did it go for you?” In short
order, the potential client will tell you about their fears, past
experiences, and what they think of the construction industry.
One of my best examples of how powerful this question is
happened a number of years ago. We were building in an active
new subdivision and a potential client came over and asked us
if we could give him a price on his new build. It was a substantial
house and, of course, I said sure. Then I asked “The Question.”
He answered that, yes, he had built new houses twice before.
I asked how that had gone for him. “I had to take both those
“b_____’s” to court,” he replied. I said I was sorry to hear that
and suggested he contact me when he had his final plans put
together.
When he called back a couple of weeks later, I told him I was
booked solid. He burned the contractor who took on the contract
for a substantial sum of money. By the way, he was a lawyer.
Gavin Parsons
14 July/August 2015 www.canadiancontractor.ca

VOICES
ALBERTA RENOVATION WARRANTY PROGRAM
In May, we wrote a brief news story about the
launch of the new Alberta Home Renovation
Warranty Program. We asked for feedback
from the province’s builders. Here’s one of
the responses.
Money Grab
I don’t think this Alberta Home Renovation Warranty Program will
help home owners at all. If it is administered by the same people
who run the Alberta New Home Warranty (Editor’s Note: It is) it
will get the same results. I’ve worked for clients who have had
their new homes leak – which led to extensive wood rot – because
of poor building envelope work built during a boom by a major
Calgary home builder. There were major renovation costs. They
got nothing but a run-around and excuses from the builder. There
are many people in the same situation, and I believe this is a
major story here that most media do not want to address.
Also the stringent application requirements (for this new
program) will probably weed out 95 per cent or more of renovation
contractors that would like to be accepted into the program.
Homeowners should then probably be prepared to spend about
40 per cent more for their renovations – if any contractor can
possibly meet these high standards. If they exclude that many
contractors by their extreme selection process, I would hazard
a guess there wouldn’t be much point in needing a warranty
then anyway
Honestly, this is a money grab because they have gone to
great effort to limit their liability right from the start.
Ben Kuypers
THROWING IN WORK FOR ’FREE’
In our last issue’s
editorials, Rob and Steve
argued about when, if
ever, it is a good idea
to do minor additional
work – as part of a larger
renovation contract –
for ’free.’ Here is how one
Nova Scotia contractor
sees it.
’Extra cheese at no charge?’
Doing freebies is risky, especially for new contractors with
minimal experience trying to create a client base. My advice is
to be careful. Several years ago while renovating a pizza shop
in Sydney, Nova Scotia we were completing finish work when,
unknown to me as supervisor, the client asked the carpenters
to install additional shelving made from off-cuts from sheet
goods used in the millwork. She thought the request was
minimal and should be ’free.’ When I found out, attempting
to protect my company’s interests and to help the client
understand our business, I respectfully told the client that
this would involve additional charges. I asked her, if after her
restaurant is open for business and I order a pizza with extra
cheese, can I get the extra cheese at no charge? She replied,
’Certainly not: everyone knows cheese is very expensive.’ I
replied, true, cheese is expensive. And extra shelving is like
extra cheese to me.
Michael Campbell
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16 July/August 2015 www.canadiancontractor.ca
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FINANCIALS
90 DAY
PROFITABILITY
CHALLENGE
Do you know how much money you are going to
make in the next 90 days? If you’re on salary, probably.
But if you’re a self-employed contractor, probably not.
Here’s how to get a better handle on the money
coming your way in the next few months.
By Mike Draper
Although it is very common for contractors
to not know how much they are going to
make in the next three months, it doesn’t
make it right. Imagine getting in a car with an
unknown amount of gas in it – with a broken fuel
gauge, no less – and embarking on a long road
trip. You’d be asking for trouble, right? Well, the
same thing applies to your business if you don’t
know your profitability and cash flow for the
months ahead.
Not only do you need to know how your money
is flowing in the months ahead to stop your
business from running out of gas (cash), you also
need to know how much money you are making so
that you can know if what you are doing is giving
you the results you want.
Knowing how much you are going to make in
the near future may seem like an impossible task.
However, it is possible with some planning. There
are three things that are required to figure it out.
• How much work you are going to produce
• How much that work will cost you
• How much your overheads will be
If you know the value of the work your company
will produce in the next 90 days and you take away
how much that work will cost you to do, and what
your overhead costs will be, what you will be left
with is your Net Profit.
18 July/August 2015 www.canadiancontractor.ca

FINANCIALS
Let’s take a moment to differentiate between Net Profit
and Cash Flow. They are not the same thing. Contractors
often show a profit on their Profit and Loss statement, but
they don’t have any money in the bank. That’s because
the timing of payments received and payments going out
doesn’t always coincide. For example, you may have to
meet your payroll obligations before you get paid by the
customer. You may also have to pay deposits or pay COD
for materials before you get paid. Both of these examples
will result in negative cash flow even though you show a
profit.
Let’s look at each of these three areas in more detail.
Month 1 Month 2 Month 3 Total
Revenue $50,000 $60,000 $50,000 $160,000
Cost of Goods Sold $35,000 $42,000 $35,000 $112,000
Gross Profit $15,000 $18,000 $15,000 $48,000
Gross Profit % 30% 30% 30% 30%
Overhead Expenses $8,000 $8,000 $8,000 $24,000
Net Profit $7,000 $10,000 $7,000 $24,000
How much will your company produce?
Although you might not be able to know exactly how
much work your team will do every day, you can take a
look at your project management schedule at a high level.
It should tell you what the planned timelines are for all
your projects. By knowing the timelines of your projects,
you can calculate the overall value of that work. This will
give you your target revenue for the next 90 days.
Even if you are not using a project management system
you need to be able to estimate how much work or how
many projects you plan to do over the next 90 days. This
target now needs to drive your production. Taking control
over the amount of work that your crews and subs deliver
is a critical part of your success. Without a target and
some control you will severely reduce your likelihood of
success. The other major benefit of knowing how much to
expect your company to produce over the next 90 days will
help you better manage your cash flow. You need to make
sure that the customer’s payment schedule is set up so
that you don’t finance their project.
Calculating the cost of the work performed
If you know how much work you are expecting your crews
and your subs to produce, then you should be able to
calculate how much it will cost you to do that work – Cost
of Goods Sold (COGS). The timing of when a sub will send
you the invoice is not the critical point here. The critical
point is to be able to review the estimates you produced
before you won the project, to get the costs that you
allocated to that work.
The common point between how much will you
produce and how much will it cost you to perform the work
is that you must have a plan of what work you are going
ILLUSTRATION: GLENN M C EVOY
www.canadiancontractor.ca July/August 2015 19

FINANCIALS
To be truly successful and to
be able to consistently make
the money that you want to make,
you have to have a project
management schedule.
ILLUSTRATION: GLENN M C EVOY
to do. This is the hardest part of the process.
I often see financial statements from contractors that do
not allocate costs correctly. A very common mistake is to not
include the payroll costs of workers and Workers’ Comp as part
of COGS. Many contractors put them down as overheads. But
for true project management, Cost of Goods Sold should include
all expenses associated with doing the work including labour,
material, sub-contractors, equipment rental, as well as Workers’
Comp and payroll taxes for field personnel.
There are many companies that sell project management or
client management systems for this exact reason. To be truly
successful and to be able to consistently make the money that
you want to make, you have to have a project management
schedule. Think about it like this. If you make a plan on paper
and you don’t like the outcome of how much you will make in
90 days, you have a chance to change the outcome before the
90 days even start. If you don’t plan it and just wait to see the
outcome 90 days from now, it is too late to do anything about it.
If the amount of money you made was not to your liking there is
nothing that you can do about it and you’ve just lost 90 days. Just
as importantly, the next 90 days won’t be much different!
The key to making money is to have a concrete plan and to
continuously monitor your progress on the plan. Should you
start to fall short of the plan, the sooner you can address the root
cause of what is going wrong in the execution of the plan, the
sooner you can take action to get back on track. To go back to the
analogy of driving a car, if you know where you are planning to
go and the route that you will take to get there, should you make
a wrong turn you can figure out how to get back on course. You
will reach your intended destination.
Calculating Overhead
Calculating overhead shouldn’t be too hard to do. You will have
financial statements from previous months that you can use
as a starting point to know what expenses you have had in the
past and that you will likely have in the next 90 days. Simply
put, overhead expenses will be all expenses that you will incur
that you have not included in the cost of work performed. Typical
overhead expenses will include administrative costs, owner’s
wages if not included above, leases, rent, advertising, phones,
insurance, internet, web site, truck repairs and gasoline, etc.
Now add the cost of overhead and the cost of performing
the work together. This number will be your total expenses for
the next 90 days. Go back to the amount of work that you will
produce and subtract the total expense number that you just
calculated. The number that is left is how much you will make.
20 July/August 2015 www.canadiancontractor.ca

FINANCIALS
Hopefully that number is not only above zero but it equals how much money you want to make
over the next 90 days. If it does equal what you want to make, then your next step is to follow
your plan.
Let’s take a look at what you can do if the number is not as much as you want to make in the
next 90 days. First, I would suggest taking a look at your overhead to see what overhead items
you could eliminate that would not impact your ability to produce the work that you do. Once
removed, if the number is still not what you want to achieve, then the next step is to look at the
work that you are planning to produce. There are only three possible scenarios here. Either (1)
you are not producing enough work in the next 90 days, or (2) it is costing you too much to do it,
or (3) you have a combination of both.
At this point you will need to review the project plan to find out what can be done to increase
production over the next 90 days. Look for areas of inefficiencies, areas where you could put
multiple trades on-site at the same time, hire someone who can work faster or has larger crews
that are able to produce more work in the same amount of time than someone you have worked
with in the past. These may be tough decisions, but if the crews you have now can’t produce
the work that you want then you might have to look for other crews. Are you willing to let your
current crews stand in the way of you reaching your goals or are you going to take action to help
you reach them?
Take a look to see what options you have to reduce the cost to do the work without sacrificing
your quality standard. You could look at doing a better job procuring material, shopping at
different stores and using suppliers who can provide shipping to cut down on wasted time
picking up and delivering materials to site. When I go to a building supply store during the day
I am shocked at how many times I see two people from the same company walking around the
store picking up materials or components that they forgot to get the time before. Better planning
of the job can save a ton of time wasted going back to pick up more supplies.
Research new products and technology that can make the job go faster. Make sure clients
have made critical decisions that they need to make so that they don’t hold up the job. Any time
that can be saved will help you produce more work in less time. More work means more money.
The Break-Even Analysis
If you still aren’t reaching your goals, you need to do a Break-Even Analysis to determine where
you stand. If your revenues don’t support your expenses, you will get in trouble very quickly.
Using the same numbers we used to determine your profitability, here is how you calculate
break-even.
Month 1 Month 2 Month 3 Total
Overhead Expenses $8,000 $8,000 $8,000 $24,000
Divided by Gross Profit % 30% 30% 30% 30%
Break-Even Revenue $26,667 $26,667 $26,667 $80,000
If you do all the things we just spoke about and you still won’t hit your goal, then it sounds
like you need more sales. That is a whole other topic to be covered in the next issue of
Canadian Contractor. cc
Mike Draper is vice president, coaching, at Renovantage.com

KITCHENS
SMART TECH
Kitchens
B y Kim L audrum
This award-winning kitchen by XTC Design Inc., Toronto,
brilliantly blends “streamlined and modern” with “warm
and organic.”
Photos: Larry Arnal Photography
22 July/August 2015 www.canadiancontractor.ca

KITCHENS
Kitchens, dollar for dollar, allow you
to offer your renovation clients the
best return on their investment.
Canadian Contractor spoke to
award-winning kitchen designers
to find out the recent Canadian
kitchen trends that you need to
be aware of.
Hands-free and touchless features – “smart tech” in kitchen
designer language – are all the rage in high-end kitchen
renovations for up-market clients.
“We’re seeing a lot more smart technology in kitchens
today,” says Erica Westeroth, senior designer and partner, XTC
Design Inc., Toronto. “There are more hands-free or touchless
features in all kinds of applications, from faucets, cabinetry
lighting, or even to operate cabinetry to lift doors out and up.”
Installing smart tech in a kitchen requires a learning
curve for most contractors, but it isn’t difficult, designers
say. “There’s a whole mechanism that goes in behind the
cabinetry. Blum makes the system, which includes a servo
drive. They have a very good service program to help train
tradespeople on installation,” Westeroth says.
At his downtown Toronto showroom, Anthony Binns, a
third-generation cabinetmaker, peers with a keen eye along
a long length of white lacquered upper cabinetry made
by German company Eggersmann. When installing smart
technology, it’s important to have exact measurements. Any
small shift can keep the smart boxes from “communicating
with each other,” Binns says. This could cause a malfunction.
The cabinet door might not lift with a finger press. The client
is paying top dollar for this ease-of-use function, so accuracy
is extremely important, notes Victoria Shaw, Binns’ partner at
Eggersmann Toronto.
Modern aesthetic
“We’re also seeing cleaner lines, a trend toward a more
modern aesthetic,” XTC’s Westeroth says. Hardware is linear
or recessed. The layouts are simpler, not a lot of angles or
curves. “Is it easier to install? It’s less time consuming. A more
contemporary look does not require a lot of moldings, for
example. But you can’t hide anything exacting.”
www.canadiancontractor.ca July/August 2015 23

KITCHENS
Aesthetic lines are simpler so you have to add texture to the
design for interest, Westeroth says. Riff-cut oak, for example, is a
popular way to add texture and warmth.
“People want modern with warmth,” Binns says. “They love
simple lines and a well-organized kitchen.”
Easy-to-access storage
The popularity of cooking shows, Binns says, has influenced how
people live in their homes now. Decades ago, guests would not have
seen anything happening in the kitchen. Dinner would magically
appear at the dining room table. But now, kitchens are integrated
with family rooms as part of an entertainment hub. A well-organized
kitchen is key to keeping it uncluttered. Efficient use of space, not
necessarily more space, is key: “More storage isn’t always the
answer,” Binns says.
“A galley kitchen is the best way to cook, really. Everything
Top: A stunning kitchen in the showroom of Eggersmann
Toronto. It combines the beauty of wood grain with
ultra-modern streamlining.
Above: Anthony Binns and Victoria Shaw,
principals, Eggersmann Toronto.
24 July/August 2015 www.canadiancontractor.ca

KITCHENS
is right within reach,” says Shaw.
One of Eggersmann’s “wow” factor
innovations is a feature wall that,
when pressed, will turn a series of
hidden doors to reveal floor to ceiling
racks of kitchen storage. When placed
behind the island, this creates a
galley-type kitchen. But it can also be
turned back into a dramatic feature
wall.
Another trend is to deploy fewer
upper cabinets, Binns says. To
demonstrate, he opens a drawer in an
island and pulls out a wooden rack
with dinner plates, which he then
brings to the table. “Accessibility and
ease-of-use is what it’s all about,” he
says.
Above and right: Ease-of-use features in today’s
upmarket kitchen cabinets include “smart tech”
functionality. Examples here are from Eggersmann
Toronto.
Lighting
There is a big trend to using
LED lighting in creative ways.
One example is a line of blue
lights recessed right into the
cabinet doors as a way to add
function and colour, as in this
kitchen from ATD in Oakville, ON.
LED lighting is energy efficient
and doesn’t heat up like halogen
does. It lasts much longer, too.
26 July/August 2015 www.canadiancontractor.ca

Come to
Toronto on
our dime!
Be a voice for
our industry
December 1 & 2, 2015
We are looking
for 32 contractors
from across
Canada who want:
FREE
• Travel to Toronto
• Hotel
• Food
• Entry to Construct
Canada
AND
who can share their
business and product
challenges.
RenoFocus is a series of focus-group
sessions behind closed doors in which
manufacturers and suppliers gather market
information from successful contractors.
EMAIL Publisher Rob Koci
for more information:
rkoci@canadiancontractor.ca
Please put RenoFocus in the subject line

KITCHENS
Colour
Like the striated lines of the riff-cut oak, colour is also used to add
interest to the otherwise stark feel of the modern aesthetic.
“It’s all a very personal thing,” notes Westeroth. “Some clients
want a shot of red, purple, fuscia, chartreuse or cranberry red. Then
there are others who are still too shy about it. They want beige,
taupe or grey. It’s safer.”
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XTC Design won the 2014 Kitchen and Bath award for a kitchen
featuring purple walls with walnut cabinetry, a striated marble
waterfall island, and porcelain-flooring tile. There is a wall of
windows next to the kitchen, Westeroth explains, so there is a lot
of natural light there, which allows the use of a darker colour
in this location.
Wood
Sometimes a designer has to compromise.
Westeroth found this to be true when her clients,
a couple with discerning – and opposite – tastes,
asked her to design a kitchen for them that was
streamlined and modern for her, but warm and
organic in feel for him. The result earned XTC
Design another major Kitchen and Bath award,
this time in 2015. (See photo, pages 22-23.)
The kitchen features stainless steel, butcher
block and red lava-stone countertops. The
apple-wood island features a striated pattern
done on a horizontal grain. “The overall effect
is very organic and natural. It had to read
warm and comfortable,” Westeroth says.
Wood remains an important feature
in designing kitchens, says Shaw. In the
Eggersmann showroom a feature wall of
contrasting dark and light birch makes you
feel as if you are standing among trees. It
balances the harshness of concrete materials
with nature.
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Cabinetry
“We do a lot of wood cabinetry and mix
components a lot. We still do a lot of shaker
cabinets because of their versatility. They can
fit with contemporary or traditional design,”
Westeroth says. “But the latest trend is to more
clean lines.”
Cabinet door finishes have improved
dramatically, says Binns, as he demonstrates
the mirror-like reflective quality of a lacquered
board in his showroom. Edging, too, is
improved, making it possible to mitre corners
more easily. It all adds up to a greater selection
for clients. cc
Kim Laudrum is a regular contributor to
Canadian Contractor.
28 July/August 2015 www.canadiancontractor.ca

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COMPANY NEWS
Good Works
Building-products giant Saint-Gobain celebrates 350 years in
business with a pledge to make builders out of disadvantaged youth
By John Caulfield
Saint-Gobain, the
international buildingproducts
manufacturer,
is marking its 350th anniversary
by strategically partnering
with YouthBuild USA through a
three-year $600,000 grant and a
commitment to launch a trade
school in South Africa.
Since 2010, France-based Saint-
Gobain – which is perhaps best
known in Canada for the RSI and
acoustical products it markets
under the CertainTeed brand – has
provided financial and building
materials support to the Bostonbased
YouthBuild USA, a nonprofit
organization that provides
education, counselling, and jobskills
training to unemployed young
American adults, generally highschool
dropouts.
That support has focused
on the organization’s Green
Initiative Program, a sustainable
building and job-training program
for disadvantaged youth; and
specifically on YouthBuild
programs in four communities
where Saint-Gobain has business
concentrations: Philadelphia, Penn.,
Worcester, Mass., Schenectady, N.Y.,
and Canton, Ohio.
Saint Gobain, well-known in Canada for the CertainTeed brand,
opened a series of public pavilions in Philadelphia recently. The
LOOK pavilion is comprised of numerous mirrors inlaid with LEDs.
By day, its exterior reflects the surrounding environment; by night
it becomes a perpetually shifting cube of light. Saint-Gobain
started as a mirror company in France in 1665.
30 July/August 2015 www.canadiancontractor.ca

COMPANY NEWS
Through this partnership in the U.S.,
former out-of-school youth have been
given the opportunity to build energyefficient
homes in their neighborhoods
while earning a high school diploma or
its equivalent. Since its inception in 2010,
the program has impacted more than
1,050 YouthBuild students nationwide.
And Saint-Gobain and YouthBuild USA
have completed three U.S. Green Building
Council (USGBC) LEED-certified homes.
Its latest pledge brings Saint Gobain’s
total funding of YouthBuild USA to
$1.3 million over the course of seven years
(2010-17). The extended partnership will
make possible the following activities over
the next three years:
• YouthBuild Philadelphia Charter
School will complete two projects already
underway at Wingohocking Street in
Philadelphia, launch a renovation of the
school’s Community Celebration Room,
and identify a third project.
• YouthBuild Schenectady (operated by
Social Enterprise and Training Center) will
identify and complete a second project.
• YouthBuild Worcester (operated by
Training Resources of America, Inc.) will
identify and complete a third project.
• YouthBuild Canton (operated by
Project REBUILD) will identify and
complete its first project.
• YouthBuild and Saint-Gobain will
continue implementation of the “Scientists
in the Classroom” program that leverages
Saint-Gobain scientists and engineers
to expose students to curriculum and
careers in the fields of science, technology,
engineering and mathematics (STEM).
Showing love to the
City of Brotherly Love
Aside from announcing its expanded
relationship with YouthBuild USA, Saint-
Gobain has also pledged to reinforce its
commitment to North America, where over
the past five years alone it has invested
more than $3 billion and where it currently
employs 15,000 workers; as well as its
connection with Philadelphia, which dates
back to 1948. CertainTeed has long been
based in the suburb of Valley Forge, Pa.
The company is in the process of building
a 43,000-square-foot Innovation Center
and new headquarters on 65 acres in
the suburb of Malvern, Pa. Last October,
CertainTeed opened an R&D Lab on that
campus.
Saint-Gobain’s
funding efforts
have helped
more than 1,050
YouthBuild students
nationwide.
Philadelphia is one of only four cities
worldwide – the others being Shanghai,
Paris, and São Paulo – where Saint-Gobain
this year will exhibit Future Sensations,
a series of pavilions that showcase the
company’s businesses and products
in energy, aerospace, transportation,
commercial and residential construction,
medical and life sciences, and high tech.
For example, the LOOK pavillion is
comprised of numerous mirrors inlaid
with LEDs. By day, its exterior reflects
the surrounding environment; by night it
becomes a perpetually shifting cube of
light. The DISCOVER pavillion, which is
exclusive to the Philadelphia exhibit, is
a 70-foot dome that informs visitors about
how the company’s products have impacted
the lives of Americans. Perhaps the coolest
pavilion is LISTEN, a padded cube that
uses “spatialization” technology to ricochet
different sounds throughout the booth.
15 generations and counting
To mark its 350th anniversary, Saint-
Gobain has posted an online exhibition
– www.saint-gobain350years.com – whose
700 documents include a timeline of 22
important dates in the company’s history,
a 3D reconstruction of its glassworks
as it would have been in operation
in 1785, a gallery of innovations that
showcases Saint-Gobain’s contributions to
architecture and housing, and a scrapbook
of its leaders, inventors, and other
important employees.
Nostalgia is nice, but Saint-Gobain
also knows it’s in a “what have you done
for me lately” world. Pierre-André de
Chalendar, Saint-Gobain’s chairman and
CEO, who flew in for the Philadelphia
press conference, acknowledged that the
company’s growth would continue to hinge
on innovation. Saint-Gobain, he said, is
“more focused on the future than the past,”
and is on the lookout for “solutions” that
can be expanded to other parts of the globe.
Saint-Gobain currently has 182,000
employees in 64 countries, including South
Africa, where YouthBuild has operated
for a decade, and where Saint-Gobain
runs an accredited training program that
prepares disadvantaged youth to work in
the construction industry. Saint-Gobain
and YouthBuild International plan to
open a YouthBuild school in Samrand,
South Africa, about 20 minutes from
Johannesburg. Saint-Gobain will provide
a training facility, trainers, and building
materials. Initially, the program will serve
50 disadvantaged youth. cc
www.canadiancontractor.ca July/August 2015 31

COMPANY NEWS
CertainTeed targets Canadian builders
The company’s insulation products now carry a Health Products Declaration, while its
MemBrain moisture barrier product, developed in Europe, has now reached Canada
CertainTeed MemBrain being installed.
When homeowners talk about going green, they are
actually “investing in their own comfort,” says Drew
Brant, vice president of marketing for CertainTeed’s
insulation division.
So CertainTeed’s product development revolves around
“comfort” on four levels: thermal performance, acoustics,
air tightness, and moisture management.
The challenge is distinguishing products that, to consumers
and even some pros, seem a lot alike. “There’s not that much
difference from batt to batt,” acknowledges Greg Silvestri,
president of CertainTeed Insulation. What separates insulation
suppliers, then, are often their relationships with customers. And at
a time when some suppliers have backed away from the Canadian
market, CertainTeed, Silvestri says, is “redoubling” its efforts to
serve Canada.
Canada accounts for 15 per cent of annual worldwide insulation
sales for Saint-Gobain, CertainTeed’s parent company. “Canada is
still one of the world’s largest consumers of insulation,” says Drew.
And it is clear that air tightness and sustainability are the hooks
upon which CertainTeed is hanging its marketing hat.
The company’s latest campaign trumpets fiberglass insulation
as a better choice than stone wood insulation – a favorite among
some Canadian contractors – because the manufacturing process
uses far more recycled materials, it is more efficient to transport
and easier to install, it costs less per square foot, and it rates
at least as highly as stone wool for thermal resistance, sound
performance, and restricting moisture infiltration.
To further emphasize the advantages of fibreglass insulation,
and to help builders and architects make informed specification
decisions, CertainTeed in January issued the industry’s first Health
Product Declarations for fibreglass insulation. The Declarations
aim at establishing standards for a common reporting language
for disclosing information about the ingredients used to make a
building product and its associated health information.
Air tightness goes hand in hand with moisture control for wall
systems. And in May, CertainTeed Insulation Group Canada
intoduced MemBrain, a patented polyamide-based material that
the company is positioning as a “smart” alternative to poly vapour
barrier sheeting.
MemBrain, which has been available in Europe for a decade,
is pricier than polyethylene sheeting: it will add between $300
to $500 to the cost of an average 2,400-square-foot house. But
CertainTeed contends the investment is worth the cost because
its product adapts its permeability depending on different climate
conditions. MemBrain’s water vapour permeability increases as
the relative humidity in a wall cavity increases, thereby water
vapour escapes the cavity easier, which in turn prevents mould
and mildew.
– John Caulfield
32 July/August 2015 www.canadiancontractor.ca

REAL ESTATE
Help your clients
find the money
Sonny Belanger of PLANiT Builders, Calgary, like an increasing number of contractors,
has partnered up with Financeit, a “merchant direct” credit facility that provides funding
to 70 per cent of his clients.
By John Bleasby
You’re a builder. You want to grow your business. But at the
same time, growth can mean increased administration
costs and collections issues. Perhaps you lose business
because potential customers get bogged down with financial
approval for a renovation, repair or addition. What do you do?
Sonny Belanger of PLANiT Builders in Calgary thinks he has
found the solution: a partnership with Financeit, a fast growing
Canadian loan intermediary that allows builders instant and
direct on-line access to consumer financing. It’s been a perfect fit
for PLANiT, with their focus on garage construction and basement
renovation.
Like many contractors, Belanger often found the approval
process at traditional banks too slow. Credit applications took 24
hours or more, sometimes with requests for follow-up meetings.
“It’s a fast-moving city; people want to make decisions quickly and
move on with their lives. Financeit’s software allows us to confirm
financing on the spot, literally in seconds.” For Belanger, putting
these financing tools directly in his hands is unique and has given
his business a marketable advantage.
”They come to us for convenience,
transparency and extremely
competitive rates.”
What kind of customer needs Financeit? Typical clients are
young first-time home owners and dual-income professionals. They
have good cash flow, yet hold insufficient equity in their homes to
leverage a secured line of credit at a traditional bank. “They come
to us for convenience, transparency and extremely competitive
rates,” explains Financeit sales manager Dave Murray. “Through
our builder partners, they have access to our credit facilities 24/7.
Their personal financial information can even remain confidential
from the builder, depending on the application. After approval, our
customer service personnel look after them right to the end of the
loan period.”
Financeit started its
merchant-direct financing
program in 2011 and has
grown rapidly in Canada
with parallel programs in
auto and marine/RV loans.
“We are a technology
platform, partnered with
multiple financial institutions
standing behind us, Murray
says.” The company’s main
thrust today is the home
PLANiT Calgary team
improvement market.
Financeit offers unsecured,
five year fixed rate loans up to $50,000, amortizations up to 15 years,
and open monthly payments tailored to the client. Interest rates are
comparable to new car loans, ie., well below credit card rates or
”lenders-of-last-resort”.
Most Financeit partners receive guaranteed payment upon
project completion. Larger qualifying contactors like PLANiT receive
full payment, 100 per cent upfront. The benefits of turning collections
over to a finance company are potentially enormous, as any small
to medium size contractor would recognise. Even dispute resolution,
which Murray claims is minimal, is negotiated through Financeit.
Providing instant loan approval to clients, coupled with
an assurance of full payment, has had a powerful impact on
Belanger’s business. He estimates 70 per cent of his clients use
the facility. The resultant minimization of his administrative costs
allows Belanger to focus his efforts on growth. As proof, Belanger
estimates that PLANiT currently has teams working on over 170
projects simultaneously across Alberta. “The jobs move much
quicker. We don’t have to stop and wait to collect payment. Offering
a full financing package as part of our services is very important;
we’ve become very good at it.” cc
34 July/August 2015 www.canadiancontractor.ca

CREATIVE EYE
Shore House,
North Shore, Vancouver
Developer: Steve Hoiles
Architect: Mark Kerschbaumer
By John Bleasby
Urban infill has become
increasingly common in Canada’s
larger municipalities as new building
lots disappear. The challenges are varied:
New designs should in some way blend
in with the neighborhood, while at the
same time upgraded zoning and code
regulations are observed, neighbours
sight lines respected; all this within a
manageable project budget.
In 2009, developer Steve Hoiles built
a modern LEED house, on speculation,
on half of a severed 66-foot-wide lot in
Vancouver’s upscale North Shore
neighborhood. Hoiles teamed up with
architect and fellow Ontario transplant
Mark Kerschbaumer in a collaboration
of design and environmental awareness.
“Like me, Steve has always been
interested in the West Coast style of
modernism. Other projects in North
Vancouver were craftsman style; there
simply was no supply for people looking
for modern,” explains Kerschbaumer.
The Highest-Rated
LEED
PLATINUM
House in Canada
Main Staircase
The use of reclaimed wood beams from a demolished
auto-repair shop, reshaped into the dramatic main staircase,
as well as the roof beams, was an irony not lost on environmentallyconscious
developer Steve Hoiles.
The result was the Shore House, the
country’s highest-rated LEED Platinum
residence. The Hoiles/Kerschbaumer
vision regarding design, budget
($200 per square foot), energy efficiency,
and reuse/recycling of materials
established a new building template that
can only be appreciated when one realizes
that other builders at the time were
building LEED-directed houses
for $500 - $600 per square foot.
Kerschbaummer applauds Hoiles on his
methodology. “Steve was able to build
a really energy-efficient house for not
much more than others were building
their standard homes” Hoiles, a
self-described green-initiative developer,
Continued on next page
All Photos: Steve Hoiles
Basement Suite
The entrance to the
separate 1,000 square foot
apartment is below grade.
36 July/August 2015 www.canadiancontractor.ca

CREATIVE EYE
Main Level
Natural light streams down onto the open
main floor living space from a light well.
The stability of engineered white-oak
flooring permits in-floor radiant heating.
www.canadiancontractor.ca July/August 2015 37

CREATIVE EYE
Shore House,
North Shore, Vancouver
Continued from previous page
estimates the extra cost after thorough
analysis, was only 10 per cent.
“The material surcharge is never a big
deal compared to labour.”
Of particular interest to builders is the
use of 24-inch wall framing, combined
with Roxul’s stone-wool ComfortBoardIS
on the exterior to reduce thermal
bridging, an innovative approach at the
time. The added exterior insulation also
took advantage of exemptions from lot
setback requirements in The City of North
Vancouver, allowing Kerschbaumer
to maximize interior space while
meeting code.
Kerschbaumer says that ComfortBoard
“is not another vapour barrier on the
outside wall like polystyrene. We get a
lot of rain, which can blow in behind trim
and siding. The ComfortBoard product
allows the exterior wall to breathe. It is
not hygroscopic.” Hoiles adds, “Rain is far
more difficult than snow. How you manage
water egress is a really big deal or mould
results.”
The Shore House is brimming with other
energy-efficient, environmentally friendly
features including LED lighting,
energy-efficient appliances, plus what
Hoiles describes as “passive green
benefits” such as cleverly sourced postconsumption
recycled materials, fly ash
concrete in the ICF foundations, and a
rainwater storage system.
Typical of many North Vancouver
houses, the Shore House has separate
accommodation in the basement, a threebedroom
1,000 sq. ft. suite. The main living
area (2,000 sq. ft.), features a master plus
three more bedrooms, making a total of
seven bedrooms in the house.
Continued on next page
All Photos: Steve Hoiles
Front Pre-Siding
The Roxul ComfortBoardIS is applied before the siding is installed.
38 July/August 2015 www.canadiancontractor.ca

CREATIVE EYE
Main Level Kitchen
A flood of colour on the backsplash, a dash of
natural light over the sink and from the rear patio door
(outside of photo frame), reflect off the white counters
and island to bring lightness into the open kitchen.
www.canadiancontractor.ca July/August 2015 39

CREATIVE EYE
Shore House,
North Shore, Vancouver
Continued from previous page
Yet the house has a remarkably
spacious feel, the result of the
near-open main floor. Light flows
though skylights, high-wall windows
and down a large light well in the
centre of the house. “I’m a huge
believer in natural light. We get a
lot of rain here, a lot of grey days.
In many long narrow houses, the
interior can become quite dark if
light cannot filter into the centre.”
Following the awards and
recognition associated with the
Shore House, the duo went to work
on other projects in Vancouver before
Hoiles relocated his business to San
Diego. Kerschbaumer continues a
very successful and award-winning
practice in Vancouver. ”What
we did then has now largely
become standard in the market,”
observes Hoiles.
All Photos: Steve Hoiles
Mies Corner
The inside corner detail, called a
‘Mies Corner’ (after architect Mies van
der Rohe), is a salute to modern design.
It separates the siding that uses two
styles of western red cedar (beveled
tight-knot on the left, clear no-knot
on the right) from the vertical grain
western hemlock used on the eaves.
All are protected by natural
water-based penetrating stains
manufactured by CBR Products
in Vancouver to accent the
mosaic wood grains.
40 July/August 2015 www.canadiancontractor.ca

CREATIVE EYE
The simple double-shed roof, which dominates the building’s exterior
appearance, allows for easy drainage within the modern format.
www.canadiancontractor.ca July/August 2015 41

PROFILE
Jon and Dave Bryant
42 July/August 2015 www.canadiancontractor.ca

PROFILE
CALGARY’S
URBAN
PAINTER
How Jon and Dave Bryant are
succeeding in the coatings business by
doing a lot of things other painters aren’t.
By Steve Maxwell
All photos:
KlixPix/Charles Hope Photography
This article first appeared in PRO PAINTER magazine in Spring
2015. To get a free contractor subscription to PRO PAINTER, please
email spayne@canadiancontractor.ca
If you want to see how a small, young, nimble and successful
21st century painting business operates, you won’t find a better
example than Calgary’s The Urban Painter. Founded by college
painter and natural-born entrepreneur Jon Bryant in 2005, and now
run along with his brother Dave as director of operations and a core
team of employees, this business is doing a lot of things you won’t
see other painters do. Their recipe comes down to things that are
often talked about but not always delivered: consistently high-quality
results, treatment of clients with exceptional politeness and respect,
professional financial analysis, and the use of 21st century information
and promotional tools to make the most of every opportunity. It’s a
recipe that proves running a painting company can be a smooth,
sustainable and profitable business, especially in niche markets.
It also shows that every business is an extension of its owner.
“As a kid I started a number of small businesses,” explains Jon, “but
made a promise to myself to start a real business by the time I was 20.
I’d painted a fence for my grandparents and I’d seen other university
students running painting companies and saw a lot of potential. I ran
my business seasonally for several years before my brother Dave and I
went full-time two years ago. Since then we’ve ‘taken things seriously,’
www.canadiancontractor.ca July/August 2015 43

PROFILE
and we’ve exceeded many of our goals and we’re having fun
doing it. We’re excited to see where our team can take the
business, but there’s still so much to learn.”
Simplicity, Reliability, Courtesy and Quality
The Urban Painter does 50 per cent residential and 50 per cent
commercial jobs, “with the odd new construction project if we
like the contractor,” smiles Jon. “A total crew of eight keeps up
with work in the winter, with about 25 painters employed during
busy summer months.” The company structure revolves around
key crew leaders who manage two or three people in each crew.
“We’ve had crew leaders manage up to three crews at once on
simple jobs,” says Jon.
On the surface, all this sounds fairly typical for any small
painting business, but there’s more than a few things that are
quite different about The Urban Painter. And most of them
spring from the fact that Jon isn’t your average “painter-turnedbusiness
owner”.
“It’s never crossed my mind to paint on my own,” says Jon.
“I believe strongly that a good team will always out-perform me
or any other single person. A great parable taught to me by a
business mentor is this: one man alone will be killed by a lion,
but several men working together can kill that lion.”
Jon earned a bachelor’s degree in commerce in finance from
the University of Calgary, and he’s carried this experience
through to The Urban Painter. “The main thing I learned at school
is that an understanding of the finances of a business matters
a lot,” explains Jon. “Especially cash flow. But even with my
background, starting out was hard. It took us three years of work
to be profitable. No major financial problems, it just took time.”
It’s no surprise that an ongoing challenge for The Urban
Painter is the same challenge faced by any painting company:
44 July/August 2015 www.canadiancontractor.ca

PROFILE
Left: The Urban Painter never subs out work, instead using only
trained staff for all jobs. The crew members wear company clothes
and aim for exceptional neatness and polite customer relations.
finding and keeping good painters. But for a company that
prides itself on achieving consistently high-quality results, this
challenge simply has to be met.
“The second question we always ask when interviewing
prospective painters is ‘how do they handle patching’,” says
Dave. “The answer is useful because it gives a clear indication
of whether the candidate knows anything about quality painting
and the prep behind it. Quality craftsmanship is of utmost
importance to us.”
So what kind of wall patching answers does Dave like to hear?
For large cracks he likes to see painters use fibre tape followed by
three or four coats of mud feathered out and sanded. For holes, we
use either metal backing plates or install new pieces of drywall
followed by mud. Dings and nicks receive mud and sanding.”
What’s the first question asked of new painters? “What do
you enjoy about painting?”
Training and Focus
Calgary has had a hot labour market for more than a decade. This
means workers tend to be more mobile and less loyal. And while
you might think this would reduce the incentive to train, that’s not
what happens at The Urban Painter.
“We do a lot of onsite training,” says Jon “and we even follow
a training manual that we’ve created. When I consider the
possibility of trained painters leaving us after we’ve trained them
in The Urban Painter system, I ask myself ‘what happens if we
don’t train and the person stays?’ That’s far more costly for us than
someone leaving after they have been trained.
“Every so often we lose a team member, because they’re
offered a higher wage by another company. But that’s not the
norm. Our priority has always been to be a great place to work
with competitive wages. Part of this is that we make every effort
possible to provide consistent work, a great working environment,
www.canadiancontractor.ca July/August 2015 45

PROFILE
Above: Dave Bryant takes payment from a client using an
on-site credit card reader.
and opportunities to advance. We’re an all-employee company
and do not sub work. This allows us to have a strong team and
achieve consistent results, not to mention that we feel safe having
people we know in our customers’ homes.”
Despite training and a commitment to provide consistent work,
Jon finds great painters increasingly harder to find. “We generally
follow the logic that great attitudes can be trained,” says Jon.
“That being said, it takes a lot of work to find great painters .”
“The biggest personal challenge for me is staying focused,”
says Jon. “As an entrepreneur I can easily get side tracked by
other ‘interesting’ business prospects. I’ve been involved in other
businesses in the tech industry and medical insurance while
trying to maintain the painting business and I wasn’t able to stay
focused well on any of them.”
Urban Painter Marketing
One of the things about The Urban Painter is the way its website
– www.theurbanpainter.com – stands out. It’s simple, professional,
attractive and it includes an important call to action: a simple,
online opportunity to get quotes. “Although I have a passion for
design and web development,” says Jon, “our website was built
with the help of a designer and a local developer. It’s that focus
thing again.”
“Overall marketing efforts are very important to us, as we only
work in specific areas to keep our crews close and effective. In
fact, we intentionally limit our work area to achieve this. We do a
lot of online search engine optimization and are always actively
sending out post cards, door hangers and posting signs in the
areas we want to work. On the commercial side we get a lot of
work through word of mouth from our clients who appreciate what
we do for them.”
“The most challenging part of running our painting business
has been to stay focused,” says Jon. “There are always so many
‘bright and shiny’ opportunities everywhere that we could follow,
46 July/August 2015 www.canadiancontractor.ca

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PROFILE
Nuggets
of Wisdom
From Jon
There are no short cuts
to good quality
or reputation.
Personal bonding matters
in a crew... A lot!
but that would dilute our focus. The only way we have been
able to grow is to stay true to our target clients and give them
excellent service every day. You need to be focused for this, and
focus means saying ‘no’ sometimes.”
“Currently we have enough work to keep our crews busy, so we
get to pick and choose a little on the type of jobs we do. With the
current economic climate in Calgary, we’ll see if this persists, as
summer is our busy season. My father always told me, ‘Getting
the work is hard, but doing the work is easy.’ There’s a lot of truth
in this, but we’ve been fortunate to have plenty of work over the
years. That said, it has been challenging to achieve consistent,
timely results and maintain our brand experience.”
Every business has its doom and gloom commentators, and
the painting business is no different. While some people will tell
you how hard it is to make a go of it as a professional painter
these days, that’s obviously not true for everyone. And that means
it’s not true at all. Focus, attention to details and making use of
new marketing opportunities still pays off. The Urban Painter
proves it. cc
Hire for attitude,
train for skill.
Stick to work you’re
really good at and say
'No' to the rest.
Bring great value
to every project.
48 July/August 2015 www.canadiancontractor.ca

ENVIROSHAKE
Enviroslate Roof
Page 56
DEWALT
20V Miter Saw
Page 56
HONE RUN
Create incredibly sharp hand tools
in two minutes or less
Page 52
STEVE
MAXWELL’S
STUFF WE LIKE
PRODUCT S , TECHNOLOGY & TIPS FOR CONT RACTORS

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MAXWELL’S MIND
Three Lessons
from a Cathedral
By Steve Maxwell
Of all the projects that people have built throughout history,
the great cathedrals of Europe are my favourite. Besides
the fact that they’re awesome examples of refined design
on a massive scale, every time I see one I’m reminded of three
things that help me build better today. Perhaps they will help
you, too.
Cathedrals make me want to be a better craftsman. We live
in a time when there’s a tool for everything, and I’m thankful for
it. But isn’t there something especially impressive about doing a
lot with a little? The hammers, chisels, points and wedges used
by the armies of cathedral stonemasons were as simple as tools
get. Everything was powered entirely by muscle, nothing was
computer controlled, nothing was laser-guided. Can any builder
of today fail to be impressed by how much was accomplished
with so little? In fact, doesn’t it take the eye of a builder to fully
appreciate the skill that went into a cathedral? How could regular
people even begin to understand? That’s why cathedrals always
encourage me to get better.
Cathedrals make me want to be more patient, too. Every
substantial cathedral took more than a century to build, and
the one in Cologne, Germany, took 600 years to complete. The
only two cathedrals that I know of under construction today both
began more than 120 years ago and they’re still growing. I’m not
sure why, but I find it inspiring to think that I could have started
as an apprentice on one of these projects, learned my craft,
practiced it day after day until I was an old man, then retired
only to see a portion of the work done. Cathedrals leave me
more patient, and they remind me that great accomplishments
sometimes demand great timelines.
Cathedrals put my years on earth in perspective. The closest
I’ve come to working on a cathedral happened in the winter of
1989. I was a mason on the restoration of St. Paul’s Presbyterian
Church in Hamilton, Ontario, and there’s one moment that’ll stick
with me. We were repointing inside the 180-foot tall sandstone
spire, you can see on the right, and when the capstone came off
for cleaning, I couldn’t resist climbing up the scaffolding inside
for a look out the top at the city. The opening was just large
enough for my head and shoulders, and while I took in the sights
of a modern city, I could also glance down and see the tool strokes
and initials of the men who put those last stones in place back
in 1857. They did awesome work, they’re gone now, and my view
of the city from the top of the spire must have been so different
than theirs. All this reminds me how short our time is on this
earth, how fast time rolls along, and how I need to make the most
of what I’ve got. Isn’t that a cathedral lesson we should all think
about now and then?
steve@stevemaxwell.ca
www.canadiancontractor.ca July/August 2015 51

MAXWELL’S
Stuff We Like
HONE RUN
Create incredibly sharp hand tools
in two minutes or less
By Steve Maxwell
Even in a world dominated by power tools, a
sharp chisel or block plane is still sometimes
essential for the best trim and interior
millwork. And that’s one side of contracting that
clients especially appreciate because they see
it every day. The problem is that creating and
maintaining sharp edges with stones in the old
fashioned way takes way too much time. That’s why
I started sharpening all my edge tools with a buffing
wheel back in the mid-1980s. The process takes
less than one minute to transform a dull chisel into
something that’s sharper than a new razor blade, and
this approach can even remove small chips and dings
from edges without grinding.
My system is based on a pair of round buffing
wheels – one made of hard felt, the other made from
circles of cloth sewn together. Both are spun by a
salvaged 1/4 hp, 1750 rpm motor, driving a ball-bearing
mandrel via a 2-to-1 pulley arrangement, boosting
the speed of the wheels to 3450 rpm. The hard wheel
is used to hone flat or concave edges, and this is
probably all you’ll ever need. I sometimes do carving
in my work, and buffing the inside surfaces of curved
gouges is the only time I use the soft cloth wheel.
52 July/August 2015 www.canadiancontractor.ca

MAXWELL’S
Stuff We Like
tool against the wheel. The edge will be scary-sharp in no time,
ready for you to get back to work. It’s really that simple, but there
are two tricks you need to keep in mind.
How It Works
Instead of rubbing a chisel or plane iron against a stationary
stone by hand, you hold a tool against the rapidly spinning edge
of a buffing wheel that’s been coated in a very fine abrasive. Both
sides of each tool are held against this moving surface in turn,
where they’re honed to a shiny finish in a short time. A honing
session that would normally take 15 or 20 minutes of monotony
with a sharpening stone now happens in a few minutes or less.
Switch the buffing wheel on, hold a block of abrasive compound
against the spinning wheel to charge the surface, then hold the
www.canadiancontractor.ca July/August 2015 53

MAXWELL’S
Stuff We Like
The first and most important involves safety. The tip of any
tool must always point in the same direction as the buffing wheel
rotation, not against that direction. Ignore this requirement and
the tool will be caught and flung out of your hands dangerously.
Power buffing is quite safe as long as you remember this detail.
buffing is tangent to the edge of the wheel. It’s essential that the
tip of the chisel or plane iron doesn’t get rounded over or made
more blunt than its ideal angle of 25º to 30º. Rounding so the
cutting tip is steeper than this means the tool won’t slice like it
should, even if it is smooth and shiny.
After buffing the tip of the tool you’ve been working on, the
edge will always shine like polished silver. That’s impressive,
but cutting performance is what really counts. Grab a piece of
softwood and try slicing the end grain at a slight angle. A really
sharp edge will slice the wood with no tear-out or roughness at
The second crucial issue has to do with cutting performance.
Since the abrasive action of this honing technique is so
aggressive, it’s possible to remove visible amounts of metal from
a tool tip quickly. This is why the process is so fast, but it also
poses a challenge. You must hold the tool so the surface you’re
54 July/August 2015 www.canadiancontractor.ca

MAXWELL’S
Stuff We Like
all. It’s really something to experience. The tool will be magic.
Another test involves shaving hair. If you’ve got enough hair
on your hand or arm to spare, a truly sharp blade will cleanly
cut that off better than a new razor.
What If It Doesn’t Cut?
If a buffed tool edge is shiny right to the edge but doesn’t cut
cleanly, it always means you held the tool tip at too steep of an
angle relative to the buffing wheel.
The solution is to reshape the tool on a grinding wheel,
creating the proper bevel angle. This process is no longer called
honing, but grinding. It’s a much coarser technique than honing
and it removes more metal. The good news is that you shouldn’t
have to grind tools very often once they’re working well with
edges ground to the correct angle and honed skillfully. So, what
is the correct angle? That depends on the tool involved.
The edges of general-purpose woodworking tools like bench
chisels and hand planes should have a bevel angle between
25º and 30º for proper performance. Block planes and chisels
you’ll use for slicing and paring work better with a shallower
bevel of about 20ºC. The trick is making this happen without
overheating the tool. If the metal gets too hot it won’t be able
to hold an edge any more.
Bench grinders are cheap and effective at removing metal, but
they can cause huge heat build up in tools, too. The simplest and
cheapest way to grind without too much heat is using a
cool-running, soft-bond wheel on your bench grinder. Soft-bond
wheels aren’t very common, but it pays to track one down for
delicate, heat-sensitive applications like tool grinding. I buy
mine from Lee Valley Tools (800-267-8767; www.leevalley.com).
Want a really simple grinding option? A woodworking belt
sander performs surprisingly well. Clamp it upside down in a
portable workstation after putting on a 120- or 180-grit abrasive
belt. There will be a few sparks as you grind, so be careful.
Remove the dust bag and blow off all sawdust before you begin
so nothing catches fire. The trickiest part of using a belt sander
for tool grinding is getting the precision you need. Since there’s
no opportunity to install a tool rest, you’ve got to get good by hand
and eye. It’s no big deal, though.
You can still overheat tools on a white wheel or a belt sander,
so you need to be cautious. Don’t make sparks for more than two
or three seconds before dipping the tip of the chisel or plane iron
into cold water for five seconds. Keep the grinding and cooling
process going until the entire bevel area shows an even, fresh
surface, with a small burr of rough metal formed at the tip. With
this done, you can hone and have a better-than-razor-sharp edge
in a minute or two.
Building your success as a contractor always comes down to
hundreds of details done right. Chisels and planes might only be
a small part of your tool collection, but sometimes they’re the only
things that can make you look like a hero where it really matters.
As long as they’re sharp, that is.
cc
www.canadiancontractor.ca July/August 2015 55

MAXWELL PRODUCTS
MAXWELL’S
PICK
ENVIROSHAKE
Enviroslate Roofing
Natural slate is one of the most expensive roofing
options going, but a new Canadian alternative looks
identical from the ground, it costs 50% less than
mineral slate, and it can be installed with regular
roofing tools on regular roof structures. Enviroslate is
the latest composite roofing material from the same
people who created the cedar look-alike roofing
product Enviroshake back in 1998. Enviroslate is
made using the same blend of recycled plastic and
wood fiber feedstocks, so the reliability behind the
lifetime warranty offered is more than just wishful
thinking. What surprised me most about my tests
with Enviroslate is the authentic look it delivers.
It’s exceptionally similar to natural slate on the
workbench, and even experienced slate installers
can’t tell the difference from the ground.
www.enviroshake.com/enviroslate
MAXWELL’S
PICK
DeWALT
DCS361M1 20V Cordless Compound Miter Saw
This is the first Canadian print review you’ll see for this tool,
but it won’t be the last. Ease of use for light- and medium-duty
applications is the reason why. Weighing in at just over 30 lbs, this tool
uses DeWALT’s standard 20V battery and crosscuts up to 8 1/8” at 90º
in my tests. Although designed primarily for smaller cuts and trim, the
thin-kerf blade on the DCS361M1 had no trouble chewing through
1 7/8”-thick cherry in my shop. I’m glad to see how this saw preserves
the same classic features I’ve come to love in older DeWALT miter saws:
super-easy miter angle adjustment that locks positively; an LED cutting
light that uses the shadow of the blade to show where cuts will happen;
dual sliding rails that deliver more stability than single rail designs.
The only thing missing is preset detent stops for bevel angle, but that’s
no big deal. Adjustable bevel stops at 0º and 45º can be flipped out
of the way for back cutting, plus an easy-to-see bevel scale makes it
simple to tilt the blade over for flat cutting crown. $399 bare tool; $499
tool with one battery and charger. Available in stores late July.
www.dewalt.com
56 July/August 2015 www.canadiancontractor.ca

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WHAT WOULD YOU DO?
Off The Book
The Stillwells are trying to hire Dan Summerville’s
carpenter to do some work on the side. But there’s
a powerful reason they need to save some money.
By Rob Koci
Dan Summerville’s best carpenter and
lead hand on the Stillwell job, Dave
Chillingham, did the right thing (as he
always did) and told his boss that Ms.
Stillwell had just asked him to work on
the basement drywall “off book.” That
is, for cash after hours. And without
Summerville’s knowledge.
It was a shock to Summerville, but
not just because the drywall was on
the scope of work for the reno he was
currently doing for the Stillwells. He
was shocked because the Stillwells
always paid in full, on time, and with
taxes included. Summerville checked his
books: To date, the Stillwell’s had done
$180,000 of work with him. Simply put,
they were his best client. Ever since the
Stillwells bought the century home 20
years ago, Summerville had been their
contractor of choice.
Clearly, the Stillwells were about
to renegotiate the basement out of
the existing contract. But why? What
had happened that they decided this
was okay? A little digging
(Summerville’s daughter Jenny
went to the same school as
the Stillwells’ son) revealed a
possible reason. Mr. Stillwell
had recently been diagnosed
with a serious illness. Jenny
had heard rumours that the
Stillwells wanted to try an
unfunded treatment in Mexico. Not a
word of it came to him from the Stillwells
themselves, so they clearly either wanted
to keep it quiet or the rumours simply
were not true.
If it was true, should Summerville
stand by and pretend that he has not
heard about Mr. Stillwell’s plight? But if
he gives the go-ahead to Dave to do the
work, what message would that send to
his employees? If he didn’t hold the line
on this kind of behavior now, would the
line disappear?
What would you do if you were
Summerville? See the options at right.
WHAT SHOULD SUMMERVILLE DO?
1. Keep silent about what you know, let
the Stillwells renegotiate the contract,
and let your employee Dave do the
work for cash.
2. Ask the Stillwells about the health
issue, tell them you know why they
might have tried to hire your guy for
cash, and ask them what you can do
to help?
3. Not reveal what you know, but also
not allow Dave to do the work even if
the Stillwells negotiate the basement
out of the contract.
4. Something else? (Please give us a
brief description.)
WIN!
A DEWALT XR DUAL SPEED
cordless framing nailer
Retail price: $549
LAST ISSUE’S WINNER – “THE DISCOVERY”
In our last case study, a renovation contractor, Brigham Wild, finds a box of
cash – estimated to contain over $150,000 – hidden in the wall structure of
an abusive client’s house. The client, Buster Belichek, has been threatening
to take Wild to court and there is a real likelihood that Belichek may not be
paid. We asked if Wild has any options other than immediately handing
over the money.
Winner: Ben Kuypers, Ben Kuypers Design Group, Calgary.
“My answer is option number 2: Give the money to Belichek and do the make goods.
A good rule of thumb for any situation is, "If you are thinking of doing something you
don't want anyone to find out about, don't do it.” If you are going to be a good contractor
is that just dependent on how good the client is going to be or is it always? There's no
real “maybe” or “when it suits me.” It is hard to resist not saying anything, in this case,
when the client doesn’t know about a situation. But that is the precise moment when
you need to step up and be forthright. Walk the talk.”
HOW TO ENTER
Email the number that matches your best
answer, with your comments, to
rkoci@canadiancontractor.ca. Please title
your email “What Would You Do?” We will
select the answer that impresses us the most
and send the winner the DEWALT nailer.
58 July/August 2015 www.canadiancontractor.ca

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