Alexandre Franco - ANO: LXXV – EDIÇÃO Nº 3906 - Post Milenio

II
13 a 19 de Outubro de 2006
Construction News
TCA who?
During my brief tenure at TCA, I have frequently been
asked by neophytes what it is exactly that we do. Most
politely endure my lengthy monologue and gratefully nod
their heads, probably secretly wishing 20 minutes later that
they hadn't asked. Unfortunately for me, it is typically
prospective members asking the question, and the consequence
of a long-winded answer is almost always an opportunity
lost.
The neophytes think with 2200 member companies
comprising some 300,000 construction industry practitioners,
that the sheer volume of participation speaks for itself.
That, and the fact our constitution predates Canada's, is certainly
enough to impress my small brain. But the story is a
little different when it costs you money to be impressed. It
also occurs to me that membership revenue pays the bills,
mine included. And so, for purely subjective reasons, this
President's Report is dedicated to rationalizing what it is
that we do, and why, in as tangible terms as possible, membership
pays dividends.
Let's begin with the facts.
TCA, to the best of my knowledge, is the largest association
of its kind in North America, and unlike many of its
counterparts in the association business, TCA serves the
"entire" ICI sector, i.e. professional constructors (all disciplines
including specialty contractors), owners, architects,
consulting engineers, lawyers, brokers, cost consultants,
insurers, manufacturers, suppliers and industry service
providers.
And because we serve the industry at large, the scope of
our services is diverse and traditionally aligns with the
often very different agendas of our membership.
There are elements of common ground, of course, so it
is perhaps prudent to touch on them first. The single most
significant of them, in our view, is networking. We do
believe in the notion of "members supporting members"
and play host at a variety of social events, seminars and
committee meetings. We publish newspapers, magazines
and books, post project and employment opportunities online,
and commonly act as the "voice of the industry."
Because there is strength in numbers, we are also in the
enviable position of being able to offer our members discount
programs that would only otherwise be available to
corporations with literally hundreds of thousands of
employees. In the past, relatively few have capitalized on
this unique opportunity despite the fact that our benefits
program oft en far exceeds conventional employee benefits.
Our home and auto insurance program, for example, can
generate sufficient savings on its own to pay for the cost of
TCA membership, and assuming members pass on the benefits
to staff, the return on investment annually is potentially
many fold. Add to that our travel, gas, business and communication,
entertainment and retail savings programs, and
the membership dividends become significant.
Surprisingly, not all of our members choose to capitalize on
our discount program, and most, in my experience,under
utilize the networking opportunity.
Fortunately for them, however, opportunities for membership
benefits abound. Some of the highlights include: In
early 2003, TCA formally entered the education business
when it founded The Construction Institute, which provides
accreditation/certification and continuing professional
development for industry executives in a self-regulated,
membership-based, chartered institute.
In excess of 400 TCA/MCA members enjoy the benefits
of our plans room. Our electronic plans room, which
will be provincial by early September, is extraordinarily
user friendly (Wade-Tech platform) and available at a nominal
cost to members only.
Senior TCA staff offer advice and counseling on matters
relating to contract law, the Lien Act, and payment processing
guidelines among other things. Moreover, TCA is
in the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) business and
frequently hosts mediation and/or arbitration hearings to
members seeking to avoid the prohibitive cost of arbitration.
TCA/MCA members are typically also members of the
Canadian Construction Association (CCA) and the Council
of Ontario Construction Associations (COCA), which compounds
the benefi ts of local association membership.
CCA and COCA act for the common good of the industry
in matters of federal and provincial jurisdiction including
using their best efforts to influence favorable legislation.
TCA lends support on behalf of its local members and
interacts municipally through a home-grown Political
Action Lobby (PAL).
Despite the fact that our industry accounted for an estimated
$160 billion in real gross economic output in 2005,
and has since 1999 led all other sectors of the economy in
job creation, Ontario continues to be plagued by a massive
labor shortage. Accordingly, TCA's
Speaker's Bureau and Future Building Show volunteers
have made attracting qualifi ed new talent to the industry a
full time job.
Association members are entitled to free access to our
in-house Notary Public and/or Commissioner of Oaths for
such things as the execution of statutory declarations,
which can otherwise become very expensive.
Members also have free access to our facilities, including
workstations, boardrooms, meeting rooms and classrooms.
For our mainstream mixed trade contractor members,
the cost of membership is still less than $800 annually.
For Allied members that already belong to other service
specific associations, the cost is even more affordable.
At TCA, we are committed to ensuring that the benefits
of membership far exceed the cost, now and always.
I'm convinced! Having said that, we always welcome
new ideas and would be delighted to hear from you. Toward
that end, my door is always open.
John G. Mollenhauer
Ontario Housing Starts Moderate
2006 Housing Starts Down 7%
Ontario Preliminary Housing Starts for
August 2006 were down slightly from
August 2005 according to numbers released
by CMHC this morning.
The first eight months of 2006 have
recorded a 7% decline in housing starts.
The Ontario Home Builders'
Association has forecasted a healthy 75,000
housing starts for 2006, which is a small
decrease from the 78,795 new homes started
in 2005.
OHBA President Victor Fiume stated,
"The Ontario housing market has been very
robust this year, however we are forecasting
a soft landing from the cyclical highs that
we experienced a couple of years ago."
Fiume explained, "A number of factors
such as the Greater Golden Horseshoe
Greenbelt, higher interest rates and the
increasing costs of materials and labour
have eroded housing affordability over the
last year, which have contributed to the
moderation in residential construction
activity across Ontario."
The Ontario Home Builders'
Association is the voice of the residential
construction industry in Ontario representing
4,000 member companies organized
into 31 local associations across the
province.
The industry contributes over $25 billion
dollars to Ontario's economy, employing
over 360,000 people across the
province.
Our members build 80% of the new
housing in Ontario.