Designer tips for the christmas season

Decorating your home for Christmas is one of the best things about the holidays. The twinkling of lights, the sight of a perfectly trimmed tree, a crackling fire, the smell of gingerbread cookies baking in the oven and the taste of eggnog are all gentle reminders of the cheerful Christmas season.

Remember that wreaths look great inside the house too. You don’t have to stick to one tree either, we always put up a large tree where it can be admired by everyone but the kids get their own little trees to gaze upon in their bedrooms decorated how they dreamed. Small pots of paperwhites on alternating stairs, white feathered snowballs hanging from the hall ceiling, fresh holly, indoor mini lights and reflective Christmas balls grouped together in a vase will make for a magical holiday that is sure to be remembered. Splurge on ribbons and wrapping paper and keep all five senses in mind when decorating to ensure a warm inviting home.

I hope this helps you to welcome the holidays into your home, for those of you who need help,  OR  just don’t have the time remember that we offer holiday decorating!

This is an excerpt from a newsletter that is distributed to all former, current and future clients of Village Builders Inc.  If you would like to receive this newsletter feel free to email me at www.robabbott@villagebuilders.ca

Rob Abbott
Operations Manager
Village Builders Inc

Need a well, bore it

Need a well?

If you need a well the one mistake that people make is they think the only way to have water is from a well that is drilled.

There is another option; it is having a bored well.

What’s the difference you ask?

For one the price.

I have your attention now don’t I, a bored well is a lot cheaper to have installed then a drilled well.

What’s the difference?

The difference is that a drilled well is completed by using a drilling rig to drill down with a pipe about 5 inches in diameter until you have enough water to satisfy your needs. The great thing about a drilled well is that you can go as deep as you need too in a very short amount of time. Once the casing is installed then the well is completed, all it requires is for you to put a pump and a water line down to the bottom to get the water out of the pipe and up to the house.

A bored well is used when you believe that you have water near the surface. A bored well uses a boring machine mounted on the back of a large truck. The bit is 3 to 4 feet wide, they can actually bore up to 80 feet down. That means instead of an 80 ft well at about 8 inches you would have an 80 foot well at 4 feet wide, this acts as a holding tank for your water.  That allows a lot more water to be held in reserve waiting for you to use it.

Usually when wells are bored they only have to go 25 to 40 feet in the ground. Once they hit their depth and have enough water they install concrete well tiles to fold back the earth. The well tiles are then parged to stop water surface run off from entering the well, which is a safety measure to help keep your well from being contaminated by chemicals or bacteria that is found on the surface. A pump is installed at the bottom of the well with a water line to supply your home with water.

Bored wells have the capacity to hold a lot of water in their large well tiles, this means that the flow rate for a bored well can be a lot less than a drilled well. With a drilled well you want a high refresh rate of water because the amount of water in the well is minimal and with a lot of water usage in a short amount of time it can be run dry. The opposite is needed with a bored well, because of the holding capacity of a bored well you can have a large volume of stored water that will be used before the well runs dry. If the bored well has a low or slow re-fresh rate it wouldn’t matter as much because the amount of water used has to be extreme to empty the reserve. Usually the only restrictions on a bored well with a low flow rate is that they not be used to fill pools or to water expansive irrigation systems.

The key with a bored well is that you want water that is close to the surface for boring to work, if you see signs on your property that you have water close to the surface or springs on the property then talk to a well borer. If you think that you will have to go down a long way for your water then you should stick with a drilled well and call a well driller.

It never hurts to understand your options especially when your talking about something as important as the water for your home and family.

Rob Abbott
Operations Manager
Village Builders Inc.

Roofing trends for 2013 in custom homes

Roofing trends 2013

Here are some trends in roofing materials being installed in custom homes for 2013. Some of the trends have started this year (2013), a lot of trends where started in the 2012 construction year and continued into this calendar year. There are trends that have been sustained year over year as well; they are considered the long running trends.

Roofing applications in today’s custom homes

Here is a list of the trends that have stayed the same over the last several years;

• Asphalt shingles are still the most common and prevalent material installed on all homes. The ease of installation and the price point make them the simple choice for homeowners.

• Grace Ice and Water Shield is installed on the first 2 feet of the roof and up the valleys.

• Dark coloured asphalt shingles have and are still the most common shingle installed.

• Black valleys are still the most common because they go with any kind of dark roofing material.

• Steel roofs are gradually growing more common with the ever changing severe weather.

• Enviro-shake has all but eliminated the need or want for homeowners to have cedar-shake roofs installed, with the composite material looking so close to real cedar plus giving a lifetime product, something cedar cannot accomplish.

Here is a list of the trends that have started this year and are growing in popularity;

• Large peaked roofs that are now prevalent in most architects plans have brought about growing trend of torch down roof membranes on the top of houses because of height restrictions.

• Roofs being covered completely in waterproofing from eave to peak to protect against future leaks has become a fast growing trend.

• Strip ridge venting is on more and more roofs that have asphalt shingles, giving the clean look and helping to maximize air flow.

• Composite roofing materials are gaining popularity as homeowners look for alternatives to asphalt shingles and are not worried about the higher price.

• Heavier duty and multiple ply asphalt shingles are growing in popularity for their longer life spans and warranties.

• Using multiple materials on custom homes have started to become a more common practice. Installing asphalt shingles on a high steep roof and then installing steel roofs below on porch or lower sloped roofs helps the longevity of the lower roofs and can be very appealing to the eye.

• Standing seam steel roofs have by far become the most wanted and installed look in steel. The standing seam gives a richer look to the roof, making it look less like a barn steel roof and more like a luxury material on a custom home.

Overall people are starting to understand that they need to spend more money on their roofing materials since the weather and the climate has become more unpredictable. A higher quality of roofing material is showing that it will survive the more severe storms and save you money from replacing your roof in the future.

Rob Abbott
Operations Manager
Village Builders Inc.

Does spray on rubber membrane products work on older foundations?

Q:

Does spray on rubber membrane products work on older foundations?

A:

Good question. The answer is yes, the product works very well on older foundations, rubberized membrane are engineered to stretch and move, they are able to cover small holes and cracks that would allow water to penetrate any other kind of waterproofing. Rubberized membranes are the only thing that I would use on an older foundation to guarantee a leak free basement. . You must prepare your foundation properly for the installation of a rubberized membrane.

To properly prepare an older foundation there are certain things that you must do.

• You must dig around the entire foundation of the home if you want a 100% guarantee that the house will not leak. If you are only concerned about one side of the home then you must completely expose that side from corner to corner.

• You must dig right down to the footing until it is exposed. The hole must be wide enough that a person can safely work, bend over, twist and turn and the bank must be sloped enough to prevent cave-ins for the workers safety.

• When you have excavated the area check to see if there is a weeper or drainage tile, if there is no weeper install one and if there is an existing one check to see if it is working or is damaged.

• Once the wall is exposed you must remove any old waterproofing material. If the foundation has been tarred then you must use a pressure washer and blast the wall until any loose tar or (if you have enough time) all the tar has been removed.

• With a pressure washer you must remove any leftover dirt, sticks or debris from the walls so that they are clean. You must do this early enough so that the wall is completely dry when they come to spray on the waterproofing.

• Before you proceed with the waterproofing if the foundation is a block foundation then you must drill a hole in the bottom block every couple of feet along the wall. You don’t drill all the way through the block, you only have to drill through one side of the block, this will allow any water to leak out of the block that had penetrated the block in the past.

• Parge any holes that are in the foundation, whether you made them or they are there previously. Any cracks, brakes or seams require filling and smoothing. Any repairs on the foundation should be done now before the waterproofing is installed. Any raised or pointed area's on the foundation wall must be chipped and smoothed out.

• Once the rubber membrane has been sprayed on the foundation, most companies will install a dimple board over top of it. This dimple board is there to protect the membrane from rocks, roots and the membrane when back filling the hole.

• When you back fill the hole you must make sure that the fill you are using is clean, clean means no rocks, stumps, construction debris or anything that can cause damage from puncturing the membrane at a later date.

• You must grade the back fill so that water will run away from the house.

The cost of rubberized membranes is higher then most other kinds of waterproofing but the quality is also much higher. To guarantee a leak free foundation I would only recommend it.

Rob Abbott
Operations Manager
Village Builders Inc.

My new septic system keeps backing up, but I can’t get a hold of the installer, is there anything I can check while I’m waiting?

Q:

My new septic system keeps backing up, but I can’t get a hold of the installer, is there anything I can check while I’m waiting?

A:

There is something you can check; in all new modern septic systems there is a filter in the septic tank. The filter is there to stop large objects from getting down into the septic bed and causing damage. Excessive toilet paper usage, or foreign objects will be collected in this filter.

First find the septic tank; it will be the concrete one that will be close to the house, buried about 1 foot down. It should have two lids; you want to access the second one. To access this lid you will need to uncover it, so you will have to dig the topsoil and grass off of it.

Unscrew the lid by the 4 screws that hold the lid in place. Once the screws are removed the lid should just lift off.

If you look down in the septic tank right below the lid you will see a grey filter about 1 to 2 feet long. You need to pull up on the filter, there is a little clip on the inside that you should push down that will allow the filter to slide free.

Completely remove the filter and inspect it, check to see if there are any foreign objects stuck in the filter, these should be removed. Then all you do is wash the filter well with a garden hose until it looks to be clean and clear.

Re-install the filter and put the top back on the lid. Don’t re-cover the lid with dirt because if and when your septic installer comes out they will want to check the filter themselves.

If that doesn’t work then there is a problem somewhere else in the system.

If you don’t get a hold of the installer try calling a plumber to come and snake the drain down to the tank, there could be something blocking it at that point.

Good luck.

Rob Abbott
Operations Manager
Village Builders Inc.

How do I know my builder is a good businessperson?

Q:
How do I know my builder is a good businessperson?

A:

In residential construction most general contractors started out in the field swinging a hammer before they ever decided to move into the office. Most contractors moved out of the field because their business required more of their attention and the supervision of workers in the field could be left to someone else.

When interviewing a general contractor that you are considering to construct your dream home you should observe everything you can about them. There are certain things that you should look for when you sit down with one of these potential general contractor;

• Do they have an office, a building that is not in their home, and a place of business that you can go if there are any problems?

• Does it look like they have office staff? Is there someone answering the phone? You don’t want to have to call someone and they have no one to answer the phone.

• Are they tech savy? Do they use email? Or are they still using written paper for everything.

• Is the place busy, phone ringing, people coming and going? If your contractor has a good reputation one of the signs is that they are always in demand.

• Ask to see a copy of a typical bill, can you understand how they accounting is done, is the bill clear and easy to read?

• Will they allow you to see the bills from their suppliers if you are planning to build a home that will be time and material?

• Ask how long they have been in business, in that area? Are his employee's from the area? How many employee's does he have?

• Ask if they are a registered Tarion Home Builder and could they give you their Tarion Builder Number. You can get information on this builder from the Tarion homeowner’s portal on the web.

• Asking the builder for an "insurance certificate" from his carrier will prove the amount of insurance coverage on his business.

If a builder ever asks you to set up your own account at the local lumber yard so that he can charge things to it while they build your home this is a major red flag. This basically says that the builder doesn’t have good enough credit to secure enough trust in the suppliers to build a home. A builder with a bad credit rating usually means a builder that is not running a very good business.

You should ask for and follow-up with references to the company's trade partners, and suppliers.

All of these things will help you form an opinion of the person and kind of business that this person is running. Remember to always go with your gut, if you don’t like the feeling of the place or the person keep looking.

Rob Abbott
Operations Manager
Village Builders Inc.

The energy efficiency of homes in Canada has risen 66% in the last three decades

The energy efficiency of homes in Canada has risen 66% in the last three decades.

The average home built in Canada today is 66% more energy efficient then a home built in the 1970’s.

In the 1970’s there was an energy crisis that forced the construction industry to start looking at the way homes were built and to find ways to make them use less energy allowing average Canadians to afford to heat and cool their homes in the face of sky rocketing heating and cooling costs.

There have been a lot of theories that have come and gone over three decades, some of them good and some of them bad. But as time marched on so did the technology and techniques to make homes use less energy.

One of the biggest changes in construction practices was in stopping the air leakage coming into and out of the home. In the 1970’s the average home when you combined all the cracks, holes and seams together would add up to 350 square inch hole, that is just over a 29 sqft hole. A home built today would have 1/3 the size at around 115 square inches. That alone cuts down on the heat loss that the average home would lose.

The way this has been achieved has more to do with people paying more attention to the little details, in places around windows, doors, window headers, where the foundation meets the stud walls and around electrical penetrations on exterior walls.

The product that helped stop these gaps was foam. There are many different types of foam, from spray foam for the hard to get to areas, to sheets of foam that are attached on the outside of your home. Sheets of foam help stop the transfer of heat through  the wood studs and help block the windchill that cools the inside of the wall cavity down faster, thus making the furnace work harder to warm up the new colder air.

People living in a home today can except to spend almost $1400.00 less on gas to heat their home then the same people living in a home that was built in the 1970’s.

A custom home built by a well qualified builder will have better ratings across the board then these lowering heating loss and heating/cooling costs to near minuscule levels.

So when you are thinking about buying an older home or building a new one, think about the money that you will save in energy consumption with a newly built home. In the long run the new home will pay you back, where the older one will just make you pay.

Rob Abbott
Operations Manager
Village Builders Inc.

Facts from this post where found in the summer 2013 addition of Ontario Home Builder.

What is an escalation clause in construction contract?

Q:
What is an escalation clause?

A:

In a contract with an escalation clause, the customer agrees to pay any price increases for specified items that occur between the signing of the contract and the start of construction. Volatile materials markets have made these clauses fairly common today. The alternative is for the contractor to inflate the contract price to cover possible increases. The decision to sign or not sign such a clause is basically a market bet, and will depend on whether or not the customer expects prices for the materials in question to rise.

When a general contractor receives prices for services and materials the proposals are dated the day that they were issued as a bid on the project. In the bid it will state how long the proposed price is guaranteed to stay the same. Usually the price is good for about 30 days. If the bid is successful then the bidder will be asked to hold that price until their services are required on site. When custom home building this could be up to 6 months or more after the date of the bid.

Where you get into price increases is when companies place bids on a project and because of plan changes or client indecisions the project isn’t rewarded to the general contractor until well after the 30 day limit. When this happens the client has to understand that the sub-contractors that bid on the project might have to charge them an extra because their own costs have gone up.

This can make pricing custom homes tricky because with a custom home as a general contractor working on a bid you could end up waiting 6 months to a year before you ever find out if you have won the project or have a finalized signed contract.

Rob Abbott
Operations Manager
Village Builders Inc.

How do allowances work when budgeting for renovations?

Q:

How do allowances work?

A:

Allowances allocate funds to parts of the job that haven't been fully specified at the time of the contract signing. For example if the homeowner has yet to find the right grade of kitchen cabinets, the allowance lets the project begin by specifying how much can be spent on them. It also sets a date when the decision must be made for the project to stay on schedule.

Most contractors that are experienced at estimating will give their clients an accurate as possible number on the allowances pertaining to a budget eliminating a lot of the shock or surprise at future pricing. There are contractors when pricing allowances will set the number too low on purpose allowing them to be cheaper at the beginning almost guaranteeing them the job.

Since there are contractors that will do anything to land a job, you need to study the quote that you are given. Keep a close eye on the amount of money that is allocated to certain parts of your quote, does the amount allocated appear to low? If it seems to low then it probably is and should be discussed before anything is signed. Remember just because in your budget you were allotted a certain amount of money doesn’t mean that will get you what you want. For example if the contractor allocates 5,000 dollars for your entire new kitchen that doesn’t mean you will get a 20,000 dollar kitchen for the allotted 5,000. You will be given a change order and have to pay the 20,000. The worst thing about contractors that proceed in this fashion is that the cost over runs end up sometimes stopping the finishing of the job when the client runs out of money before the job can be completed. This doesn’t help anyone.

Sometimes the homeowner can end up being their own worst enemy. For example we have given people quotes with what we thought was the most appropriate allowance for the different sections of the renovation only to have the homeowner tell us to lower them. When this happens we do two things;

1. We explain to them why we have set those allowances at that price, what we believe the level of fit and finish that will suite the person, the house and the overall work that is being proposed.

2. We do what they ask and insert the amount that they have requested us to set it at.

What usually ends up happening is that once the job is completed and we look back at the final cost of the job compared to the budgeted cost of the job, we find that those allowances that we lowered ended up at what we originally set them at before the homeowner requested the change.

In the long run when working with allowances on budgets if it doesn’t make sense, if it seems either too high or too low then you should be asking questions and listening to your contractor’s answers.

Allowances are there to help you know the cost and they should also help the contractor when designing and finishing the job.

Rob Abbott
Operations Manager
Village Builders Inc.

Can you explain the difference between waterproofing on a roof and the waterproofing on a foundation?

Q:

Can you explain the difference between waterproofing on a roof and the waterproofing on a foundation?

A:

There are many different types of waterproofing out there, but I believe what you are asking is what is the difference between a product like Grace Ice and Water Shield (which is installed on top of your roof as a waterproofing layer under your shingles) and a product like BlueSkin VP 200 which is made to be installed on a foundation as a waterproofing.

It’s a good question, both products look a lot a like, they are installed in the same way and are both trying to achieve the same goal, which is to stop water from entering your home. They are both installed by removing the protective back paper which exposes the adhesive, then the product is stuck to the surface that you wish to protect and smoothed out. The self-adhering material on the backside does not require anything else to help it hold on to the surface that it has been applied too.

The differences come when you look at what they have been manufactured to do.

I will start with the Grace Ice and Water Shield, that product is made to protect your roof;

This product is manufactured so that it is soft and pliable. Once it’s installed on a roof shingles are installed over top of the material, as the shingles are installed with nails the product bends and coats the nail as it penetrates through the product. This helps stop any water from running down the nail into the building. The surface of this product is also made with some grip so that the installer doesn’t feel like they are walking on a skating rink. The product is not engineered to be left exposed to the elements for a prolonged period of time; it is engineered to have another material installed over top of it to protect it from the natural elements.

BlueSkin VP 200 which primarily is made too waterproof foundations is installed the same way as Grace but is made to be installed on a vertical surface. The product has a more rugged exterior layer that holds up to exterior pressures and impacts. BlueSkin will not coat a nail like Grave when it penetrates through the surface of it.
The outside layer is also made to be extremely slick. It is not advised to walk on it if it’s placed on a surface because it will be a safety hazard. The reason that the outside layer is like this is because it helps shed water, rocks and roots that might come to rest against it when underground. BlueSkin will survive underground without anything to protect it but it is still recommended that a dimple board be installed over it just encase a large rock impacts the foundation.

If you are thinking about using a foundation waterproofing on your roof or vice versa to save money because one product is cheaper than the other I caution you, by doing this you are taking a large risk. These products have been engineered for the purpose that is stated on the package and you will be voiding any warranty that comes with them by applying them somewhere else.

Thanks for the question

Rob Abbott
Operations Manager
Village Builders Inc.

Why the time to renovate is now!

Why the Time to Remodel is NOW

Materials and labor won't be any more affordable in a year or two.

Homeowners who have decided to hold out for price cuts before starting that remodeling project might have a long wait. Remodeling costs may be attractive at the moment, but they're headed upward. While rising interest rates and a weaker dollar could play a role, the biggest factors will likely be supply and demand, particularly of labor and materials.

Demand for remodeling began to surge in 2012, and while expansion fell slightly during the first quarter of 2013, according to the homebuilders associations, nearly every forecaster understood that as a temporary glitch. Consumer surveys are telling the building industry that a very high portion of homeowners will be spending money on renovating in the near future.

More remodeling means more demand for labor, which is already helping to swing the pendulum in favor of workers. After the last decade's housing boom came to a screeching halt in 2008, legions of carpenters and other tradespeople either retired or left for other industries. Now that work has picked up, there's a shortage.  In fact many companies are competing hard for labor, and workers who possess the skills needed by professional remodelers are commanding higher wages.

The supply and demand gap also applies to quality subcontractors such as electricians, plumbers, and drywallers. Because most of these subs work on new homes and remodels, an uptick in new construction has brought many of them more work than they can handle. After years of low profits, it's no surprise that they have raised their prices accordingly.

Labor isn't the only challenge: the next few years should also see higher material costs, and for similar reasons. Lumber shortages drove prices higher in early 2013 , and while remodeling projects as a rule use less framing lumber than new homes, the fact is that lumber is a bellwether: the costs of other building materials, from cabinets to carpet to light fixtures, tend to follow its lead.

There are several reasons why lumber prices will remain volatile. A lot of mills closed after the boom ended, and the survivors couldn't keep up with demand when the market began to rebound. It will take time to bring the needed capacity online. Other challenges include less harvestable lumber and more global demand. Mountain Pine Beetles have devastated millions of acres of timberland in the western Canada and provinces have ordered permanent harvest reductions from healthy forests. Meanwhile China, India, and other countries are bidding up prices for what is available.

Rising costs mean that budget-conscious homeowners may have to be creative. One solution is to work with the contractor on value engineering, which seeks to economize without sacrificing amenities or quality. There are innumerable ways to do this, but one example is reducing exterior wall space on an addition. Exterior walls cost more to build than interior walls, so reducing them will save labor and materials. The ability to value engineer is one of the many benefits of working with a professional remodeling company.

The bottom line is that waiting for prices to come down is a roll of the dice – with odds of winning that are probably less than those at a Vegas casino. Anyone considering a remodel in the near future would be well advised to start sooner rather than later.

Warm Regards,

Doug Abbott
Village Builders

This is an excerpt from a newsletter that is distributed to all former, current and future clients of Village Builders Inc.  If you would like to receive this newsletter feel free to email me at www.robabbott@villagebuilders.ca

Rob Abbott
Operations Manager
Village Builders Inc

I have $100,000.00 can I build a custom home?

Q:

I own a lot in Collingwood and want to build a custom home; I want to spend about $100,000.00 is that enough for a custom home?

A:

In one single word NO.

Let me explain a couple of things to you. The building and development fees in the town of Collingwood are dependent on the size of the home between 18 and 30 thousand dollars. Let’s say that you are going to build a small home and you end up paying $18,000.00 for the permit and development fees. That leaves you with $82,000.00; you will need plans drawn by a professional draftsman at the least to receive your permit that will cost you a minimum of $1000.00. Your down to $81,000.00 and you haven’t dug the a hole.

A normal custom home routinely costs anywhere between $200 to $400 dollars a sqft. Let’s say you keep your home as basic as possible and you are able to have it built at $180 dollars a sqft.  That would mean that you would have enough money to build yourself a 456 sqft house. Most people’s garages are bigger than that.

Even if you wanted to build yourself a house that small most municipalities have restrictions against the minimum requirements for a home and that would fall well below it.

I hope that gives you some perspective on how much it can cost to build even a simple custom home.

Rob Abbott
Operations Manager
Village Builders Inc.

Why do builders demolish a house, leave one wall standing and build a new home around it?

Q:

I see builders demo a whole house and leave one wall up.  Then tear that wall down and build a whole new house.  However it is still considered a renovation rather than a new build.  Can you explain why and how this process works?

A:

When a builder demolishes a building in the manner that you described he is technically completing a renovation. That’s what the permit will read that they were granted.

In a lot of places there are restrictions on building and renovating homes and building’s because of certain criteria. Those criteria are as follows;
• Age of the building.
• Historical significance of the building.
• The design, shape and style of the building.
• They importance of the building as a potential land mark.
• The cultural significance of the building and what it can represent.

When you are working with a building that falls under any of the above criteria then you are working with special rules that you have to agree to follow before you can be granted a permit to do any kind of work on the structure.

A building that falls under the above criteria is not allowed to be completely demolished and removed leaving nothing of the old building behind.

Sometimes in an area that can cover several city blocks you can have homes that are deemed historical but have no historical value other than their age and their location. Some of these buildings might be in such disrepair that it would cost more to try and salvage the building then it would to demolish it and build a newer one. These are the buildings that you described seeing under construction.

The builder and the client will produce a plan that removes much of the above grade structure leaving one or two walls standing. They leave most or all of the existing foundation in place untouched. They then work with the building department to meet the requirements to call the project a renovation and not a new build. To qualify for this you have to leave a certain percentage of the building standing including at least one exterior wall. By leaving the entire basement intact you raise the percentage of the building that you are leaving to qualify it as a renovation.

After they have demolished most of the building, the foundation intact and one wall still standing you then add any additional footings and re-enforcements to the foundation that you might require to hold up the new building above it. You then proceed to frame the building while leaving the front wall standing. Once most of the building is framed you remove the wall you left standing. The reason that you can do this are several, actually you can select from several options from the wall is a safety issue, the wall is damaged beyond repair, there is rot in the wood or the wall can no way meet code.

At the end of the process you have basically a brand new, safe and properly build home. The only part of the existing building that is left is the concrete walls and footings in the basement.

Thanks for the question

Rob Abbott
Operations Manager
Village Builders Inc.

Safety tip-replace that broken tool

Safety tip-replace that broken tool

In today’s residential construction industry safety is more important than it has ever been before. The simple practises of working safe are the ones that keep people the safest and allow them to do their jobs without the fear of being hurt. The tools workers use today are made to a very high safety standard, they only work that way if they are complete with all of their parts and nothing is broken or unmaintained.

Every company should have a system to track their tools maintenance, abuse and repairs. It doesn’t have to be a very complicated system; if you work for a small company then the system could be as simple as informing the guy in charge that the tool that you are using is not working properly and having them remove it until it is fixed. Larger companies will use computer systems to track all their tools; this will help them tell what tools have been used excessively and what tools need maintenance or immediate repairs.

Sometimes a tool might function properly but might need to be repaired anyways so that it doesn’t turn into a safety concern. A prime example are the cords on corded power tools, if they before frayed and start to have the wires exposed the tool would still operate but if the tool cord ends up in any kind of water then you could have a worker electrocuted or even start an electrical fire.

Whoever is in charge of the job site, it is their responsibility to make sure that all the tools that are in the work site are safe to use. Job site supervisors are the first line of defence when it comes to making sure that the men working around them are doing it safely and with tools and equipment that are regularly maintained and in good working order.

Rob Abbott
Operations Manager
Village Builders Inc.