Ontario To Start Allowing New Construction To Start

Now that the Province of Ontario has announced that construction can resume next week things are going to start getting interesting and fast.

In some municipalities there are already a huge backlog of building permits that have been applied for and approved. Because of the restrictions building departments were allowed to review applications for building permits but weren't allowed to grant any permits.

Now the gun is about to go off and the race is about to begin. Residential construction is going to start in earnest. Between the fact that it has been a fairly dry spring and a lot of tradesmen have been running out of work or laid off because of all the restrictions, building will be starting and companies will be working long hours and as many days a week as possible to catch up and reclaim some of the lost revenue.

No matter where you are in Ontario if you want work done you need to start looking for your contractor NOW.

It won't matter if you are looking to Build a new custom home, renovating your cottage or even building a deck, finding a contractor that isn't going to be booked solid will become increasingly difficult if not impossible.

You have now spent the last 2 months sitting at home thinking about what you want to have done, you will need to start getting that contractor or the plans for what you want completed as soon as possible.

Something else your going to need to understand is that the cost of construction has not been reduced because of the pandemic. In fact it's actually driven the cost of a lot of the material up instead of down. A lot of manufacturing has slowed or stopped creating a short fall of material, this drives the price of the material higher and as companies continue to book farther into the future the cost of their services will go up as well.

A lot of companies including this one never stopped working through the pandemic as our permitted jobs were allowed to continue.

For people who didn't lose a lot of income during the pandemic (depending on their job) now is the time to get their construction projects finished, money is actually never been cheaper to borrow then it is right now with historically low interest rates.

The best thing for you to do if your not prepared to start this summer on a project then find the contractor that you want to use and book them for when you want the work to be done, no matter if that's 6 months from now or a year from now lock up your contractor before you don't have a choice and you end up with no one to do the work.

Rob Abbott
Great Lakes Custom Homes Inc.

Residential elevators

In today's housing market with an aging population the demand for bungalows has gone through the roof, the price of bungalows has never been higher and the amount of bungalows that come on the market at it's lowest.

The demand for bungalows is obvious as people who are aging do not want to walk up and down stairs to go to bed or to the bathroom.

Well there is away to go up and down in a two story house either in your existing home or a house that you are looking to purchase, its called a residential elevator.

Residential elevators are exactly what they sound like, they are an elevator that is built into a residential house.

Residential elevators have been around for a long time, but they have typically in a large expensive custom homes, but the demand for elevators has brought on competition in the market to produce less expensive options.

Today you can put in an elevator in your home for the cost of an SUV.

They are safe, reliable and depending on your level of need big enough for anyone.

They can be luxurious or they can be a basic model that is easier on the budget.

With a little engineering an elevator can be put anywhere in home where it can freely travel from floor to floor.

An elevator will also give access to the basement which is usually a problem for the elderly even in bungalows.

How do you install an elevator?

You frame a shaft that travels from the bottom floor to the top floor. The walls can be built out of conventional lumber, the floor joist are removed in the shaft and the weight is carried in the shaft walls. A residential door is placed on each floor to allow access to the elevator.


They basically look like a closet once they are trimmed and finished.

They also will raise the value of the home as an aging population would be interested in it.

Rob Abbott
Great Lakes Custom Homes Inc.