Contractors brace for ‘quadruple whammy’ as they struggle with 'essential' home renos

A perfect storm is brewing over home improvement season.

Loosely defined essential" renovations can go ahead during the stay-at-home order, putting guesswork in front of local contractors that are busy balancing a skyrocketing demand for service with delays in accessing materials.

Jessica Deyong, founder of Hamilton's dollHOUSE Design + Build, is calling the feat a quadruple whammy."

Increased demand, lack of supply, shortages, completely unexpected timelines, it all translates into trying to manage multiple projects with your hands tied behind your back and a blindfold on. It's been really difficult," said Deyong.

Her women-led contracting and design company specializes in renovations to century homes and celebrated its first year in business on Wednesday, with an aim to continue promoting women in trades and construction. Her team has been working mostly non-stop throughout the pandemic, and has not had any job permits denied in the latest shutdown.

It's exhausting sleeping with one eye open, waiting to see whether we can operate the next day or not," she said.

Deyong has postponed projects that she assessed to be high risk to protect her staff, but has proceeded with other indoor projects, such as basement units with a separate entrance to facilitate distancing from clients.

Her contractor teams have also recently been faced with frustrating" delays in accessing supplies, as most retailers shut their doors to in-person visitors once more.

The latest guidelines from the province indicate that all residential renovations are considered essential, and jobs booked after April 17 can still proceed, the Ministry of Labour confirmed in an email.

The Ministry has issued 24 stop-work orders and 16 tickets to construction sites since February, and announced a safety blitz on April 17, with 1,300 construction sites due to be inspected.

The City of Hamilton's 38 building inspectors are conducting a proactive review of construction projects during the stay-at-home order to verify that only essential" work is ongoing, said spokesperson Michelle Shantz in an email. There has be full compliance to date and no tickets have been issued.

If a building inspector is unsure if construction can commence (or continue) at a particular job site, clarifying questions are asked of the designer to verify if the work would be deemed essential' or not," she said, with final decisions based on the designer's response.

In other words, it appears much is left to contractors and construction teams to decide.

When you ask around, even to the authorities, they don't seem to really know either. There seems to be a bit of a cloud over everything that you do," said Ryan Vandenhaak, owner and lead contractor at Jaybird Renovations. You're making so many little judgment calls throughout the day about what's safe and what isn't."

His team of four offers exterior contracting services, including windows and siding, and has been absolutely swamped" with work after an initial six-week break at the outset of the pandemic. He is offering his employees paid sick days, has implemented temperature checks, sanitization and other protocols, and counts himself as fortunate to be working in open-air spaces.

Still, Vandenhaak said a lack of guidance from the province been stressful.

I'm very disappointed in the way regulations have been communicated. There's a lot of ambiguity to the guidelines that are just not helpful," he said.

For commercial contractors and builders, the guidelines are more clear-cut. The province put a stop to projects at hotels, retail and office buildings. David Frame, director of government relations at the Ontario General Contractors Association, said about 16 to 18 per cent of province's construction industry would be affected by these restrictions.

Vjosa Isai is a reporter at The Spectator covering Hamilton-based business. Reach her via email: visai@thespec.com.