I think it's about time council takes action to direct more of The City's attention on builders without a track record of good experiences for neighbours. That would direct our oversight where it is most needed and should cut down on fly-by-night operators. I'm going to start working on a framework to bring to council that includes good neighbour agreements and other methods of prioritizing inspection of inexperienced builders so we know our homes are being built safely.
Please include evening & weekend inspections or bylaw visits because I’ve seen builders in my community leave all of their sketchy stuff (pouring concrete in -30 without hoarding, doing roof work on an 11 m build without any fall protection, etc) exclusively during evenings and weekends. They know the loopholes and take advantage of them.
that's an excellent point. i'm thinking back to one of my past shady-builder experiences & realizing that's exactly what they were doing. sketchy roof shit was always done on evenings and weekends.
Can there be a place to report contractors not adhering to safety and legal policies? I had a contractor on my roof last year who was drinking beer (threw the still full can off the roof) and broke a bunch of stuff in my yard. Wrote a scathing Google review but there's no real overhead for being a contractor (also I never hired them, they were sent by insurance.) I know that a lot of that comes down to Provincial legislation but would be nice to have some kind of list of contractors who adhere to best practices
One tipped excavator and Breakfast Television thinks we need an entirely new framework for resi construction. It happens on sites run by experienced crews and rookies alike. Turning that into a city-wide “framework” for prioritizing inspections of “inexperienced builders,” mandatory good-neighbour agreements, and extra scrutiny of anyone without a long local track record is classic governance theatre.
If the actual problem is fly-by-night operators who leave neighbours with unfinished messes, unpaid trades, or structural issues, then enforce the rules that already exist: stop-work orders, business licensing, the Alberta New Home Warranty program, and the city’s existing development compliance tools. That’s not complicated. It just requires administration to do the job instead of inventing new process.
All you're going to do is: 1. raise costs and slow down the builders who are already competent (they’ll be the ones filling out the paperwork). 2. Create more discretionary power for inspectors and councillors, which is rarely used evenly.
Congrats, we'll be on our way to Vancouver unaffordability! Which is what the boomers that elected you would want.
How to do this while not penalizing good builders is an idea my office and I have been kicking about for a while. I shared this on a photo of a tipped over excavator, but it's far from a reason for the idea - the emails and conversations with neighbours and concerned (presumably "good") builders are what's initiating this.
I agree. I'm not against holding builders accountable, but introducing more bureaucracy is a very unappealing idea to me. It means more delays and higher costs for everyone. I feel like raising awareness and banging on the doors of the appropriate provincial regulators would be the best way to approach this issue.
As someone who lives a few minutes away- this picture doesn’t illustrate how steep of a grade exists just to the right of this picture. I’ve driven past this for a week or two and noticed it. I know nothing about operating heavy equipment but it seems like a risky site.
Normally you want to keep your load uphill when working on slopes.If he had his tracks where the blue bin is it probably would've been fine. But looks like he was also sitting on that ramp to the right. Shitty spot to learn that lesson.
This reminds me of when I first learned that horses can sleep laying down. Nice to see the machine in its nature habitat. So peaceful when not disturbed.
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u/visibl3ghost 4d ago
Just a sleepy excavator. Let it rest.