Getting in hot water with the ministry of labour
| July 2010“I want hot running water in your Porta-Potty,” he says. (No, that’s not a typographical error. You did read hot running water.)
How many of you guys reading this have ever been asked to put hot running water in your portable toilet? Never mind that, in the history of the industry, how many renovation contractors have ever been required to put hot running water in there? Seriously?
After he’d left, smiling to himself, I phoned up a friend at Ellis Don, one of the largest construction companies in the world. “That’s crazy,” he said. “We don’t even have to do that.” Chemical toilets require hand sanitizers, yes. Cold water sometimes. Hot water? Are you kidding me?
“You’re obviously out to make a name for yourself with your buddies,” I told the inspector as he was leaving.
“Well, I’m sending you a letter of compliance,” he said. “And I’m gonna shut you down.”
Which he did.
So I phoned around like crazy, trying to locate a portable toilet that would take hot running water. Lots of phoe calls. Seems like there was about two in the whole city. A thousand bucks a month! ($700 a month, and almost $300 to empty it each time.) The client was paying $250 for the standard Porta-Potty. So now he’s on the hook for an extra $750 a month because the inspector wants to show me who’s boss.
The unit arrives on the fifth day we are shut down. It’s eight foot square and it’s got a mirror and a little table in there and, yes, the hot water hook up. Must be used for movie sets or something. I’m sure it had never been used by a contractor.
My guys are all out a week’s wages. The client is out a couple thousand bucks, since the damn thing is going to have to sit there for at least two or three months. Thousands of dollars out of pocket to pay for the out-of-control ego of an arrogant public servant. What is the role of a “public servant,” anyway? Aren’t they supposed to serve the interests of the public? In what way did this fiasco serve anyone’s interests other than this guy’s need to puff out his chest?
One of my guys wrote a letter to the Ministry of Labour, thanking them for taking money out of his family’s grocery budget that week. I myself phoned the guy’s boss and complained. “I’ll look into it,” he said. “I’ll get back to you.”
Well, I’m still waiting. And feel free to explain it to everyone reading this, buddy. We’ll publish your reply!
And, of course, you only get visits like this when you are above-board and legitimate. And what does the government want, above all, from our industry? That we stop working under the table and running underground businesses. Isn’t that their No. 1 concern?
And a guy like me, who argues for, preaches for, publicizes and propagandizes for above-board contracting, with nothing to hide, I get my job shut down.
Feel free to email us any similar stories you have about the Ontario Ministry of Labour, or the similar body in your province, and we’ll publish some of them, with or without your name attached (your choice).
My name is Jim Caruk. The inspector and his boss probably don’t want their names published. Figures. CC
Jim Caruk is the host of HGTV’s Real Renos and now the proud owner of a renovation school.