“What we need is an easier way to obtain permits.”

Last week, we ran a post from a Toronto area architect who said that many of the recent house collapses during renovations in the GTA could have been avoided by more extensive regulation in the industry. Contractor Justin disagrees, below, saying we already have enough rules – we have just made them far too complicated to comply with…

“The last thing our industry needs is more red tape, fees and goverment bodies to pay. What we need is an easier way to obtain permits (so there is no excuse not to get one). We need inspectors and plan examiners that know their jobs and what they are looking at.

All the systems are already in place. But it’s so broken and so expensive to work in this industry and to follow all the rules and regs. I am constantly telling the homeowner we need to get permits, then finding that the homeowner doesn’t want to pay up or be bothered by the whole process. I lose jobs because of this.

If it were up to me, I would fix the systems already in place. Make it work properly and efficiently so that more contractors can actually follow the “rules.” Let’s do this before we add more crap that’s just going to cost everyone money and not accomplish anything except force more people to fly under the radar. This would leave more time and money for those of us who try our best to train employees, learn new products and follow best practices to actually be competitive with the “fly by nighters.” If we were allowed to do this, they would actually have to pick it up and get better or be forced out of the business.

Just my two cents. But what do I know? I just fight this battle every day in my boots. It’s the people in glass towers in their suits that know how to “fix” everything.