H8 | REALESTATE O THEGLOBEANDMAIL| FRIDAY,MARCH27,2020
O
ntario has decreed that
residential construction is
among the essential busi-
nesses in the province that will
be allowed to stay open while
many other enterprises must
close to combat the coronavirus
pandemic.
On Monday, Premier Doug
Ford announcedhis government
would order the mandatory clos-
ing of thousands of non-essential
workplaces. In the list of “Essen-
tial Workplaces” the province
published hours after the an-
nouncement, sectors vital to the
maintenance of life were promi-
nent, but so, too, were workers
on “critical provincial infrastruc-
ture” such as transit, transporta-
tion, energy as well as industrial,
commercial and institutional
builders. In that same list, resi-
dential construction – focused
on constructing condominium
buildings and single-family
homes – was also deemed essen-
tial.
It was a move predicted last
week by Richard Lyall, president
of the Residential Construction
Council of Ontario (RESCON).
“The industry will continue
working unlessgovernment or-
ders a shut down. But we are not
seeing that,” he said. He’s been
working from home, even
though he acknowledges most in
the construction trades cannot.
Among the actions RESCON has
taken is to compile a nine-point
guide to working during a public-
health crisis that contractors can
follow.
“We have to learn to work with
this as it is not going to be over in
a month,” he said.
The guide has tips for social
distancing on worksites – “stag-
gered start times, staggered
breaks, awareness of total num-
ber of people on-site and where
they are assigned to work” – and
also for on-site sanitation of
commonly touched surfaces
(hoists, site trailers, equipment).
One suggestion was to “limit un-
necessary on-site contact be-
tween workers and between
workers and outside service pro-
viders. (i.e.: remove coffee trucks
from site).”
Mr. Ford also took aim at “bad
actors” in the sector who he ac-
cused of failing to keep workers
safe after hearing stories about
sites with overflowing toilets and
no hand sanitizer or running wa-
ter. Workers who see unsafe con-
ditions should “leave the site and
don’t come back” Mr. Ford said.
“It is the builder who has ulti-
mate responsibility for safety, the
buck stops with the builder,” Mr.
Lyall said. “We’re just trying to
keep things going.”
On March 17, one of the coun-
try’s largest builders, Mattamy
Homes Canada, went in the oth-
er direction, announcing it
would shut down all its worksites
until March 31. “It kind of sur-
prised everyone, there was no
communication to the industry
about why,” Mr. Lyall said. “There
were rumours about that. It went
around that if Mattamy shut
down then everybody is going to
shut down.”
On Monday, the Carpenters’
District Council of Ontario, repre-
senting 30,000 tradespeople,
called for a halt to all construc-
tion in the province. But the pro-
vincial list suggeststhe govern-
ment is not ready to down tools
yet.
The Ontario General Contrac-
tors association, members of
which cover much of the indus-
trial and institutional construc-tion-sector projects, issued a bul-
lish statement from its board
ahead of the publication of the
“essential” list. “Overwhelming-
ly, they believe they can and
should continue to operate with
the understanding the situation
continues to change, and they
must continue to provide for the
health of their workers,” it read.
Fernbrook Homes followed
Mattamy’s lead in closing its
sites, and while Mr. Lyall said he
knows of maybe 10 others across
the Greater Toronto Area that
have stopped construction work,
some have also closed sales cen-
tres (though some had allowed
for appointment-only visits) and
sent head-office staff home to
work remotely, some with indefi-
nite timelines to return.
The impact of shutdowns on
the red-hot condominium sector
could be significant, according to
Shaun Hildebrand, president of
Urbanation Inc. “The current
schedule calls for approximately
29,000 condo completions this
year – which is aggressive but
most of which [18,500] are
scheduled for the first half of the
year. So, even if we do see the
usual delays and some further
loss of productivity, we could still
see between 20,000 and 25,000
units.” The unknown is short of afull shutdown, how much pro-
ductivity will be lost because of
higher absenteeism, staggering
work hours and subcontractors
pulling out. “More developers
are starting to halt or really slow
construction, which will extend
out occupancy dates.”
Property analysts at Altus
Group published a set of projec-
tions on Monday, predicting the
pandemic impact across Canada
with a range of possible scena-
rios. If there is minimal impact, it
expects perhaps 200,000 hous-
ing starts nationwide in 2020
(which would be down from
2019’s 208,000 starts). If there’s
prolonged supply and labour dis-
ruption along the line of the
2008-09 financial crisis, starts
could fall to 150,000. Its final
ominous projection has no fig-
ures attached: “Uncharted terri-
tory. No explanation necessary.”
Mr. Lyall said the industry is
taking its cue from international
efforts, pointing to the continua-
tion of construction in Hong
Kong and South Korea (which al-
so imposed strict testing require-
ments to trace cases of CO-
VID-19). “Most jurisdictions
deemed construction an essen-
tial service. ... Boston shut down,
but in San Francisco they shut
down ICI [industrial, commercialand institutional projects] but
kept residential going,” he said.
Some of those examples are
changing quickly: Ny March 19
California had a shelter-in-place
order statewide and Pennsylva-
nia recently shut down all work
that’s not “life-sustaining.”
The regulatory partners the in-
dustry needs are also stepping
back. The City of Toronto has
cancelled all on-site inspections,
except for emergencies. The Ta-
rion Warranty Corp. has said it
will no longer insist that prede-
livery inspection – viewed as a
critical consumer protection step- include both builder and buyer
prior to closing the new-home
transaction. Enbridge Gas has
published a bulletin that it will
stop providing new site-heating
hookups, but it will provide ser-
vice to connect recently finished
homes.
Like other sectors learning to
work around social isolation, Mr.
Lyall thinks this could be a mo-
ment in which long-sought inno-
vations in e-permitting and ap-
provals might be implemented.
“Sometimes good things can
come out of disasters,” he said.
“We were already working on a
bunch of measures. In a funny-
tragic way, this will accelerate
those efforts going forward.”
Ontariodevelopmentindustrydeemed
essentialundercoronavirusrestrictions
Asprovinceshutsdown
inanattempttoslow
pandemic,construction
willstillcontinue
SHANEDINGMAN
REALESTATEREPORTER
TORONTO
THELISTING
WorkersareseenatacondominiumdevelopmentunderconstructioninTorontoinJanuary.Residentialconstruction,aswellastransit,transportation,
energyandseveralotherinfrastructuresectors,arenotsubjecttoOntario’smandatoryclosingregulations.DEBORAHBAIC/THEGLOBEANDMAILTHE ACTIONIn August, agent An-
drew Ipekian suggested this cli-
ent purchase this two-bedroom-
plus-den suite at One Bloor as an
investment property, despite its
messy and dark appearance
while tenanted.
Shortly after a $5,000 makeov-
er was complete, they put it back
on the market and resold it for
$1.928-million in late December.
“This was purchased for about
$1,000 per square foot, which was
relatively cheap for the building
at 1,650 square feet, and it had
two parking spots and a locker ...
so that’s why my client bought it
sight unseen,” Mr. Ipekian said.
“All my client did was clean it,
replace light bulbs and paint ...
[so] this was probably the best
flip I have ever done for a client in
such a short time.”
WHATTHEYGOTThe three-year-old
One Bloor building is one of the
tallest in Toronto. This two-storey
unit has 10-foot ceilings and a
Cecconi Simone-designed kitch-
en with quartz countertops and
stainless steel Sub-Zero and Wolf
appliances.
Terraces span the length of
the suite on both floors. There is
one bedroom on the lower level
and one above, which also has a
walk-in closet and the largest of
three bathrooms.THE AGENT’S TAKE “What was
unique is it’s a two-storey unit
with a good layout with one bed-
room on the main floor, a full en-
suite and powder room, and up-
stairs was an enormous den you
could convert into two other bed-
rooms,” Mr. Ipekian said.
“And only a handful of units in
the building have two terraces.”
In addition to water and heat-
ing, monthly fees of $1,315 also
pay for use of indoor and outdoor
pools. “It has some of the best
amenities in Toronto,” Mr. Ipe-
kian said.
“It also has direct access to the
subway.”
–SYDNIAYUInvestorsellsOneBloor
unitforatidyprofit
1BloorSt.E.,No.515,Toronto
YONGE&BLOOR
Askingprice:$2,098,000
Sellingprice:$1,928,000
Previoussellingprice:
$1,650,000(2019)
Taxes:$7,885(2018)
Daysonthemarket:11
Listingagent:AndrewIpekian,
KellerWilliamsReferredUrban
Realty
DONEDEAL