That Was Fast...

I emailed Homes by Avi President Avi Amir on July 10th, and he called me at home the evening of July 11th. It did impress me that he called quickly, despite the fact he was out of town. My impression after the conversation is that he sounds willing to make everything right on my house. But, the reality-check will be on Thursday July 20 when I meet with Mr. Amir and his posse. I guess till then, I would rate everything as guardedly optimistic.

When All Else Fails, Go Over Their Heads...

I am not really happy with the amount of time it was taking Homes by Avi to figure how to remediate my house. Like the fact it took one day shy of a month to come up with the four bullet points contained in "The Proposal". A proposal which I would call, lacking. I thought I would climb over Ian Mosher and move up the big guy at Homes by Avi, Avi Amir, President and Founder. I figure he will either jump-start this a bit, or ignore it completely - which I guess would be exactly where I am now...

So after writing and re-writing, well, mostly because in the first version I had kinda let the expletives fly. Not really the most professional way to my arguments across, but it was a more fun to write!!

• July 10th Letter to Avi Amir - Edited slightly

Honourable Minister Renner Replies

Back on May 29th I wrote an email to the Alberta Minister of Municipal Affairs, the Honourable Rob Renner. He was kind enough to write back.

In his reply he gave me a couple of people to contact, both of whom I have been in contact with already. Both of them have been very polite, and listened to my situation. The Senior Codes and Standards Specialist for Safety Codes Act (SCA) knew his stuff, and was able to point out a few things. Unfortunately the even though the SCA contols the Alberta Building Code the control for the code in Calgary is under the jurisdiction of the City of Calgary.

I cannot stress to everyone out there enough if you are in a similar situation, where a builder or contractor has ignored the Alberta Building Code. Please drop a polite letter off to Hon. Minister Renner. If enough people send in their comments, it is one way to ensure that the building industy is held accountable for their inability to follow the Alberta Building Code, because no Minister is going to ignore a bunch of constituents!

• Letter from the Alberta Minister of Municipal Affairs.

Homes by Avi Presents: The Proposal

Well, they did deliver the project proposal on the date they indicated. Good for them, hopefully Homes by Avi can continue to meet their own deadlines.

Unfortuantely the letter was kind of what I feared in my June 13 post. They have presented a band-aid type of proposal. So lets run through the four project steps they have listed:

A) All required flashings will be installed where missing

So far, so good. This is something that definately needs to be addressed. It brings the lack of flashings on my home up to the Alberta Building code.

B) We will investigate those areas that you have now identified that water has leaked into your home and do everything necessary to fix these problems.

If I read this part correct, they will look around the front window and the back window, but that is it. So what about all the areas where there were no flashings to stop the water from moving behind the battens, stucco and building wrap? What about testing for mould? How can you only look at a couple of areas and not look at the building as whole?

C) In such cases where the color of the stucco repair may not match exactly to the existing, we will recoat the entire wall where the work was completed.

What!?! They are worried that my house looks good cosmetically. But they don't care that there has been no flashings to stop water from entering behind the battens, windows and possibly the home wrap for almost five years. I believe I can characterize this method of making sure everything looks great on the outside but completely ignoring the underlying structure and problems as putting "Lipstick on the Pig".

D) All costs for this work will be borne by Homes by Avi

Now here is a step I can get behind 100%!

Now lets look at what is missing in the Proposal presented to me by Homes by Avi.

• First, even if they pull off their four listed steps to absolute perfection, I still have a house that does not meet the Alberta Building code. Particularily with regards to the stucco thickness. My house will still have areas that are 67% less than the minimum stucco thickness as prescribed in the Alberta Building Code.
• Other Building Code issues, like caulking the vertical joints, installing stucco stops were not mentioned.
• As I talked about above, they are willing to poke around a couple of the windows, to fix the really obvious leaks, but no mention of checking for excessive moisture, mould or any other damages caused by leaks that weren't pouring through my windows.
• No steps that have them repairing those issues that aren't building code issues, but rather areas where they did not follow the stucco manufacturer's installation guidelines. These would include things like running two layers of building wrap, installing "J-trim", etc.
• And finally, no third-party inspection process. So lets see they completely messed up the original installation, now they want to come in and fix a bit of the stuff without any kind of third-party review and approval. Come on guys, get with the program here. Third-party review and approval would protect everybody involved now, and in the future, and would finally give my family and I some assurance the the issues have been resolved, and that the house finally meets building code.

Homes by Avi Replies, Finally

Fifteen business days after our last discussion, I got this gem of a letter from Mr. Mosher:

Further to our meeting at your home, this is to advise that we are currently meeting with our sub-contractors to discuss the work that is required to remediate your home. Once this has been completed, we will advise you of our proposal for the work required at your home and a schedule to complete this work. We expect to provide this proposal on or before July 07, 2006.

The letter was dated June 26, 2006; postage meter stamped it June 27, 2006; I received it June 30, 2006.

• Official Letter from Homes by Avi

I am all goose-pimply waiting for the response...

Underdogs: Biting Bad Customer Service in the Rear

A couple of days ago I was watching CBC's Marketplace (must be re-run season...) They have a series called Underdogs where they follow some Canadians as they fight companies over the crappy products and services they have been sold. While that part was okay, particularily watching managers squirm on camera the part that interested me more was a couple of the consumer relations experts they interviewed.

One of their experts, Lior Arussy, a customer relationship expert, says companies used to thrive on a customer service tactic that dealt with each consumer as an exception from the rule. Every customer with a complaint was told they were an anomaly – that no one else had ever encountered their problem.

Arussy says the internet blows the old “divide and conquer” tactic out of the water. “When consumers start seeing that this is a recurring pattern, that this is something that is happening to other customers and they get together via the web or other ways. Then the power starts.”On the web, a customer’s complaint gets seen and heard all over the world in seconds. And the record of that complaint is permanent.

Mr. Arussy, welcome to a proof of concept for that statement - Leaky Homes by Avi!

Marketplace's other expert, Lindsay Meredith says companies had better watch out because their indifference is breeding a new generation of underdog consumers who could turn out to be pretty rabid when it comes to getting the service they think they deserve.

"Should consumers be smarter, less naïve? You betcha they should and they’re getting that way by the second," he says. "The problem is you’re going to produce a whole generation of very hard-nosed, very foxy, very cynical, very vengeful and very litigious consumers. Is that the kind of marketplace you want to operate in as a corporation? Keep it up, boys, ‘cause you’re well on that path."

After reading that, I did send Marketplace my story. They did reply back, "Hello Craig, Thanks for your message. I'll pass your story along to our producers for consideration for a future show. Someone may contact you for more information." Who knows, maybe there will be some TV Cameras showing up at Homes by Avi, well besides this "targeted stories from your corporate message" hunk of marketing:

The Winner's Circle, with Terry Bradshaw. [16mb Windows Media File]

There is a fun continuity error in the video though, watch Homes by Avi Vice President Darren Soltes earring, it keeps changing sides...

UPDATE: The Ian Mosher "Couple of Days" timer is currently at: 13 Business Days.

The HUGE $2,500 Deterrent

Thomas D. Marriott of Brownlee LLP, gave a presentation entitled "Emerging Legal Trends Recent Case Law" on June 10 at Alberta Safety Codes Council's Summit 2006 Conference held in Banff. In it (on page 18 if you are following along in the pdf...) he discussed a 2005 case; R. v. Pacer Signature Homes Inc. The facts of the case as Mr. Marriott listed are:

• Formal warnings regarding stucco coating material used on residential homes.
• On April 6, 2004 two orders were listed under the Safety Codes Act.
• Pacer failed to meet the deadlines for compliance, and was charged with non-compliance on Nov. 18, 2004
• Pacer did not obtain a satisfactory expert report that the intent of the code was met until Oct. 3, 2005

So, these guys ignored a non-compliance order for 18 months! They pled guilty to the charges. Pacer Homes Inc was then fined for not applying the stucco to code, ignoring deadlines, ignoring two orders for 18 months, ignoring two charges of non-compliance for 10 1/2 months, and having the penalty increased for "Aggravating factors" for a grand total of $2,500 per offence ($5,000 total). Come on, you have got to be kidding me.

Lets put a little perspective around this, did you know that in the City of Calgary the fine for Grafitti is a minimum of $2,500?

In his presentation Mr. Marriott listed that Pacer's defence was that "no one was hurt, it was a victimless crime", and that the offence was "a function of tardiness alone". Um, by "victimless crime" I guess they forgot the part about unnecessarily increasing the risk to the home buyers of mould (toxic and non-toxic), not to mention the stress that is caused by having to fight housing companies that choose to ignore customers, rules, regulations, Building Codes, legal contracts, etc. and the deterrent is a big, fat $2,500 hit in the pocketbook. Yea, that's going to stop them!

If you have read this, and are as upset as I am, go ahead and drop Mr. John Hillary an email, he's the Executive Director of the Alberta Safety Codes Council. You can find his email (and others) on the Alberta Safety Codes Council website under "Who to Contact".

UPDATE: The Ian Mosher "Couple of Days" timer is currently at: 11 Business Days.

How many days in "a couple of days"?

When Ian Mosher from Homes by Avi met with me on June 9th, he told my wife and I he would get back to us in a couple of days.

I don't know about you, but to me a "couple of days" means 2 or 3 days. I asked around the office and most people thought the same as me, although, one did say 3 or 4 days.

Its now 10 full business days, which to me is more like a "couple of weeks" and I have not heard back. Just in case he forgot I have left Mr. Mosher two messages. I also asked him to give me a call as soon as he could - complete with office and home phone numbers. I also checked with the receptionist, to make sure a vacation or family emergency did no impair his ability to call back, but he is not on holidays or out of the office.

I guess that means he is too busy to deal with trivial issues like Building Code Violations, or worse, he is call-screening me...

2003 Morrison Hershfield Report

Assessing the Impact of Thickness on the Performance of Stucco Cladding

William C. Brown, P.Eng., Mike Dietrich, P.Eng., Mark Latimer

This is an interesting technical paper done by Morrison Hershfield Ltd. They were retained by the Alberta Housing Industry Technical Committee (AHITC) to develop a professional opinion on whether 15 mm, two-coat stucco cladding would provide performance equivalent to that of code-compliant three-coat stucco. The field study however, unexpectedly identified quality-control concerns with the installation of stucco cladding.

This report caused the AHITC to withdraw their request to have the Alberta Building Code changed.

Lets check out some of the highlights (lowlights) of the 13 page document. (If you would like a copy, it can be obtained at the Morrison Hershfield website ):

• The field investigation of stucco cladding in Alberta found that 85% of the applications were thinner than the current Building Code.
• 57% of the stucco applications were thinner than the proposed thickness of 15 mm;
• More than half of the two-coat stucco applications surveyed would require maintenance or repair within five years to maintain functionality.
• Repairs were rarely observed. However, those that were observed were typically unsuccessful as the cause of the damage, usually excessive wetting, had rarely been addressed.

As a result of the study, Morrison Hershfield recommended that a quality-control program be established to address design, workmanship and materials issues related to stucco cladding. In the postscript is an excerpt from the Alberta Home Builders Association which states that "AHITC started work on an action plan to improve building envelope workmanship in Alberta"

So they worked for two years and came up with: The Stucco Toolkit!

Hi, I'm not in, please leave a message...

The last communications I had with Homes by Avi was on Friday June 9th, at that time Ian Mosher, said he would get back to me "in a couple of days". Its now been 7 full business days, and I have politely waited, but nothing has been forthcoming. After checking the mailbox today and finding nothing, I left a message for Mr. Mosher on his voicemail. I just mentioned that I was inquiring as to when I will be receiving Homes by Avi's remediation plan for my house.