Check out this months Royal & Sun Alliance Ad in the Ontario Construction Report

Check out the Royal & Sun Alliance Ad running this month in the Ontario Construction Report. Royal & Sun Alliance is also a sponsor of our Readers Choice Awards, you can make your nomination HERE.

Welcome to the Construction Association

Starting this month with both the Barrie and Niagara Construction Associations the Construction News and Report Group will be adding some extra value to new members of the associations with a $250 advertising credit with the GTA Construction Report.

So often in my line of work the first impression someone gets when a newspaper calls is "How much is it going to cost me?" The past year I have worked hard to build relationships with members of the two associations we are members of by extending an open invitation to do news coverage in the Barrie and Niagara sections of the paper. Now with the opportunity to receive a $250 advertising credit to be used in feature articles, themed pieces or general annoucments my goal is to build a relationship with these companies.

In the long run do I expect to generate new contracts or revenue, of course, but these will only be a small portion, the most important thing I will gain is the opportunity to provide coverage on news worthy projects, companies and events.

Below is a sample of the letter that will be going out in the membership packages of the Barrie and Niagara Construction Association packages. Would you like to offer this in your association membership package?

Welcome to the Niagara Construction Association!


As a strong supporter and member of the association, the Construction News and Report Group is proud to offer you a free subscription to the GTA Construction Report and a $250 advertising credit.

As a new member we want to recognize you for your commitment to construction industry and want to say “Thank you”. You may book your ad anytime or use the credit of $250 towards a larger ad size within the paper.

If you would like to speak with me to set up your free subscription or to book your ad, please contact me at your convenience; please call me at (905) 228-1151or email me at chasemarketing@sympatico.ca

Sincerely,

Chase Director of Client Services
Construction News and Report Group
Office: (905) 228-1151
Cell: (905) 341-8686

Fax: (647) 439-3789

The fine print: No cash value. This offer is only available to new NCA members within their first year of membership and cannot be combined or transferred.

Gilda's Club - Barrie

One of the first thing I noticed when I attended my first Barrie Construction Association meeting this past April was the involvement with the association and Gilda's Club.

Members of the both the Greater Barrie Home Builders Association and Barrie Construction Association donated time, materials and money for this worthwhile cause.

I spoke with Caron Goodreau the executive director and told her I would like to offer Gilda's Club free advertising space in the GTA Construction Report to help out with ongoing fundraising and acknowledge the community leaders who helped with the recent "Build for Gilda's".

As a member of the Barrie Construction Association I wanted to help do my part with this worthwhile cause. Stay tuned in the upcoming months for news coverage of Gilda's Club and the next project they will be tackling.

Here is a 'Thank you" message the club sent to me today to share with the Barrie Associations.


Gilda’s Club Barrie Ontario thanks the Barrie Construction Association, the Greater Barrie Home Builder’s Association, organizations and volunteers who gave their time and skill to the “Build for Gilda’s” project. The house was completed in 51 hours, from 6 a.m. June 20th to 1 p.m. June 22nd. Check it out at http://www.buildforgildas.com/

Once sold, proceeds of the home will be donated to the Gilda’s Club “Open the Red Door” Capital Campaign to build a clubhouse supporting those touched by cancer in our region.

The mission of Gilda’s Club is to create welcoming communities of free support for everyone living with cancer – men, women, teens and children – along with their families and friends. Our innovative program is an essential complement to medical care, providing networking and support groups, workshops, education and social activities.

For more information on how you can become involved, please contact: (705)726-5199 or email: caron@gildasclubbarrie.org

Check out the BASF ad in our next issue

In our September issue of the Ontario Construction Report look for the above ad in our section covering the Now House project.

Silver Sponsor Skills Canada

The Construction News and Repot Group is a proud Silver sponsor of Skills Canada. We recognize the role Skills Canada will play in helping Canada meet the need for skilled labourers for the future success of the industry. We are proud to support Skills Canada.

About Skills Canada:

Skills/Compétences Canada (S/CC) is a national, not-for-profit organization that works with employers, educators, labour groups and governments to promote skilled trades and technology careers among Canadian youth. Our unique position among private and public sector partners enables us to work toward securing Canada’s future skilled labour needs while helping our youth to discover rewarding careers.

Our goals are:
To provide a unique, proven, effective and efficient program to raise awareness in the current and emerging skilled trades and technology careers, by bringing Canadian youth into a competitive spotlight.

To actively lead in developing dynamic partnerships with agencies & organizations involved in promoting current and emerging skilled trades and technologies by identifying and using best practices.

A lack of information regarding the opportunities in trades and technology currently prohibits many young Canadians from considering a career in skilled trades. Through provincial, national and international skills competitions, we help make these occupations more visible to teachers, students, parents and the general public. The competitions are an incredible display of hands-on expertise, talent and determination which showcases the many promising futures to be found in trades and technology.

At Skills/Compétences Canada we are dedicated to introducing Canada’s youth to the many opportunities, benefits and rewards of skilled and technological jobs. We believe that improving the expertise and confidence of the next generation pursuing technical careers will benefit us all.

Construct Canada

It is hard to belive that a year has almost passed since last years Construct Canada. We are already getting prepared to go to the show and will be exhibiting at booth #117 same as last year.

Above is the ad that will be appearing in our papers over the next few months. You can pick up free pass for Construct Canada by visiting me and out booth at the Green Building Festival Trade Show at the Toronto Congress Centre on September 10th.

If you would like to promote your business in our special issues covering Construct Canada send me an email at chasemarketing@sympatico.ca

Overcoming objections

Each month I do several feature profiles on contractors, developers, suppliers and trades and other construction related companies. The companies who are profiled are given different options for the coverage through paid features that start with a $1500 for two full pages of content which also includes a 1/4 page ad to promote their companies or services. The second option is contacting the trades and suppliers involved with the project to look for at least three of them to sponsor the article three advertising.

Some companies will agree to provide the lists no questions asked, others are hestitent will some flat out say no. The "NO's" and hesitant ones have the same concerns which are usually:

1) They do not want their trades to be hassled
2) They want to keep their trades secret
3) They do not think their trades will particpate
4) They do not want to ask them to participate

How do I handle these objections? I answer honestly and let the 20 years experience of the company speak for itself.

Objection 1 Hassling Trades: I tell the client that we are a Canadian Owned Company and are members of the leading Construction and Home Builder Associations across the province. I tell them our process of contacting the trades are through letters initially with at least one follow up call to make sure we had the right contact information and to answer any questions. I also reassure the client if we hassled trades we would not have any features, we understand the importance trades play with their success and that my interaction with them is the same as if they were my trade.

Objection 2 Keeping Trades a Secret: This option comes up once in a while and sometimes I chuckle to myself. If I was a competitor looking for new trades I need only drive by the construction site and write down the names of the trades. You see their company names and contact numbers on their vehicles and construction signs.

Objection 3 Trade Participation: The great thing about the features I coordinate is I understand that not everyone has a budget to run ads. So I offer other options such as allowing the trade to be interviewed at no cost or they can submit photos of the work they did. Everyone is given this option no matter how much or little they want to spend.

Objection 4 Asking Trades to Particiapte: Some clients do not want to ask the trades to participate. This is an easy thing to solve, I can ask.

Do these objections and responses cover and solve every situation, no but they do offer some insight about how well we treat and respect your trades.

Have you been approached by a company to do a feature article and found the experience to terrible? Were your trades hassled or pressured into particpating? Share your stories with me.

Sometimes the universe lines up...

Sometimes the universe lines up and a whole bunch of good intentions or kind gestures get noticed. Events or ideas you sent in motion suddenly collide in the best type of situation where you get to showcase yourself and the company you work for.

Last Thursday I was at the Niagara Construction Association (NCA) Golf Tournament dinner and was enjoying a wonderful meal at the Legends of Niagara Golf Course Club House. As the meal was about to start the association did its updates and thanks to this years sponsors of which we the Construction News and Media Group was a media sponsor. As a member of the association my involvement as a sponsor was to help to promote the event and at the same time do some valuable "Brand Marketing' without asking for any sales in return.

As part of the dinner the NCA was also doing a $5000 cheque presentation to Niagara Health System (NHS) for the new project under way in Niagara. Betty Lou (sorry I missed you last name) accepted the cheque with Bill Hallett the CEO of Niagara Health System Foundation. Betty Lou went on to discuss the project, the generous donation of the NCA and its members and then somewhat surprised me by recognizng the advertising space I had offered to the NHS to help with the fundraising. Not one other member was signled out and I had to stand up the second time Betty Lou said thanks to hear a nice round of applause from the association.

As a new member to the association this endorsement from the NHS will go a long way in helping introduce me to members for news coverage and working with them on feature articles. We were not the only media sponsor at the event but I set ourselves to stand out by:

- Being a member of the association

- Volunteering to help out with the tournament

- Set up interviews with members for news coverage

- donated a prize for the event

- demonstrated my interest in being involved with the community

Sometimes the best way to sell yourself or service is by not doing any sales at all. I like my job!

Our ad in the upcoming Canadian Design-Build Institute Conference Book

Helping out the Niagara Health System

Last week the Niagara Health System (NHS) Annouced they have selected the Plenary Group to construct the new health care facility in St.Catharines which should be under way in early 2009.

As a resident of Niagara I look forward to the construction of this new facility and I am also proud that I can help with the fundraising campaign thanks to my employer allowing me to provide free advertising space to the NHS. I thought I would also post their ad running in the September issue of the Niagara Home Builders Association newspaper - Structures.

What is the value in me donating the ad space for the next few years?

The biggest things are building a new relationships and helping my community. I do not expect anything to come from this except the opportunity to meet other people who want to make Niagara a better place.

This is my good dead for this week, what is yours?

PREFERRED PROPONENT SELECTED FOR NIAGARA HEALTH SYSTEM'S NEW HEALTH CARE COMPLEX

Check out the bigs news here in Niagara today about the annoucment of who will be building the new hospital. I look forward to provide some great coverage on this project and helping with the fundraising. Keep your eyes open for the September issue of Structures for the Niagara Home Builders Association and the free ad provided to NHS.

NIAGARA, ON - The Niagara Health System (NHS) and Infrastructure Ontario will begin negotiations shortly with Plenary Health, the team selected as the preferred proponent to design, build, finance and maintain a new health care complex in St. Catharines.

The 375-bed acute care community hospital will be located at First Street and Fourth Avenue in west St. Catharines. It will replace the aging St. Catharines General and Ontario Street Sites. Serving St. Catharines, Thorold, Niagara-on-the-Lake and surrounding communities, the new facilities will provide a full-range of acute/critical care, surgical, emergency, longer-term mental health and ambulatory services.

The new, state-of-the-art health care complex will also accommodate new regional services that have never been available in Niagara, including facilities for comprehensive cancer care at the Walker Family Cancer Centre along with facilities to support cardiac catheterization and longer-term mental health beds. The new site will also act as the centre of regional dialysis services, supported by the permanent dialysis unit recently constructed in Welland.

"As one of the largest infrastructure projects currently being planned in Ontario, this new hospital demonstrates our government's commitment to provide resources and facilities to serve the health care needs of people across Ontario," said George Smitherman, Deputy Premier and Minister of Energy and Infrastructure. "This project is part of the government's five-year $30-billion-plus infrastructure investment plan, which represents the biggest investment in health care infrastructure in more than a generation."

Plenary Health includes:
* Plenary Group
* PCL Constructors
* Bregman + Hamann Architects
* Silver Thomas International Architects
* Johnson Controls
* Deutsche Bank

Following negotiations with Plenary Health, the project will reach commercial close, which is expected within two months. This will signal that relevant contracts have been signed.
The next project milestone, financial close, should follow within 30 days of commercial close. At this time, a financing rate will be set, the project's cost is finalized and funds become available for the project.

The final cost of the project will be shared with the public following financial close. At this time, the hospital and Plenary Health will continue to work together to finalize the design and ensure the necessary permits and approvals are in place to commence construction. Site preparation and groundbreaking will take place this fall, with full construction starting in the spring of 2009.
Said Jim Bradley, MPP for St. Catharines, "Along with the addition of these new regional services, our vision of a new community hospital for the residents of St. Catharines, Thorold, Niagara-on-the-Lake and immediate area is one step closer to becoming a reality."

"We are poised to begin negotiations and look forward to future design development with Plenary Health and re-engaging our hospital user groups and our community in further consultation as we make this project a reality," said Debbie Sevenpifer, NHS President and CEO.

"As a specialist in health infrastructure development and management, we look forward to bringing our expertise to Niagara to construct an efficient hospital that will be built not only for today, but for generations to come," said Mike Marasco, Plenary Health CEO.

"The new centre means hundreds of patients per year won't have to travel from Niagara to Hamilton or Toronto for radiation treatment. Patients will have access to high-quality cancer services much closer to home," said Terrence Sullivan, President and CEO, Cancer Care Ontario.

The St. Catharines facility is the first new hospital to be constructed as a Design, Build, Finance and Maintain (DBFM) project in partnership with Infrastructure Ontario under the provincial government's Alternative Financing and Procurement (AFP) delivery model.

This new financing model transfers responsibility to the winning bidder for designing the facility, constructing the facility, arranging financing for its construction and maintaining the building for a 30-year period. Transferring most construction-related cost and schedule risks and entering into maintenance arrangements with the winning project team ultimately benefits the public by ensuring the new hospital is built on time, on budget and well-maintained over the 30-year period.

Wood in Construction

In the Novembr issue of the Ontario Construction Report we will be looking at a special theme on "Wood in Construction" to coincide with the coverage we will be providing as a media sponsor of Wood Works Awards Gala.

We will be looking at different industry aspects and products to showcase wood. If you would like to have your company featured or if you would like to sponsor this special issue please contact me chasemarketing@sympatico.ca

Now House Project Update: Exterior walls and basement floor improvements

Above is the ad running in our September issue of the Ontario Construction Report on the "Now House" project. We will be covering the project in an indepth feature article. You can also check out the "Now House" site for regular updates on the project and see photos of the work being completed. Below is the latest post.

The existing aluminum siding was carefully removed from the house in order to reuse it after adding significantly more insulation to the exterior walls. The existing insulation R-8 rockwool will be maintained. A frame will be built around the exterior walls into which foam insulation (BASF Walltite R31Insulation/Air Barrier System) will be sprayed. This will create a second layer of continuous insulation preventing cold bridging and bringing the exterior wall insulation up to R-39. Insulating from the outside creates a lot less disruption for our homeowner.




Basement floor

On the other hand, jackhammering out the basement slab sent the homeowner and his dog out of town for a few days. The concrete slab is being removed to better insulate the floor and prepare it for installation of radiant floor warming.

The Canadian Design-Build Institute 2008 National Conference

CDBI National Design-Build Conference "Design-Build Creative Solutions for Projects Large and Small" and Design-Build Fundamentals Tutorial

October 1-3, 2008Le Royal Meridian King Edward HotelToronto, ON

- 2008 Conference Brochure
- Online Conference/Tutorial Registration Form- Hotel Reservation Website - Sponsorship opportunities- Call for Presentations

The Tutorial & Conference will be recognized by the Gold Seal Program. The one day Tutorial (1 credit) and the 2 day Conference (2 credits) counting for a total of 3 credits toward one of the special industry course requirements under the certification program. Attendance is mandatory for Gold Seal Eligibility credits.

TThe CDBI is an OAA (Ontario Architect Association) registered provider. There will be a 15 Core LUs for the two day conference.

Thanks for the feedback!

Positive feedback makes the job worthwhile. Back in May we did a feature profile on BNE Contractors and I got this note shortly after the article was published:

Chase,

Great article in the report for May 2008. So far we have had a few phone calls and great feedback. As they say it only takes 1 call.

Would we be able to get the article in pdf format?

Thank you for the opportunity hopefully we can run another article in the fall.

Chris Henderson

General Manager

BNE Contractors Inc

(888) 738-6606 ext 22

BNE Contractors, Concrete Solutions for Concrete Problems

Publishers View Point August

Where has the summer gone? I was expecting a slow down for the month of August with the invasion of holidays and vacations, however no slow down has happened which is a good thing.

This month I will be attending the 27th Annual Niagara Construction Association (NCA) Golf Tournament at Legends of Niagara in Niagara Falls on August 13th. As a Silver Sponsor of the event I will be able to network with some of the regions tops contractors and get more involved with the NCA since we officially joined in July.

I also launched our new marketing theme schedule for our two Home Builder Association publications in Ottawa and Niagara. The theme schedule is based on our readers responses from a survey earlier this year about the coverage and content of the papers. The new theme will look at things from Renovating, Heating & Cooling, Interior and Exterior Design to new and innovative products.

September is becoming a great month focusing some wonderful and diverse features from across the province. Some of the companies being covered next month are; Ebel Quarries celebrating their 60th Anniversary, Cooper Construction project on the new Sun Life Financial building in Burlington, Charter Building Companies expansion and Renovation of Table Rock in Niagara Falls including Niagara’s Fury Project and Doyle Homes in Ottawa celebrating the industry recognition that Trevor Doyle has received.

Our coverage of the Green Building Festival at the Toronto Congress Centre September 9th to 10th is shaping up to be a nice issue with a great environmental feature on ‘The Now House’ Net Zero project in Toronto. The feature article will focus the organization “Work Worth Doing” and the retro-fit of a war time home looking at innovative products such as insulation and roof materials that will allow the home to almost generate enough electricity through solar panels on the roof.

Chase is the Director of Client Services for the Construction News and Report Group as well as the Associate Publisher for the GTA Construction Report and Structures, the Niagara Home Builders Association Newspaper. If you have any recommendations or suggestions on changes you would like to suggest for the papers please contact him toll free at 1-888-432-3555 ext 211 or email him chasemarketing@sympatico.ca