How To Deal With A Bad Fencing Contractor

We have talked a lot and written articles on the tell-tale signs that the fencing contractor you are considering may not be the right one for you.   One of these is searching the Better Bussiness Bureau for their list of accredited fencing contractors in London, Ontario. But what if you realize too late that you have a bad contractor on your hands?    Mind you, the contractor will act faultlessly while negotiating the contract and only start to show their true colours after you have paid them a deposit. Here are some common scenarios of contractor trouble:   The contractor no longer picks your calls The pace of the work is slower than agreed The contractor seems to have abandoned the work The contractor is negligent and damages property The quality of the work is poor   What To Do With a Bad Fencing Contractor   Unfortunately, a contractor that suddenly doesn’t pick up calls after you have paid them may mean you have been scammed. It is common that you will hold up hope the contractor will pitch up soon ready to start work. But if you don’t hear from them a week after paying them, take decisive steps to recover your money.    A good place to start looking for a contractor who has disappeared on you is the local fencing contractors association or registration board. If you can track them down, start legal action to recover your money. Otherwise, report the matter to the police. In the other cases, here’s what you can do:     1. Discuss your concerns with the contractor   Some contractor issues can be talked over. At times a contractor may simply not have understood the design brief and neglected some fence features you are particularly keen on. If you catch this early and raise it with the contractor, they may be able to fix them and avoid costly remedial work later.   Other times you will realize too late that the work was not done according to the contract agreement. Still, try not to be confrontational and raise your concerns calmly. If the work deviates too far from what you agreed in the contract, the contractor has to take responsibility and be willing to settle it in a way that pleases you.    If a dispute arises, be prepared to sue. Hopefully, the contract had enough protection for you against this eventuality. Either way, seek the guidance of a lawyer.   2. Fire the contractor   In cases where the standard of the work is so poor you can’t let the contractor continue, you may have to fire them. Similarly, if the contractor is taking too long to finish work, you may have to get another to finish the work.   Should you have to fire the fencing contractor for poor workmanship, expect that they will fight back. So be sure that the contractor has breached the contract you signed with them. Where you are unhappy with the pace of the work, it helps if you had a timeline written into the contract.   3. File a claim on their surety bond   In cases of poor workmanship, another viable avenue for recourse is to file a claim on the contractor’s surety bond. This is why they have it and why they reference it when bidding for work. Get a copy of the contractor’s surety bond and file a claim against it.   Where the contractor damaged property, take pictures and collect other evidence that can help your case if the matter can’t be resolved between yourselves and you have to sue. If the contractor has an insurance policy against property damage, it may help keep you out of court.   Suing Your Fencing Contractor In London, ON   It’s possible you will exhaust all options for an amicable resolution to a contract dispute. If you had hired an unlicensed contractor, the licensing board may refuse to mediate your case. The courts may be your last option.    The law in Ontario allows you to sue your fencing contractor for an unfulfilled contract. Your success with this route, however, depends on the merits of your case and on the terms you had agreed in the contract.    When you sue for poor workmanship, know that you have to do it in stages, starting with sending a complaint, collecting evidence, and going for arbitration with the professional body the contractor is registered with. When all fails to produce a resolution, you can then approach the courts where it can still go either way.   Jay Fencing is an experienced, fully bonded fencing contractor serving London, Ontario. We do it right the first time. Contact us today to discuss your fencing requirements.

Soaring Lumber Prices In Canada: Causes, Effects, And The Outlook

  Lumber prices in Canada have risen more than 170 percent in the last six months. With the soaring demand for new houses and the growing numbers of homeowners planning remodels, fencing, and other home improvement projects, prices are not expected to settle back to pre-pandemic levels anytime soon.   It’s not just the price of lumber that can’t stop rising. Other wood products are getting more expensive with every passing week. What’s also remarkable is that buyers don’t seem too concerned with the record-breaking price hikes because mills are struggling to fill orders.   Rising Lumber Prices Driving Building and Renovation Costs Up     All the price hikes have made it more expensive to build and renovate houses. The runaway prices may also be indirectly spurring demand for new housing units in a market where demand was already outstripping supply.    Because the ever-rising prices are making it difficult to cost projects and price new housing units, many developers have chosen to develop and sell in blocks. That means even fewer units are making it to market, which pushes demand even more.   At some point, builders will have to pass on the cost of all these price hikes to the consumers. That will mean higher home prices. In fact, that’s already happened. Builders say the high lumber prices have added between $8,000 and $10,000 to the cost of building a single-family home in Canada.   About that board-on-board wooden fence, deck, or pergola you had planned for this year’s building season, the sky-rocketing prices mean you have to revise your budget upwards. Hopefully, that won’t kill the project. But what has caused the crazy price situation in the building materials market? What Is Causing Lumber Prices to Soar?   The simpler explanation for the stunning rise in lumber prices is that supply can’t keep up with demand. But with prices as wild as they are, the question demands further investigation. Let’s consider some possible causes: Low-interest Rates   In its efforts to help the economy recover from the ravaging effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Bank of Canada has maintained a low 0.25% benchmark interest rate. As the red hot housing market has shown, that wasn’t the right bet.   The pandemic did not discourage people from investing in new homes nor from improving their existing ones. Many were more than prepared to dip into their savings in spite of the economic uncertainty caused by the pandemic.   In the housing market, the low-interest regime has, in fact, worked too well. So well that the bank has now flagged the urban markets of Toronto, Hamilton, and Montreal for what it has called ‘exuberance’ in their housing markets.   The low-interest rates have spurred unprecedented borrowing in the housing market, which has seen house prices rising sharply. Still, demand for new homes has not slowed.    People are, in fact, taking on more debt to buy the ever more expensive houses. According to the Bank of Canada, this is debt that most of the borrowers can’t afford. The central bank is so concerned that it has warned that interest rates will not stay low forever. For now, though, interest rates and borrowing costs will remain low and the demand for lumber and its prices will stay high.   We have blamed so much on Covid-19 that it’s become a reflex action. So why not shift blame for the rising prices of lumber onto the pandemic? Unfortunately the pandemic has to take the rap again, in more ways than one:   The Work From Home Craze Has Spurred Demand For More Spacious Homes       The stay-at-home orders the government resorted to as a way of containing spiraling Covid-19 virus infections in the first quarter of 2020 forced many people to work from home.    Suddenly homes that had been adequate as living quarters no longer cut it as places of work. Many either had to renovate and make their homes more work-friendly or upgrade to newer, more spacious homes.   Working from home proved so successful that many people made up their minds to not go back to working from the corporate office again. Many of the big tech companies have since announced they will allow some of their staff to continue working from home post-pandemic. All the more reason to make the home more comfortable, which means more home renovations and greater demand for lumber and other building materials. Covid-enforced Mill Closures       The surge in demand for lumber would not have led to such a steep rise in prices if the supply side hadn’t run into challenges. At the beginning of the Covid lockdowns, lumber mills effectively shut down. The construction industry as a whole ground to a halt because of that and other Covid-related reasons.   When the economy opened again, many mills didn’t immediately ramp up production, worried that rising unemployment would sap demand. It didn’t and from then on the industry has been playing catch-up.   Demand for construction materials and lumber, in particular, didn’t suffer as feared. Soon it was outstripping supply. With not enough product to meet demand, prices were always going to rise. While most mills are now operating at full capacity, demand is still outpacing supply.    It is not like mills can cut more trees to feed the excess demand. Annual allowable cut rules mean there is only so much wood mills can process and bring to market in a given year. So there is not going to be a major improvement in supply this year, even as lumber mills and dealers are eager to make the most of the prevailing high prices.    Will Lumber Prices Come Down In 2021?   The current outlook is that the only way lumber prices will be going this year is up. The current warmer weather means there will be more lumber making its way to dealers. That will help contain demand. But in all likelihood, it