Town of Oakville – why are you frightened of passing a bylaw to protect homeowners? Might lose the donations from Mattamy????

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Monday, April 1st.

Never know when you might get an April Fools Day joke thrown at you.  Social media, friends, large companies and the media all share in the day and try to show some ingenuity in making you laugh at your own expense.  One headline screamed: “McCallion faces conflict of interest heat again.” in the April 1st edition of the Toronto Star.  It was no joke.  Hurricane Hazel was back at it again.  I think they will have to change her non de plume to “Teflon McCallion”.

Seems she has more excuses than Carter has Little Liver Pills and, she has added the usual – “her actions were inadvertent” in her response to the charges.  Much like the Town of Oakville’s action in my case I guess.  Letting Mattamy Homes sell a house without electricity and illegal wiring.  I wonder if the donation to former mayor Anne Mulvale’s “Wellspring” project were “inadvertent”?

Think you won’t have problems with a house.  I mean, you have your lawyer, the builder’s reputation and, the omnipresent building inspector from the municipality?  You know, the guy who gives you a hard time when you want to build a deck out back.  Deck bad – illegal wiring good.  And, you know the union will guarantee the quality of labour for their workers.  Yeah, right.  They only argue for more money so the union bosses can make more.  If your builder hires non-union like Mattamy, then who knows the quality of these guys.  I know some are dedicated professionals who do good work but, they have to work with the unlearned and non-caring as well as the occasional unwashed.  Only the builder can truly control the quality, if they so desire.

A Winnipeg family had the luxury of two, count em, two builders screw up their custom house.  What went wrong?  For the full story go to this link but a few of the issues were as follows:

This from Beach Rocke Engineering Ltd.

As well, it was stated they had the following issues, which is not the complete list:

“The couple said they were being billed for added electrical circuits, beyond what was called for in the original plans.

A few months later, the Schadeks found water several feet deep in the crawl space below the basement floor.

The Schadeks hired an engineer to examine the problem. He found damage to joists from excessive moisture and discovered the vapour barrier in the basement wasn’t sealed.

The engineer also cited violations of the National Building Code unrelated to the water problem.”

If you read the article, you will note they have little government protection.  Obviously municipal inspectors don’t always cut it.  And, the insurance program was screwed up.

I have been trying to get the original report done by a Town of Oakville employee (Building Department) on my issue and all I get are copies of the “waste of skin” council reports, of which I have had copies for years.  I’ve sent 3 letters explaining what I want.

Maybe if I used some “Idle No More” tactics I might have better luck.  Camp out at town hall?  Block their access to the local Timmies?  Stop the donation trucks?

Also asked for a report on how the building department was going to handle inspections at the new Mattamy “The Preserve” sub-division.  So far, I got a quote from the Ontario Building Code, which I already knew.  Funny thing.  According to this regulation, the town building department won’t inspect any of the new homes unless Mattamy notifies them things are ready.  Now, it says “shall” but we all know that Mattamy has failed in the past regarding “SHALL”.

They shall not begin construction on land fertilized with human waste (Milton), they shall not do terra-forming without permit (Ottawa) and they shall not sell a house with illegal wiring (Oakville).  Seems they don’t understand the word “SHALL”.  Except I understand Mr. Gilgan uses the word “SHALL”  in reference to using any tactic to build on his $1.8 BILLION net worth.  Some of which is probably due to shortcuts that made him money and might have had some bearing on the quality of your home.  At least I can prove it in my case. (for the Gilgan lawyer trust)

So, based on this past experience, and lots more, I would think the Town of Oakville building department would be a little more pro-active in ensuring the rights and safety of homeowners was protected.  I mean, they do pay the taxes.  Mattamy only gives donations to the Town and gives politicians photo-ops.  What is more important – safety or photo-ops?  Seems I have already answered that question.  Anyways, Mr. Tutert at the Town of Oakville building department will shortly be getting another letter asking him to expand on his strategy to protect the citizens of Oakville from bad building practices.  If he only waits to be notified, he might be waiting a long time.  Show some initiative and make sure the Building Code is followed.  The Building Code doesn’t really cut it, according to Mike Holmes, but it is all we have.  So, when you don’t enforce the bare minimum, god only knows how bad the house really is.

You see, your elected representatives won’t pass a by-law to protect you by ensuring you have the right to hire a house inspector to monitor the building of your new home.  I mean, we’ve already proven the town can’t do a perfect job.  Maybe they could tell me why they won’t do it.  They state the “Building Code” is not legislated by them.  Yes, we all know that.  But, look at the small print guys.

THE MUNICIPALITY IS RESPONSIBLE FOR ENFORCING THE BUILDING CODE.

Got the picture.

Pass a by-law that allows homeowners to hire a house inspector to monitor the build and ensure the building code is followed.  Have the by-law state that the building inspector must report all infractions to the homeowner and, THE MUNICIPAL BUILDING INSPECTOR (for follow-0up).  This will increase the “eyes on the street” (kind of like CPTED – Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design) and make the Municipality more effective in enforcing the Building Code, which they are responsible for.

Hey!!!!  It’s a win/win/win for the Building department, homeowners and, HONEST, QUALITY BUILDERS everywhere.  Only a corrupt and poor builder would argue against it.  Right Mattamy?  Matter of fact Mr. Gilgan, why not tell your political flunkies to pass the by-law because Mattamy is a quality builder who wants the homeowner to receive the best protection they can have.  According to your PR, you build quality – sorry, I forgot, you now advertise lifestyle not quality.  Anyways, anyone would make all those donations for a good cause can’t really be against this by-law and, considering you are the big guy in the home building market, your word would have sway.  Unless you are using that “sway” to stop it.  Hmmmmmm.  What’s up Gilgan, except your $1.8 Billion lifestyle?

So, why are they so reluctant to let a homeowner protect themselves?

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