Fed up with Canadians EDITORIAL GLASS CANADA August 2015 Volume 27 • Number 4 Some say the U.S. is now a better place to do business. If discussions over beers at industry gatherings are any indication, there are some who are on the brink of abandoning Canada as a market. The complaints are familiar, but exacerbated at the moment because of the surge in demand in the recovered U.S. construction industry compared to the relative stagnation here. Most complaints come down to a steadfast refusal on the part of Canadian general contractors, developers and property owners to recognize or pay for value. Large, well-established contractors and fabricators who have spent years and invested mil-lions building reputations as providers of innovative and high-quality building enve-lopes feel they are being put in the mix with unproven bottom-line artists on projects that could and should benefit from their expertise. Sellers get mad when buyers won’t buy their stuff – what else is new? Adding to the frustration now, though, is a perception that not only are the big buyers unwilling to purchase the more expensive glazing options, but that they are unable to real-ize why they should consider doing so, or why one glass company might be able to charge more for its services than another. The attitude of the Canadian construction buyers seems to be one of disdain for the bidders, with a focus only on extracting as much square footage as NEXT ISSUE possible for as little money as possible with no view to • Certification future relationships or the ultimate fate of the project. and accreditation The buyers’ view is, according to one representative of a large fabricator, “if one of us goes down, three more will • Door hardware spring up to take his place.” In the U.S., it is said to be showcase easier to find fair bidding processes and buyers that will take a look at the whole package and possibly award bids accordingly. These observations are general and exceptions will abound. But what reaction, if any, should our industry take to such a situation if it exists? The first idea, to stop bidding on Canadian projects, seems obvious, but is prob-ably only available to companies of a certain size. Bidding on U.S. projects means going up against some of the world’s largest building envelope providers, and it takes deep resources (or significant risk) to be able to compete. That said, many smaller Ca-nadian glaziers could probably do more to reach out across the border. As our report on the recent Building Envelope Conference pointed out in June Glass Canada , there is a huge well of pent-up demand to the south that is just waiting for us to tap into. But glass construction will continue in Canada and the question becomes on whose terms it will be carried out. Glass is the number-one most popular construction material in the world. Yet, when they enter the glass industry, people like Viracon’s Joe Puishys are horrified at the thin margins glass companies command. Our products and services are frequently treated like interchangeable commodities. A representa-tive of a major glass supplier put it perhaps more bluntly than I would have: “This industry is dumb.” Perhaps a greater sense of our own value is what is needed. Or perhaps measures such as Prompt Payment legislation and compulsory trade certification will put some leverage back in the hands of responsible contractors. • @GlassCanadaMag Annex Publishing & Printing Inc. P.O. Box 530, Simcoe, Ontario N3Y 4N5 EDITOR | Patrick FLANNERY pflannery@annexweb.com 226.931.0545 SALES MANAGER | Danielle LABRIE dlabrie@annexweb.com 519.429.5187 ACCOUNT COORDINATOR | Stephanie DeFIELDS sdefields@annexweb.com 519.429.5196 | 888.599.2228 ext. 257 MEDIA DESIGNER | Brooke SHAW GROUP PUBLISHER | Martin MCANULTY mmcanulty@annexweb.com Publication Mail Agreement #40065710. RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESS TO CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT, P.O. BOX 530, SIMCOE, ON N3Y 4N5 e-mail: subscribe@glasscanadamag.com Printed in Canada, All rights reserved. Editorial material is copyrighted. Permission to reprint may be granted on request. ISSN 0843-7041 CIRCULATION e-mail: subscribe@glasscanadamag.com Tel: 866.790.6070 ext. 208 Fax: 877.624.1940 Mail: P.O. Box 530, Simcoe, ON N3Y 4N5 SUBSCRIPTION RATES Canada -1 Year $36.75 (includes GST) ($39.55 includes HST/QST) U.S.A. -1 Year $50.00 (in US dollars) Occasionally, Glass Canada will mail informa-tion on behalf of industry-related groups whose products and services we believe may be of interest to you. If you prefer not to receive this information, please contact our circulation department in any of the four ways listed above. www.glasscanadamag.com 4 AUGUST 2015 | GLASS CANADA
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