Residential construction in Quebec | About fifteen inspectors to check new home construction sites

The Quality Home Construction Watchdog says it can inspect all new homes with its current team of around 15 auditors. At the same time, voices are being raised to ask Quebec to step up and make monitoring on construction sites compulsory to better protect consumers.

Julien arsenault
Press

Residential Construction Guarantee (GCR) expects to have visited 60% of construction sites this year, 80% in 2022 and 100% in 2023, according to its plan presented on Friday, as part of an event bringing together the stakeholders of the ‘industry.

“Yes, yes, yes,” said its Chairman and CEO, Daniel Laplante, questioned more than once on the issue on the sidelines of the event. “We don’t go there randomly. We have 18 inspectors. We have support staff. ”

According to the leader of GCR, this number could climb to 21 people. According to a presentation dating from September, there were 15 inspectors within the non-profit organization to cover the entire territory of Quebec.

In 2020, the organization had registered more than 14,000 homes. To inspect all of these sites on a single occasion, each inspector would have to perform four checks daily – which does not take into account related tasks such as writing reports and unforeseen events such as absences due to illness – while working 220 days in a year.

GCR, which started out in 2015 and got off to a rough start, monitors single-family homes, apartment buildings, and constructions with four or less stacked private units.

Read the article “GCR: difficult beginnings”

The organization must visit all sites subject to its mandate from 2023. At what stage of construction will the contractors be visited by representatives of the organization? Which will be monitored more closely?

These questions are difficult to answer precisely. GCR will make these decisions based on its ranking of contractors based on a quality rating. This system is used to determine the cost and frequency of inspections for each.

“The inspection is systematic,” says Mr. Laplante. What is not systematic is at what stage [elle se fait]. Sometimes we will do it at the time of the foundation. It will be when the walls are closed at other times. It is a selection process based on risk management. ”

GCR will conduct two types of inspections: a “full” one of up to around 470 points, and another looking at areas that are the subject of frequent consumer complaints.

Read the article “A guard dog that lacks bite”

Even more

Industry and consumer interests have praised GCR’s efforts, but most are calling for more. Many believe that Quebec should be inspired by provinces like Ontario and Alberta, where the activities of a construction site can be interrupted if irregularities are discovered.

“We go from great darkness to a time when there is a police, somewhere, who will perhaps land on a site,” said Yves Jolicœur, secretary general of the Regroupement des managers et co-owners du Québec. “The DGC, if it discovers a deficiency, does not have the coercive power to force the contractor to correct the deficiency, unlike site supervision. ”

Marc-André Harnois, general manager of the Consumers Association for Quality in Construction, also said he expected the increase in the frequency of GCR inspections to pave the way for increased monitoring of construction sites.

The Association de la construction du Québec (ACQ) represents more than 18,000 contractors, who in particular erect buildings that are not under GCR’s magnifying glass. Its spokesperson, Guillaume Houle, wants that to change.

The ACQ claims to carry out “on average” eight inspections per project “at various important stages” of the site.

On the side of the Association of Construction and Housing Professionals of Quebec, the President and CEO, Luc Bélanger, has been more cautious. The GCR program is heading in the “right direction”, but with regard to the calls for site supervision, Mr. Bernier explained that there had to be coordination.

“Because it can be difficult for a contractor who has to wait for the arrival of an inspector to close a wall,” he observed.

Industry representatives will have the opportunity to present their arguments on December 2, during a meeting with the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, Andrée Laforest.

With the collaboration of Marie-Eve Fournier and Hugo Joncas, Press