Fenestration Conversations

Ottawa has tied its Greener Homes Grants to homeowners getting audits from certified energy advisors before they can install higher performing fenestration and take advantage of thousands of dollars in rebates. There’s only one problem: there aren’t nearly enough of these professionals in Canada to satisfy the demand for the program. As director of the School of Energy for the Resilient World Institute, Leon Wasser trains energy advisors and is therefore in the perfect position to tell us what an energy advisor is, what their role is in getting the Greener Homes Grant, and when and if we will ever see enough of them to make this program work. He also has some thoughts on what window and door companies can do to help this situation themselves.

SAWDAC executive director, Jason Neal, joins the conversation for an update on the activities of his association and a discussion about the right way forward for government programs like the Greener Homes Grant. From his perch representing window dealers across the country, Neal has some novel ideas for the best way to support our industry as we’re asked to install higher performing products. But the conversation doesn’t stop there, as Neal gets into some economic analysis and shares data from member surveys carried out by SAWDAC.

Fenestration Canada executive director, Stephane Labelle, joins the Conversation to update us on what Canada’s window and door association is doing and how it’s evolving to meet the needs of members and the industry generally. There’s also some industry talk: the Greener Homes Grants, supply chain problems, working with governments and more. Stephane lays out his approach to bring the national association closer to the grassroots in regions across the country, and shares some of what he’s hearing from fenestration manufacturers and dealers.

And now for something a little different. Annex’s group publisher for the Light Construction Group, Danielle Labrie, joins Pat Flannery to talk about the last year in the window and door industry and what they’ve been hearing and seeing in our industry. We take a look behind the curtain at our magazines, podcasts and social media channels and all the changes and developments that happened in 2021 and are coming up for 2022. It’s the end of the year, so time for a look back and a look ahead. Happy holidays!

We know the pandemic has done SOMETHING to our supply chains. But what? Michael Gabert and the Canadian Institute of Quantity Surveyors are tasked with understanding the prices and availability of all manner of construction supplies and generating accurate estimates and forecasts for their clients. So he was the perfect person to have on the podcast to explain why it’s so hard to get the things we need for our jobsites and plants. Michael discusses how negative effects from the pandemic snowball as they roll down the supply chain, starting at mines and ships and ending up as big delays on our loading docks. We get into inflation, interest rates, aluminum futures shipping containers and the outlook for our globalized trading system.

It might be the first time a woman has ever been hired through a competitive external process to lead a Canadian window and door company. Laura Weil is the new president of Mastergrain, a southern Ontario fibreglass door manufacturer, and it’s safe to say the company will never be the same. She has big plans for the company’s image and products and she joined the Conversation to discuss her journey to the top; the process and prospects for fibreglass fenestration products; trends in the market; supply chain problems; and more.

Thermoplast has been making vinyl extrusions for Canadian window and door companies since 1966. So the company is full of people the industry knows well, perhaps none so well as Jean Marois, the vice-president of sales and engineering, who has been a fixture on technical committees and association boards for many years. Marois and the Thermoplast team started a new chapter this year when they bought the Laval, Que., plant from its previous owner, Energi, when Energi’s private equity owner divested its window manufacturing businesses. Now, Marois, together with his partners Michael McCullough and Martin Boulanger, are charting their own course. Marois joined the Conversation to tell us the story of how it started, how it’s going and where things are going to go from here.

Life on the front lines of selling and installing windows and doors is pretty different from making and shipping product from the factory. In his role as technical director for the Siding and Window Dealers Association of Canada, Phil Lewin takes the calls from irate customers, frustrated members and everyone in between. Phil joins the podcast to share some choice gems from his experience and to get into some industry talk about Energy Star, the Greener Homes Grant, supply issues, relaxing on the floor with customers and more.

The Fenestration and Glazing Industry Alliance has always done an admirable job of balancing its North American identity between the U.S. and Canada. With the impending retirement of legendary executive director, Margaret Webb, the tradition is set to continue with the appointment of her replacement, Amy Roberts. Based in Pitt Meadows, B.C., Roberts left a successful sales role with Vitro to join FGIA as glass products and Canadian industry affairs director, and brings 20 years’ experience in the industry to the role, including time on the technical committee and board of Fenestration BC. In this episode, Roberts talks about her entry into the glass business and updates us on the good work the FGIA is doing on window-wall ratios, Tier 5 energy standards, glass structural standards, events and training and much more.

After years of discussions, roadmaps, studies and conferences, NRCan has settled on the route it wants to take to encourage Canadians to upgrade their homes for higher energy efficiency. The Greener Homes initiative was announced last fall and its online portal is now open for homeowners to register their projects. Senior director for the program, Ruth Talbot, joins Fenestration Conversations to explain the rebate program, what homeowners can get back in rebates, what projects might qualify, how the Energuide evaluations work and more. Green Homes Grants could be a powerful tool in our sales toolbox for years to come.