Fenestration Conversations

How do we get young people interested in the trades? Ian Howcroft has some ideas and the organization he leads, Skills Ontario, is working hard in schools and through its Skills Challenge competition to seed the ground for our future workforce. In this episode, Fenestration Review editor Patrick Flannery talks to Howcroft about how they’ve modified their programs to operate in the pandemic, possible future directions for apprenticeships, what draws kids to the trades and more.

For decades, fabricators, standards writers and code authorities have preferred prescriptive rules: here are the minimum characteristics your product must have in order to comply. That may be about to change as code writers look for ways to introduce energy efficiency standards into building codes. The energy efficiency of what you supply may not matter as long as the whole building achieves its efficiency targets. Ben Francis and Nick Schock of Red Pelican Building Science are experts in building energy modelling and they join Fenestration Review editor Patrick Flannery to discuss how these new paths to compliance might impact your approach to design and testing.

After 35 years in the industry, Phil Lewin is still deeply curious about what works and doesn’t in fenestration. In this wide-ranging episode, Phil and Patrick Flannery get into the weeds on air infiltration/exfiltration, vacuum insulating glass, low-E, condensation and more.

We’re changing how we do things on jobsites: keeping workers apart, providing PPE and installing handwashing stations. But one of the big ways that coronavirus gets spread is just through people moving around. And with curbside deliveries only, the lineups and delays at the store can be significant. Luckily, there are site delivery services that can keep your crew on the job and away from the general public. Eamonn O’Rourke is the founder of one of these, and he told Fenestration Conversations how it works and how it helps.

Pandemic response expert Suzanne Bernier joins Fenestration Review editor Patrick Flannery to look back at the chaotic last couple months, assess our response to the coronavirus and forecast where the health authorities will go from here. Bernier has helped craft Ontario and the U.N.’s response to previous epidemics – there is no better person to educate us about this crazy time.

Government funding guru Bonny Koabel updates listeners on the most recent announcements from Ottawa about federal support for small businesses. Changes and clarifications to the Canadian Emergency Wage Subsidy, including when it will become available and how to apply. Also, discussion of the Canada Emergency Student Benefit, the Canada Student Service Grant and the Canada Summer Jobs program – all new or changed programs to help you take on summer students or help the ones you can’t.

Bonny Koabel joins Fenestration Conversations again with the latest update on new government relief programs announced for small businesses affected by COVID-19. The news is changing daily – Bonny tells you what you need to know about who can access what funding and where to find it.

The grim fact is some of our customers’ businesses will not survive this pandemic. Credit insurance is one way to protect your receivables and, no, it’s not too late to buy it. Veteran brokers Carl Pickett and Roch Simard explain the ins and outs of an insurance product that is sure to be getting more popular.

Government funding guru Bonny Koabel returns to update you on recently announced details of the Canadian federal government’s attempts to support small businesses through the pandemic. In this episode: wage subsidies, payment deferrals, tax deferrals, loan guarantees, CERB and more.

Bonny Koabel, our government funding expert, returns to update listeners on the latest announcements from federal and provincial governments of new financial assistance available to small and medium-sized businesses. Wage relief, cheap credit, deferred payments, tax breaks – you’ll need it all to survive the pandemic and Bonny tells you how.