January 2005

A short while ago our local newspaper ran a very interesting article. It was about the City of Medicine Hat contemplating action against citizens who had purchased city lots and had not started construction in the allotted time frame. (Under the City's Land Sales Policy, a private individual can purchase a lot providing it is going to be used for their own personal residence).

As circumstance would have it, many are not starting within the allotted time frame. Because we at Amron Homes are in the business of building homes, I can fully understand these private individual's problems. Heck… we do this for a living and have the same problems… NO TRADES PEOPLE.

Here is some interesting information. Stats Canada reports national job growth is up 1.2%. Construction growth is up 5.8% and is particularly strong in British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan. This means that local builders can no longer get trades people from B.C. or Saskatchewan since they are now busy in their own provinces.

At the end of 2004, both Medicine Hat and Lethbridge had one of the lowest unemployment rates in all of Canada!

The Alberta Construction Association Forecast for 2005 sums up a lengthy report by saying 'This year's report suggests that shortages of selected trades will amplify in 2005 and 2006'.

The Calgary Home Builder's Association recently held an international symposium on 'Skilled Labour Shortages'. The Canadian Home Builder's Association summed up their year with a number of issues. Skilled labour shortages was one of them. The result was that the Minister of Labour and Housing, together with the Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development Canada would explore a public-private undertaking to develop an urgent Action Plan for the residential construction sector.

The Economic Research Committee in Ottawa reported this last September. Edmonton boasted the most single family starts in 29 years. Calgary posted second best at most starts in the last 23 years.

This all parallels our own Medicine Hat economy. Because of the world's fanaticism with computers, the trades are no longer attracting young Canadians. In a very short few years, expect that things will become much worse… unless the big money also becomes available to trades involved in new home construction. But then Mr & Mrs Consumer… hold onto your wallets. My advice… buy now but be patient with the contractor. It takes time to do a good job.

Call us with any questions at 527-1172