There's some big ideas flowing out of Mayor David Miller's office of late and if we could just get the words and actions to add up a little better, we might be on the verge of something really good in terms of a three way win involving City Hall, the development and building industry and new homebuyers.

There's usually very little solace in being able to say "I told you so," but a hot off the press report from the C.D. Howe Institute on the impact of Toronto's new land transfer tax has a lot of people saying just that.

Building Industry & Land Development Association members have captured 18 Silver Awards as part of the National Sales & Marketing Awards offered by the National Association of Home Builders' in the U.S.

The first sentence of the Real Estate Trends reported released by Scotiabank Group last week was a little tough to swallow but the rest of the report was remarkably positive and worth reviewing.

While all parties made their share of promises during the recent federal election campaign, the one's that count will be those made by the Conservative government lead by Prime Minister Stephen Harper. If the feds can find consensus and co-operation from the other parties, Ontario's housing market could benefit from some of Conservative promises, particularly those pertaining to housing and infrastructure.

At Toronto City Hall this week the City's Executive Committee presided over a public meeting held to garner feedback on the proposal to more than double development charges (DC's) from the current range of $4,467 - $11,082 per unit up to $10,920 - $25,095, phased in over five years.

When the Province calls a news conference for Halloween, you never know whether you're going to be on the receiving end of a trick or a treat. As it happens, our municipalities were on the receiving end of a $1.5 billion treat as the report of the Provincial Municipal Fiscal and Service Delivery Review (PMFSDR) was released.

There's never a dull moment in the land development and homebuilding business and the last few weeks have been no exception.

When something good happens on the taxation or regulatory front affecting land development and homebuilding, I sometimes find myself at a loss for words. Our industry has become so accustomed to higher fees and levels of red tape that our vocabulary is geared to reactionary, not complimentary language.

The decision to renovate is an incremental one involving hashing and re-hashing ideas. While you're imagining your new and improved lifestyle in that dream kitchen, en-suite, media room or addition, I encourage you to think about greening your renovation as well.

Whoever forms the federal government after all the votes our counted next week, I certainly hope they are prepared to deal with Ontario's "fairness" issue once and for all.

Premier Dalton McGuinty paid a huge compliment to the land development and homebuilding industry last week and then backed up his words with a very positive announcement on development charges which should go over as well with new homebuyers as it did with the more than 400 members of the Building Industry & Land Development Association who heard it first.

We were very gratified to hear the Conservatives promise a first-time homebuyer tax credit on closing costs, not just because ownership housing rarely hits the radar screen in a positive way during an election but because of the connection in the announcement to the economic as well as the social impact.

Deciding who to hire for your home renovation is a critical part of the planning process. You want to work with a professional contractor who is in business for the long term, who has experience with your particular project and whom you feel you can work with comfortably.

Most homeowners think about renovating long before they ever pick up the phone to call a contractor and that makes sense, however it's also advisable not to lock-down your ideas too soon because  experienced renovators can contribute a great deal to ensure that the final result lives up to your expectations.

The more I step outside of the vacuum of the Greater Toronto Area high-rise condo market, the more confirmation I get that nobody does high-rise like the condo developers in the GTA

Readers of this section will know I wasn't a big fan of the so-called "innovation" in the financial sector which saw us beginning to head down the road traveled by our American friends to the South. 

The good news for a lot of Greater GTA homebuilders and professional renovators is that they garnered the lion's share of Awards of Distinction nominations from the Ontario Home Builders' Association.

Ever wonder how all those home and garden tv personalities got their start? Turns out one of the biggest names in the business, Ty Pennington of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, got his on the home show circuit, and as of a few weeks ago, he's returned to his roots.

The third little pig had it right when he chose brick to build his home. Brick has been on construction sites for thousands of years, and for good reason.

Happy Civic Holiday weekend! Since this weekend is all about our communities, its appropriate to talk about giving back, and when it comes to supporting local causes, home builders associations and their individual members are always there.

At the end of each day of the blitz-build of the TRCA/BILD Archetype Sustainable House at the Kortright Centre in Woodbridge I get an e-mail from the architects with photographs highlighting the daily progress

Last week I wrote of how the Building Industry & Land Development Association tagline, which is Building a Greater GTA, could be Building a "Greener" GTA, apropos of our involvement in the blitz-build of the Archetype Sustainable House with the Toronto Region Conservation Authority.

The tag-line for the Building Industry & Land Development Association normally reads Building a Greater GTA but for one exciting day this week, the 'greater' was changed to 'greener' as BILD and the Toronto Region Conservation Authority kicked-off the blitz-build of the Archetype Sustainable House at the Kortright Centre.

Homeownership is at an all-time high. Statistics Canada reports census data that shows 68.4 per cent of Canadians owned their homes in 2006, up from 65.8 per cent in 2001 and 60 per cent in 1971.

A unique study has found a high degree of flexibility in what residents in the Greater Toronto Area would or could accept as their type of residence. The results suggest a much greater opportunity for suburban municipalities to accommodate new urban growth in a compact and sustainable manner.

With the report of the Provincial-Municipal Fiscal and Service Delivery Review expected out very shortly, BILD has written a very direct letter to the Premier of Ontario outlining what we hope to see in the report, and more importantly, what we don't want to see.

We knew that renovation was hot but were surprised to learn that renovation spending in the ten major Canadian centres surveyed as part of Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation's Renovation and Home Purchase Survey jumped by $2 billion last year.

Over the past year we've heard a lot about serious problems in the sub-prime mortgage market in the United States.  Unfortunately, some American families have lost their homes as a result of undisciplined lending practices.

Of all the hurdles that needed to be cleared to move forward with the Archetype Sustainable House blitz-build, the most practical yet crucial was the acquisition of a building permit from the City of Vaughan

Two weeks ago I highlighted the findings of Over the Top, BILD's report on the impact of development charges on new homebuyers.

I wrote last week of how Mike Harris allegedly "gutted" the Development Charges Act, the very legislation that many municipalities have used to double, even triple their charges over the last seven years.

The saying that politics makes for strange bedfellows came true this week as BILD became the advocate for fiscal relief for GTA municipalities.

The new President of the Canadian Home Builders’ Association (CHBA) has outlined plans to build on the industry’s achievements in improving the energy and environmental performance of Canadian homes.

Dubbed “BILDing the Best,” the annual Home Builder Awards have grown into the “Academy Awards” for homebuilding in the Greater GTA, right down to the staging, lighting, live music and photo-ops.

The Building Industry and Land Development Association handed out its coveted Renovation Awards last week, naming Superior Quality Renovations as the 2008 Renovator of the Year.

How’s that little project coming? If the answer is that you can’t seem to get it started, let alone finished, then don’t miss this last opportunity to visit the National Home Show, on through Sunday April 13 at the Direct Energy Centre, Exhibition Place.

In his most recent economic update to members of the Canadian Home Builders’ Association, housing economist Dr. Peter Andersen describes in graphic detail the fallout from the sub-prime mortgage crisis affecting the U.S. housing market, which of course begs the question of where we stand here in Canada. Much better is the short answer.

The judges have come and gone, the more than 800 nominees have been winnowed down to less than 200 finalists, and the excitement is building towards the 28^th annual Home Builder Awards, BILD’s celebration of the best of the best homebuilders, community developments, projects, product and promotion.

Despite the absolutely nasty weather we experienced during the first two months of this year, new home sales have weathered the storm quite nicely, particularly on the high-rise side.

For all of you who had your heart set on visiting last week-end’s Home Show at the International Centre, we’re sorry that Mother Nature prevented you from getting your home show fix.

It’s always nice when your members do well, particularly when it’s on someone else’s stage, and the last few weeks have witnessed some great examples.

If you’re going to talk the green talk, then you have to walk it too, and the Building Industry and Land Development Association is doing just that with a number of greening initiatives at its headquarters building in Don Mills.

Two highly respected internal industry reports landed on my desk this week in the form of Altus Clayton’s Housing Report and Housing Forecast. Both provided independent confirmation of things I have been saying for months.

If there’s an upside to all of the fallout from the U.S. sub-prime mortgage woes, it’s that interest rates that might have been going up in Canada are now going the other way, fast.

In 2001, BILD founded the Construction Recruitment External Workers Service (CREWS) program which links employers with temporary foreign workers.

The evening news would have us believe that a collapsing mortgage industry in the U.S. will have repercussions in this country as well. Are Canadians poised on the brink of a recession or are the strong building and renovation markets likely to maintain their vigour over the course of the next year?

Although the year is still young there have already been some great “green” moments for the residential home building industry across Ontario including many success stories right here in the Greater GTA.

In the tragic wake of two recent fatal house fires I am not surprised to hear the call for all newly built homes to have fire sprinkler systems mandated under the Ontario Building Code. Unfortunately, this solution could cause more harm than good by diverting attention away from the real problem and a better solution.

A home show is a home show is a home show, right? Not quite. Some home shows are just about the booths, aisle upon aisle. Then there’s the BILD/dmg world media home shows, with two great partners devoted to adding value by investing in show features, celebrities and promotions.