COLCO QUESTIONS

Dear Mr. Pettipas:

RE: Gold Georgie Awards 2000, Vancouver, January 20, 2001

The Vancouver Sun (Special Advertising Feature, Saturday, January 27, 2001, p. F5) described you as a lawyer turned developer-builder, with 30 years in the field.  The advertorial mentioned that you were a founding member of the Atlantic Home Warranty Program.  You were also identified as a member of the "top notch" panel of judges responsible for the selection of the winners of silver and gold Georgies.

Perhaps you noticed our members standing in the cold wind and rain outside your gala celebration Saturday evening at the Westin Bayshore protesting the leaky rotten condos built and sold by members of the Canadian Home Builders' Association - BC, some of which had won silver and gold Georgies.

Perhaps you are aware that David Verge from the Atlantic New Home Warranty Program was the CEO of the BC New Home Warranty program which is now bankrupt and which was modeled on the Atlantic New Home Warranty Program.

We were astounded to learn that you awarded gold Georgies on the basis of viewing 4,000 slides in two days instead of actually examining the quality of the work done and the performance of the builders.  This information helps explain why so many Georgie award-winning buildings leak and rot. We are disappointed that you and your colleagues would participate in such a sham.

We draw your attention to our Leaky Rotten Condo List at www.myleakycondo.com and the other documents there so that you might be better informed about the billion-dollar repair bill facing purchasers of leaky rotten condos in BC.  You may also want to examine our list of PourGee Award winners.  The PourGee Awards were not covered in fool's gold like the Georgies but were carefully crafted from 100% certified genuine condo rot extracted during repairs to a recently built leaky rotten condo.

We are willing to take you on a tour of Georgie award-winning leaky rotten condos the next time you visit.

James Balderson for COLCO
James.Balderson@myleakycondo.com

From: Dan McIsaac [mailto:cbhi@cbnet.ns.ca]
Sent: Wednesday, January 31, 2001 9:27 PM
To: James.Balderson@myleakycondo.com
Subject: Re: Georgies
 

January 31, 2001

Sent Via E-mail: james.balderson@myleakycondo.com

Dear Mr. Balderson:

RE: E-mail dated January 20, 2001.

I had a chance to read your E-mail, also I looked up your web page. I will keep my comments short and to the point.

It is beyond my comprehension how a condo owner in British Columbia can throw stones at a respectable developer from Halifax. Entries are judged on criteria. Some criteria are slightly different depending on the category. I am quite shore (sic) that Mr. Pettipas was more than qualified and fulfilled all the judging commitments. Site inspections are impossible for any award judging.

I can sympathize with your crusade, but I don't understand how you can demean a national association for the work of a few in a lone region. As a Home Builder', I take offence to your view that the Canadian Home Builders' are to blame, as your home page depicts.

Thanks to all our members' dedication and commitment the residential building industry  is building a sound future. British Columbus' Parade of Homes has been a complete success. Your home shows are informative through
seminaries. The Home Builders' are behind the development of technical sessions, energy programs, the study of health issues and are at the forefront of new research in construction.

Take the blinders off and throw your stones were they belong, at the contractor that drove the nails.
 

Sincerely,
Dan McIsaac
Local President CBHBA

Dan McIsaac,

Thanks for your comments.  We appreciate your sympathy and understanding.

We hope you will encourage your colleagues to lobby for 100% compensation for the owners of leaky rotten condos, many of which were built by members of the CHBA.

I am sure you understand how deceived we were by an industry which promotes itself as best in the world but gives silver and gold Georgies to leaky rotten condos.

Did you see our Portrait of a Gold Georgie on our website?  The leaky rotten Trafalgar was built by BC's Best Builder of the Year, three years in a row. What do you think of that?  Would you buy from BC's Best Builder
after seeing the Trafalgar ripped apart because of leaks and rot a few years after occupancy?

The Canadian Home Builders are on record (I was there) at a government commission of inquiry into the quality of residential construction as saying they received money from the New Home Warranty Plan which they owned and controlled (now bankrupt)  but did nothing to develop education and training courses to deal with the problem of leaky condos because they did not know there was a problem, consequently they did not know what to do about it.

That is, the CHBA did not know their members were supposed to build houses that were not full of holes so they wouldn't leak so they wouldn't rot. Furthermore they did not know how to build homes that did not leak and rot
so they could not offer education courses on the subject. Amazing, isn't it!!

Your "from afar" understanding of the disaster in BC has been perverted by deception and propaganda distributed by infamous influential members of the CHBA.

Watch www.myleakycondo.com for an inside look at leaky rotten condos. Come for a tax-deductible tour. Open your eyes and see for yourself.  You'll never be the same again once you've seen the leaks and rot.  Just like us.
Except we are expected to pay for it.

So please bring buckets of money if you really want to help.  The money will be used to pay for repairs and the buckets will be given to owners of leaky rotten condos awaiting repairs.

Please feel free to share this letter with your colleagues and others interested in safe, warm and dry housing.

-James Balderson