Greetings HNHBA members,
I hope you’re all doing well, staying busy and preparing for the new construction season ahead of us. It was great to see many of you at the Brantford meeting last month. It sure was an informative presentation from the OHBA President and new EO.
I’d like to invite you all to our March 23rd Members Night. Tim Oomen with Flooring Canada will be hosting the event at their store on Park Rd in Simcoe.
We have invited Norfolk County’s chief building official Fritz Enzlin and Brandon Sloan the General Manager of Community Development to give the builders an update on new business and processes for 2023.
I’m very excited to announce that we’ve hired Canadian Web Creations to redesign, update and maintain our website. This is great news for all our members as Dan Krulikoski will be in contact with you soon to start adding more content for your business listing. This will help drive more traffic to all of our websites in the future. If you’d like to reach out to Dan directly here is his email dan@canadianwebcreations.com.
Please make sure you reach out to your accountant with regards to the New Underused Housing Tax Act if you or your business own multiple homes.
Look for more details to come in my next newsletter with regards to our annual golf tournament and Christmas Party.
I look forward to seeing you on March 23rd!
Sam Bunting, President,
Haldimand Norfolk Home Builders Association
Prominent Homes Inc.
The annual HNHBA golf tournament is held at Lynn Meadows Golf and Country Club in the third week of July (specific date TBD). This tournament is a "best ball" scramble and all proceeds are donated to the Upper Deck Youth Centre in Simcoe. For the past 20 years this annual tournament has been held, providing a fun opportunity for members, suppliers, and guests to come together as an association and network while raising money for an excellent cause.
The HNHBA is pleased to offer a Student Award/Achievement Program entitled, "Tools for Education." The original purpose of this program was to provide money for shops at local high schools. Through this "Tools for Education" program, the HNHBA donated a sum of $6,400 in early 2002 as well as $8,000 in the fall of 2002 to local high schools in an attempt to raise awareness about the shortage of skilled labour in the Ontario home building industry. Recipients of these donations included the construction technology classes at Holy Trinity Catholic High School, Valley Heights, Dunnville, McKinnon Park, Cayuga, and Hagersville Secondary Schools as well as Port Dover and Simcoe Composite Schools.
Bursaries are now presented in the amount of $500 to students who show interest and promise within the field of trades. Presentations are also made of higher bursaries, based on accomplishment. In 2003, Walter Ottiger was awarded a sum of $1,000 after winning gold at both the Provincial and National levels of the "Skills Canada" Competition in Woodworking. The HNHBA plans to return to its original purpose in the near future by donating further sums of money to support technology programs in local high schools.
In 2006, Fanshawe College began a log cabin project which ended tragically when a student was hit and killed by a falling tree. The HNHBA completed this project in memoriam of the young man, Jason Boterberg, in collaboration with Rob Verry, a log home builder who was conducting this project with the students in an attempt to build the log cabin traditionally. The cabin was then donated to Norfolk County to be used as a tourist information booth in Wellington Park.
Celebrating over 50 years of lights, the Simcoe Christmas Panorama is a renowned local holiday attraction. The over 60 displays in the Panorama were created by volunteers like the HNHBA. The Builder's Association constructed a "Penguin House" as part of this community program, contributing to the bright array of lights that attract many generations of visitors.
