The Ontario Building Officials Association (OBOA), Tarion Warranty Corporation and the Ontario Home Builders’ Association (OHBA) have signed a partnership agreement, pledging to “increase consumer protection for new home buyers, improve industry standards and achieve greater consistency in education and application of standards in the province’s new home building industry.”
The partners say that although they have traditionally worked together, this agreement solidifies a framework to elevate the new home building industry.
“We’ve been partners for years on a number of important issues, like preventing illegal building. Now, the Ontario Building Partnership will prioritize even more issues that are important to Ontario’s builders, municipalities and new home buyers,” says OHBA CEO Joe Vaccaro.
The partnership is striking a working group that will focus on:
- Advocating for a legislated, provincewide program to protect home buyers from illegal builders;
- Partnering on public education initiatives, including “Who Does What” campaigns, information sharing on trade strikes and other industrywide matters and regional issues such as soil conditions and radon detection;
- Ensuring that Ontario’s home buyers benefit from consistent and improved construction standards across the province.
“The home building landscape in Ontario is continually changing,” says OBOA President, Matt Farrell. “New technologies, new risks and building innovations make it all the more important for us to be working together.”
Tarion CEO Howard Bogach says, “Part of what we’re trying to achieve is greater consistency in education and application of standards, and increased professionalism across the province. We know that will, in turn, provide greater consumer confidence and better products for the consumer.”
