Fenestration Conversations

Our fast-changing world of tightening energy standards and embodied carbon is challenging us all to look at different design approaches and different materials. Enter a true Canadian glass innovator – Advanced Glazings in Sydney, N.S., and their Solera and SoleraWall products that use an aerogel fill to make translucent architectural glass products with energy performance similar to vacuum insulat...

Another year has gone by and it’s time for a high-level view of our business conditions and results in 2023. Marvin Cruz, research director, and Christina Santini, national affairs director, for the Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses join Fenestration Conversations to tell us what they are hearing from small and medium-sized businesses across the country. We hit inflation, labour shorta...

Fenestration Review columnist Anton Van Dyk – The Window Geek – has recently left window manufacturer Centra to join Layton Consulting, a Surrey, B.C,-based building engineering firm. He joins the Conversation to give us the view on the consulting business and the issues he’ll be addressing from the perspective of a guy who has had to design and sell the products that architects, governments and p...

Fenestration Canada is offering scholarships to members to encourage continuing education in the window and door industry and to encourage young people to take up their parent’s trade. It’s part of the ongoing search for talent that’s challenging all of us to find the people to fuel growth and take our industry into the next generation. Former FenCan president, Allan Doyle, is leading the scholars...

WinDoor 2023 is coming Nov. 15-16 in Toronto and Fenestration Canada operations manager Laine Atkins joins the Conversation to tell us all about it. WinDoor has been Canada’s largest and only national show for window and door manufacturers and dealers for decades, but now it’s expanding its focus to take in the commercial “aluminum” side of the industry. Join us to get Laine’s sneak peek at the sh...

Fenestra Purchasing Co-Op leverages the combined buying power of its 42 window and door manufacturer members to obtain rebates on purchases from selected suppliers, yes. But as Frederick Gauthier, Fenestra general manger, explains in this episode of Conversations, the group delivers much more to its members. At two meetings a year, Fenestra members get together to share knowledge and build relatio...

Suhel Kachwala’s last name means “glass man” in Parsi. It doesn’t get a lot more fitting than that, because Kachwala is the second-generation managing director of FG Glass, one of India’s largest glass fabricators. His father and uncle started the business in 1976, the year he was born, and now he runs it alongside his brother and two cousins – all engineers. Kachwala’s business brings him to Nort...

Amy Roberts, Canadian operations and glass technical director for the Fenestration and Glazing Industry Alliance, has been looking into where we might find the skilled and unskilled labour we are all lacking in our operations. Roberts’ research has revealed that there are several provincial and federal programs – some with hundreds of millions of dollars in funding – aimed at helping you recruit,...

President and COO of ODL, David Klein, joins the Conversation to discuss the company’s recent spate of acquisitions in Canada, including well-known door manufacturer, Tru Tech. Klein brings perspective from his time in the automotive and appliance industries to the discussion and goes over the strategy behind the acquisitions; the trends in the door business now; the unique nature of the Canadian...

New concepts are emerging in construction contracts aimed at bringing project owners, contractors and subcontractors closer together as partners rather than bosses and hirelings. But to navigate these new structures, especially on today’s larger P3 projects, glazing contractors are going to need to be prepared for a world of enhanced transparency, data collection and communication. Michelle Thross...

Fenestration Conversations host Patrick Flannery reconnects with an old friend who is now a lecturer in mechanical engineering with a focus on fenestration technology at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia. Thomas Simko has travelled the world researching the latest concepts in glass, glazing and building facades and he joins the podcast to give us the view from Down Under. Simko’s message is...

Fenestration Conversations checks in with Fenestration Canada to hear about the year ahead, and what a year it’s going to be. The association has big plans starting with an all-in commitment to serving the commercial side of the glass industry. Long known as the “residential” Canadian association, Fenestration Canada is acknowledging that many of its members and prospective members work in aluminu...

Executive director of the Siding and Window Dealers Association of Canada, Jason Neal, joins Flannery for some industry gossip and a look back at the top stories of 2022. Interest rates, Bill 23, labour shortages, corporate moves, rebates and more are all on the docket. Pour yourself some holiday cheer and have a listen! And happy holidays and happy new year from the whole team at Fenestration Rev...

Dr. Mukhopadhya is a building science professor researching thermal testing and modeling at the University of Victoria and he joined Fenestration Conversations to explain his latest work on thermal testing that may open the door to understanding thermal performance of facades based on smaller test sample sizes. He also discusses measuring thermal transmission through building materials and what th...

The Fenestration and Glazing Industry Alliance continues to evolve into a truly North American organization for the architectural glass and window and door industries. It’s most recent move is the absorption of Fenestration BC, the association created 10 years ago out of the merger of the Canadian Window and Door Manufacturers Association of BC and the Glazing Contractors Association of BC. With t...

There are more government rebate programs out there than you can shake a stick at. Luckily, Bonny Koabel of AKR Consulting has a whole basket of sticks and spends most of her time shaking them at the various government agencies so you don’t have to. Bonny joins Counter Talks to discuss the $547.5 million of funding that the Government of Canada has recently announced that offers everyone from prov...

There are more government rebate programs out there than you can shake a stick at. Luckily, Bonny Koabel of AKR Consulting has a whole basket of sticks and spends most of her time shaking them at the various government agencies so you don’t have to. Bonny joins Fenestration Conversations to explain three national rebate programs that can give substantial money back to homeowners building custom ho...

Thermal modeling for façade component certification is going to become a bigger and bigger part of our business as energy efficiency standards continue to tighten. Jonathan “JoMo” Layton and Taylor Wight join Fenestration Conversations to talk about the importance and uses of modelling in today’s design process and how it might influence our efforts in the future. We discuss the new NBC tiered cod...

Aynsley Dueck is operations manager at Duxton Windows and Doors and has focused on bringing Continuous Improvement and Lean processes to her operation for several years now. She talks about just what these concepts are and how they can be applied to window, door and commercial façade manufacturing environments. We cover how to deal with the disruption and change that comes with reforming your proc...

We’ve watched the codes and standards tighten for years now, requiring windows and doors installed into new builds to meet ever-higher performance metrics for air/water ingress and insulating value. And they will continue to tighten as Canada’s code authorities follow the federal Roadmap to make all new buildings built in Canada meet net-zero energy performance standards by 2030. But what about th...

Slow clap for the 2020 National Building Code and National Energy Building Code that have been released at last after long delay. Gord Cooke of Building Knowledge joins the Conversation to explain what’s in the new model codes for window and door providers, especially the tiered energy efficiency requirements that will probably soon be the law throughout the land. We’ve known about much of this fo...

Last year in Ontario, 30 percent of all the working people who died from opioid overdose worked in the construction industry. It’s clearly time for we who employ tradespeople to pay some extra attention to this issue and be prepared to help those in our companies who struggle with substance use and misuse. To help, Jan Chappel, a senior occupational health and safety specialist with CCOHS, joined...

Ottawa has tied its Greener Homes Grants to homeowners getting audits from certified energy advisors before they can install higher performing fenestration and take advantage of thousands of dollars in rebates. There’s only one problem: there aren’t nearly enough of these professionals in Canada to satisfy the demand for the program. As director of the School of Energy for the Resilient World Inst...

SAWDAC executive director, Jason Neal, joins the conversation for an update on the activities of his association and a discussion about the right way forward for government programs like the Greener Homes Grant. From his perch representing window dealers across the country, Neal has some novel ideas for the best way to support our industry as we’re asked to install higher performing products. But...

Fenestration Canada executive director, Stephane Labelle, joins the Conversation to update us on what Canada’s window and door association is doing and how it’s evolving to meet the needs of members and the industry generally. There’s also some industry talk: the Greener Homes Grants, supply chain problems, working with governments and more. Stephane lays out his approach to bring the national ass...