Fenestration Conversations

And now for something a little different. Annex’s group publisher for the Light Construction Group, Danielle Labrie, joins Pat Flannery to talk about the last year in the window and door industry and what they’ve been hearing and seeing in our industry. We take a look behind the curtain at our magazines, podcasts and social media channels and all the changes and developments that happened in 2021...

We know the pandemic has done SOMETHING to our supply chains. But what? Michael Gabert and the Canadian Institute of Quantity Surveyors are tasked with understanding the prices and availability of all manner of construction supplies and generating accurate estimates and forecasts for their clients. So he was the perfect person to have on the podcast to explain why it’s so hard to get the things we...

Thermoplast has been making vinyl extrusions for Canadian window and door companies since 1966. So the company is full of people the industry knows well, perhaps none so well as Jean Marois, the vice-president of sales and engineering, who has been a fixture on technical committees and association boards for many years. Marois and the Thermoplast team started a new chapter this year when they boug...

Life on the front lines of selling and installing windows and doors is pretty different from making and shipping product from the factory. In his role as technical director for the Siding and Window Dealers Association of Canada, Phil Lewin takes the calls from irate customers, frustrated members and everyone in between. Phil joins the podcast to share some choice gems from his experience and to g...

The Fenestration and Glazing Industry Alliance has always done an admirable job of balancing its North American identity between the U.S. and Canada. With the impending retirement of legendary executive director, Margaret Webb, the tradition is set to continue with the appointment of her replacement, Amy Roberts. Based in Pitt Meadows, B.C., Roberts left a successful sales role with Vitro to join...

After years of discussions, roadmaps, studies and conferences, NRCan has settled on the route it wants to take to encourage Canadians to upgrade their homes for higher energy efficiency. The Greener Homes initiative was announced last fall and its online portal is now open for homeowners to register their projects. Senior director for the program, Ruth Talbot, joins Fenestration Conversations to e...

Gord Cooke, CEO of Building Knowledge in Cambridge, Ont., doesn’t have much time for talk about ROI when it comes to justifying higher performance windows and other building products in residential construction. Do we talk about ROI when buying a TV? A car? For too long, Cooke says, we’ve bought into the paradigm that the only way to sell energy-efficient products is to convince homeowners that th...

Black Canadians have been part of our construction industry for as long as there’s been one, including many Black-owned contracting businesses. Now, a new organization known as the Afro-Canadian Contractors Association has come along to raise awareness of the good work they do, promote their inclusion and fair treatment and to help its members take advantage of the opportunities out there in our i...

Newly anointed CEO of Rehau North America , Dr. Tom Troeger, joins Fenestration Conversations to talk about his plans in this market for one of Europe’s largest window system manufacturers. As a performance supplier, Rehau has struggled to break through in cost-conscious Canada and the United States, but tightening energy efficiency requirements are showing Troeger an opportunity for growth and th...

Steve Nason is a building inspector in New Brunswick who has taken a special interest in windows and doors and the many issues around compliance with their codes and standards. It can be difficult for contractors to know when products meet their area’s regulations for things like energy efficiency and air/water ingress. Steve is here to help with some solid tips about using Fenestration Canada’s o...

It’s been quiet over at the Natural Resources Canada Market Transformation Initiative…too quiet. Al Jaugelis, Fenestration Canada technical director and co-chair of the Initiative’s expert team for fenestration, joins the Conversation to explain what his group has been up to and where things are going. It’s a big look at Canada’s effort to drive installation of higher performing windows in our hou...

Building codes and the standards they reference continue to shift with the ongoing concerns about climate change and the new weather conditions our fenestration will have to endure. One observation we hear frequently is that it doesn’t matter how energy-efficient products are if they are installed incorrectly. Enter the CSA A440.4 window and door installation standard. George Torok chairs the comm...

In addition to selling Continental and Fux laminating products, Marco Patermann is a great educator when it comes to lamination science and technology. Here we take a deep dive into fenestration finishing technology, answering some of the questions you might have if you’ve thought about doing some laminating but weren’t sure if it’s right for you. Patermann touches on recent advances in both the l...

It’s always good to see Canadian window fabricators growing aggressively and opening up new markets. Everlast has been on a tear over the last few years and its latest move was to acquire Alberta Vinyl Windows and Doors (AVWD) in Calgary, marking the Toronto manufacturer’s first bricks-and-mortar presence in western Canada. Mike Bruno, Everlast president, and Dallas Paquette, general manager of th...

Pandemic response expert Suzanne Bernier rejoins Fenestration Conversations to tell us what we’ve learned in six months of pandemic about the virus, how it spreads and what businesses should do to combat it. We touch on some of the controversies around masks and lockdowns and whether surfaces are primary vectors for COVID-19. Suzanne looks ahead to the winter and the prospects for a vaccine – and...

North America’s largest trade event for the fenestration and glass industries, GlassBuild, moved online in September and that created a unique opportunity for international involvement. Fenestration Review editor Patrick Flannery was invited to host a panel discussion discussing the business in Canada and explaining the bizarre world of northern fenestration to our American friends. Terry Adamson...

How do we get young people interested in the trades? Ian Howcroft has some ideas and the organization he leads, Skills Ontario, is working hard in schools and through its Skills Challenge competition to seed the ground for our future workforce. In this episode, Fenestration Review editor Patrick Flannery talks to Howcroft about how they’ve modified their programs to operate in...

For decades, fabricators, standards writers and code authorities have preferred prescriptive rules: here are the minimum characteristics your product must have in order to comply. That may be about to change as code writers look for ways to introduce energy efficiency standards into building codes. The energy efficiency of what you supply may not matter as long as the whole building achieves its e...

After 35 years in the industry, Phil Lewin is still deeply curious about what works and doesn’t in fenestration. In this wide-ranging episode, Phil and Patrick Flannery get into the weeds on air infiltration/exfiltration, vacuum insulating glass, low-E, condensation and more.

We’re changing how we do things on jobsites: keeping workers apart, providing PPE and installing handwashing stations. But one of the big ways that coronavirus gets spread is just through people moving around. And with curbside deliveries only, the lineups and delays at the store can be significant. Luckily, there are site delivery services that can keep your crew on the job and away from the gene...

Pandemic response expert Suzanne Bernier joins Fenestration Review editor Patrick Flannery to look back at the chaotic last couple months, assess our response to the coronavirus and forecast where the health authorities will go from here. Bernier has helped craft Ontario and the U.N.’s response to previous epidemics – there is no better person to educate us about this crazy time.

Government funding guru Bonny Koabel updates listeners on the most recent announcements from Ottawa about federal support for small businesses. Changes and clarifications to the Canadian Emergency Wage Subsidy, including when it will become available and how to apply. Also, discussion of the Canada Emergency Student Benefit, the Canada Student Service Grant and the Canada Summer Jobs program – all...

Bonny Koabel joins Fenestration Conversations again with the latest update on new government relief programs announced for small businesses affected by COVID-19. The news is changing daily – Bonny tells you what you need to know about who can access what funding and where to find it.

The grim fact is some of our customers’ businesses will not survive this pandemic. Credit insurance is one way to protect your receivables and, no, it’s not too late to buy it. Veteran brokers Carl Pickett and Roch Simard explain the ins and outs of an insurance product that is sure to be getting more popular.

Bonny Koabel, our government funding expert, returns to update listeners on the latest announcements from federal and provincial governments of new financial assistance available to small and medium-sized businesses. Wage relief, cheap credit, deferred payments, tax breaks – you’ll need it all to survive the pandemic and Bonny tells you how.