Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you very much, witnesses, for being here today. I really appreciate your time.
I spent 20 years in the construction industry as a general foreman. In 2021, I worked on a 16-storey residential project.
Madam Keesmaat, you were talking about at what point a project is measured as a start.
For some context, long before I was even on site—probably three or four months—I was assigned to work on that project as the supervisor, and I was already working on layouts and design. It had only a one-level underground parkade, but it probably took six months to dig the hole and pour the base for the tower crane. Then it was another six months to start foundations. It was probably 18 months before we were above grade, and I would have to say that was close to two years.
In the construction industry, we would typically consider a job start when the contract was signed. That meant we knew the money was going to start to flow and we could mobilize to site and start digging a hole.
Madam Keesmaat, in your opinion, what is the right time to count a project as a housing start?