All about Construction

After a year and a half of construction, ENM is proud to announce that their 191-unit purpose-built rental project, Willoughby Walk in Langley, is nearing completion.

ENM worked with Langley Animal Protection Society to construct an ISOasis for sick and injured cats. Two months after opening, we check on the progress.

The City of Langley is faced with a choice between a SkyTrain extension and a less expensive Light Rail Transit system. They choose the SkyTrain.

This is the third in our series of articles on safety issues on a construction site. Today, we focus on the importance of wearing personal protection equipment, or PPE, on site at all times.

We at ENM are a well-rounded bunch with diverse interests, way beyond our mastery of construction and development. Some of us play golf, some of us bowl, some of us even go curling. But our co-founder Daniel Greenhalgh steps it up a notch with his hobby of trail riding on his new horse.

In the 2018 budget released in February, the NDP followed through on a campaign promise by levying a new school tax on luxury homes and buildings valued at more than $3 million. But soon after the budget was announced, they released a clarification that the new tax would not apply to rental buildings with more than four units.

The suburbs are about to get a much-needed injection of rapid transit options, but there’s a huge fight brewing over which options make more sense.

Vancouver faces an historic land use challenge, and developers like Daniel Greenhalgh of ENM Construction are struggling to keep pace

When politicians speak about the housing crisis in Vancouver, their most sure-fire crowd-pleaser is to bemoan the plague of empty homes owned by absent foreign investors who use Vancouver real estate as a ‘safety-deposit box’ for their money. No one wants to live in a neighborhood of falsely inflated home values and empty restaurants and coffee shops.

A recently released survey of BC residents found that 86% of respondents believe the government should be doing more to curb foreign and speculative investment in B.C. real estate. 58% of respondents believe that we should consider an outright ban on foreign buyers of B.C. real estate.

Last month, the BC provincial government announced new legislation that would create a publicly accessible registry identifying all owners of real estate in the province. The move is intended to curb tax fraud and money laundering by overseas investors.

Most of the amenities are within comfortable walking distance of the development. Those walks are made much more safe and pleasant by the Township of Langley’s extensive pathway system.

ENM’s flagship development, the 191-unit purpose-built rental project Willoughby Walk in Langley, is very close to opening its doors to new residents. Construction began in December 2016 and the first occupants are expected to move-in by October.

When the Evergreen Line was first proposed in Coquitlam, the city took a close look at the housing stock along the route. They realized that much of the older rental housing would be sacrificed for high-density condo developments.

This is the second article of our series on safety issues on a construction site. Today, we focus on the importance and the methods of identifying new workers, or greenhorns, on site.

We begin a new series of articles focusing on different safety issues on a construction site. Our first article will focus on some of the concerns surrounding new workers on site.

When analysts diagnose the root causes of the housing crisis in metro Vancouver, they nearly always point to the lack of new construction of purpose-built rental properties. There have been virtually none built in the last 40 years, mainly due to the big incentives the province has placed on building sale properties.

The goal of these taxes are to make housing more affordable for middle and low-income families in B.C. However, most developers, including us here at ENM, strongly believe that the new taxes will do exactly the opposite.

Daniel Greenhalgh discuss the benefits of renting in Langley.

We’ve all seen the Trailer Park Boys. Or at least seen the posters. We all know there’s a bit of a stigma to living in a trailer park – or the more professionally-termed ‘manufactured home park’. But when you’re in the middle of a housing crisis, where the cost of a new home is out of reach for the vast majority of mid-to-low income families, these parks are taking on a new kind of shine.

Our ultimate tool for assessment is the CHAIR acronym, which stands for Competent, Hard-working, Ambitious, Intelligent, and Reliable. We rate every potential employee on a scale based on this, and if a less experienced person rates a lot higher than someone with a lot of experience, we’ll probably hire him.

Back in February, the new NDP government released its 2018 budget, and it included a myriad of new taxes. As expected, there was a ‘speculation tax’ in the package, as the party was elected largely on its promise to crack down on the foreign investors who most believe are artificially inflating our housing market.

There’s a frustration in waiting hours or days for an answer to a problem that arises. Now that process is far more immediate, the communication is instant, so the workflow is smoother and the tradespeople are happier.

Last year, the province committed to making every building net-zero energy ready by 2032. They’re doing it in five steps, incrementally over the next few years, so right now we’re still at STEP 1. This is obviously great for the environment - but when we’re talking about rising housing costs as the greatest social crisis affecting the province, these mandated energy standards are going to dramatically add to the problem.

We know that our reputation is what’s going to determine our success, and the team we form is the key aspect of maintaining that reputation for reliability and quality. So, Colin and I have been lucky that we’ve attracted such a great team, and we want to keep them together and keep them working for as long as we can.

LAPS identified a problem with its sheltering of cats who suffered from communicable diseases. First of all, there was no stopping the spread of disease amongst the population of animals at the shelter, and second, there was virtually no hope of healing these cats and preparing them for adoption when they were housed together with healthy cats and dogs.

The essence of a cap rate is a reflection of risk in the market that it is being applied. The more mature the market, the lower the risk, and therefore the lower the cap rate someone is willing to accept. Think of it as your return on your investment -- so if you want a safe investment, then the interest rate you will be able to earn on that investment is likely the lowest rate.

Last month, the NDP delivered on a campaign promise when it introduced legislation allowing BC municipalities to create rental-only zones within its borders. The demand for rental properties is huge in BC, especially in the Lower Mainland, and the hope is that this new tool will stabilize the soaring price of rents and allow residents to have more long-term security as renters.