What are you doing April 9 and 10? You should register for our Project Planning and Cost Control workshop in Burnaby!

The course is designed to provide owners, managers, estimators, and field personnel with a general knowledge of the process of planning and controlling a project from beginning to end utilizing ways and means of monitoring, saving and controlling costs. Here’s what’s covered:

• Understanding the impact and methodology of construction cost control.
• Ways and means of minimizing and controlling costs on site.
• Project cost forecasting and accounting functions on site.
• Project planning and its purpose and effect on project cost control.
• How to communicate & assist management re: cost methods and control.
• Gain additional insight into the process of work and cost analysis.
• Cost reporting systems – new technology in monitoring costs and reports.
• Understanding the effect improper field reporting has on cost control. Maintaining and managing documents, material, tools and equipment.
• Understanding the Contract process from bidding to project close-out.
• Review of 100 companies and their methods in controlling & saving costs.

You’ll also earn 3 Gold Seal Credits and 16 Group A and 16 Group B CPD Points from BC Housing. You can register for this or any of our other upcoming courses at www.icba.ca/courses.

Interested in booking a private session of any of our training courses? Email our training team at training@icba.ca and they will handle all of the logistics for you.

Our Training Department loves breakfast, and we want you to join us on March 28 for our new Challenges with Shoring Design breakfast session in Burnaby!

Our presenter, Robert Bourdages from Stantec Consulting, will walk you through various earth shoring techniques for building construction including aspects of design and safety. The following shoring methods will be covered:

• Cantilevered walls
• Tied-back walls
• Braced excavations.

There will also be case studies presented relating to the risks of instability during excavation.

Plus, you’ll earn 1.5 Group A CPD Points from BC Housing!

Register for this or any of our upcoming courses at www.icba.ca/courses. While you’re there, subscribe to our biweekly training newsletter at www.icba.ca/trainingnewsletter, or learn about ICBA membership at www.icba.ca/become-a-member. ICBA members save on their registration fees, have access to our apprenticeship program, and more!

We look forward to seeing you in one of our upcoming courses!

Come have breakfast with us on March 18 in Burnaby! Are you up to date on the 2018 changes to the BC Building Code? The changes will impact contractors and businesses, so don’t miss this opportunity to hear about the new requirements from Don Pedde, the Senior Codes Administrator with the Building and Safety Standards Branch. 

The presentation will touch on the new requirements for:

• accessibility,
• asbestos,
• energy efficiency standards (including the road ahead),
• mid-rise combustible construction,
• water efficiency of plumbing fixtures,
• radon data,
• sound transmission,
• stairs, 
• seismic,
• and a glimpse of the future for tall wood buildings.  

Plus, you’ll learn 1.5 group A CPD Points from BC Housing! And even better, ICBA members are able to attend free of charge! 

Register for this or any of our other upcoming sessions at www.icba.ca/courses.

Chris and Jordan talk about ICBA taking the BC Government to court, the SNC-Lavalin/Jody Wilson Raybould story, the Burnaby byelection, Massey Tunnel, the BC Budget and if Winter is Here for the Canadian economy.

Some recent media clips of ICBA fighting for its members by taking PLAs to court:

• CTV Vancouver News 
• Black Press
• The Toronto Star’s Vancouver edition
• On-Site Magazine

And some other ICBA news notes:

• Former Dragon Brett Wilson breathed fire at the ICBA CEO Breakfast (Journal of Commerce)
• The BC Government wants the Broadway subway to be a PLA project. We’ll fight them every step of the way (Journal of Commerce)
• We’re worried about the drop in housing starts (Journal of Commerce)
• We’re the North American Trade Association of the Year (Georgia Straight)

Do you feel that change is ever constant and that you’re struggling to keep up? Are you looking for practical tools and approaches that you can take in managing changes that occur? Do you want to successfully lead projects that involve significant changes?

Our Leading and Managing Organizational Change course can help! It will prepare you to manage organizational change and will teach you how to lead and mentor others through these changes. You’ll understand the impacts change has on employees, and what you need to do manage and address any resistance. You’ll also learn practical tips and techniques on how to get your organization or client ready for upcoming changes and impacts. Through a series of hands-on workshops, you’ll develop a deeper understanding on what is involved in successfully adapting to and implementing change, both from a personal and professional perspective.

In this seminar, you’ll:

• Understand the impact change and transitions have on you and your employees;
• Learn how to adapt to and be resilient to change, whether the change is from a people, process, or technology transformation;
• Develop approaches to managing and leading change;
• Use pragmatic tools to help you with anticipating and addressing resistance to change, engaging with stakeholders, and facilitating change.

Our next session is March 18 in Kelowna, followed by May 27 in Victoria and June 11 in Burnaby!

You’ll earn 1 Gold Seal Credit and 7 Group B CPD Points from BC Housing; for more information and to register for this or any of our other upcoming courses, please visit www.icba.ca/courses.

VANCOUVER – The Independent Contractors and Businesses Association (ICBA) has won six prestigious Reed Awards, including being named the 2019 North American Trade Association of the Year, at a ceremony last week in Austin, Texas.

“This is a tremendous honour and reflects the caliber of work being undertaken by the ICBA team in workforce development, public policy advocacy and communications and marketing,” said Chris Gardner, ICBA President. “It also highlights ICBA’s willingness to fearlessly speak out on policy issues consistently. Winning North American Trade Association of the Year is external recognition of the team we have built at ICBA and all of the hard work they do every day on behalf of our members.”

ICBA also won Overall Best Web Video – Public Affairs for its Big Gas ad, which has been watched more than 400,000 times on social media. Said Shane Greer, co-publisher of Campaigns & Elections and host of the Reed Awards dinner, “Oh Canada: the Overall Best Web Video – Public Affairs went to the Independent Contractors and Businesses Association for their ‘Get Canada’s Big Gas Moving’ ad… We’ve seen it many times now and still laugh every time.”

ICBA’s Big Gas campaign also won:

• Best International Web Video
• Best Canadian Web Video
• Best International Outdoor Advertising
• Best Canadian Outdoor Advertising

“Our Big Gas campaign caught lightning in a bottle and we’re very proud to see it recognized with these awards,” said Jordan Bateman, ICBA VP-Communications. “Our communications and advocacy work stands with the best in North America and we will continue to strongly, articulately, creatively and passionately make the case for a strong economy and our members’ issues.” Read more

We’re the best!

ICBA won 6 coveted 2019 Reed Awards in a ceremony in Austin, Texas, Thursday night – including North American Trade Association of the Year. This is a huge honour. 

ICBA’s “Get Canada’s Big Gas Moving” ad was also a North American champion, winning the Reed for Best Web Video – Overall. When ICBA VP-Communications accepted the trophies, the ceremony host actually broke format to call the Big Gas ad, “genius.” 

Besides Trade Association of the Year and Best Web Video – Overall, ICBA won for:

• Best International Web Video (a category which includes all international campaigns outside the U.S.) for our Big Gas ad
• Best Canadian Web Video for our Big Gas ad
• Best International Outdoor Advertising (a category which includes all international campaigns outside the U.S.) for our Big Gas movie poster
• Best Canadian Outdoor Advertising for our Big Gas movie poster

The Reed Awards, named after Campaigns & Elections founder and campaign marketing pioneer Stanley Foster Reed, embody excellence in political campaigning, campaign management, political consulting and political design, grassroots & advocacy. Reed Award winners represent the very best the political campaign industry has to offer.

“Getting designated as a Reed Award Finalist is extraordinarily difficult,” said Shane D’Aprile, Co-Publisher, Campaigns & Elections, before the ceremony. “Thousands of entries compete, but very few make the cut. That’s how it should be in the most exacting award the campaign industry has. So when you encounter a Reed Award Finalist you know one thing for certain, they produce work that’s head and shoulders above the competition.”

This brings ICBA’s total to 9 Reed Awards over the past two years. In 2018, ICBA won 3 Reeds for our Site C/pink slip campaign (Best Canadian Online Ad Campaign, Best Canadian Use of Outdoor Advertising, and Best International Use of Outdoor Advertising). 

Winning North American Trade Association of the Year is another indicator of the exceptional team we have at ICBA and all our hard work, advocacy, and support for our members.

Reading blueprints is an essential skill in construction! We want to give you a solid foundation in this fundamental skill with our upcoming workshops.

Our next Introduction to Blueprint Reading course is in Abbotsford on March 20; you’ll learn how to read sets of residential and commercial blueprints, making this course suitable for all construction professionals.

Among the topics covered are the design process and the role of design professionals, architectural and engineering scales, understanding specifications, and layout basics.

We’re also bringing this course to Victoria on April 3, Kamloops on April 12, and Kelowna on May 15. You’ll earn 1 Gold Seal Credit and 7 Group A CPD Points from BC Housing.

For full course descriptions and online registration for any of our upcoming courses, visit www.icba.ca/courses.