There’s nothing virtual about the current buzz of activity in Alberta’s residential construction industry, which pumps about $17 billion (including renovations) into the Alberta economy each year.
But when a recent opinion poll crossed Grant Ainsley’s desk showing 60 per cent of Canadians who are online use the Internet to find work, the executive director of the Alberta Home Builders’ Association (AHBA) knew the organization was on the right track with a major investment in its new Alberta Builders Connect web portal. It’s expected to be online by the end of the year.
Formally introduced to AHBA members at this week’s annual conference in Jasper, the portal’s development marks the association’s single-biggest endeavour in its 42-year history. Ainsley expects website development and marketing will cost about $500,000 in the first year, an amount offset with financial support from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMHC) and the Alberta New Home Warranty Program.
The new website will boost the value of AHBA membership in two ways, predicts Craig Gibson, director of solutions delivery, Pangaea Systems Inc. A leading eBusiness service provider, Pangaea is headquartered in Calgary with operations across Western Canada and the U.S. This summer, the AHBA awarded Pangaea the contract to develop the web portal.
Gibson says the web portal will prompt a dramatic change in the way AHBA members recruit employees. Whereas home builders and their suppliers and trades typically advertise positions in print media, the new website allows online recruitment.
The site’s second advantage is its business-to-business applications. In addition to connecting members to individual jobseekers and the organizations that train them, Alberta Builders Connect will greatly speed requests for pricing (RFPs) among AHBA members.
Both applications add real value to AHBA membership, says Ainsley. “You can post a job and it’s quite conceivable that within 15 minutes you could start to get resumes back online from qualified people.”
The website being test- driven by members at this weekend’s conference features about 60 kinds of jobs, 17 of them trades-based. A jobseeker with carpentry skills will be able to visit the site and look for jobs in finishing, cabinetry (maker or installer) or framing. Once registered (at no charge), the same individuals will have all the jobs for which they are qualified e-mailed to them as soon as they’re posted.
The list of potential jobs, which Ainsley expects to expand over time, showcases the depth of the industry.
“What we’re trying to do is take the entire industry and allow it to advertise to qualified people,” says Ainsley. He expects the site to help people find jobs in everything from frontline home-building trades to marketing and sales, design and office work. “We’re going to make it the brand. If you’re looking for a job anywhere in our industry, this is where you go.”
Business-to-business applications such as online RFPs give suppliers one more reason to join the association, adds Ainsley. “Builders are always looking for suppliers that can give them better service and better pricing.”
Allan Klassen, past-president, Calgary Region Home Builders Association, agrees the new site will be “the place” to go to get information on job postings and to forge more efficient business-to-business links. Streamlining these processes will also further the AHBA’s ongoing commitment to professionalism in the industry, says Klassen, president and managing partner of Calgary-based Albi Homes.
Special displays at this weekend’s AHBA conference in Jasper give conference-goers a chance to check out their own company’s information on the new site.
They can also experiment with job postings and RPFs, then provide direct feedback to Pangaea and the AHBA, says Gibson.
Headquartered in Edmonton, the AHBA represents five local home builders’ associations. Located in Calgary, Edmonton, Grande Prairie, Red Deer and Lethbridge, these associations represent about 1,300 member companies.
These firms comprise a sizable share of the province’s home-building and renovation industry. The new home part of the industry alone directly or indirectly employs more than 100,000 people in Alberta.
“We know there is a significant amount of business done with non-member trades and suppliers,” says Ainsley.
He’s convinced the new web portal will bring more trades and suppliers into the AHBA fold. “We see it as a great value-add for our supplier members who can compete for business directly with other supplier members.”
The AHBA expects jobseekers to be able to register with the site in December, with the first jobs to be posted early in the new year. A pilot initiative, Pangaea expects Alberta Builders Connect to prompt a national rollout.
(Joy Gregory can be reached at joy@businessedge.ca)
