Calgary's new-home builders are tackling one industry record they could do without.

Data from the Calgary Police Service (CPS) says construction-site vandalism and theft cost new- home builders in Calgary $700,000 last year. By mid-October, this year's losses hit the $1-million mark - and new-home builders were signing up to test the Builders Watch Portal, an online reporting system that's meant to catch criminals and prevent future crimes.

CPS figures probably reveal only part of this bad-news story, admits Const. Mark Dumont of the CPS crime prevention unit. In an industry where time has a direct impact on a company's bottom line, he says new-home builders sometimes opt against filing a theft or vandalism report.

"The boom in the housing industry is phenomenal in Calgary and the trades and builders are pushed to the limit to get the job done on time," says Dumont. In some cases, builders may decide, "we can't have someone sit here and wait for the police."

Dave Olecko, Business Edge
Failsafe Canada's Brad Henderson, right, and Calgary Police Service Const. Mark Dumont check out a new-home site that is protected by Failsafe's HomeNet online system.

Complicating the issue is the fact that jobsite losses range from a few two-by-fours to plumbing fixtures, furnaces, hot-water tanks and entire kitchen cabinets, says Ron Rinkel, president of AlanRidge Homes and Jager Homes Inc.

While some losses are obviously worth reporting, others are considered to take too much time and effort given the current constraints of new-home construction timelines.

Few builders submit these kind of losses to their insurers, even though losses at specific jobsites can be significant, adds Brad Henderson of Failsafe Canada Inc., the private company behind the CPS's latest effort to get a handle on this kind of crime.

He recounts incidents where thieves ruined brand-new hardwood floors when they dragged out high-end refrigerators and stoves. In one case, the refrigerator hoses were ripped out and left to drip water, a situation that caused major water damage by the time workers showed up the next morning.

Earlier this year, Failsafe Canada Inc. learned of the CPS's interest in an online system that would speed up the reporting process and significantly improve the industry's statistics on actual losses due to theft and vandalism. The CPS was already working with the Calgary Region Home Builders Association (CRHBA) to address the issue when Failsafe got involved.

Based in Calgary, Failsafe offers a range of strategic planning products, including a number of systems applications for the residential construction industry.

Having worked with the Alberta New Home Warranty Program for about three years, Failsafe recognized it had some of the new-home construction expertise the online project needed, making the pilot a good fit with Failsafe's interest in a new corporate citizenship partnership.

By mid-October, the CPS and Failsafe, in association with the CRHBA, had signed up eight new-home construction companies to test a new-home construction site crime-reporting system that's believed to be a North American first.

Each of the companies (and Henderson says more are welcome to participate) will receive a hand-held mini web browser. They can use the browser to submit a crime report from the site, or call the information into their offices and have another employee send the information to Dumont. All of the data handled via the portal is encrypted.

The reports will ask for all of the information required on a typical CPS crime report, with one significant difference. Thanks to the parameters of the Builders Watch Portal, Dumont will check the data for accuracy and make sure the reports include some key details, including the model and serial numbers of stolen items.

The problem with the current reality of under-reported thefts is that police come across goods they believe to be stolen, but can't prove it because the model and serial number information on the products found were never formally reported as missing.

The detailed reporting system also gives police access to information about who's been on a particular jobsite, notes Henderson. If there's a rash of thefts in a certain neighbourhood, for example, this data could help police identify a common denominator.

The data may identify crime trends, too, says Dumont. Last year, the CPS recorded more than 43 furnaces stolen in a four-month period "and we don't know where those furnaces went."

With the Builders Watch Portal, the CPS will have a faster way to warn Calgary builders about the rising incidence of particular kinds of thefts that appear linked to organized "theft-to-order" crime rings. They'll also be able to share that data with other police services.

While individual builders won't be able to compare their losses with other companies in Calgary, they will be able to compare them to industry norms. That will help companies target crime prevention strategies.

Jobsite losses have always been important because they affect the cost of new homes, says Rinkel.

Recent increases in labour, fuel and insurance costs, however, make loss control even more important. He also likes how the online system helps builders fight organized and opportunistic criminal activity by giving builders a way to help police identify stolen goods and crime trends.

AlanRidge and Jager are both participating in the pilot project and Rinkel chairs the CRHBA's new Builders Watch Portal committee.

Henderson says the online reporting service should be offered to all Calgary builders in the next three to six months. He expects it will eventually be part of a provincewide reporting system that may even be tied to national and international police services and new-home building associations.

If all goes according to plan, online reporting will be a "business-as-usual" approach to crime prevention, adds Dumont.

(Joy Gregory can be reached at joy@businessedge.ca)