BC Housing provides help and information to owners of water-damaged homes.
Repair contractors and building envelope renovations
Repair contractors who perform building envelope renovations must be licensed by BC Housing. They must also provide mandatory, third-party warranty insurance to get a building permit for these renovations when the scope of the repairs meets the criteria set out in the regulations.
In geographic areas where building permits are not required for this type of work, the contractors must still be licensed and have warranty insurance before starting the renovations.
Some building envelope renovation projects don’t meet the requirements of the Homeowner Protection Act and regulations. In this case, you don’t need a licensed building envelope renovator to carry out the work or building envelope repair warranty insurance
The regulations for building envelope renovations do not apply to these categories:
- Buildings with only one or two self-contained dwelling units
- Buildings covered with Homeowner Protection Act legislated warranty insurance
- Buildings when the dollar threshold — greater than or equal to $10,000, or $2,000 per unit in the building — and/or when the percentage of cladding surface renovated threshold — 60 percent or more of any cladding surface — is not met
- Care facilities
- Dormitories
- Floating homes
- Hotels and motels
- Multi-unit rental buildings
- Multi-unit buildings in which first occupancy occurred 25 or more years before the building envelope renovation started or — if applicable — the issuance of a building permit for the renovation, whichever is earlier
- Repairs carried out by the original builder at no cost to the owner(s) or when there is a cost-sharing agreement between the original builder and the owner(s)
- Social housing
Your repair strategy
Pose pertinent questions when you decide how to address defects to a building envelope. Make sure you get all the answers in writing. Ask:
- Is the repair contractor licensed by BC Housing as a building envelope renovator? Check our Public Registry of Licensed Residential Builders.
- Will you receive warranty insurance on the repair? If yes, ask about the nature and extent of the warranty.
Key information
Find out what comprises a building envelope, what it’s meant to do, how to identify problems and how rain can penetrate in our What is a Building Envelope? tip sheet.
Learn more about the roles and requirements of a licensed building envelope renovator, including important questions to ask before making your choice, from our Selecting a Licensed Building Envelope Renovator tip sheet.
Strata councils often need help identifying and assessing damage to a leaking building. Our Selecting a Building Envelope Consultant tip sheet explains how to find one and then what criteria to use to make a final selection.
Until the building framing is exposed, it’s hard to work out how much a building envelope renovation might cost. Our Building Envelope Renovation Costs and Timelines tip sheet shows you a typical schedule and distribution of costs.
Most major condominium repairs are required because of building envelope failure. Our Four-Step Approach to Managing a Major Repair tip sheet walks you through the four main stages of repair: problem assessment, solution development, repair implementation and ongoing maintenance.
Reconstruction Program Portfolio
Effective July 31, 2009, B.C.’s Minister of Housing and Social Development announced that the Reconstruction Program had stopped accepting new applications.
As part of a review of Crown corporations, the B.C. government transferred the administration of the Reconstruction Program to the Ministry of Finance from April 1, 2010 onwards. The government also terminated the PST Relief Grant for owners of homes with completed building envelope renovations from June 30, 2010.
For more information on repaying or renewing your reconstruction loan go to the Receivables Management Office’s website or contact:
Ministry of Finance
Receivables Management Office
Reconstruction Loan Portfolio
PO Box 9630 Stn Prov Govt
Victoria, B.C. V8W 9P1
Toll-free: 1-877-405-4911
Fax: 250-387-5734
Email: [email protected]