 |
World Class
By Frank O'Brien
For multilingual John Friswell, home renovations are a global affair.
Everything John Friswell has learned - the languages, the engineering, the
export business and global contacts - comes together in his latest career
as one of British Columbia's top home renovators.
Friswell, 50, captured a Gold Georgie last year for an $800,000 home renovation
that fellow members of the Greater Vancouver Home Builders' Association still
buzz about. He has set up a personal export stream for bamboo floors from
Asia - he's built houses and restaurants in Nagano and still speaks Japanese
- and, fluent in Portuguese, he's negotiating a similar deal for eco-friendly
doors from Brazil.
His first big renovation contract sparked headlines in the Vancouver Sun for
cutting- edge design and materials and, when it came to near-seven-figure
home renovations... well, it's not that hard when you were once in charge
of building power plants and pulp mills throughout the Americas and points
beyond.
Born in Toronto, educated in Saskatoon and once working around the world from
a Cambridge pivot, Friswell is president of CCI Renovations (also known as
Canadian Constructors Int'l Ltd.), runs a 10-person North Vancouver renovation
company, and is the second-term Chair of the Renovators' Council of the GVHBA,
the new Chair of the Renovators' Council of the CHBA-BC and 2nd vice-chairman
of the Better Business Bureau of the Lower Mainland.
Not bad for a guy that formed his home renovation company just 12 years ago
and didn't join the CHBA until 1999. That move, Friswell notes, is what turned
him from a serious dabbler in renovations to a full-time professional. "It
is the credibility, the camaraderie and the contacts that make the Association
so powerful," Friswell said. He quickly took advantage of the CHBA training,
gaining certification as a Registered Renovation Professional, a Registered
Housing Professional and completing courses in project management and ICF
construction. He also volunteers for a number of GVHBA committees.
When he paused to speak with Home BUILDER this autumn, Friswell was overseeing
four renovation projects scattered across the Lower Mainland, including the
gut-and-rebuild of a Vancouver heritage house. His typical contracts in Canada's
hottest real estate market are in the $200,000+ range, but Friswell is also
attracted to smaller, challenging jobs. "They keep you grounded,"
he said.
Award winner
Friswell plans to enter three to four entries in this year's Georgie competition
and stands a good chance of taking home some hardware.
In 2003, Friswell took the Gold Georgie for best renovation over $400,000
and a trio of Silver Georgies. The top prize was for the whole-house renovation
of a 30-year old home in Richmond (see photos shown here). The interior was
completely reworked to provide dramatic vaults and exposed beams and a more
efficient open plan allowing an uninterrupted flow between the social and
private areas of the home. A variety of exotic materials from native limestone
to walnut were used by a team of finishers and the home was outfitted with
high-performance windows, in-floor radiant heating, and high efficiency fireplaces.
"John makes things happen, yet he's very easy to work with," said
Marlene Bourque of High Design, who has worked as a designer on many of Friswell's
renovations, including the Gold prize winner.
As his history suggests, Friswell sometimes takes a divergent path from most
renovators. In a recent job, for instance, he jacked up a house, roughed in
the downstairs and then, as agreed, left the job for the homeowners to do
some of the finishing.
"We as an association are making inroads into curbing the underground
economy, at least in the Vancouver area," Friswell explained, noting
that with the average house prices near $500,000, local homeowners have both
the will and the means to make sure a renovation is done right the first time.
As provincial Renovation chair he is also promoting the mandatory licensing
and warranty requirements for renovators (similar to B.C.'s HPO licensing
for home builders), which is also meant to raise the professional standards
of the industry.
In the rarified atmosphere of multi-cultural high-end renovations, Friswell
cautions that a professional renovator can never quit learning. It is common,
for instance, for his wealthy clients to drop $80,000 to $150,000 on a home
theatre with a sheet-sized TV screen and rows of Lazy-boy theatre seats, to
demand exotic imported material and to expect the contractor to know about
the latest "green" products. Even the tools of the modern renovator
have changed, he added. Among the indispensable items now tucked in his belt
is a digital camera that he uses to document every stage of a renovation.
"I take at least 5,000 photos a year," he said. The photos not only
provide step-by-step documentation on every job, but he can also upload to
a secure location on his Web site, allowing clients to track the progress
of the renovation on-line from any computer. And the photos can be used to
flag suppliers on replacement items, Friswell explained.
Challenging market
With his Brazilian-born wife Adriana, Friswell runs full-time crews and relies
on specific sub-contractors. Like all renovators, CCI faces the challenge
of finding qualified trades people and affordable building materials - both
tough calls in Vancouver, where there is huge competition for both from the
booming new home building sector. And prices are rising. Today, Greater Vancouver
trades are paid from $17 to $30 per hour, drywall prices have spiked 20 per
cent in the past year, the cost of lumber and plywood continues to rise and
steel is up nearly 50 per cent since January. To offset the latter, Friswell
has begun exporting some materials directly from Asia and South America and
he has custom designed a sophisticated estimating and budgeting software system
for his primary cost-plus contracts.
On the labour front, Friswell plans to continue with the push for trades training
and recruitment as he takes over as Chairman of the provincial Renovators
Council. "We have to educate the young people," Friswell said. "We
have to prove that carpentry is cool."
And, as the former globe-trotter contractor has shown, it can also lead to
one of the most exciting and challenging careers in the world. HB
