When I was a young teen making the weekend treks to Muskoka in the late 1960’s, the population of Barrie was 25,000. Barrie’s population grew steadily to 142,000 by 2012. The population is expected to be 165,000 this year. That’s an increase of about 2,000 people per year over the last 12 years.
The old Bachman-Turner Overdrive song “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet” comes to mind to describe what Barrie is about to experience. Our population is expected to expand to 210,000 in seven years. That means people will be piling into Barrie three to four times faster than what we have experienced in the past decade. Yikes!
What is Barrie going to look like ten years from now?
Pretty much like it does now, still beautiful, only taller and more congested. Most of the “home” construction heading our way is going to be UP, not out. That means lots of new high rise condos and apartments. In fact, the projections call for 14,000 new condo and apartment units to be built by the end of 2030.
It is difficult to find good tradesmen and service providers today and prices are already high. What is it going to cost to hire those talents going forward when demand for their services is going to crush the supply?
Understanding what Barrie residents are facing, I decided to do something about it. In the past, I oversaw approximately 1,000 renovation projects in the GTA before retiring. Instead of volunteering for one of the great charity organizations in Barrie, I decided to put my experience to work.
I created a not-for-profit company called Condo Design Group Inc. “CDG” was set up to generate work for trades people that I trust. They get paid fair market value for their skills but without somebody taking a cut. I won’t be strapping on a tool belt, but I know people that do who are grateful for the opportunity.
That’s nice, but how does it affect your life?
CDG helps people without experience or connections within the construction industry obtain good value in a world where good value seems like a thing of the past.
This is where the not-for-profit part kicks in. CDG customers don’t pay for a middle man. There are no price markups, no hidden costs, and no profit built into prices. We don’t charge referral fees and we don’t take kickbacks. In order to eliminate overhead, we don’t advertise and we don’t have a bricks and mortar location.
My only fear when I created CDG was “how are we going to handle the workload” as the value is unbeatable. To that end, if you think you have the skills and discipline needed to be part of our team, I would love to hear from you as we will be needing all the good people we can find.
I hope that my efforts inspire others to give back when they can. If any of this makes sense, you can check us out here: www.condodesigngroup.ca.
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