Carpenters caught in the middle of a contract dispute between two Lower Mainland construction firms are catching a break after not being paid for three weeks and losing their jobs on construction of Westview Elementary School.
Local finishing carpenters were hired by the New Westminster firm Nico Industries, Ltd. which was subcontracted to complete the project millwork. The contract included work on the new school’s counters, shelves, display cases, wall panelling and wood floors.
“Millwork is one of the first things that people see when they enter a building,” said Steve Hopkins, School District 47 secretary treasurer, “so [Powell River Board of Education] was happy to see local involvement in producing such a finishing component. It’s unfortunate that it wasn’t working out the way everyone would have liked.”
Eileen Hawboldt is the spokesperson for Yellowridge Construction, a general contractor based out of Port Moody hired to build the school. According to Hawboldt the millwork subcontract went into default after Nico Industries was unable to provide the necessary supplies for the project.
“It was no reflection on the workers,” said Hawboldt.
The school district paid Yellowridge progress payments which in turn were paid to the project’s subcontractors.
Normally the general contractor and the owner of the property would not be responsible for a subcontractor’s employees, but when “it came to light that [the subcontractor] supposedly hadn’t paid his workers,” she said, Yellowridge and the school district decided to step in to help.
Yellowridge prepared information packages to help the carpenters put in employment standards claims.
The carpenters hadn’t been paid for three weeks of work from December 23 to January 14.
As a normal course of action in construction disputes, they filed liens against the property to recoup their wages. On January 22 a lien for $16,745.79 was filed followed by 10 more liens on February 6. In total more than $60,000 is filed against the property.
Under the Builders’ Lien Act when a subcontractor takes issue with something they put a lien against the property. “The circumstances are not that unusual,” said Hopkins. “Everyone is holding back money as leverage. You don’t pay your last bill until all obligations under the contract are fulfilled.”
Yellowridge was the general contractor on Port Alberni’s new secondary school which opened in September 2012. Thirty-five liens, worth $350,000, were filed against the property after a concrete subcontractor disputed payment.
For Westview Elementary, the president of Yellowridge and the school district formulated a plan to assist the affected workers by giving them “an advance of something close to the equivalent to the wages they’re owed and then assist them in recouping the money,” said Hopkins.
“We [the school district] wouldn’t normally get involved with these sorts of disputes,” he added. “It’s just the idea that they are local people working on the project with a lot of profile.”
For Yellowridge it is the extenuating circumstances of the situation that prompted them to help. “We try to do what we can,” said Hawboldt. “We definitely wouldn’t be able to do this in most other cases.”
Yellowridge will take the matter to the courts to recover some of the money from Nico Industries.
Before the new school is opened officially the province requires the property to be free of liens and encumbrances.
The contract dispute has put the project schedule back by approximately two weeks. Yellowridge has stepped in to complete the unfinished millwork. The school is scheduled for substantial completion on March 15. However, the school won’t open until September.
