Homebuilders Deals & Incentives on New Construction

If they closed in March, and the builder would throw in a free Whirlpool refrigerator, washer, and dryer as well.

K & S Contracting specializes in foundation repair for homeowners across Saskatchewan, in addition, they also offer general contracting services to Saskatoon and the surrounding area. In their latest Trusted Saskatoon contractor tip, K & S Contracting Trusted Saskatoon General Contractors and foundation specialists, discuss vermiculite insulation.

Vermiculite Insulation - What Is It?

What Is The Risk?

 

Asbestos minerals tend to separate into microscopic particles that become airborne and are easily inhaled. People exposed to asbestos in the workplace have developed several types of life-threatening diseases, including lung cancer. Workers in and around the Libby mine developed serious health problems. 

 

Like any hazards, length and intensity of exposure are major factors in the risk of asbestos-related respiratory illness. To assess the risk of asbestos exposure at a house, a sample of the vermiculite would need to be analyzed by a lab. Since most of the vermiculite used in Canada was taken from the Libby mine, the odds are quite good that there is asbestos in the vermiculite in Canadian attics.

 

The good news is that we don’t live in our attics. In addition, as long as it is undisturbed, neither the asbestos fibres bound up in the vermiculite chunks nor the dust will be released into the air. According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in the U.S., “Most people who get asbestos-related diseases have been exposed to high levels of asbestos for a long time.” Lastly, most of the time the air in your house flows from the house into the attic, rather than into the house from the attic.

 

The bottom line is, like most household products that may contain asbestos, and there are many, doing nothing is often the best approach. Naturally, the risk of exposure increases with the amount of time spent in the attic.

Our Recommendations

If the attic or walls of a house contain vermiculite insulation, leave it alone. Avoid disturbing the material. Do not sweep it or vacuum it up. Do not store belongings in the attic.

If work is planned that involves these areas, for example installing pot-lights in a room below the attic, send a sample of the vermiculite to a private lab. Send several samples, and use a lab specializing in asbestos analysis. If it is found to contain asbestos, or if you just assume it does, precautions should be taken. The safest approach would be to have the insulation in the affected areas removed by a qualified environmental contractor.

For smaller jobs, it may be sufficient to isolate work areas with temporary barriers or enclosures to avoid spreading fibres, use disposable protective clothing, and use proper respiratory protection. An important note – disposable respirators or dust masks are not appropriate for asbestos. Again, it is best to consult a qualified contractor.

For more information about K&S Contracting, view their listing in the Contractors section on Trusted Saskatoon.

K & S Contracting is a Trusted Saskatoon General Contractor and foundation specialist. 

Saskatoon’s only locally owned and operated staffing and recruitment agency, that offers a full scope of staffing and recruitment solutions from professional search and headhunting to temporary staffing. Express Employment Professionals allow clients to focus their efforts and time on being productive and doing what they do best – their business! Let their team focus on finding that right hire – that is what they do best! In their latest Saskatoon employment agency tip they share an article on building employee loyalty. 

Maintaining a productive workforce is the key to having sustainable success in business. However, with companies adapting to the current economic climate due to closures and social distancing measures, keeping top talent can be difficult. Not only do organizations need to focus on recruiting methods when opening up this summer, they also need to develop best retention practices to ensure stability as the economy ramps back up in the third and fourth quarters.

And with the economy facing tremendous hurdles, one thing a company cannot afford to lose is its employees. According to a study by Employee Benefits News, the average cost of losing an employee is 33% of their annual salary. So, retention needs to remain a major focus.

One of the key measures to retaining workers is building employee loyalty. For businesses that furloughed workers amidst temporary closures, or had to lay off employees due to economic hardships, rebuilding loyalty is paramount to ramping up business efforts.

Enhance Employee Development Plans

Though some professional development plans may have been put on hold during these past few months, it’s more important than ever to pour energy back into your workforce. Employees want to work for a company that invests in their future. And the best way to do this is through education, cross-training or tuition subsidies to name a few.

According to a BlessingWhite study, most employees who were willing to quit their job cited lack of career opportunity, with 26% citing lack of growth opportunities. If your business doesn’t have the capital to invest in development now, what you do have is time and talent. An inexpensive way to utilize these tools is through mentoring programs and cross-training among employees. These are all great ways to engage your workforce and build excitement about their roles.

Continue to Create Culture

A company’s culture is the heartbeat of the organization. It ties everything within a business together, binding values, mission, work ethic, and environment. It is one of the most important tools a company has for retention and loyalty. In LinkedIn’s Workplace Culture report, 86% of Millennials say they would consider talking a pay cut to accept a position at a company with a mission and values that align with their own. And a Hays report found that 43% of workers are seeking a new job with culture being the main reason.

Employees want to work for a company they believe in and also work in an environment where they feel safe and secure. Your culture is your key to not only recruiting new talent this year but also retaining your current workforce.

Engage Your Employees through Empathy

If your business was forced to temporarily close or your workforce was required to work remotely during these past few months, you’re probably tasked with building re-entry plans to safely bring your team back to the workplace. While this will be a great time full of opportunity to increase production, it also may be a difficult time for your employees. They have developed new habits by adapting to the work-from-home environments and may have difficulty adjusting to the new normal. This can cause employee disengagement and emotional detachment. Because of this, empathetic leadership will be a major factor this year.

According to Businessolver, 93% of employees would stay with an empathetic employer while 82% would leave their position to work for a more empathetic company. Consider adopting a partial remote schedule so employees can easily adjust. Or offer new projects between teams to help create newness and excitement in the workplace. By understanding their needs and helping them through the transition, you will be able to not only build trust and engagement, but loyalty as well.

Express Employment Professionals allow clients to focus their efforts and time on being productive and doing what they do best – their business. Let their team focus on finding that right hire – that is what they do best!

• Click Here: Saskatoon JOB SEEKERS
• Click Here: Saskatoon EMPLOYERS

Contact Hanif and the team today! Connecting employees with great companies like yours. 

'It's What They  Do'

Express Employment Saskatoon Your Trusted Saskatoon Headhunters and Employment Agency

Saskatoon’s only locally owned and operated staffing and recruitment agency, that offers a full scope of staffing and recruitment solutions from professional search and headhunting to temporary staffing. Express Employment Professionals allow clients to focus their efforts and time on being productive and doing what they do best – their business! Let their team focus on finding that right hire – that is what they do best! In their latest Saskatoon employment agency tip Hanif shares an article from SIA about workforce trends out pandemic. Express Employment Saskatoon Is Your Trusted Saskatoon Headhunters and Employment Agency.

1. Contingent Workers

Expanded use of contingent workers is one of nine human resources trends that will impact the future of work following the Covid-19 pandemic, according to research from Gartner Inc.The research organization cited one of its surveys that found 32% of companies are replacing full-time employees with contingent workers as a cost-saving measure.
Using more contingent workers will provide greater workforce management flexibility, according to Gartner. 

“However, HR will also need to consider how performance management systems apply to contingent workers as well as questions around whether contingent workers will be eligible for the same benefits as their full-time peers.”

The other eight trends noted in the report are:

2. Increase in remote work. 

A Gartner analysis found 48% of employees will likely work remotely at least part of the time after Covid-19.

3. Expanded data collection.

Companies are increasing their passive tracking of workers. Already, 16% are tracking employees passively via methods such as virtual clocking in and out as well as tracking computer usage.

4. Employer as a social safety net. 

Employers will increase their involvement in the lives of the employees by increasing mental health support, expanding healthcare coverage and providing financial health support.

5. Separation of critical skills and roles. 

“Separating critical skills from critical roles shifts the focus to coaching employees to develop skills that potentially open multiple avenues for them, rather than focusing on preparing for a specific next role,” said Emily Rose McRae, director in the Gartner HR practice.

6. Humanization (and dehumanization) of workers.

“Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, some employees have formed more connected relationships, while others have moved into roles that are increasingly task oriented,” according to Gartner. “Understanding how to engage task workers in the team culture and creating a culture of inclusiveness is now even more important.”

7. Emergence of new top-tier employers. 

Employers must balance the concerns today with the long-term impact on their employer brands in upcoming years.

8. Shift from designing for efficiency to designing for resilience.

Gartner says 55% of organizational redesigns prior to the pandemic were focused on streamlining roles, supply chains and workflows to increase efficiency; however, this has led to fragile systems. After Covid-19, companies will focus more on resilience through activities such as training employees with cross-functional knowledge.

9. Increase in organization complexity. 

There will be an acceleration in M&A leading to larger companies and changes in operating models that will create challenges for HR leaders.

Express Employment Professionals allow clients to focus their efforts and time on being productive and doing what they do best – their business. Let their team focus on finding that right hire – that is what they do best!

• Click Here: Saskatoon JOB SEEKERS
• Click Here: Saskatoon EMPLOYERS

Contact Hanif and the team today! Connecting employees with great companies like yours. 

'It's What They  Do'

Express Employment Saskatoon Is Your Trusted Saskatoon Headhunters and Employment Agency

As an award-winning  SASKATOON REAL Estate agent Marla Janzen knows the city and surrounding area extremely well. She strives to find her clients the perfect new place to live while negotiating the best terms and price possible. She has a keen eye for house layout and home staging, which really benefits her clients, most of whom are past client referrals! In her latest Saskatoon real estate tip Marla explains title insurance and easement. Marla Janzen is a TRUSTED SASKATOON REALTOR® 

Easements and Encroachments on a Property

What is Property Easement?

Property easement is defined as the right to facilitate a fraction of a property for a specified purpose. A survey will help decipher the property boundaries that will prevent any issues from determining land ownership. An easement can allow another person to encroach on your property and even though the lines are declared within the survey, these boundaries may be crossed without the owner’s express permission.  An easement can be included in the title or deed to the property. A prime example of an express easement would be if the power company wanted to run power lines onto a property or a neighbour might even want to enter an agreement to share common parts of the property that extend into both boundaries.  

A prescriptive or implied easement can occur if the use of property continues over an extended period of time.  A good instance of this would be if a neighbour has been crossing a boundary line for years then that neighbour could have obtained a prescriptive easement that will allow him to legally cross the property line.  Also, a “right of way” easement is nothing more than the allowance of someone to cross onto the property in question.  

Many people forget when they are buying a house that they are actually purchasing the land the house is built on and the boundary that surrounds it.  If you were to build a shed in your back yard and it happened to cross the land boundary into the property of another person this could technically be handled in a legal manner. This is something that can be avoided with proper surveys being done and the use of specified easements.

What about Title Insurance?

Title Insurance is a policy issued to the mortgage lender to protect against a defect in title. In Saskatchewan, the Land Titles system guarantees ownership of your land by title. Title Insurance policies provide no information about your property.

Only a Surveyor’s Real Property Report can assure you of the extent of your property and warn of any possible problems. Most of the time people are not going to worry about a few yards here and a few yards there, however, the same people who are okay with the encroachment might not always live there so it always is a good idea to get your bases covered legally and legitimately. This will ensure that down the road you are not going to wind up paying fines and going through a legal process that will cause nothing but problems.

• See Marla Janzen's Saskatoon and Warman Real Estate Listings Here  
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Marla guarantees to provide you with a stress-free, hassle-free, wonderful experience and we are sure once you have met her that you will not contact anyone else!

Marla Janzen is a TRUSTED SASKATOON REALTOR®