One of the issues which the Building Expo has brought to the fore has to do with what would appear to be some important changes in our construction culture that could become permanent features of building in Guyana.
There is, for example, the issue of non-traditional species of wood. These are not very well-known species, which can serve the building sector no less effectively than those traditional species like greenheart, crabwood and mora, that have been pressed into service.
Government has undertaken a modest public awareness programme on the issue of non-traditional species though if you speak with many of the people in the market for wood – contractors, builders and potential home-owners – you come to understand that old habits die hard. Here the problem is that with an investment as significant as a home, people require for more than what one might call superficial assurances.
At the conclusion of this year’s Building Expo, Housing Minister Irfaan Ali referred to a programme started by the Ministry of Natural Resources on “lesser-known wood species.” If the truth be told and given the prevailing countrywide building drive, much more needs to be done to assure consumers.
Another interesting development was the appearance of at least two exhibits – one from Suriname – offering steel-framed structures. While we learnt that the demo building set up by the Surinamese was quickly sold off to a local buyer, we were unable to ascertain the extent to which the structures might catch on locally.
This point, of course, is that we continue to get different takes on whether or not local timber production can meet domestic housing needs and external market requirements simultaneously. On this particular issue, the minister did have a mouthful to say about the steel structures, including the fact that while the price of steel is greater than that of wood, steel structures can be built in considerably less time resulting in major savings on building costs.
Another interesting announcement made by the housing minister on the issue has to do with what he says is the probable official licensing of contractors given what we are told are complaints about shoddy work. Here it should be stated that the building sector has not been known over the years either to honour its own codes or to rein-in the incompetent. And there is the fact that many people who build homes engage contractors purely on a matter of trust.
Government, of course, appears to have approached the problem over the years as though it were purely bilateral between the contractors and the home-builder, though it is hard to see how its highly touted housing drive can be deemed a success if homeowners must accept shoddy work without recourse. The idea of licensing contractors would certainly do more to empower home-builders.
The point about all of this, of course, has to do with the importance of placing information in the public domain as a support mechanism for stakeholders in an expanding housing sector. Some of that was actually accomplished during last weekend’s building expo and the Housing Minister’s pronouncements.
