Once upon a time there were many little creeks and streams meandering through the area we now call Toronto. As the city grew, and sanitation standards rose, these waterways became buried; built over and forced into culverts, they were gradually forgotten. Their rediscovery began in 1995, when Helen Mills started the Lost Rivers walks – a joint project between the Toronto Green Community and the Toronto Field Naturalists that sought to retrace the old creeks through a series of guided walks. Over 2 decades later, Mills is still leading walks and working to make Toronto a greener, more sustainable city.

You came to Canada from South Africa when you were in your teens. How did Toronto seem to you when you first moved here?

Well, I came first to Calgary, and that was kind of like dying and going to Hell after Hell froze over, you know? Coming from a warm country… But three years later we came to Toronto, which – having been treated to the Calgary weather for three years, and it was the three coldest years in the previous one hundred years – Toronto was like moving to Florida. It was really wonderful. I very quickly felt at home in Toronto.

You encountered Toronto’s lost rivers soon after you moved here.

We were up near Eglinton, and I used to go to the local park – Eglinton Park – to swim because it was boiling hot when we landed. And I just had the strangest feeling at that park… There was just this little ripple of awareness about something’s wrong with this picture. What is this weird squared off depression, with flat playing fields at the bottom? It was subconscious almost subliminal. And then I just filed it away ‘oh that’s just how Toronto is’. I had many of those experiences. The same thing at Ramsden Park and Christie Pitts. Just a feeling of discomfort or ripple of awareness about something about the structure of that landscape was a bit disturbing. And then, when I finally discovered that in fact, these parks are on buried creeks where there were either brickyards or sand and gravel quarries, everything fell into place, you know?

Eglinton Park

Eglinton Park

Eglinton Park

Eglinton Park

You ran across lost waterways without knowing what they were for years. How did you finally find out about them?

When I was doing my first-year geography lab about rivers, physiography and urban form, I happened to walk through the faculty of architecture at U of T, and saw this exhibition that superimposed the rivers on the city grid, and it was just this huge moment of recognition and I was horrified, of course. I was very sorry – even though I understood that this is good; we don’t have cholera, right? There’s lots of places around that would really love not to have cholera and would like to have sanitation and clean water to drink. But it was kind of a devastating thing to experience. That these [rivers] were just gone.

Would you say that you were an environmentalist back then?

Let’s just say that when I was 15, I became horrified about the state of the world and the environment. And I wanted – even at that early age – to put wheat between the streetcar tracks on Queen Street. I dreamed of green cities and doing something, but I didn’t feel that I really had any tools. I was almost paralyzed by depression and dread at the situation in the world. So when I went back to university in my 30s, and I did physical geography and botany, it gave me a handle, gave me something where I had enough knowledge that I felt I could do something.

Don Valley

Don Valley

Don Valley

And that ‘something’ became the Lost Rivers Walks?

I learned about the lost rivers and I wanted to do environmental art and do blue lines along the roads and up over the buildings and down the other side. And name them, and bring them to the surface of people’s awareness, and that sat on my back burner for ten years. Then one day I saw this hokey little green poster in Pusateri’s, saying ‘The North Toronto Green Community: come to a community meeting. Tell us your dreams’. And I stopped and turned around three times and said ‘that’s for me’, and off I trotted to this meeting – which oddly enough was facilitated by Kathleen Wynne.

There were about 70 people there on a bitterly cold February night, and I got into a group talking about water, and I said “Well I think we’re sitting on a buried creek” – which we were, it was Eglinton Park – “and we should figure out where our creeks are“. And basically the Green Community handed me a license to carry out my dreams. And it morphed into the Lost Rivers walks very quickly.

You did a few garden-related projects, as well?

I was also very involved in getting the first community garden going in Eglinton park, and then a few years later helped to found the Green Garden Visit, which was a little home eco visit for people. We’d look at your garden through the lens of water waste, energy, food, etc, and help you to have a more eco-friendly garden. That morphed into a little social enterprise called Green Gardeners Community Collaborative that spun off from the Green Community.

Actually, the gardening has been a continuous thing alongside Lost Rivers, and there’s an obvious connection, because a river is not just a blue line on a map. It’s a whole matrix, a mosaic of landscape uses in the watershed surrounding the river. And everything you do anywhere in that watershed has an impact on the river. So really, to solve our water problems, we have to go right back to the watershed and begin to change the fabric of the city. Rain gardens are one simple thing that an individual can do to that can make a very big difference in the water cycle – if enough people do it.

Click on the photo to get to the interactive map!

What were the first Lost Rivers walks like?

Kind of like they are now… but longer. I think on the first walk there was a geologist, a local historian, Peter Hare – who later did the Lost River website, and had been involved in the Royal Commission on the waterfront and the Don council. He’s a forester. And members of the Toronto Green Community and the Toronto Field Naturalists. And the amazing thing is, there were 35 people on that walk. No idea where they came from but they just have never stopped coming.

Have the walks changed much since then?

They’re evolving through the Rivers Rising Ambassadors. The idea for Rivers Rising is to bring together the Indigenous community and the Newcomer community, in the framework of lost rivers and community gardens, and culture and story-telling and food. Which sounds like a mouthful, but you know, you can think of the Lost Rivers as a sort of organizing principle. As you walk along them, you may find gardens, you may find restaurants, you may find something else, and you definitely will find people who bring their stories and their connections.

Solstice walk taken near Evergreen Brick works

The number of people on a walk can vary quite a bit, and apparently averages about 33. Can you describe a particular walk that really took off in popularity?

We used to walk along Highland Creek every year and this wonderful engineer from the City used to explain the work he was doing in restoration on the river, because it was ripped apart in a flood quite a few years ago – I think it was 2005. And then one year there were salmon! So the fish ladder that he built had worked. And for the next year we said ‘come see the salmon run on Highland Creek’, and there were fifty people. And the next year there were a hundred and fifty people, and the next year there were five hundred people, and it just kept growing.

One year there were over a thousand people that did the walk. And then they stopped doing that format altogether, and now it’s a festival with the TRCA and park people involved, and thousands of people go to that. They have a fish expert, and they bring in a frozen salmon just in case there isn’t areal one available that day. And they do the little fish talk. But people just love coming and running by the river and looking for the salmon.

You’ve traveled a fair bit. Have you compared the lost rivers in any of the other cities you’ve visited?

I’m fascinated by the fact that this Lost Rivers thing is now a phenomenon. All over the world, people are looking for their lost rivers and finding them. It’s a common characteristic with any large city. Even Cape Town has some lost rivers that they’ve found. And London, and wherever you go, somebody’s probably looking for a lost river.

Are there any policy changes you’d like to see applied to dealing with Toronto’s waterways?

There’s a huge question! Well, you know, I think it took us two hundred years to mess up our rivers. I think we need a 200 year plan to undo the harm we’ve done. And by that I don’t necessarily mean that we’ll dig up the Eaton Centre to get Taddle Creek back, but that we will start to learn from nature, and model our practices in the city on natural cycles, and use closed loops in our thinking about water and energy and waste.

You’ve defined ‘watershed thinking’ on the Lost River website as “recognizing the relationship between humans and their natural environment”. Should this be taught in schools?

It is taught in schools. It’s in the public school curriculum. But the funny thing is, it doesn’t seem to go in very much. It’s interesting. And I can tell you from my own experience, the word ‘watershed’ doesn’t mean anything to people. And even if you define it, we’re so disconnected from landscape that it’s very hard for people to apply that idea in the context of the city.

Perhaps the really difficult trick is getting people to care.

They only have to change their behavior. They actually don’t have to care. There’s an interesting idea that attitudes actually follow behavior. If you change one small behavior, it sets a snowball going of bigger and bigger attitude changes and engagement. So whatever that small thing is – whether it’s getting a blue box or planting a tree or turning off the tap when you brush your teeth – it’s an action. And attitudes and feelings follow the action, not the other way around. That’s one theory, and I think there’s a lot to be said for that.

I do think that there is a kind of environmental religion, and we’re all missionaries in our own way, right? And I’m not at all sure that the environmental religion approach works very well.

I think what works is when people are engaged and connected with their neighbours, and where there’s a sense of community and belonging and role models around them and it becomes a thing. Fashion works really well. People are engaged with fashion, and fashions, and trends, and they want to be on trend.

When you talk about an ‘environmental religion’ and missionaries, does that mean that environmentalists can come across as self-righteous and preachy?

Yeah. You know what? I actually had a friend – when I was first involved in the Green Community – and she was completely dumbfounded, because she did have that image of the angry environmentalist: confrontational, fighting the government, protesting to say something. And then she was around the Green Community, and it was just these happy people, being in a community and doing things that felt wonderful – like gardening and walking. And it was the positiveness of it that really really blew her away, because she just had such a preconception of environmentalists as being very judgmental and serious.

I think one of the things that drew me to the Green Community model is that it is based on the idea of community-based environmental action that relates to people’s actual needs in the neighbourhoods where they live. And that’s a very different model.

I think environmentalism is perceived as a set of puritanical religious behaviors that are painful to implement. ‘Somebody’s going to take my car away! Oh my God! I can’t possibly live without it!’ And I actually think that what works is when people are engaged in a positive way with something that moves them… that this peer engagement – I don’t want to say pressure, because I think pressure is the thing that doesn’t work – but the joy works. A sense of community works. The love between neighbours works.

Yellow Creek

Yellow Creek

Is this where the Lost River Walks come in?

I do believe that something does happen with Lost River walks, even though they probably attract, on balance, a pre-converted audience, but I think it’s a profound experience. There’s something about walking, and being together in a group, and being aware of what’s around you and being contemplative and thoughtful. There’s a very profound deep thing that goes back to the dawn of humanity; two legs, right? We’ve been wandering around the Earth in little groups forever, so it’s a kind of fundamental thing that people do. And it is a way of being in the environment that I think is valuable in and of itself. And we don’t get enough of it. Especially kids with their computers.

Did you ever get around to doing environmental art?

We did once. We painted all the lost rivers between the lake and the former boundary of the old city of Toronto on Yonge, when Yonge street was closed for Yonge 200. There’s a bunch of poets who we call the Lost River poets, and they lead poetry walks on the rivers, which is a profound and very different experience. Very ecstatic. And we’ve done the walks with music and walks with people painting on a canvass, activities like carrying water and then pouring it into the lake. So yeah, we’ve dabbled in all that stuff. With kids we’ve done graffiti at the Mud Creek where it goes underneath the 401 – on the wall of the 401.

Do you have any advice for people feeling powerless in the face of the world’s many environmental problems?

Start close to home. And actually, if you want to start a neighbourhood Green Community group, there’s a new network of neighbourhood green communities, which is a great way to start, come to think of it.

Do you think people often overlook the small, simple actions because they don’t seem big or meaningful enough?

I actually think that the young people get it more than the older people. One of the most wonderful things for me is being around the young people who are in the environmental community. It’s mind-blowing. They are the most amazing human beings. And I think they really do get it. Partly, you know, a lot of them have studied Environmental Studies, so they understand the thinking behind ‘local’ and ‘neighbourhood’. And again, I think local is super trendy. People really understand that now.

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New developments in Toronto and the GTA are filled with contemporary, cookie-cutter designs. While many Torontonians appreciate the aesthetics, and often the relatively lower costs of modern residences, others want a home with the physique of a different era.

Heritage homes are residential properties that the government, usually at the municipal level, designates as a “special heritage interest”, as part of the Ontario Heritage Act. Within the act, PART IV provides protection to individual properties and PART V provides protection for whole areas called Heritage Conservation Districts (HCD). The main purpose of the Ontario Heritage Act is to give the different levels of government the power to preserve Ontario’s and Canada’s heritage.

The Toronto Preservation Board in collaboration with the Heritage Preservation Services research which buildings to protect. After they suggest a building or area, a city council votes on whether to give it heritage status. And they follow a few criteria to decide whether or not a building qualifies. To qualify, a building must:

• be rare, unique, representative, or an early example of a style, type, expression, martial or construction method;
• display a high degree of craftsmanship or artistic merit;
• demonstrate a high degree of technical or scientific achievement;
• have a direct association with a theme, event, belief, person, activity, organization, or institution that is significant to a community;
• yield or have the potential to yield information that contributes to an understanding of a community or culture;
• demonstrates significant architectural value; or
• is important to supporting the character of an idea, physically or historically linked to surroundings, or is a landmark.

There are over 4,500 homes in Toronto and many more in the GTA that are properly designated as a heritage home. Designated homes or areas are legally protected and require an approval from city council for any demolition or alterations. Properties can also be “listed”. This means that, while they don’t have heritage status, they are being researched and assessed to see if they qualify for it. Owners of listed properties have to give the city a 60-day notice before any demolitions or alterations, in which time the city can grant the property heritage status.

While a designation may seem like a nice status for your house to have, there are a few things to note. Any home that has status or that is part of an HCD, again, must have city council evaluate and approve any plans for repair or alteration to the building(s). For an HCD, new developments in the area also have to blend in with existing historical buildings. Though these rules create barriers for property owners, Richard Silver, senior vice president of sales at Sotheby’s Canada, sees heritage designations as a positive:

I think that an HCD actually protects the atmosphere of a neighbourhood and is a bonus when buying.

The barriers on heritage homes and HCDs aren’t extensive, but you can expect to wait a few months for approvals on renovations and changes. When applying, it can help to provide what the site looks like now and what it can potentially look like after your repairs and alterations.

Know that the integrity of your plans may be challenged [by city council] if you are not in keeping with the [heritage] community.” said Silver, “But at the end of the day that is what has attracted you to the area. Why change it?

You should also expect higher renovation costs. Heritage homes require many architectural features to be kept the same. And to keep these features the same, the house may need highly custom and precise labour and pricier materials. This can include trimming details and stonework, special woods for doors and windows, and much more.

362 Wellesley St East | Cabbagetown

Due to these additional barriers and costs, some homeowners who live in potential-heritage-home properties choose not to apply for heritage home status. And if their property is selected without an application, they appeal to the city council.

If you’re looking to buy a heritage home, make sure to estimate how much renovations will cost. Ideally, tour the house with a contractor before purchase to understand the potential price tag of buying and renovating the property.

A heritage home can be a handful, but some of the benefits can be worth the costs. By owning a heritage property, you’ll have access to the Heritage Grant Program, which assists property owners with repairing and maintaining the defining features of a heritage building. To qualify for the grant, a property must be designated under PART lV or V of the Ontario Heritage Act and be a residential or property-tax-exempt property. This grant can provide up to $10,000 or 50% of the eligible heritage conservation costs. However, you can only receive this grant once every five years, and if you own multiple heritage properties, you can only apply for one property per year. If the program interests you, make sure to apply fast! Applications for 2019 are due October 21, 2018.

Another benefit of owning a heritage home is pride. The historical value of the home is important and a great talking point when speaking to associates and friends. Some see the heritage aspect as a con due to additional obstacles when altering the property, but when selling the home, it should definitely be listed as a pro. Many home buyers want a story and that’s exactly what you get from heritage homes—and something you won’t get from a newly developed property.

By market evaluations, the pros and cons even out. Silver says that heritage status has not affected most homes in Toronto:

These days a lot of the areas in Toronto are in HCD: Rosedale, Cabbagetown, the Annex etc. These areas have seen a huge price increase in value so the fact of being an HCD has not affected them. It just means that they are more difficult to tear down or to make changes to when the changes are not consistent with the neighbourhood.

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A few months ago we met with Alan Carson of Carson Dunlop Home Inspection Services and he told us about an app called Setter. We have tried it and it is a Virtual Property Manager and concierge service for your home. It is like having a concierge to look after you in a hotel or condo except it is on your phone.

Each request is sent to Setter and they search for you, get an estimate and you can choose a time for the job to be completed. They have been very attentive and helpful throughout and we cannot recommend them highly enough. Here is a walkthrough and introduction to this game-changing service.

About Setter

Setter is a venture-backed marketplace for home services such as plumbing, appliance repair, pest control, and much more. The app, available on both iOS and Android, founded by former custom-home builder David Steckel, aims to be a single point of contact for home repairs and upgrades for homeowners. And Steckel strongly believes that every homeowner should have a single point of contact for their housing needs:

The home is a person’s most significant investment in their portfolio. If you think of your health, you have a doctor. If you think of your wealth, you have many different institutions. If you think of your home, your single largest asset, it’s the homeowner managing it. And the homeowner is not always educated to do so. Setter is here to help with that.

Through Setter, you can order home services from reliable, Setter-vetted vendors. The app has a home management team comprised of individuals with different industry experiences. Collectively, they vet potential vendors. The company also uses Scope of Work and before-after pictures to verify the vendor’s capabilities.

Setter has a dedicated point of contact that you can message for all your needs—a home manager. You can make requests in simple English (i.e., “Can you dispose of a dead raccoon in my yard?”), and your home manager will find the necessary vendor and bring back a quote.

Steckel knows that consumers need an app like Setter due to his experience as a custom-home builder:

We were building homes and handing the keys to the owners, but they weren’t changing the filters to their AC unit or they needed a shelf put up. In these situations, they would call us back, and we would take care of it. I realized really quickly that there’s a real need for a trusted source for these little things, these little upgrades, these little repairs.

Noticing the demand, Steckel started a business to solve this consumer issue. As the business grew, he realized that he and his team could better facilitate their service through technology; and thus, the Setter app was born.

The app currently operates in the GTA and San Francisco, with plans to expand through the entire US and Canada, neighbourhood by neighbourhood. Steckel envisions that Setter will make neighbourhoods with 250-500 houses behave similarly to a condo with 250-500 units. He wants Setter to function like a property manager for these neighbourhoods. This means scheduling all the maintenance for these 250-500 neighbourhood homes at once, just like a condo would. Steckel’s mission is to bring down the cost of living for these homeowners while providing increased home maintenance.

We want home maintenance to be invisible. Just like how getting a taxi or having something delivered is invisible—you just order an Uber or go on Amazon. We believe home maintenance will be this simple.

Inside the App

When you download Setter and enter the app, the first thing you notice is how nice the design is. The app greets you with beautiful images and a simple registration process, asking for your phone number and home address to get started. You then enter the main home page. On the top portion of the screen is a faded picture of your house (found thanks to the address, which can be slightly creepy) with a greeting and your address. A few functions are laid out immediately below this banner.

You’ll have the option to request services. The app asks for a picture of what is in need of maintenance with an accompanying voice note or text message. An image isn’t mandatory, however, and providing a voice note or text is more than enough. If you do want to send an image, you have the option choose a photo from your library or to take a photo through the app. This whole process is very straightforward and navigable for even the less tech savvy.

After adding a picture (or skipping this step), you’re asked “What do you need?”, “Where is it in your home?”, and “When do you need it by?”. Again, you can respond either via text or voice note. By clicking on the Setter logo or the emergency option, you can also call your home manager directly, though you may not get a response outside of regular business hours. So unlike many apps, which run on chatbots, you’re talking to a real human being with Setter.

Once you make a request, you can check the status. There are four stages: Request, Quote, In Progress, and Complete. Below the status bar, you can continue to communicate with your point of contact. It can be confusing at first to cancel a request, but simply asking to cancel the request in the chat is the way to go.

The left-hand side has a menu where you can find a number of other options:

• How it Works: A static page that explains what Setter does and how it works.
• Maintenance services: All of the services that Setter provides—categorized by seasons in a checklist format. This checklist is highly useful for homeowners who don’t know what they should prioritize. Even individuals not using the Setter app can leverage this checklist to see what maintenance their house needs by the season.
• Pricing: A static page that explains how the pricing structure works and the 10-25% markup. This page also explains that the markup is to pay for your point of contact or “home manager” and that the 10-25% range depends on the service. Setter’s transparency in its pricing is fantastic.
• Call Setter: Brings you to your dial pad with a phone number to reach your home manager directly.
• Profile: A page to change your address, email, phone number, and/or add/edit your credit card information.

This menu is very easy to use. Most pages are static making it dead simple and again, great for those lacking technological competency.

During business hours, you can expect responsive replies from your home manager, and outside of business hours, a response will come as soon as it can. Because you’re dealing with a real person, you can expect customized answers and not ones that follow a generic algorithm. Overall this app is great in assisting you with accessing service providers for your home and is a great one-stop shop.

SIGN UP USING TORONTOISM’s LINK AND GET $200 CREDIT!

There is no charge to sign up, and as a matter of fact, they are offering a $200 credit to any of our readers who sign up. ($100 off the first two jobs). If you are overwhelmed with work, family and the home that you love, go to http://setter.com/torontoism and sign up.

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Dave Reyes is the owner and founder of Dave’s Duct Cleaning, one of the top duct cleaning services in Toronto and the GTA. Business aside, he hopes to shine a light on the frauds of the duct cleaning industry and help consumers save their money, time, and home from unqualified HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning) remediators. With a mission to educate consumers about proper duct cleaning, some could call Dave an activist of his industry.

What is your connection to Toronto?

I was born and raised in Toronto, as well as educated. I went to the University of Toronto St. George campus at Victoria College. My company has a large footprint across the GTA and Toronto, and we’ve seen everything in terms of ductwork remediation that Toronto has to offer—whether that’s commercial, industrial, or residential. At Dave’s Duct Cleaning, we work out of our trucks. We have two trucks at the moment, with a third one on its way. One truck is based out of Mississauga, another out of the Whitby/Durham region, and the new one will be set in Vaughan. Each truck has a 100km radius which lets us reach everything from the downtown core to Barrie.

How did you get into the duct cleaning business?

Seven years ago, I was scammed by an unscrupulous duct cleaning company. My wife answered a telemarketing call pitching duct cleaning services, and she said: “Sure, we haven’t gotten our ducts cleaned in a while”. My wife and I didn’t know any better, and we thought we had a reputable company serving us. We turned out to be wrong.

When they came to our home, they drilled holes in places that ruined the integrity of our HVAC system. They also claimed to have inspected our furnace when they had no license to. They said there were issues with the furnace that they could fix for an additional fee, and because I was uneducated at the time about these things, they sold me on an extended warranty on the appliance that they had no right selling an extended warranty for. This whole experience left a bad taste in my mouth and motivated me to start my own duct cleaning service to do it right and to educate consumers about what it takes to have the work done properly.

How do I know when to get my ducts cleaned?

We have a checklist on our website to inform consumers about the symptoms of dirty ducts. There are several “checks” one can undertake to determine whether your home needs its air ducts cleaned:

• Presence of mold growth inside sheet metal ducts or on other components of the heating and cooling system.
• Ducts are infested with vermin such as rats or insects.
• Ducts are clogged with excessive amounts of dust and debris.

The rule of thumb is to have someone clean your ducts after a renovation or after purchasing a new home. After a thorough and proper cleaning, per NADCA standards and under normal living conditions (no renovations/pets), you likely won’t need another one for the next five-to-seven years. That is unless you went with a “blow-and-go” company – they’ll say “see you next year”.

Why is it important to get my ducts cleaned?

Because they’re dirty; that’s the biggest reason. The HVAC system is a low-pressure system, and the build-up of dust and debris is adding resistance to the system. Without the HVAC system providing proper airflow to your home, there are tons of things in our environment that would hurt us, such as off-gassing. Off-gassing can come from the chemicals from the materials used in the construction of new homes, from sunlight touching plastics, and from other ordinary things such as printers. A clean duct system moves these chemicals out of your home. As well, with clean ducts, you aren’t propelling more dirt into your environment.

Return Vent (Before & After)

Can you explain the difference between the companies charging $300-$400 for duct cleaning and the companies that charge $100-$150?

The $100-$150 companies are blow-and-go companies. They come in unmarked vans and don’t care about the customer. They’ll come into your home, say they’ll do a good job, upsell you, and get onto the next victim. They’ll also offer you services that they’re not qualified to do.

Companies that charge fair prices for their service are only capable of doing no more than three jobs per day with a two-person crew. On average it takes two-to-three hours to remediate a standard 2000-3000 square foot home. Also, it’s important to me to have technicians that are NADCA certified. We have the credentials to remediate commercial, industrial and residential HVAC systems. We won’t just work through your house as fast as possible so we can make it to the next client – we also stay as long as the job necessitates because it’s important for me to deliver a proper and thorough service.

Why is being certified so important?

To be NADCA certified, there is an exam and a yearly recertification. That to me says that certified technicians are constantly on top of the innovation of HVAC remediation. By being NADCA certified, there’s a technical standard and a moral obligation that one has to adhere to and they’re supposed to know everything there is about your HVAC system—from sheet metal to the different types of ductwork in your home. The knowledge you need for the certification is complicated stuff but it’s important for remediators to understand the fundamentals in order to provide a service to customers who are unaware of what it takes to remediate properly.

What does it mean to be NADCA certified?

In layman’s terms, the point of having a NADCA certification is that every job site is different and, in my opinion, it’s important that any technician that goes onto a job site can pull from the same knowledge base that I have in order to do the job properly. This is what the customer needs and is paying for. I wouldn’t just train an individual and give them a basic understanding of remediation because I believe they should know what I know, if not more. They may encounter a situation that is not common. But if they are taught and educated about the process and about the industry, they could remediate any situation without any additional support.

Do you know what is inside your ducts?

Aside from certifications, what should I look for when hiring a duct cleaning technician?

Do they take before/after pictures? Do they provide transparent and upfront pricing with no hidden fees? Are they willing to let you job shadow them? Will they walk you through their methodology for remediation? Would they do an inspection prior to performing the job to ensure you actually need the work done? You want to see if they’ll be in business tomorrow, whether they support the community that they’re working in, and if they’re part of any associations. Associations all have standards, codes, and beliefs, and being part of an association means that the technician adheres to those standards, codes, and beliefs. The association also holds its members accountable if they do anything deceitful or illegal. Additionally, online sentiment is important. There are websites like Homestars, Yelp, Google Reviews, and BBB (Better Business Bureau) which can tell you a bit more about the company’s work. Lastly, ask for references and verify that they’re insured.

Can you tell me about your company’s relationship with Habitat for Humanity?

Habitat for Humanity was originally building and delivering homes to families without remediating the HVAC systems. We introduced them to remediating the HVAC system before handing the home to the family so that the family isn’t subject to drywall dust and sawdust. We help Habitat for Humanity take particle readings, bring in HEPA filtration, and educate the families about how to maintain their HVAC system. If Habitat for Humanity is helping families and giving them a home, well, let’s help give the family a clean home. We also donate a portion from every job to Habitat for Humanity, and over the past three years, we’ve donated over $30,000. To me, it’s important to help others and to be active in the community.

What are the oddest things you find in HVAC system while on the job?

You’ll see everything from toys to drugs and pornography in people’s HVAC systems. Depending on the age of the home, the HVAC system is like a time capsule; you can tell if construction was done and when it was done, what kind of people lived there, and much more. It’s common for pets to get lost in the home’s ducts – gerbils and guinea pigs are common. The family complains about a missing pet and a bad smell, and it’ll turn out to be a corpse somewhere in the system. We’ve also found houses where people have defecated and urinated in the supply vents. And we’ve found things like gold coins, vintage trading cards, and even a contractor’s lunch.

THROWBACK! @PepsiCanada How old is this can? We found it today! #davesducts #itbelongsinamuseum #ductcleaningtreasure pic.twitter.com/2iboQ1f0Jz

— Dave’s Duct Cleaning (@davesducts) December 20, 2016

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Back in 2013, Jim Burtnick had a foreign client moving his family from Egypt to Toronto. He was looking both for residential and office space. So Jim introduced him to 7 St Thomas, which was just being launched at that time. It was a new project that really caught Jim’s attention for a number of reasons. One was because of its architecture. It has a heritage component and then a very modern component, so it was very unique. It was in a triple A location in the heart of Yorkville and also it was an office condo. Jim recognized the value in this new type of real estate  on the market and eventually ended up taking 7 St Thomas project to sell it on behalf of the developer.

Find out more about condominium offices in this video presentation by Jim Burtnick.

Late last year, CBC Comedy released a hilarious music video which profiled the stereotypes of Toronto millennial homebuyers. This video parodies a tough reality for millennials: even if they work long hours at several jobs and save to the best of their ability, a five-digit savings account is nowhere near enough for the downpayment of their dream home. The modern millennial does not have the luxuries of their parents to purchase a home and a car and start a family with the salary of a blue- or white-collared job.

With the Toronto and Vancouver housing markets reaching/at “bubble” status, first-time home buyers find it impossible to enter the market. According to the Royal LePage Peak Millennial Survey released last August, 72 per cent of peak millennials in Ontario—where peak millennial is defined as those aged 25 to 30—hope to purchase a home in the next five years but only 59 per cent believe that they can afford it. Additionally, 72 per cent of survey participants feel that the homes in their region are unaffordable and 51 per cent believe that the 2018 mortgage rule changes have altered what they can afford.

In fact, a recent report by Royal Le Page shows that the purchasing power of the average Canadian peak millennial dropped by approximately 16.5 per cent ($40,103) after the introduction of the OSFI stress test. According to the same report, peak millennial purchasers with a budget of $325,000 to $425,000 bought a home with an average of 1.7 bedrooms, 1.4 bathrooms and 856 sq. ft. of living space in the Greater Toronto Area.

According to the 2016 government census, 50.2 per cent of millennials owned a home. This is 4.8 per cent less than the 55 per cent of baby boomers who owned a home at the same age in 1981. The census also found that millennials in 2016 are more likely than baby boomers in 1981 to live in apartments (compared to single-detached homes) and are more likely to live at home with their parents, as well. Factors that contribute to these statistics go beyond the expensive Canadian housing markets. Today’s young adults have more education, meaning more years of school where there is little-to-no income and high expenses; have children later in life; and have parents with the ability to house adult children.

The Bank of Mom and Dad

According to Rizwan Malik, Senior Vice President of Sales at Sotheby’s Canada, millennials are finding ways to still break into the market, often with the help of their parents:

These millennial buyers are usually young professionals in the technology and banking industries, but they don’t look for properties that their salaries can afford. Instead, they’re heavily supported by their family. Mom and dad may help with the downpayment and the individual uses his/her income to support the mortgage.

Malik goes on to explain how parents can afford to help their child with such a large purchase:

Real Estate prices in the past few years have appreciated so much that a house that the parents bought when it was $800,000 might be worth over $3 million now. The parents often still work, so they have the ability to borrow against their own home to help their child buy a property.

Without the help of parents, it’s unlikely that millennials can afford the properties they want. Malik’s first-time buyer clients show interest in condos in the King West and Queen West areas. Millennials value these locations for the nightlife and for its proximity to the financial district where many of them work. It’s not uncommon for the condos in these areas to be in the $600,000-$700,000 range. Malik also says that his millennial clients looking for detached homes spend between $1-$1.2 million.

The parents willingly help because they fear that in five-to-ten years from now, their child won’t be able to afford anything at all and they want to help them get ahead. However, this changes up the whole buying process:

Since the parents are putting in so much money, it’s not necessarily one client in the purchasing process, the parents want their say [in the property being purchased], so you end up with three to four clients.

However, Stephanie Peralta, a Sotheby’s Canada sales representative, has a different set of millennial clientele. Her Toronto millennial clients are looking for properties under $600,000, which lean towards the suburban areas of Toronto and the GTA. Peralta’s clients want a property that can generate rental income—whether that’s through renting out a spare condo room or the basement apartment in their detached home. Additionally, her clients favour the Brampton area for its relatively lower prices and millennials who want a downtown property like the Liberty Village area, the Entertainment District, and the Financial District.

Like Malik, Peralta sees parents helping their kids break into the Toronto real estate market:

Because of home prices being so high, Millennials are still purchasing real estate but for most young folks, what price point and location will depend on the ability to gain financial support from their family. If their family is helping them out with a downpayment or are co-signing, I find that they are looking at both the condo option and the suburb option—which has more potential rental income. [Otherwise], most are looking at the condo option, as the cost can be much lower.

Even with or without help, Peralta finds that millennials are not fussy about what the property looks like. They are open to non-renovated properties since they are less costly. The emphasis for millennials is on convenience, such as being close to a highway.

Upsizing

In 2016, the population share of Canadian seniors (16.9 per cent) exceeded the share of children (16.6 per cent) for the first time. This trend is predicted to continue, and, by 2031, some estimate that seniors could make up 25 per cent of the population while the share of children remains the same. One expert believes that this is due to modern Canadians having fewer children due to skyrocketing house prices and stagnant job wages.

This is supported by a 2015 survey by ratesupermarket.ca which found that 52.8% of Canadians cannot afford to start or expand their family, mostly due to real estate prices. Overall, this results in millennials—some who have hit their mid-30s—having fewer children and having children later in life. Both Malik and Peralta see the early-mid 30s as the age group when Canadians are pushing to have a family and are upsizing their home.

“I was born in ’86. I’m 32 now. Most of my friends who I graduated with, I sold them their first condo. In the past three to five years, they’ve partnered up, had children and are now [upsizing their home] to meet the demands of their family,” says Malik.

While there’s no single way to profile the Toronto millennial home buyer, there are a few trends among them: many millennials are purchasing with the help of their parents, convenience is a big factor, and upsizing is usually due to family expansion—commonly occurring in the mid-30s.

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