Anshu Arora LLM, MSc, PMP

The Calgary real estate market set another record for sales in June and benchmark prices ticked up for the sixth consecutive month as persistently low inventory levels kept conditions tight by historical standards.

The total number of units sold in June was 3,146, slightly surpassing the previous month’s figure of 3,121, the Calgary Real Estate Board (CREB) reported on July 4. The rise in sales was primarily driven by apartment condominiums, which jumped to 857 units, a 48 per cent increase compared to the previous year. While new listings rose compared to the previous month, they remained 36 per cent below last year, the lowest point for June in almost two decades. Although average prices experienced a slight decline, both median and benchmark prices grew slightly, rising by 0.59 per cent and 1.38 per cent, respectively.

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A new rental report has revealed that the average asking rent in Canada rose 20% in April for all property types to an average of $2,002, compared to $1,662 at the same time in 2021. This means tenants nationwide are spending an additional $340 per month on rent. Year-over-year (YOY) rents have also spiked across the nation.

Provincially, Nova Scotia saw an eye-popping 30% increase in rent for three-bedroom apartments. Nationally, Canadian apartments were the top rental housing type to see significant increases (+12.9% YOY), followed by houses and townhomes (+6.4% YOY), and finally, condos (+3.7% YOY).

One-bedroom apartments and condos clocked in at $2,823 (+15% YOY), and two-bedroom units cost a terrifying $3,816 (+14% YOY) monthly rent as of May. Vancouver takes the cake for being the most expensive city in Rentals.ca’s research. Studio units saw the most considerable year-over-year increase (24%) with a median rent of $2,471.

Toronto maintained the second-highest rent increase in April, with one-bedroom homes coming in at $2,526 (+20.5% YOY) and two-bedrooms at $3,290 (+18% YOY) per month on average. Studio apartments saw the biggest rent increase among apartments and condos, with an average of $1,996 (+21.2% YOY) in May. One-bedroom apartments went up 20% year-over-year as well, averaging $2,538. Rent for three-bedroom apartments saw the lowest increase, staying under Vancouver’s $4,000+ range at $3,791 in May, too.

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#kingslistings

#google

#surreycondoking

#realestate

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Companies that measure their intellectual capital can use it to: 

• Create more value
• Improve products and services
• Drive sales and growth 
• Increase efficiency
• And, deepen customer and partner relationships

That last point is key. Managing intellectual capital well can actually create more intellectual capital.

Intellectual assets include:

• Knowledge and skills of individual team members
• Research and innovation capabilities
• Organizational structure
• Information systems
• Any other intellectual property created by the company

Intellectual capital also includes strong relationships with customers and strategic partnerships with other businesses. It can also cover product development, any innovation or discovery made by the company, and any patents or copyrights that it owns. Original research and investigations also contribute to a company's intellectual capital. So do any data generated by the research. The impact of intellectual capital should not be underestimated. It can inform your decision-making processes and help you create strategies that improve your business. Building intellectual capital can improve business performance by contributing to the knowledge economy.

We looked at hotel prices across the country via Expedia, a popular hotel booking platform. Before this deep dive, it’s important to note that two cities in particular, Edmonton and Toronto, have their respective NHL teams in the playoffs for now. But that hasn’t impacted prices, at least compared to Vancouver, as much as you might think.

In Vancouver, Expedia’s first 20 recommended hotels came to an average cost of $678.10. On the highest end of that scale, a two-night stay would cost a visitor a whopping $1,199 per night, or $3,377 total. The cheapest visit is at the Cambie Hostel for $72 per night. Some people suggested checking out Airbnb listings instead of downtown Vancouver hotels.

Throughout 2022, Vancouver’s hotel market reached a room occupancy rate of 72.9%, which is also the highest amongst major Canadian urban hotel markets. This represents a 50.4% year-over-year growth in the utility of hotel room supply. Without an adequate increase in hotel room supply, Vancouver’s hotel rooms will continue to see escalating prices, visitors will choose to travel to other Canadian destinations outside of British Columbia, and the city and region will become less competitive with landing the rights to host tourism-generating conferences, conventions, and sports events. There would be opportunity costs of economic losses in the tens of billions of dollars and significant job growth impacts.

It's time now to build more!

Arguably one of the most essential documents to ensure a construction project’s success, a material takeoff (MTO) is a comprehensive list of all materials and their quantities required to complete a project derived from the construction drawings and plans. Also referred to as a construction takeoff, quantity takeoff, or simply a takeoff, is a crucial element in accurately estimating and bidding on a construction job. Creating your material takeoff requires measuring, or taking off, the various components of a construction project in order to calculate how much material is needed for each. For example, if you’re a drywall contractor, you’ll measure the linear feet of all the walls and the height of the walls to calculate the square footage of the walls. Using those measurements, you would then calculate all the materials (drywall panels, tape, mud, screws, etc.) and quantities of each needed to install the walls. If you’re also doing the ceilings on the project, you would measure the square footage of the ceilings and calculate the materials and quantities needed to install the ceilings.

Why Material Takeoff Is So Important 

Measuring and calculating material takeoffs are a vital part of any construction project. The person or team preparing an estimate relies on the information provided to determine the total cost for materials as well as the labor, equipment, and other associated costs. With the ability to completely dislodge a project’s budget, workflow, or even completion, material takeoffs are vital for all parties involved to initiate and oversee a project from inception to completion. Your bids are only as good as your estimates, and your estimates are only as good as your takeoffs. If the initial takeoff measurements, the specific type of materials needed, and the calculated quantities of each are off in any capacity, it could negatively impact the project and its budget.

Manual Versus Digital Takeoff

For years the only option for delivering material takeoffs was by doing them manually—meaning that the general contractor or estimator had to measure and count all the components using paper and pencil from the plans or blueprints. They would then have to perform various calculations to determine the material quantities needed for each project. Once the material takeoff was complete, more calculations would be needed to accurately estimate the project. Manual takeoffs are prone to a number of errors, from inaccurate measurements to miscalculating material quantities to just missing items, either during measurements or when calculating quantities. Paper blueprints can be expensive to produce and can also cause issues regarding the ever-changing nature of projects and their demands. This is where the incredible power of digital takeoff makes its grand entrance. Digital takeoff and estimating software have made the material takeoff process extremely efficient and accurate. Digital takeoff software not only achieves the obvious perk of saving hours of time completing meticulous tasks but also allows for better collaboration, reduces errors, and allows estimators to bid on more projects.

The Digital Takeoff Process

Although the workflow of a digital material takeoff varies depending on the software you are using, the type of project, and other related factors, the MTO begins its course by uploading digital plans and documents that can then be used to start performing takeoff. After uploading the plans and setting up the projects, the user can then set the scale on the plan sheet and start using the tools to start measuring and performing takeoff on the screen. The measurements are saved, and your material quantities are calculated.