The Ontario Construction Report – March 2011 – PAGE OCR 9


Ontario’s $120M painting and coating industry


Despite skills shortage, environmental challenges and manufacturing sector decline, industry holds up well with institutional, infrastructure projects


STAFF WRITER – The OCR Construction Report Special Feature


Ontario’s approximately $120 million in- dustrial, commercial and institutional paint- ing market is encountering challenges and opportunities as demographic shifts, busi- ness changes and environmental regulations require new solutions to traditional prac- tices.


The good news is the industry is holding


up quite well. Declines in the industrial coat- ings market, caused by the collapse of the automotive and other manufacturing indus- tries, have been offset by growth in institu- tional and infrastructure work with help from government stimulus funding. However, some industry leaders and au- thorities are concerned about the future. Tougher environmental standards and new innovations in specialized paintings and coatings require significant skills. This is work that cannot just be handled by high school drop-outs handed paint rollers and a few minutes of on-the-job instruction, but few young people are considering painting as a first career choice.


As well, environmental regulations and pressure to avoid specifying solvent-based paints with high Volatile Organic Com- pounds (VOCs) are creating challenges for painting contractors and organizations plan- ning maintenance budgets. In the short- term, the new coatings may appear to cause less environmental harm, but are these sav- ings real (and are the environmental advan- tages truly sustainable) if the coatings doesn’t last as long and need to be replaced more frequently, asks Andrew Sefton, exec- utive director of the Ontario Painting Con- tractors’ Association (OPCA).


“What kind of system are you looking for?” he says. “Is it a two year system, three year system, five year system or a seven year system?”


––––––––––––––––––––––– Please see page OCR 10


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