It was a full house last week as we celebrated our 2024 Legends of Housing (50-Year Retrospective and Future Outlook), as an inaugural kick-off to HAVANs 50th anniversary which will roll out events throughout the year.
And legendary it was, as our distinguished panelists regaled the audience with their stories of humble beginnings, personal and financial challenges, lessons learned and provided sage advice. Our esteemed Legends have all served for decades as statesmen for our industry, have provided leadership for non-profit organizations charities and have been awarded and honoured at the highest levels for their individual and organizational contributions to society.
Michael Audain, a fifth-generation British Columbian, founded Polygon Homes Ltd. in 1980 and both he and the company have received numerous awards for integrity and building excellence. Mr. Audain was previously celebrated as a Legend in 2015.
“44 years ago it was a hell of a lot easier to get permits”
Charan Sethi, journeyed from India, and through Toronto, before settling in Richmond in 1978 and eventually founding the Tien Sher Group of Companies in 2003. Mr. Sethi started his career as a realtor before transitioning into the development world.
“If you really want to do it, you learn really fast”
David Podmore, has more than four decades of leadership at the helm of Concert Properties, the company he co-founded in 1989, and was the master planner for the Expo 86 lands. Mr. Podmore continues to serve as Chair of both Concert Properties and Concert Infrastructure.
“People said it would never be successful and I’m proud to say they were wrong.”
Eric Carlson, a sincerely proud lifelong resident of North Vancouver and core founder of Anthem Properties Group in 1991, serves as its CEO and leads with creativity, passion, and direct communication. Mr. Carlson was honoured with his first Legend designation in 2018.
“I’m a baby boomer and I was scrappy.”
Further details of the illustrious backgrounds and careers of our 2024 Legends can be found here.
Moderator Kirk Lapointe, media executive, and adjunct professor, smoothly and deftly moderated what could have been a four-hour panel given the nature of our industry, their experiences, and lessons that could be learned from our four Legends.
A theme that continued to arise amongst discussion was that a commitment to life-long learning was a pillar of success. In the early days, our Legends shared how they overcame the challenges of how to balance being a leader and build their business at the same time and growing from an individual into an organization. At many times, our panelists were told that they “were nuts” and questioned themselves on how to move forward. All were challenged with a lack of technical knowledge, financing and funding their ideas, and finding investors, and acknowledged that it was much easier in the early days than it is now. One of the largest contributions to their accomplishments was having strong mentorship, personal commitment to success, and knowing who to call when they needed a bit of help.
Eric Carlson shared a personal lesson when he and a partner came to a point where a business was to be bought out and self-entitlement kicked in, and eventually, he was bought out of what he assumed was his company. To this day, he carries a strong conviction that his character will carry him through diversity.
Pride in the homebuilding industry was evident throughout the evening as everyone acknowledged the incredible contribution that we are all making to the fabric of our region, and of our province. Michael Audain opined that we are providing one of the necessities of life and we should make no apologies for being proud homebuilders and providing a service to our communities.
Financing has always been a challenge in construction and our Legends shared stories of success and of failure. David Podmore spoke of the early days when financing meant finding twenty people who would invest $100,000 each and convince them that his company could attract long-term returns and create jobs using union labour. The take-away from the Legends stories was that diversification must always be considered whether it be in building rental versus home ownership or in funding options and investments.
When asked how they have changed over their years as leaders, Charan Sethi spoke of his go-getter attitude and how he has learned to sit back and think about things a little longer, think things through, and plan for the worst-case scenario. Michael Audain noted that he has gone from the youngest person in the room to the oldest but what hasn’t changed is that we should always be doing more as an industry. Eric Carlson reminisced that the more things change, the more they seem to be the same but he has learned to not be telling so much but teaching with a softer hand. David Podmore advised that while it has always been easy to come up with ideas, he has learned that not all ideas are going to work out but surround yourself with great people, they can help figure which are the good ones.
Throughout the evening, the Legends continued to reference their families and having grown to inter-generational companies over the decades. Charan Sethi spoke with pride of still being able to learn from his son as his son learns from him.
In closing, our Legends were asked for a personal sage piece of advice and were very humble and shared wisdom they carry from others…
Michael imparted wisdom from Mahatma Gandhi:
“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you will live forever.”
Eric honoured Teddy Roosevelt:
“Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure…than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.”
David remembered his dear friend Jack Poole:
“Let’s see if this idea survives the night.”
Charan shared words to live by from an unknown source:
“I am going to succeed because I am crazy enough to think that I can.”
To view photos from the evening, click here.
HAVAN continues to work with CHBA BC and CHBA to advocate for all levels of government to work together to address the challenges of the housing industry including zoning restrictions, density limits, and NIMBYism.
Looking to stay up-to-date on Metro Vancouver’s residential housing industry? Sign up for Ron’s weekly Monday Morning Briefing and other HAVAN emails here.
QUICK BITES …
- Georgie Awards finalists were announced last week with 105 HAVAN members recognized in 52 categories. The full list of finalists can be viewed here.
- The Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM) shared a BC Statistics report showing that BC’s population growth is at highest levels since the 1970s.
- While at the same time, CMHC reports that Canada’s rental landscape in 2023 shows record-low vacancies and affordability concerns.
- Finally, CHBA Economist shares the Housing Market Index Q4 2023 results.
