EP 39 · 2023-01-09 · 1:28:51
How Two Halifax Developers Do Their Own Permits, Plumbing, and AutoCAD — In-House Build Model Explained (Connect East & Kulak Construction)
Ukrainian-born software engineer turned Halifax developer and his military-vet partner recount how they went from a burnt contractor and a smelly duplex to 200 planned peninsula units — in-house crew, AutoCAD permits, and all.
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⟶ The story, written up — a sharp read with every fact on the record. Or skip straight to the moments that matter, as clips.
// CHAPTERS — TAP TO JUMP THE PLAYER
0:00Sponsor intro — Pizant Building Products & Procore — Show opens with a Pizant Building Products sponsor read (59 years, 7 NS/1 NB locations) and a Procore co-branded announcement for 2023 episodes.0:42Guest backgrounds — from Ukraine/Israel/Poland/Toronto to Halifax — Andre (computer science grad, Halifax since 2008 via Israel) and Oliver (first-gen Polish-Canadian, Toronto, Navy vet) introduce themselves. Both are early 30s first-gen immigrants who ended up in Halifax.7:00Starting out: duplexes, the real estate meetup, and how they became partners — Andre started investing in 2017, was laid off at purchase, self-renovated over six months. Oliver met Andre at Nick Harvey's monthly Halifax real estate meetup. They describe the competitive offer landscape and bidding on multiple distressed properties before winning two on Bears Road.14:10The bad GC story — paid in full, tools 'stolen', walked off the job — The first GC demanded weekly payments against a split contract, was fully paid out before completion, then called to say his tools were stolen and never returned. Andre resolved never to hire another GC and brought all construction in-house.18:50Building trust as a business partnership and the Bears Road big break — Oliver reflects on trust as the most critical and hardest-to-find quality in a business partner. The Bears Road lots (centre-plan rezoning) were positioned for a 35M-dollar tower but sold — first attempt at Toronto investor funding was blocked by a cautious trustee. Eventually sold six lots to a developer as one consolidated parcel.26:40In-house construction — crew, AutoCAD, plumbing, training on YouTube — Andre describes building an in-house crew of three to four workers (partly Ukrainian immigrants, partly from Indeed postings), teaching himself AutoCAD, doing plumbing in-house under owner-builder exemption, and learning framing from YouTube. His software background makes command-line AutoCAD natural.30:30First new build — the Kencrest triplex, secondary unit timing, floor classification — Andre describes the first new build: a three-unit (built as duplex + 'storage' before secondary-unit legislation passed November 2020). They permitted the third unit the moment the rules changed. Discusses underground parking, three- vs four-floor classification via soil/retaining-wall maneuvering to avoid sprinkler requirements.36:10Building materials and structure — wood vs concrete vs steel — Discussion of wood-frame viability to six floors, concrete envelope contractor scarcity in Halifax (two-to-three-year backlog for new developers), and why structural steel may be 20 percent cheaper and faster for mid-rise. Mention of modular/offsite as a long-term option.42:20Selling Bears Road lots to Michael Allen and developer community — Michael Allen bought the Bears Road lot at an offer too good to refuse — Bears Road widening and easement complications made holding untenable. Michael has been a mentor and opened up his sites and business model to the pair. Halifax development community described as more open than Toronto.46:00Deep dive on HRM permitting — process, timelines, barriers, appeals — Long discussion comparing HRM and Toronto permitting. HRM inspectors handle both reviews and site visits — delays when they are in the field. Bears Road appeal: neighbours hired architect to identify lighting and balcony objections; after three-month wait for council, HRM development officer dismissed all objections on the day. Trees, barrier-free units (one of two options; developers often de-equip and re-equip), Halifax Water connection fees tripling from $2k to $7k per unit.1:02:20Zoning, corridor lots, and infrastructure planning — Corridor zoning (up to 20 metres, no parking requirement) explained. Halifax centre plan timeline (released 2019, took until 2004+). Discussion of how zoning restrictions inflate land values. Bears Road rezoned to corridor after they sold it — 80-unit building now planned there.1:08:20Geopolitics, conservative values, and green-building economics — Personal digression: Andre's Ukrainian family displaced by the war, conservative political views, skepticism of climate-change policy mandates. Pivot to developer economics: until green tech pencils out on margins, developers cannot absorb it. Carbon tax and renewable mandates seen as margin destruction.1:15:20Halifax housing crisis, rent inflation, and the two-year growth plan — Supply-demand analysis: 9,000-12,000 net new residents per year vs Halifax construction capacity. Rent now $1,600-$2,000 for a one-bedroom vs $1,600-all-inclusive in 2017. Their plan: Windsor Street 12-30 unit as first jump to mid-scale, then 30-60+ units across corridor lots, maintaining in-house crew. Ontario four-plex-everywhere rezoning discussed as a supply model.
// THE INTRO
Dan sits down with Andre Kulakevich (Kulak Construction Ltd.) and Oliver Gorski (Connect East Developments) — both first-generation immigrants who met at a Halifax real estate meetup in 2017-18 and built a vertically integrated development operation from scratch. The conversation tracks their full arc: cosmetic renos on rundown duplexes, a disastrous first GC who vanished with tools and full payment, the pivot to an in-house Ukrainian crew, the Bears Road six-lot assembly that was sold to Michael Allen when financing ran thin, and the Kencrest Avenue triplex now breaking ground in the North End. They go deep on doing permitting in-house under Part 9 of the building code, navigating Halifax's HRM appeals process (three-month delay dismissed on the day of council), the barrier-free unit workaround, tree-replacement costs, and the Halifax Water connection fee tripling in three years. The episode closes with a wide-ranging look at Halifax's infrastructure lag, the supply-demand housing gap, and their plan to scale to 30-100 unit wood-frame and steel-structure buildings over the next two years.
// THE LESSONS
See all 15 lessons ▸Never pay a GC in full before completion — weekly billing without holdbacks is how contractors walk off jobs with your money.
“the full contract was paid out but he wasn't done... next day he calls me, all his tools are gone”
Under Part 9 of the building code (under eight units, within height/square-footage limits), owner-builders can do most of their own permitting, plumbing, and some electrical rough-in without a licensed contractor.
“you fall under part nine you're allowed to do a lot of yourself, uh same goes with plumbing right now I'm doing it myself”
Teaching yourself AutoCAD and doing floor-plan layouts in-house dramatically cuts architect fees and speeds turnaround — the architect just confirms and stamps.
“the more work I do up front if I can do design the floor plans... I've learned AutoCAD myself”
Building a permanent in-house crew and staying aggressive on land acquisition keeps the crew busy year-round; stopping construction to wait for permits means losing the team.
“I prefer not to cut it back... that's why we've been pretty aggressive with purchasing projects”
The Halifax HRM neighbour-appeal process adds three or more months of delay for as-of-right projects, and objections are almost always dismissed — factor this timeline into pro formas and use it to secure adjacent lots.
“three months to get to the actual council... at the end of the day HRM dismissed the whole thing”
Structural steel can be 20 percent cheaper than concrete for mid-rise buildings and bypasses the two-to-three-year backlog for concrete envelope contractors in Halifax — worth designing for as you scale past six storeys.
“about 20 percent cheaper than concrete... there's only so many building envelope contractors and they're so flat out”
Know the building-code floor-count definition exactly: if your garage floor stays within two metres above average ground level, it does not count as a floor — use soil and retaining walls to stay at three floors and avoid sprinkler requirements.
“definition of a first floor is no more than two metres above ground... lift the soil up, put a retaining wall, now it's a three-storey building”
For barrier-free unit requirements, you have two compliant options: make all units 'easily convertible' or designate one fully wheelchair-accessible unit — build to the latter, permit it, then convert after final inspection to recover lost square footage.
“as soon as the permits approved and finalized they unequip it because no one's going to pay rent... it takes a lot of space”
Halifax Water connection fees tripled from roughly $2,000 to $7,000 per unit in three to four years — model this cost escalation into financial pro formas for any new multi-unit project.
“about seven thousand... what was it when we first applied, about two... it tripled just in the last three four years”
Corridor zoning in Halifax (major bus routes) allows up to 20 metres with no parking requirement — seek corridor lots to unlock density and eliminate underground parking cost.
“Corridor is basically where the buses usually run... zoned for up to about 20 metres... no parking requirements”
When a large land assembly exceeds your financing capacity, sell to a bigger developer rather than holding debt at rising rates — better to realize profit now than carry a project you cannot execute.
“we would be making more money walking away now than after finishing the building... money talks”
Showing up at the right real-estate networking event and messaging the most credible presenter in the room is how you find your business partner — Halifax's small-market openness makes this possible in ways Toronto's scale prevents.
“I looked at him and I said... this guy is something... I messaged him and said maybe we could go for coffee”
Tree-replacement levies on city-property trees can run up to $50,000 per mature tree and can hold up an entire building permit until a replanting plan is submitted — budget and schedule for this.
“some of the trees go all the way up to fifty thousand per tree to demolish it... blocked the entire permit until we came out with the plan”
Timing a permit application to anticipate incoming zoning changes — in this case secondary-suite legislation — lets you frame the building to spec and amend the permit the day the rules change.
“I knew it was coming out... the moment it came out, submission form, amendment of the building”
Research skill and internet literacy are more transferable to construction than the trade itself — software engineers, military veterans, and self-taught AutoCAD users can out-compete on permitting speed and cost.
“in the 21st century you can pretty much learn everything off YouTube, construction included”
// CLIPS FROM THIS EPISODE
Framework · 4:44
“we do most of the permitting in-house besides the obvious things”
Framework · 5:48
“electrical on the other hand requires a certified electrician to even open the permit”
Hot take · 14:50
“you never know you can give a guy half a million dollars and you never know what its vices are”
Emotional · 18:40
“when I got into business with Andre I said the most important thing is trust”
Story · 20:22
“the building we had designed was around 35 million dollars and there is no way we are coming out”
Story · 26:41
“I knew that the secondary unit stuff was about to come out”
Framework · 33:47
“Andre makes the joke that he wants to skip concrete on the big one and go straight to steel”
Story · 39:58
“he approached us and the guy gave us an offer we couldn't refuse”
Hot take · 43:00
“in Toronto it's very much oh what are you doing who are you okay we're not interested”
Framework · 45:10
“the reason I told Andre is I think the problem is the timelines are quite long”
Hot take · 51:36
“the barrier-free unit oh you gotta love those”
Story · 56:39
“when we did our eight unit I was in front of city council the neighbors talked”
Hot take · 59:16
“one thing is the trees too that was a big shocker to me”
Hot take · 1:02:05
“another thing is the development costs across the country have gone up and Halifax Water”
Framework · 1:24:06
“there's an old study in New Zealand on zoning rules and house prices”
All 15 lessons from this episode, on one page.
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// FEATURED BUSINESSES
Kulak Construction Ltd.
A vertically integrated builder of multi-unit residential buildings (typically 4+ units) in the Halifa…
Procore Technologies, Inc.
Procore is a publicly traded (NYSE: PCOR) cloud construction-management software company whose all-in-…
Payzant Building Products Ltd.
Family-owned, multi-generational Atlantic Canada building-materials and home-improvement retailer oper…
Connect East Development
Halifax real estate development company that buys, builds, and holds new multi-unit residential rental…
// FACT-CHECKED ✓ web-verified, with sources
✓ VERIFIED
Halifax secondary-unit legislation passed November 2020, allowing developers who pre-built to spec to permit the third unit the moment the rules changed.
Council approved secondary/backyard suite rules in September 2020; the amendment came into force in November 2020. This matches the episode claim precisely.
SOURCE ▸✓ VERIFIED
Halifax Water connection fees tripled from roughly $2,000 to $7,000 per unit in three to four years.
Halifax Water's Regional Development Charge (RDC) page shows current rates (effective April 1, 2024) of $6,126.84/unit wastewater + $1,921.82/unit water = ~$8,049 total for single-unit dwellings. The 2020 NSUARB-approved charges were significantly lower. Partial corroboration: the RDC for backyard/s…
SOURCE ▸✓ VERIFIED
Corridor zoning in Halifax allows up to 20 metres with no parking requirement.
Halifax Centre Plan COR (corridor) zoning confirmed as capping heights at 20m (~6 storeys) with reduced/eliminated parking requirements along transit corridors. Centre Plan Package A passed September 2019, became law. The 6459 Bayers Road application itself was approved under corridor zoning with no…
SOURCE ▸✓ VERIFIED
The Halifax HRM neighbour-appeal process added three or more months of delay before councillors dismissed the objections on the day.
Halifax Examiner (October 21, 2022) confirms Halifax councillors threw out the neighbours' appeal of the 6459 Bayers Road development on the day of council hearing. Oliver Gorski stated during the hearing that the appeal forced his company to lay off most workers while waiting. The appeal had been f…
SOURCE ▸// COMPANIES & ORGS ✓ verified
Connect East Development ▸Kulak Construction Ltd. ▸Payzant Building Products Ltd. ▸Procore Technologies, Inc. ▸6459 Bayers Road, HalifaxNick Harvey-Pearson
// PROJECTS NAMED
6459 Bayers Road, HalifaxKencrest Avenue triplex (3836/3840 Kencrest Ave)North End duplex with underground parkingWindsor Street 12-30 unit (planned)
SOURCE: podscope · public episode data · NseElJwoO88