Novatech Group Continued from page 50 The company’s steel doors are prefinished white so they can be used as is or easily painted to match any décor. A full range of decorative doorglass includ- ing stained glass, Thermacrystal, silkscreen, v- groove, and thermoformed, allows customers to fully personalize their look. The expanded Novatech Patio Doors division fea- tures a full range of patio doors including the Ele- ment, a hybrid aluminum and PVC patio door. The company anticipates adding the new and improved Imagine all PVC patio door with its contemporary look soon. All doors are available in a painted in-house ver- sion. There is also a big trend with non-standard products which Novatech embraces fully with multi- panels, big openings, sidelites and toplites. The company has introduced an online design centre (www.thousandsofdoors.com). “Customers can take a photo of their own homes, upload it to the design centre and then try out different elements they are considering.” Boucher said. “Once they’ve made a decision they can print a summary of their personalized entrance door and take it to a retailer to get exactly what they want.” Novatech conducts annual customer surveys to see what people want and then analyzes the re- sponses to make decision about how to proceed. “We also do a road show across Canada to show re- tailers our designs and get feedback from them,” Boucher said. The company also strives to meet the demands of architects, contractors and governments. “We con- duct laboratory testing in house to ensure we are meeting Energy Star ratings, building codes, and that we can meet other certification specs. Our research and development focus is strong to ensure better product, durability and variety, along with meeting the other requirements,” he added. The business, founded by Quebec entrepreneur Raymond Ouellette, is based in Ste-Julie, Quebec and uses its distribution centres in Toronto and Cal- gary and manufacturing plants in Ste-Julie, St-Agapit, Beauceville and Kelowna to serve the Canadian and American market. Novatech has also expanded to in- clude Novatech Europe, based out of France and serving the European market. For more information, visit novatechgroup.com. 52 – Spring 2013 — The Canadian Design and Construction Report CSA Group Continued from page 51 that made the news and Ontario called for an expert panel, of which CSA Group was a member,” says Tubrett. “We’re in the midst of developing the new standards now and expect the guidelines to be published in 2014.” Tubrett says the new balcony guard standards will be de- veloped through a consensus process. The technical require- ments will be developed by a committee created through a balanced matrix of industry, regulators, science & academia, labor, consumers groups and other interested parties and will be reviewed by a technical department. “Industry will have a chance to have their say through the committee members and the resulting document will be avail- able for a public review,” he said. The new standards will be initially voluntary. Tubrett says CSA Group will work to educate regulators and promote it with the national model building code. “It normally takes one or two cycles to get something like this into the national code but there has been so much attention on this issue we expect the provinces will pick it up on their own ahead of this.” CSA Group is also contributing to the FIT program, a per- sonnel certification program for installers of windows, doors and skylights in residential buildings under three stories. FIT includes an experience prerequisite and a final exami- nation, in addition to a training course. The program is also voluntary. Tubrett says that CSA Group will work to educate manufacturers and large project compa- nies about the program’s benefits both as a reference and cer- tification tool. “So much of the efficiency of a door or window is based on a quality installation,” he said. “It benefits everyone to make sure it is done right.” For more information on CSA Group, visit csagroup.org.