2020 Woman of Inspiration for Integrity winner, Dr. Karen Somerville

Most of what was submitted in the nominations package for this award related to my work as the president of Canadians for Properly Built Homes (CPBH). This is a significant recognition for our entire team of CPBH volunteers. In my acceptance speech for this award, I thanked all of our volunteers and said that I consider this a team award.

We do strive to work with integrity, one of our organization’s values, as we seek justice for all homeowners who have had the misfortune of purchasing a newly built home with construction defects, often building code violations that can threaten their health and safety.

My academic work relates to a number of different areas including strategy, organizational behaviour, organizational change, leadership, values, ethics, organizational culture, coaching, and women on boards. CPBH is in its 17th year of operation, and like most organizations, we have experienced a lot of change over this period of time. My teaching and research help me to remain current and I am always looking for ways to apply my teaching and research to CPBH. Likewise, I am able to apply my learning and experiences with CPBH to my teaching and research.

Founded in 2004, CPBH is an independent, national, not for profit corporation dedicated to healthy, safe, durable, and energy efficient residential housing for Canadians, and is the only organization of its kind in Canada. Working for consumer awareness and protection, CPBH is run by a volunteer board of directors and is supported by a volunteer advisory council of industry experts and other key stakeholders.

We have approximately 40 dedicated volunteers located in different parts of Canada. CPBH’s advisors and board members have diverse backgrounds, such as architecture, engineering, home building, real estate, home inspection, environmental medicine, industrial hygiene, insurance, law, academe, political science, Indigenous relations, and business. We also have talented volunteers focused on our communications, stakeholder relations, our website, information technology, fundraising, and general administration.

These individuals are all dedicated volunteers who believe in our mission and vision. Many have experienced first-hand what it is like to have the misfortune of purchasing a home with building code violations, and then had to fight to get these issues resolved. Some of the extreme issues have included one CPBH volunteer had to declare bankruptcy as a result of these newly built home issues, while others have had to leave their home due to mould and related illness.

I have held leadership positions in many organizations over more than 30 years—both as a paid professional and as a volunteer. My work with CPBH is unique in that, unfortunately, we are often up against a powerful and well-connected building industry. While there are good builders in Canada, there are poor and marginal builders as well. Many in that industry do not like being called out for poor quality, including improperly built homes. The building industry is one of the largest donors to politicians and political campaigns.

In order to maintain our independence, CPBH will not accept donations from the building industry or from governments. We rely on donations from consumers to cover our operations. We are all volunteers but we do have operating expenses.

In our second year of operation, a senior official with the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation said in a meeting with a few of our volunteers that he would “give us a couple of years” – that others had tried this sort of an organization over the years and were unsuccessful.

Despite these challenges, we have been able to make significant progress in our more than 16 years of operation, and we are going stronger than ever. We have helped thousands of Canadians who purchased a newly built home with code violations since CPBH was founded in 2004. But there is much more work to be done.

Some insights and advice that I think are significant in relation to my work with CPBH:

You don’t have to be an expert at everything. Surround yourself with good people.

• Homebuilding is complex, and certainly not my area of expertise, but I was fortunate to recruit a team with the necessary knowledge and skills. Note that the work itself is a compelling teacher, so you will learn.

Listen to those people directly impacted by the mission/vision of the organization.

• I often ask people who write to CPBH with newly built home issues if they will engage in a telephone conversation with me or meet with me in person. This helps me to develop relationships, understand what they are facing, and lead our team to do a better job advocating for those homeowners/potential future homeowners.

Practice resiliency.

• There will always be setbacks. Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, learn from your mistakes, and keep your eye on the organization’s vision. We regularly use this hashtag: #NeverGiveUp

Develop meaningful values for your organization, and strive to live them.

• CPBH’s work is guided by four values: fairness, integrity, health, and safety. It means a lot to me that this award was for integrity – one of our values.

Here is the link to our recent e-newsletter that provides additional information including snippets from some of those who wrote letters of support for my nomination for the Woman of Inspiration award.