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RobertDyck

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From: Winnipeg, Canada

Registered: 2002-08-20

Posts: 7,924

Website

Re: Starting a new Company

I have a rough idea. One reason for building houses is I don't have to isolate cost of photovoltaic. It's integrated into a more expensive product. But of course that's not the primary reason. The primary reason is to build houses; photovoltaic is a means to an end, not an end in itself.

I have contact with a retired individual who used to own a company that built houses in Winnipeg. He is willing to help anyone trying to start a home building business in or around Winnipeg. Having industry knowledge is critical! Yes, my father was in construction before I was born, and taught me construction skills before I reached puberty. My mother's father built houses for a living. But still, recent knowledge is critical for regulation and licensing, as well as suppliers. When I bid on a contract with a former employer, a contract for a computer software project, a personnel agent wanted me to pay programmers at a rate twice what I ever earned when doing exactly the same job. To call me shocked is an understatement! Oh, the agent wanted a finder's fee equal to 25% of the employee's first year salary, so was motivated to increase said salary. My business budget was "challenged" by this. The VP of the billion-dollar company said no to my bid, so never went anywhere. But this house project is something I want to happen!

House prices are well published. I bought my house in 1990 for $46,500 Canadian dollars, but there's been a lot of inflation since then, housing prices have increased by more than double inflation, and my house is small and old. Today my house would be worth $160k to $180k. In 1990 I had bid on a much newer house for $70k: 2 bedroom, 1 bath, no garage, unfinished basement, 691 square feet. Today city property assessment for that house based on April 2023 market is $315k. Average house price in this city for April of this year is $377,300! Houses with 3 bedrooms or more built in 2021 or newer cost $415k to $700k.

Once the business is established in Winnipeg, I intend to spread to other Canadian cities. Average house price in Toronto, first quarter of this year, is $1,275,000! Average price for Winnipeg from the Winnipeg Real Estate Board. Average price for Toronto from the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board. I'm looking at single detached houses, not condominiums or townhouses aka rowhouses.

Many Americans don't realize housing prices are worse in Canada that the US. The US had a junk-mortgage crisis in 2008. Canada avoided that by maintaining regulations intended to keep the banking system healthy. Unfortunately the government that kept things in check from 1993 to January 2006 lost the election. We had a different party as the federal government from Jan 2006 through October 2015, which removed many regulations and restrictions, making Canada just as exposed. The government from 2015 to today is... well... not fixing the problems, creating new problems that make matters worse. Some regulations have been changed to make banking not likely to fail, but several credit unions had to merge to avoid failure after the COVID-19 lock-downs. Massive immigration has caused greater demand for housing than current builders can supply. From 1991 to last Wednesday (May 22) population increased from 28 million to 41 million. According to Statistics Canada (a federal agency) population from 1-Jan-2023 to 1-Jan-2024 increased by 1,271,872. That's due to immigration, birth rate is much worse than the US. But supply-and-demand has increased housing prices, especially in those cities where immigrants arrive. Winnipeg is a "second tier" city for immigrants, but this is where I live. I have contacts here, live here, know this city intimately, so this is where I start.

A couple useful websites:
REALTOR.ca - listing of houses currently for sale in Canada, with asking prices
The Canadian Real Estate Association

Last edited by RobertDyck (2024-05-28 15:46:42)

RobertDyck

Moderator

From: Winnipeg, Canada

Registered: 2002-08-20

Posts: 7,924

Website

Re: Starting a new Company

A diagram of a modern triple-junction photovoltaic cell. This uses gallium-indium-phosphate for the top layer, gallium-arsenide for the middle, and germanium for the bottom. Germanium is opaque, so must be on the bottom. SpectroLab has an improved version of this for use on satellites in space, they have 32% efficiency Beginning-Of-Life.

RobertDyck

Moderator

From: Winnipeg, Canada

Registered: 2002-08-20

Posts: 7,924

Website

Re: Starting a new Company

Field Effect Transistor of the late 1960s

Recent developments have reduced size of transistors in order to pack more transistors onto a single Integrated Circuit (IC). Decades ago size got so small that quantum tunnelling of electrons across insulators created short circuits. Various strategies have been used to reduce transistor size further while avoiding quantum tunnelling. One technique used recently for microprocessors uses 3D shapes to reduce size, called a raised fin.

The latest encases the fin on all sides by the gate, allowing even smaller transistors. It's called Gate-All-Around or GAA

So industry has moved to more 3D technology for microprocessors. My smartphone was manufactured in 2017, uses a SnapDragon 835 processor with 3 billion transistors. But photovoltaic cells don't need that. They use flat layered technology because light enters from the top. That's why photovoltaics are not horizontal.

SpaceNut

Administrator

From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 29,428

Re: Starting a new Company

Having lived the semiconductor design working for Data General and Cabletron of the past I did see many of these as we transited from Vaccuum tubes to transistor-to-transistor logic and more as they grow to large scale semiconductor IC's.