By the time police laid criminal charges against Calgary contractor Alan Hrehirchuk, former employees and clients say he was taking weeks-long vacations, locking the doors to his office showroom to avoid angry tradespeople demanding payment, all while convincing new clients to hire him by showing them celebrity endorsements, including from the popular HGTV show The Property Brothers.
Hrehirchuk’s next court appearance is Sept. 11.
Since the announcement of charges on July 12, the Calgary Police Service says about a dozen new alleged victims of Hrehirchuk have come forward and the investigation continues. Police say further charges are possible.
Court documents show nine lawsuits were filed against Hrehirchuk’s company Envision Custom Renovations in 2023.
More alleged victims come forward
The civil cases are in their early stages in the court process and none of the allegations against Hrehirchuk have been proven in court.
CBC News gave Hrehirchuk the chance to respond to the allegations made against him in this story.
“My client denies the allegations and has taken my advice to not make a statement while the matter is before the courts,” wrote Cory Wilson in a statement provided to CBC News.
CBC News has spoken with two homeowners, Hrehirchuk’s former project manager and a subcontractor who detailed a fragile house of cards built by Hrehirchuk, which, by July, appears to have collapsed on the 53-year-old.
One couple, in their 60s, have been living in their basement after they say Hrehirchuk began work on their home but failed to pay the tradespeople and left the job unfinished.
That couple also says one night in the middle of their renovation disaster, they spotted their home on TV as Hrehirchuk promoted his renovation company.
Criminal charges
In July, Calgary police announced Hrehirchuk faced charges connected to allegations he forged subcontractor invoices and defrauded homeowner Carlos Camara and his wife, who spent more than $100,000 on work that was never done.
“It changed everything in terms of our immediate financial plans, for sure,” said Camara.
Camara and his wife did their research. After buying their first home last year, they interviewed three contractors.
The couple was impressed with Hrehirchuk’s Envision Custom Renovations, and his slick showroom and portfolio, which included a letter of endorsement from the Property Brothers after he appeared on a couple of episodes.
Scott Brothers Entertainment, the company behind the Property Brothers TV show, did not respond to a request for comment from CBC News.
Clients of Alan Hrehirchuk’s Envision Custom Renovations say he used his work on the Property Brothers HGTV show to bolster his legitimacy and would share copies of their endorsement as part of his portfolio. Scott Brothers Entertainment, the company behind the Property Brothers TV show, did not respond to a request for comment from CBC News. (Carlos Camara)
Camara hired Envision at the end of December, and says he signed a contract for a $170,000- full house renovation. The couple say they paid a $50,000 deposit and more than $50,000 in invoices over the next several months.
Some of the demolition work was done, says Camara, but when there was no progress made on the renovations, he called the city and says he discovered none of the required permits had been issued.
Camara started digging and discovered Google reviews posted by people who said they’d worked for Envision but hadn’t been paid.
Looking closely at one of the invoices, Camara noticed odd fonts and called the company which had supposedly issued the bill. They told him it was likely forged.
‘You never think you’re going to be a victim’
He then called the tradespeople named on the invoices he’d been paying. Only one company said they’d been paid by Envision, according to Camara, who then involved police.
The experience, says Camara, has been “extremely stressful” and changed how he feels about moving into his new home. The couple had to remortgage their condo and then sell it. They’re now living in a rental, unsure of where they’ll live in the fall.
“You never think you’re going to be a victim and then you are,” said Camara.
“I don’t look forward to moving anymore,” said Camara. “I just want somewhere to live and be done with this and eventually try to get some money back.”
Still, Camara and his wife say “the important thing is that this may help others avoid falling into the hands of people like Alan and Envision Custom Renovations.”
Couple living in basement
Holly Hamilton says she, her husband and two dogs have lived in their basement with no kitchen — just a fridge and a microwave — for the last two years.
Hamilton doesn’t want to say how much she’s lost but says it was “more money than we could afford to lose.”
Hamilton and her husband Steve Baekeland met with Hrehirchuk and hired Envision to renovate their home in 2021.
They paid a deposit and invoices.
The couple say they lived a full winter without siding or waterproofing. “The siding guys walked off the job because they hadn’t been paid,” said Hamilton. The roofers, who were from B.C., never showed up for the same reason, she explained.
One night, as they were living in their basement with no roof on their home, Hamilton was watching TV and spotted her own home on a television commercial.
A video promoting Envision Custom Renovations was posted on youtube in 2022. The home pictured here belongs to Holly Hamilton and her husband. The three people standing in front of it appear to be actors, according to Hamilton, who says she lost “more money than we could afford” to Hrehirchuk. (youtube.com/Envision Custom Renovations)
Two actors, around the same age as Hamilton and Baekeland, appeared in the video standing in front of Hamilton’s house
“He could have paid the guys the money he owed to finish my roof, instead he’s doing this commercial,” said Hamilton.
And, she says, he always seemed to be on holiday with his wife.
“We were taking turns sleeping so we can catch water while this guy’s on holidays in Palm Springs or golfing,” said Hamilton.
Hamilton says Hrehirchuk kept issuing invoices but nothing was getting done and “problems were building.”
Hamilton says when she’d confront Hrehirchuk, she says he’d blame the pandemic — supply and labour shortages. The couple say they were scared that if they broke their contract and fired Hrehirchuk, he’d sue them.
Several photos of Alan Hrehirchuk, left, and TV home renovation celebrities appear on his company’s Facebook page for Envision Custom Renovations Inc. He’s pictured here with Property Brothers Drew and Jonathan Scott. (Facebook/Envision Custom Home Renovations Inc.)
Like with Camara, Hamilton says Hrehirchuk used his connection to the Property Brothers to bolster his legitimacy.
“That ended up being just a great marketing tool for him,” said Hamilton. “He’s really milked that one, that’s for sure.”
Hamilton also began reaching out to the subcontractors whose work she’d been billed for.
She confirmed her suspicions when they told her they hadn’t been paid.
Hamilton says she was able to terminate the contract with Envision after receiving a call from a tradesman who said he hadn’t been paid and planned to put a lien on their home.
Project by project, Hamilton and her husband are now doing what they can on their own and saving money to pay trades to do what they can’t.
At the moment, her kitchen is being built. It’s the second time she’s paid for that.
Subcontractor steps in to help
Steve Valley with Kival Electric is one of the subcontractors whom Hamilton believed she was paying through Envision.
Valley says he stopped working with Envision in December but knew there were homeowners like the Hamiltons who paid for services they hadn’t received from him.
Not wanting to abandon anyone, Valley is now working with each homeowner to understand what they can afford and says he’ll “go from there.”
Maybe that means billing in stages, says Valley. Maybe it means not making homeowners pay twice — even if he didn’t receive his first payment.
“We will have our end done,” said Valley. “We can’t do anything about the other trades, but we’ll have our end done.”
Close the doors, manager told
Both Camara and Hamilton expressed deep concerns for trades workers. They both said they’d discovered unpaid subcontractors when contacting companies whose work they’d been invoiced for.
Peter Razniak, who was hired by Envision in December as a project manager, says the situation got so bad at Envision that Hrehirchuk told him to lock the doors to the showroom to escape angry tradespeople who were showing up, demanding to be paid.
“Al told us to just keep the doors closed so no one will come and bug him for money,” said Razniak.
Since the announcement of charges on July 12, the Calgary Police Service says about a dozen new alleged victims of Alan Hrehirchuk have come forward and the investigation continues. Police say further charges are possible. (youtube.com/Envision Custom Renovations)
Before being hired as a project manager, Razniak worked for Hrehirchuk for eight years as a painter.
He says there were times in the last two or three years when, as a subcontractor for Envision, he was paid late. But the money always came, which, Razniak says, is the reason he accepted the job as project manager when Hrehirchuk called him back in December.
‘When problems started’
Razniak believes Envision’s troubles began around 2020, when Hrehirchuk began expanding his business, moving into a large, impressive showroom.
Everything in there was “super high end,” says Razniak.
“When he grows, pretends to be a really big renovation company, that’s when problems started,” said Razniak.
As Hamilton also noted, Razniak said Hrehirchuk was often away on vacation with his wife.
One Friday, Hrehirchuk said he’d be gone for the next two weeks.
“Everybody was shocked because [there was] so much work to do,” said Razniak.
By May, Razniak said he hadn’t been paid in about six weeks and was missing bill payments.
“That was my family’s only income source so I reached a point where I was barely able to survive another month.”
Razniak went back to painting.
He says he’s been working with police.
“He has no feelings to others,” said Razniak. “He don’t care about anybody else. That’s what I’m learning the hard way.”
BATHURST, N.B. – RCMP in New Brunswick say a weekend ground search for evidence related to the disappearance of a teenage girl in 2021 didn’t reveal any new information.
In an emailed statement, the RCMP said 20 people participated in the search for evidence in the case of Madison Roy-Boudreau of Bathurst.
The release said the search occurred in the Middle River area, just south of the girl’s hometown.
Police have said the 14-year-old’s disappearance is being treated as a homicide investigation.
The RCMP said the search “did not reveal any new information regarding the circumstances of her disappearance.”
There are no plans for another search until police receive a tip or a lead pointing to a new search area.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2024.
VICTORIA – A middle school in Victoria was forced into a lockdown after a man entered the building without permission, and police say they had to use a stun gun to make an arrest.
Victoria police say officers received multiple calls around noon on Monday of an unknown male entering Central Middle School, leading staff to set off emergency procedures that put the building under lockdown.
Police say its emergency response team arrived within minutes and found the suspect, who “appeared to be in a drug-induced state,” in the school’s library.
A statement from police says the suspect resisted arrest, and officers had to use a Taser to subdue the man.
He’s being held by police and has been assessed by emergency medical staff.
Police say the man was not armed and there were no continuing safety concerns for students and staff following the arrest.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2024.
VANCOUVER – Former B.C. Green leader Andrew Weaver knows what it’s like to form a minority government with the NDP, but says such a deal to create the province’s next administration is less likely this time than seven years ago.
Weaver struck a power-sharing agreement that resulted in John Horgan’s NDP minority government in 2017, but said in an interview Monday there is now more animosity between the two parties.
Neither the NDP nor the B.C. Conservatives secured a majority in Saturday’s election, raising the prospect of a minority NDP government if Leader David Eby can get the support of two Green legislators.
Manual recounts in two ridings could also play an important role in the outcome, which will not be known for about a week.
Weaver, who is no longer a member of the Greens, endorsed a Conservative candidate in his home riding.
He said Eby would be in a better position to negotiate if Furstenau, who lost her seat, stepped aside as party leader.
“I think Mr. Eby would be able to have fresh discussions with fresh new faces around the table, (after) four years of political sniping … between Sonia and the NDP in the B.C. legislature,” he said.
He said Furstenau’s loss put the two elected Greens in an awkward position because parties “need the leader in the legislature.”
Furstenau could resign as leader or one of the elected Greens could step down and let her run in a byelection in their riding, he said.
“They need to resolve that issue sooner rather than later,” he said.
The Green victories went to Rob Botterell in Saanich North and the Islands and Jeremy Valeriote in West Vancouver-Sea to Sky.
Neither Botterell nor Valeriote have held seats in the legislature before, Weaver noted.
“It’s not like in 2017 when, you know, I had been in the (legislature) for four years already,” Weaver said, adding that “the learning curve is steep.”
Sanjay Jeram, chair of undergraduate studies in political science at Simon Fraser University, said he doesn’t think it’ll be an “easygoing relationship between (the NDP and Greens) this time around.”
“I don’t know if Eby and Furstenau have the same relationship — or the potential to have the same relationship — as Horgan and Weaver did,” he said. “I think their demands will be a little more strict and it’ll be a little more of a cold alliance than it was in 2017 if they do form an alliance.”
Horgan and Weaver shook hands on a confidence-and-supply agreement before attending a rugby match, where they were spotted sitting together before the deal became public knowledge.
Eby said in his election-night speech that he had already reached out to Furstenau and suggested common “progressive values” between their parties.
Furstenau said in her concession speech that her party was poised to play a “pivotal role” in the legislature.
Botterell said in an election-night interview that he was “totally supportive of Sonia” and he would “do everything I can to support her and the path forward that she chooses to take because that’s her decision.”
The Green Party of Canada issued a news release Monday, congratulating the candidates on their victories, noting Valeriote’s win is the first time that a Green MLA has been elected outside of Vancouver Island.
“Now, like all British Columbians we await the final seat count to know which party will have the best chance to form government. Let’s hope that the Green caucus has a pivotal role,” the release said, echoing Furstenau’s turn of phrase.
The final results of the election won’t be known until at least next week.
Elections BC says manual recounts will be held on Oct. 26 to 28 in two ridings where NDP candidates led B.C. Conservatives by fewer than 100 votes after the initial count ended on Sunday.
The outcomes in Surrey City Centre and Juan de Fuca-Malahat could determine who forms government.
The election’s initial results have the NDP elected or leading in 46 ridings, and the B.C. Conservatives in 45, both short of the 47 majority mark in B.C.’s 93-seat legislature.
If the Conservatives win both of the recount ridings and win all other ridings where they lead, Rustad will win with a one-seat majority.
If the NDP holds onto at least one of the ridings where there are recounts, wins the other races it leads, and strikes a deal with the Greens, they would have enough numbers to form a minority government.
But another election could also be on the cards, since the winner will have to nominate a Speaker, reducing the government’s numbers in the legislature by one vote.
Elections BC says it will also be counting about 49,000 absentee and mail-in ballots from Oct. 26 to 28.
The NDP went into the election with 55 ridings, representing a comfortable majority in what was then an 87-seat legislature.
Jeram, with Simon Fraser University, said though the counts aren’t finalized, the Conservatives were the big winners in the election.
“They weren’t really a not much of a formal party until not that long ago, and to go from two per cent of the vote to winning 45 or more seats in the B.C. provincial election is just incredible,” he said in an interview Monday.
Jeram said people had expected Eby to call an election after he took over from John Horgan in 2022, and if he had, he doesn’t think there would have been the same result.
He said the B.C. Conservative’s popularity grew as a result of the decision of the BC Liberals to rebrand as BC United and later drop out.
“Had Eby called an election before that really shook out, and maybe especially before (Pierre) Poilievre, kind of really had the wind in his sails and started to grow, I think he could have won the majority for sure.”
He said he wasn’t surprised by the results of the election, saying polls were fairly accurate.
“Ultimately, it really was a result that we saw coming for a while, since the moment that BC United withdrew and put their support behind the conservatives, I think this was the outcome that was expected.”
— With files from Darryl Greer
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2024.
