As I head off for a couple of weeks vacation I hope that our readers are enjoying the summer and can find time to get away from what seems to be a tumultuous time for business. At least that’s the way it seems around here with the U.S. trade war against, well, everyone.

We keep waiting for something to happen, for common sense to prevail, so that everyone can get back to business as usual, but as this is being written there doesn’t seem to be any sign that things are going to get better anytime soon. The full impact on pricing hasn’t been felt yet but everyone knows it’s coming.

On the plus side, as you will read below, it appears that a solution to ludicrous underslab insulation requirements for hydronic heating in Alberta will be coming soon. Like the trade war with the U.S. – well nobody really believed it would happen – the requirement to increase underslab insulation from one inch to almost four inches seemingly came out of the blue with no consultation with the industry.

It has taken three years of hard work by the industry – the Canadian Hydronics Council with support from CIPH, MCA-Alberta and NRCan – to finally get some movement on this.

Hopefully we can get some movement on the tariffs in less than three years. It’s already causing damage on both sides of the border.

But getting away from all that, the country has seen heat waves in several regions so, if you’re in the air conditioning business, you’re probably having a decent summer. There may be turmoil in the big picture and that’s going to affect pricing, but day-to-day business can’t help but continue as these things get sorted out.

Have a great summer!