Thinking about a big move.

Re: Do you like living in Sparwood? Thinking of moving the family to BC

skinnybitch said:

We also have a place in Vtown and I would love to move there. If we could trade our home in the village for a nice acreage we would be rather tempted as my husband has said that he would be okay with working shift work in Alberta or even going overseas again himself. It could get interesting when they start breaking ground for the resort too! I certainly wouldn't mind a change of scenery and pace from the patch here and the good friends that we have would not mind the 4-1/2 hour drive to come and visit and ride!

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Ya we are lucky enough that my grandma bought a decent chunk of land before my parents met and its been in the family ever since. I told my wife if that ski hill goes through and construction starts thats us moved, she doesn't have a say. lol

Re: Do you like living in Sparwood? Thinking of moving the family to BC

Lunch_Box said:

Ya we are lucky enough that my grandma bought a decent chunk of land before my parents met and its been in the family ever since. I told my wife if that ski hill goes through and construction starts thats us moved, she doesn't have a say. lol

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Yeah, it may be a welcome change of pace and lifestyle!

Re: Do you like living in Sparwood? Thinking of moving the family to BC

I would just be worried about getting a consistent supply of pot in Elkford.

Re: Do you like living in Sparwood? Thinking of moving the family to BC

I moved from alberia to sicamous and would never move back, lots of people-familes are moving after lots moved away

Because of the life style, rec stuff to do year round, and fly out of Kamloops airport to where ever

Re: Do you like living in Sparwood? Thinking of moving the family to BC

It sounds like you've already made up your mind but I spent some time living in Clearwater working for Canfor Vavenby and I would steer you away from that area. Forestry is definitely cyclical but for the most part most of the milling capacity has been rationalized and what you see left will continue to run long-term. If you have any doubts just ask what the company has put into the facility for capital and if there's not at least one $20M project in the last 5 years ask more questions about fibre supply. Most of the interior pulp mills are solid as well, the coastal/island operations are less of a sure thing. Most sawmills/pulp mills are looking for millwrights and because there's so much demand the companies are starting to pay better but I think your bonus and retention structures will be better with Teck.

Re: Do you like living in Sparwood? Thinking of moving the family to BC

Oh plus, fernie-elkford areas get fawking cold just like alberia, where as interior of b.c doesn't get to -20 or lower, and if it does its one or 2 days at best

Re: Do you like living in Sparwood? Thinking of moving the family to BC

I know you mentioned you did not like Vernon / Kelowna area but have you thought about Enderby/Armstrong area? My assistant's son just left his job building saw mill equipment and travelling lots to US for a close to home job without travel at Tolko mill in Armstrong. He is also a mill wright and they pay $42/hr. Not sure of bonus etc etc but they are a good employer.

Re: Do you like living in Sparwood? Thinking of moving the family to BC

Fast forward a few years until your kids are old enough for post secondary schooling or entering the workforce? Same opportunities in the Koots?

Re: Do you like living in Sparwood? Thinking of moving the family to BC

eclipse1966 said:

I know you mentioned you did not like Vernon / Kelowna area but have you thought about Enderby/Armstrong area? My assistant's son just left his job building saw mill equipment and travelling lots to US for a close to home job without travel at Tolko mill in Armstrong. He is also a mill wright and they pay $42/hr. Not sure of bonus etc etc but they are a good employer.

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How’s the home prices there?
Bro in law rejected a job there recently. Home prices are in high demand in Vernon from what he looked at with the realtor.

Re: Do you like living in Sparwood? Thinking of moving the family to BC

j335 said:

How’s the home prices there?
Bro in law rejected a job there recently. Home prices are in high demand in Vernon from what he looked at with the realtor.

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Enderby is quite reasonable, Armstrong is more but still very competitive compared with Vernon or Kelowna.

Re: Do you like living in Sparwood? Thinking of moving the family to BC

Haven't quite made up my mind, all though I'm close. My wife on the other hand will need some more persuasion still. I love the Sicamous area but I've never been there in the summer. Not sure how crazy it gets there but I'm also thinking of going to a smaller population area. That being said, Clearwater may be too small of an area. Living in Stony Plain my whole life it was a small town that was very close to Edmonton. We had had 2 traffic lights when I was a kid. Now it seems like it take me 15 minutes to go to the west end of Spruce, driving through 5 sets of lights, and I'm on the very east side of Stony. My town no longer has that small town feel that i grew up to love that made me want to spend my whole life at. The hardest part of thinking of packing up and heading west is I have been here my whole life, my kids are established here, and I live on a cul-d-sac that has amazing neighbours. I'm good friends with 10 out of 18 neighbours all with kids in the same age range. Leaving the people will be the hardest thing. As for work I just started the first spring shutdown and I have to tell you that I dread getting up in the morning. I like the work and like the people I work with but I think I'm over getting up and working myself out of a job every morning. Same work scope that we've done year after year, working longer hours with a smaller crew so everyone has a larger work load, less pay (we lost double time for OT), and the morale is going down as our CBA is over in less that a year. Being through a building trades union, I have mainly stuck to shutdowns. I gave up the maintenance gig I had about 10 years ago and the next longest gig Ive had was a full year in construction at NWR in 2016. I do love my time off so if I managed to pick up a 7 on 7 off or 14 and 14 up in the Mac, moving out west would be perfect but would prefer the full time local employment option for stability.

One thing that is going to be super important is the school system in any town we move to. So if anyone that lives in Elkford, Sparwood, Enderby or Sicamous that has children in the school system I'd love it if you chimed in. The boys are 7 and 9 (grade 2 and 4 this year). How are the schools in the town you live in? How are the teachers? How are the extra curricular activities? Does your school have a ski club? How is the baseball teams/coaches? Not to worried about the hockey program as I'm sure they will be sledding all winter long.

Bnorth said:

It sounds like you've already made up your mind but I spent some time living in Clearwater working for Canfor Vavenby and I would steer you away from that area. Forestry is definitely cyclical but for the most part most of the milling capacity has been rationalized and what you see left will continue to run long-term. If you have any doubts just ask what the company has put into the facility for capital and if there's not at least one $20M project in the last 5 years ask more questions about fibre supply. Most of the interior pulp mills are solid as well, the coastal/island operations are less of a sure thing. Most sawmills/pulp mills are looking for millwrights and because there's so much demand the companies are starting to pay better but I think your bonus and retention structures will be better with Teck.

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Re: Do you like living in Sparwood? Thinking of moving the family to BC

When the kids are old enough for post secondary they are already covered between RESP's and school grants that I already have available. If they need to go somewhere away from home for school that won't be an issue. I need to make sure that wherever we move to has an excellent school system so that if they want to go to post secondary the option is there for them. Them getting good grades in school doesn't mean too much if they aren't learning anything in a good school system and school environment now.

DRD said:

Fast forward a few years until your kids are old enough for post secondary schooling or entering the workforce? Same opportunities in the Koots?

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Re: Do you like living in Sparwood? Thinking of moving the family to BC

firstdoo said:

When the kids are old enough for post secondary they are already covered between RESP's and school grants that I already have available. If they need to go somewhere away from home for school that won't be an issue. I need to make sure that wherever we move to has an excellent school system so that if they want to go to post secondary the option is there for them. Them getting good grades in school doesn't mean too much if they aren't learning anything in a good school system and school environment now.

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Wasn't so much talking about sending the kids away for school, it's your wife making you move to be close to them as they go through school and develop careers ie. back to Ab. I've seen it happen and it's one of the reasons I don't move back home to the Koots.

Re: Do you like living in Sparwood? Thinking of moving the family to BC

firstdoo said:

Haven't quite made up my mind, all though I'm close. My wife on the other hand will need some more persuasion still. I love the Sicamous area but I've never been there in the summer. Not sure how crazy it gets there but I'm also thinking of going to a smaller population area. That being said, Clearwater may be too small of an area. Living in Stony Plain my whole life it was a small town that was very close to Edmonton. We had had 2 traffic lights when I was a kid. Now it seems like it take me 15 minutes to go to the west end of Spruce, driving through 5 sets of lights, and I'm on the very east side of Stony. My town no longer has that small town feel that i grew up to love that made me want to spend my whole life at. The hardest part of thinking of packing up and heading west is I have been here my whole life, my kids are established here, and I live on a cul-d-sac that has amazing neighbours. I'm good friends with 10 out of 18 neighbours all with kids in the same age range. Leaving the people will be the hardest thing. As for work I just started the first spring shutdown and I have to tell you that I dread getting up in the morning. I like the work and like the people I work with but I think I'm over getting up and working myself out of a job every morning. Same work scope that we've done year after year, working longer hours with a smaller crew so everyone has a larger work load, less pay (we lost double time for OT), and the morale is going down as our CBA is over in less that a year. Being through a building trades union, I have mainly stuck to shutdowns. I gave up the maintenance gig I had about 10 years ago and the next longest gig Ive had was a full year in construction at NWR in 2016. I do love my time off so if I managed to pick up a 7 on 7 off or 14 and 14 up in the Mac, moving out west would be perfect but would prefer the full time local employment option for stability.

One thing that is going to be super important is the school system in any town we move to. So if anyone that lives in Elkford, Sparwood, Enderby or Sicamous that has children in the school system I'd love it if you chimed in. The boys are 7 and 9 (grade 2 and 4 this year). How are the schools in the town you live in? How are the teachers? How are the extra curricular activities? Does your school have a ski club? How is the baseball teams/coaches? Not to worried about the hockey program as I'm sure they will be sledding all winter long.

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Well I can answer a few questions, Malikwa has a private school that's good, town school I guess is ok ish

There's ball and hockey and that stuff yes


As far as busy, we'll summer it is very, and I'm not a city busy type, so you just have to buy out of town away from the busy and it's great, having to take the kids to town for this and that sucks, but no different than living out of town anywhere else

Re: Do you like living in Sparwood? Thinking of moving the family to BC

DRD said:

Wasn't so much talking about sending the kids away for school, it's your wife making you move to be close to them as they go through school and develop careers ie. back to Ab. I've seen it happen and it's one of the reasons I don't move back home to the Koots.

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I don't think she's too worried about that. Her and her siblings left town for school knowing full well that the parents were not going to follow them. When it comes that time I'm sure she'll be the one packing their knowing they can always come back home.

Re: Do you like living in Sparwood? Thinking of moving the family to BC

firstdoo said:

Haven't quite made up my mind, all though I'm close. My wife on the other hand will need some more persuasion still. I love the Sicamous area but I've never been there in the summer. Not sure how crazy it gets there but I'm also thinking of going to a smaller population area. That being said, Clearwater may be too small of an area. Living in Stony Plain my whole life it was a small town that was very close to Edmonton. We had had 2 traffic lights when I was a kid. Now it seems like it take me 15 minutes to go to the west end of Spruce, driving through 5 sets of lights, and I'm on the very east side of Stony. My town no longer has that small town feel that i grew up to love that made me want to spend my whole life at. The hardest part of thinking of packing up and heading west is I have been here my whole life, my kids are established here, and I live on a cul-d-sac that has amazing neighbours. I'm good friends with 10 out of 18 neighbours all with kids in the same age range. Leaving the people will be the hardest thing. As for work I just started the first spring shutdown and I have to tell you that I dread getting up in the morning. I like the work and like the people I work with but I think I'm over getting up and working myself out of a job every morning. Same work scope that we've done year after year, working longer hours with a smaller crew so everyone has a larger work load, less pay (we lost double time for OT), and the morale is going down as our CBA is over in less that a year. Being through a building trades union, I have mainly stuck to shutdowns. I gave up the maintenance gig I had about 10 years ago and the next longest gig Ive had was a full year in construction at NWR in 2016. I do love my time off so if I managed to pick up a 7 on 7 off or 14 and 14 up in the Mac, moving out west would be perfect but would prefer the full time local employment option for stability.

One thing that is going to be super important is the school system in any town we move to. So if anyone that lives in Elkford, Sparwood, Enderby or Sicamous that has children in the school system I'd love it if you chimed in. The boys are 7 and 9 (grade 2 and 4 this year). How are the schools in the town you live in? How are the teachers? How are the extra curricular activities? Does your school have a ski club? How is the baseball teams/coaches? Not to worried about the hockey program as I'm sure they will be sledding all winter long.

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From what I read about your family, I get the impression that you ALREADY live in the perfect location....

Re: Do you like living in Sparwood? Thinking of moving the family to BC

Cat401 said:

From what I read about your family, I get the impression that you ALREADY live in the perfect location....

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The neighbourhood is great, the town not so much. I haven’t had or needed a full time job in over 13 years and it’s been great. But with the economy and future work outlook it’s probably time for a full time gig. The main employers around here that pay well without a long daily commute are the coal fired generating stations. Sundance plant (TransAlta) is basically shutting the doors on 4 of their 6 units. Going to be a large set of layoffs coming up. Their other plant is keephills and they are looking at switching over to natural gas instead of coal. Again this will cause more layoffs as doing a gas conversion does not require nearly as much maintenance. God forbid the NDP retain power in Alberta of the Liberals federally as this would accelerate the closure of Capital Powers Genesee generating station in 12 years (2030). I wouldn’t be looking forward to getting on full time with either of they 2 employers knowing there would be a good chance I’d be looking for another job in 2-12 years.

BC is really appealing to us. My wife is from a smaller town. I grew up in a smaller town that has evolved more than I like. We just think it might be time for a change. We do a ton of rving that coming back or meeting up with the current neighbors for a weekend or week long camping trip would be really easy to continue in the future.

Re: Do you like living in Sparwood? Thinking of moving the family to BC

so as per the schools. My son is in grade 12 and just applied last night to get into Sait. He is also applying for lots of scholarships too. I feel the schools in this area is no different than other schools. The teachers don't fail kids anymore. We had a daycare in our house for a bit and had lots of teachers kids in the daycare. the teachers care but the system sucks. My neice is a teacher in Grande Prairie and she says the same thing up there. As per sports the school has lots and there are programs for skiing in Fernie. The ski hill is a world class hill. The high school is almost brand new and is next to the elementery school. There is busing for the smaller kids. I never had my kid in hockey as he went skiing or sledding but there is a huge hockey program in the area.

DRD said:

Wasn't so much talking about sending the kids away for school, it's your wife making you move to be close to them as they go through school and develop careers ie. back to Ab. I've seen it happen and it's one of the reasons I don't move back home to the Koots.

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Re: Do you like living in Sparwood? Thinking of moving the family to BC

firstdoo said:

Haven't quite made up my mind, all though I'm close. My wife on the other hand will need some more persuasion still. I love the Sicamous area but I've never been there in the summer. Not sure how crazy it gets there but I'm also thinking of going to a smaller population area. That being said, Clearwater may be too small of an area. Living in Stony Plain my whole life it was a small town that was very close to Edmonton. We had had 2 traffic lights when I was a kid. Now it seems like it take me 15 minutes to go to the west end of Spruce, driving through 5 sets of lights, and I'm on the very east side of Stony. My town no longer has that small town feel that i grew up to love that made me want to spend my whole life at. The hardest part of thinking of packing up and heading west is I have been here my whole life, my kids are established here, and I live on a cul-d-sac that has amazing neighbours. I'm good friends with 10 out of 18 neighbours all with kids in the same age range. Leaving the people will be the hardest thing. As for work I just started the first spring shutdown and I have to tell you that I dread getting up in the morning. I like the work and like the people I work with but I think I'm over getting up and working myself out of a job every morning. Same work scope that we've done year after year, working longer hours with a smaller crew so everyone has a larger work load, less pay (we lost double time for OT), and the morale is going down as our CBA is over in less that a year. Being through a building trades union, I have mainly stuck to shutdowns. I gave up the maintenance gig I had about 10 years ago and the next longest gig Ive had was a full year in construction at NWR in 2016. I do love my time off so if I managed to pick up a 7 on 7 off or 14 and 14 up in the Mac, moving out west would be perfect but would prefer the full time local employment option for stability.

One thing that is going to be super important is the school system in any town we move to. So if anyone that lives in Elkford, Sparwood, Enderby or Sicamous that has children in the school system I'd love it if you chimed in. The boys are 7 and 9 (grade 2 and 4 this year). How are the schools in the town you live in? How are the teachers? How are the extra curricular activities? Does your school have a ski club? How is the baseball teams/coaches? Not to worried about the hockey program as I'm sure they will be sledding all winter long.

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Clearwater is very small and has a unique demographic. In Upper Clearwater near Wells Gray there are tons of old hippies, many of them immigrants that made good money and bought gorgeous homes and properties in the area and now protest anything that resembles economic opportunity or motorized recreation. The North Thompson badly needs economic growth as it is very poor and with that comes closed mindsets and extensive drug use. There aren't a lot of kids with their sights set on post secondary education whether it's university or a trade. There are some good people there but it can be cliquey if you're not a longtime local. There's not a whole lot happening in town but if you enjoy un-structured outdoor activity then it has some of the best access around from sledding in areas that don't see a lot of traffic, to quadding, hiking and camping. The population tends to be older so one key thing to consider is if your family is happy to do its own thing by themselves as a family or if you need other families and friends to participate with to keep it interesting.

Re: Do you like living in Sparwood? Thinking of moving the family to BC

like Bnorth commented prices of housing is expensive but better than Vernon and south. My daughter and her husband bought their first place in summer of 2016. Just a 3 bedroom rancher approx 1200 sq ft in a cul de sac at $225,000 but does need work (maybe $75,000 worth). Just had out house appraised a couple months ago, 1/2 acre about 7 km out of town, built in 2004 4200 sq ft and appraised at 800 grand. This house in the Kelowna would be over 1 million.

j335 said:

How’s the home prices there?
Bro in law rejected a job there recently. Home prices are in high demand in Vernon from what he looked at with the realtor.

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