Building your new home - FAQ

Q. Do I need a house design before we start working together?

A. No not necessarily. If you don't have a formal house design at this time, we can help you determine whether you need an architect to get involved. The complexity of what you're looking for and the piece of land that you're building on often determine whether you'll need an architect or we can help you develop the design using in-house or collaborative designers we work with on a daily basis.

Q. What will it cost to build my new home?

A. Typically, a house price is looked at per square foot cost. This cost can vary wildly depending on amenities, interior finish, size, type and amount of doors and windows etc. If you have a budget in mind, we can give you the design parameters that would keep you on that budget prior to any build.

Q. What steps do we need to take to build a custom home?

A. There are six major states involved in a house built from start to finish you can see more details on them here . What's important for you to remember here is once construction begins, we manage the entire building process through to completion.

Q. How do I know if everything is on track and on budget?

A. We will give you status reports on a regular schedule that we determine at the beginning of the project that is appropriate. This process will assure you understand the current timeline as we move forward and that there are no surprises. Additionally we can take your input and field questions, anytime along the way.

Q. How much time should I expect the entire home building process to take?

A. Every new home build is different in terms of complexity, size and sourcing of material. There is also time overhead such as time to design, time it takes for the SCRD to issue permits and so forth. With this in mind, It's safe to say you should not anticipate completing a project in less than nine months and it could take longer than one year depending on the project.

Q. How do green or energy-efficient custom homes differ from "standard" construction?

A. Green and or energy-efficient homes are becoming more popular as we become more concerned about the planet we live on. In fact, energy efficiency is now part of the mandatory minimum standard BC requires for new home construction. There is a wide range of green and energy-efficient options which we would love to explain to you so you can make an educated decision on what makes sense to integrate into your new home design.