What you should think about when you want to build a custom home.

Think about what you want your custom home to look like on the outside before starting your custom home drawings.

If you are in the planning stages of your custom home project, make sure that you take some time to stop and think about what you really want out of it. For example;

• What do you want the house to look like? Colours, style?
• What materials do you want to build the house out of?
• Will your vision fit in the lot or property that you own? Does it make sense at that location?
• Are you maximizing the space provided and the natural topography of the land?
• Are you highlighting the features of the property with the design and position of the home?
• Are you designing a house that will fit into your realistic budget?
• Do you want a large house with lower end finishes or do you want a smaller house with higher end finishes?
• Will the house fit into the neighbourhood that exists already?
• Is there a house already on the property? Are you aloud to have it removed? Is it a heritage building?
• Is being environmentally friendly really important to you?
• Do you like modern conveniences? Or are you a traditionalist?
• Is the property environmentally protected?
• Are their restrictions on removal of trees and soil?

All of these questions need to be looked at and decided on before you start the drawing of the home. With these decisions made you will save yourself a lot of time and money when you meet with your architect or draftsmen. These professionals will be billing you for their time; every time they have to re-draw something it’s going to cost you money. That’s why it’s so important to walk in with as many answers as possible before it starts.

The easiest way to help the professional that is drawing your new home is to give them pictures of other homes that you have seen in the area or have liked in magazines and brochures. You can mix and max anyway you want too. The job of the architect or draftsmen is to interpret all of your ideals and bring them together in a way that look's right in your new home. They are professionals so they will be able to tell you from experience some of the things to stay away from and some of the things that have worked well in projects they have drawn in the past.

So remember do a lot of your research, thinking and planning before you arrive in the office of the professional that is going to draw your custom home, it will help them and you get what you want and what you really need.

Rob Abbott
Operations Manager
Village Builders Inc.

Why you should start building your home in the spring

Why you should start your custom home project in the spring

If you are thinking about building a custom home, you should be doing your planning and designing in the winter so that you can get your building permit before the spring. There are a couple of reasons for this;

·         Designers, contractors and the local municipal building departments are not as busy in the winter months. Even through things have changed with the construction industry being a 12 month of the year business, the high volume time is in the warmer months.

·         This will allow you to choose your contractor without any pressure. In the spring time when contractors are starting to get busier and picking up building projects you could end up being rushed to make decisions if the contractor that you want to build your house is filling up his work load for the whole year quickly.

·         You will be able to get a lot of the choosing of fireplaces, plumbing fixtures, lighting fixtures, floor coverings, kitchen layouts, bathroom layouts and trim details out of the way. This will help you later in the build process because even with all those choices made you will be asked by the contractor to make constant decisions. It’s called a custom home for a reason; it’s customized to the homeowner and the homeowner’s budget.

·         Choosing and signing a contractor in the winter before the spring will allow the contractor to book important sub-trades so that your project can be developed in a timely manner. For example; in spring time when you go to dig the foundation your contractor will hire an excavator company, if they don’t know about the project until the spring then they might have a hard time getting the excavator company in a timely manner since everyone will be calling and asking for digging services.

Building in a cold climate means that you should start the building process as soon as the ground thaws. Most custom homes take a full year to build so you are pretty much guaranteed to be building the house through the winter months. The difference is that if you start in the spring then by the time the weather turns to rainy in the fall and then snowy in the winter the house will be enclosed with the siding or stone installed already on the outside. The only work then should be on the inside out of the elements in an environment where you are able to control the temperature.

Building in the cold always takes longer and ends up costing more. Workers and tools do not work as well in the cold and the act of having to shovel snow ends up costing the home owner money. There are also certain things that cannot be done in the winter (like stoning the outside of a house) without adding large amounts of heat which costs money.

There are more man days lost in the winter because of equipment freeze ups and hazardous driving then in any other part of the year. Also the day light hours in the winter are shorter which shortens the day for people working on the outside. This slows the process of building the house and usually adds cost because in the construction industry time costs money.

If you start a house in the fall or the end of the fall you could end up in a situation where the weather gets unusually cold and you have to insulate the ground, footings or foundation against freezing. This is usually accomplished with straw or thermal blankets. This process ends up costing the homeowner more money, something that can be avoided by starting the foundation earlier in the year like summer or spring.

In a lot of rural locations they have spring road restrictions called “half loads”. This is when the frost is coming out of the ground making the roads softer and more vulnerable to damage. In “half load” restricted area’s you are only aloud to fill trucks such as concrete, lumber and delivery half full to keep the weight from ruining the road bed. This also means that important things like cranes cannot access a job site. If you do all your planning and permits in the winter then the contractor has the ability to start your project before the half loads are placed on the roads. The contractor can get all the digging and concrete out of the way so that the project isn’t slowed down with the road restrictions. This will also save you money as having trucks do delivery half full will double your delivery charges.

The earlier you start your custom home project the better the chance that you will have access to important in demand sub trades. Certain sub trades depending on their reputation are busier than others. For example; good drywallers are in high demand and are almost impossible to get on time depending on certain times of the year. But if you start your custom home in the spring then you will need drywallers in the fall or early winter. If you start early then you have the flexibility to wait any extra week or two for the good quality trades. It makes your project more flexible and allows you to do all the finishing’s in the house in the winter after Christmas when trades are looking for work.

If you want help with the building or designing project feel free to email me at robabbott@villagebuilders.ca or stop in and see us at 3 Caroline St. Creemore.

Rob Abbott

Operations Manager

Village Builders Inc.

Pre planning your custom home project can save you time, money and stress

Pre-planning for your custom home will save you time, money and stress during the build

When you start the process of getting a custom home built, you should take the time to make as many decisions about the house as you can before you even start constructing it.

Once you have had the plans drawn, you should work with a designer on what you want the interior and exterior of the house to look like. If you can manage it, you should even have the interior paint colours chosen before your contractor breaks down the price of the project. If you make these decisions then this will free you up to make a lot of the choices that come up when you are building a house.

Choosing everything that you need and want in your home does a couple of things;

·         It allows you to enjoy the building process, instead of being overloaded with decisions during the build.

·         It allows you to make smarter decisions when unexpected things come up that you didn’t foresee.

·         It allows you to set and follow a budget.

·         It allows you to consider upgrades, comparing them to the budget and the existing choices.

·         It allows the general contractor to build your home quicker because they don’t have to wait for you to make decisions that slow the build process done. It also allows the builder to pre-order things that might save you money compared to ordering at the last minute.

·         When you make decisions under pressure, you run the risk of making a snap decision that you will regret later.

·         It allows the builder to source out the proper trades for special installation.

·         It allows the builder to turn the house over to the homeowner completed with all the finishing’s and fixtures hung, instead of homeowners moving in and then shopping around for some light fixtures and paint colours. There is always an added expensive if trades have to come back after the homeowner’s furniture is in the house. Special things have to be done to help protect the homeowner’s things and that takes time and time costs money.

If you find a designer that you can work with, this can make everything run smoother. Think of the designer as management for you. Then the builder calls the designer first with questions, leaving you to focus on what the designer wants you to focus on.

Remember that building a custom home will be the most expensive investment that you ever make in your life, especially if you want it to be your retirement home. With the cost comes stress. Stress muddles the decision making ability of most people. So the more choices that you make before that stressor of the house being constructed happens, the better your decisions will end up being.

So find a builder that you can do a lot of pre planning with and a designer that can help you with the style choices of your future home. Remember the more planning you do now, the less stress you will have during the building process.

If you are looking for a builder or an interior designer feel free to contact me at robabbott@villagebuilders.ca or check out our website at www.villagebuilders.ca

Rob Abbott

Operations Manager

Village Builders Inc.

How residential elevators are becoming more popular in new homes

Residential elevators are being installed more frequently in multi-level. With an aging population of baby boomers who desire to be independent, planning for future elevators make perfect sense. So framing an elevator shaft into your new home as it is being built will cut down on the future cost of the elevator installation and cut down on the reconstruction that your home will have to go through.

Elevators can be a large expense when they are installed. One way to get around this is to have just the elevator shaft roughed in when you have your house built or renovated. This allows you to pay for the cost of the framing and rough in while the house is being built and put on your mortgage. Then 20 years down the road when you require an elevator you will have had lots of time to save up for it. Installation of the elevator should be relatively easy because the house has been framed for this application.

 What you have to do is have an engineer or architect design you a future elevator shaft in the home. It usually consists of extra footings made of concrete in the basement, then larger beams that surround the shaft all the way up to the top floor. This will help transfer the load down to the foundation when the elevator is finally installed.

The great thing about roughing in the elevator shaft while the house is being built is that it cuts down on the renovation costs in the future. Also if you designate a certain area in the home for the elevator you can still use that space for storage or closest. When installing a future elevator you don’t leave it as an empty shaft, you install the floor joist, plywood and flooring on all floors. This allows you to use these spaces until you desire to have the rest of the elevator installed.

When they go to install the elevator they simply remove the drywall, floor joist and floor coverings. Then they install the elevator and all the mechanical means that it needs. What you have to make sure of is that you don’t install any heating ducts, water pipes, structured wiring or electrical lines through the shaft. This will make the installation of the elevator easier at a later date.

A couple of things that your contractor might have to keep in mind for a future installation of elevator;

·         No mechanical, water, structural or electrical lines inside the shaft.

·         Easy access to electrical panel for future motors to run lift. A lot of this equipment runs on 240 V so you need a large electrical cable run to were the motors will be placed. If electrical panel is not easily accessed from where motors are to be installed then install a 240 line that is not active and is for future use.

·         Have the shaft designed by an engineer so that it will meet building codes for your future elevator and not just to meet the standards for you sub- floor now. This can be done by the same engineer that specs all the beams and floor joist in the home.

·         Make sure you leave enough room for an elevator in the shaft. Usually you have to leave a minimum of 5 feet square for the elevator. This could have to be larger depending on the kind or elevator and the number of floors the elevator will have to lift. You should have the elevator shaft specifications done buy an elevator installation company. For a small fee they design you a future elevator and shaft.

·         You must leave enough room in the hallways going to the elevator on every floor. So that means that the hallways coming and going from the elevator shaft area must be considered handi-cap accessible. Local codes are all different depending on where you live but usually the code reads that you need to be able to turn a wheelchair in a 360 degree area.

·         Make sure that the door to your bedroom and all bathroom doors that you think you will be using are wheelchair accessible. Again check local building codes for that size.

·         Your going to want to install the elevator in an area that is out of the way but can be accessed from outside fairly easily. This area that you access the house from has to be able to have a future ramp installed. So choice a location that will allow a long ramp to be installed from the outside door.

·         Make sure you keep the specifications for all the elevators requirements in a safe place so that you can show the building department 20 years from now that it was engineered for that purpose.

The last 3 houses that we have constructed have all had roughed in elevator shafts. It didn’t cost a lot of money or take a lot of time to do because we were framing the house from scratch anyways. Hopefully my clients will never need them, but its comforting thing to have if you believe you or your spouse will need it one day.

It is also a positive selling feature for the home, a lot of people are now thinking about building bungalows because they don’t want to go up and down stairs in their later years. This is a smart idea if you live on a big enough piece of property to accommodate a bungalow that has enough space for your needs.

So remember proper planning can help you save money in the future and an elevator shaft rough in can help you stay in your dream home years longer!

Rob Abbott
Operations Manager

Village Builders inc.