This Old House

Here it is, the house we tore down to build the new one. Quaint old house, but in pretty bad shape.

Sub Trade Costs

I am doing my best to get as many quotes for sub trades as possible. It is quite interesting to see the variation. Depending on who you pick can make a big difference in the overall cost of your project.

Some examples:

1. Drywall quotes have ranged from $1 to $3 per board feet.
2. Plumbing rough in quotes have ranged from $7000 to $14000
3. Electrical rough in quotes have ranged from $7000 to $14000 as well
4. Forming/Framing - ranged form $7 to $11 (including foundation forming).

I had quotes from five different window suppliers based in the Lower Mainland, they were:

1. Vinyltek
2. Westtek - went with Westtek in the end because I could also get all my doors from them.
3. Westcoast - it was a toss up between Westcoast and Westtek, both did a very good job.
4. Oasis - terrible experience. Un-interested sales person and the quote was one page.
5. Euroline - expensive but nice windows

Navigating the City of Vancouver Web Site

One of the more frustration aspects of being a novice Owner/Builder in Vancouver is dealing with the City of Vancouver web site.

There does not appear to be a logical and easy way to navigate the site to find detailed information about the building process in terms of finding out details about the inspection process and what one needs to prepare for.

For instance tomorrow we have the NEC (non encroachment certificate) inspection. Try searching for this on the city web site and you will find a reference to this certificate but no explanation about what it is, what the inspection covers, and most importantly what you need to prepare for in advance of the permit. All that I have been able to figure out is that it is required once the foundation wall forms have been stripped, and before framing is to begin.

In a future post I plan on creating a set of links to help others (and me in the future) navigate to relevant information on the site.

Engineers and More Engineers

When we got in to this project I had no idea how many "Engineers" are required. Here is a list of the type of Engineer and Professionals I have had to engage in the project.

1. Architect - This is an obvious one; however, depending on who you hire and how "custom" you would like your home to be the costs can vary quite a bit. I have heard costs as low as $4000 to over $25000. We spend less than $10000 for everything, which in the scheme of things is quite reasonable.
2. Property Surveyor - create detailed site plan, mark out location of foundation for the foundation forming crew.
3. Environmental Consultant - I tore an old house down so I had to hire a specialist to determine if there were any harmful materials in the house (Asbestos primarily). There were trace amounts which we had removed, after which the Environmental Specialist came back to right a report verifying there were no longer any hazardous materials. The Cityof Vancouver seemed confused about this process. Some individuals at the city suggested my demolition contractor should do this assessment; however, he does not have access to a lab to do testing. I would suggest talking with the city early on in your project to get clear direction on this.
4. Arborist - Our neighbor had a few trees that were near the property line so we had to hire an Arborist to write a report on the implications of our construction. He said there were none; however, he did not that one of the neighbors trees was suffering from age related issues and should be replaced. For a day or so the city was suggesting that I could not get a permit until my neighbor agreed to replace the sick tree - fortunately this did not take long to clear up. The lesson learned is to make sure an Arborist report does not unintenionally raise red flags that might delay your project.
5. Structural Engineer - These engineers will engineer the foundation and framing. In my experience there is a lot of variation in how these engineers approach these projects, and as such depending on who you pick they can make your project more difficult. I would suggest interviewing a few and perhaps ask for some sample work. The trade off to look for is an engineer that will do a good job and will look out for your best interests, but at the same time will not "over-engineer" the project. My foundation concrete has rebar every 12 inches on the vertical and 16 inches on the horizontal but the engineer was still expressing concern about backfilling before the first floor was on. Waiting until the first floor is on can cause issues with backfilling a crawlspace and side yards if you are on a narrow lot. In the future I will review these types of issues with the engineer before he does his work.
6. Geotechnical Engineer - These engineers look at soil conditions and excavation requirements. They also write a report that is reviewed by Worksafe BC that is supposed to address soil type, excavation safety, slab prep, backfill issues etc. Just like a structural engineer there can be a lot of variation in how these folks approach a project. In the future before hiring one I will talk to them about what their typical drainage and backfill recommendations are for building in Vancouver. The one I hired on this project is very thorough and is looking out for my interests, but what he has suggested I do for drainage and backfill is far beyond code requirements as is potentially very expensive and time consuming ($15K extra for backfill due to a recommendation to back fill up to grade with gravel 12 inches off the foundation wall). I have "negotiated" a less expensive option. You cannot just ignore their recommendations as they may not sign off on your project.
7. Sump Pump Engineer - You will be required to get a letter from an engineer to determine what is the minimum pump required in a sump (if one is required).

To Build a House in Vancouver

In early 2009 we decided to jump in and build a house, as an Owner Builder, in the city of Vancouver. This is something that we had been thinking about undertaking for some time, so with the dip in the Vancouver Real Estate market in early 2009 we sold our old house a bought a Vancouver West Side Lot at what has proved to be (so far) a very good price. Fortunately this lot came with plans that had already been approved three years earlier.

We submitted our RS-5 (conditional) plans in May and at that time were told by the city planning department the process to get a development permit should take two months because the plans had already gone through the process. In the end it still took five months and we did not get any benefit from the fact the plans were essentially "perfect" right at the start of the process.

As a first time builder there were many things we learned along the way to getting our permit, especially how the "opinions" of those in a decision making capacity can have on a project. This includes both city staff and the various engineers and professionals that one needs to work with.

During this time we also did quite a bit of work on budgeting as we had heard of a fairly wide range in terms of costs per square foot. I have put together a very detailed excel spreadsheet for our project budget and will be updating it every week as real costs are concerned. Initially we were trying to keep costs under $16o per square foot but realistically at this point we believe we will end up somewhere around $190 to $210 per square foot. This is for a 2950 square foot "custom" build - it is not being built as a spec home which we could probably do for around $160 per square foot.