Kim Davis
Sun

Home is where the heart – and the head – is. James Stuart of Twelve Cubed Homes is residing in his Cappuccino model. His goal is to spend six months in the 12-footby-12 foot design. ‘I rented my house, put most of my stuff in storage and have begun to adapt to my ‘cubic’ life,’ he reports. ‘It’s a space I’m proud to bring people into.’ If he stays for six months, he will win a wager with several friends, which will result in a donation of about $4,000 to the Salvation Army.

What packing-challenged, organizational junkie hasn’t fantasized about something that can hold all the comforts of home in a small and portable package–say, like Mary Poppins‘ magical bottomless bag?

James Stuart, founder of Nanaimobased Twelve Cubed Homes, wasn’t thinking of Mary Poppins when he began doodling his designs for a micro-home.

Still, he was looking to make something big in a small package.

After reading a disturbing story about a Vancouver homeless woman who had burned to death trying to keep warm, Stuart and several friends began discussing how small one could make a house. And not just a shelter, rather someplace a person could call a home.

A stack of napkins and several prototypes later, Stuart emerged with two surprisingly spacious, but remarkably small, homes: the Cappuccino, measuring 12 cubic feet and, after a bit more careful trimming, the Pure at 10-by-10-by-12.5 feet. As far as he knows, his cubed concepts are the smallest complete homes on the market today.

SMALL PACKAGE, BIG DESIGN

Stuart says that when they sat down to design the cubes, the goal was to come up with a cost-effective plan that would produce the least amount of waste possible, be environmentally conscious and house two people in as small a space as would be practical and comfortable.

By choosing a 12×12 size, they were able to capitalize on the fact that many standard building materials come in eight-or 12-foot lengths. The cubes exceed code requirements for insulation, utilize FSC-certified wood wherever possible and include other eco-friendly staples such as low-flow fixtures and on-demand hot water. They use no particle board.

From the outside, it is difficult to imagine how the little houses, which are quaint and contemporary, can possibly accommodate a living space, kitchen, bathroom and bedroom, let alone purportedly generous amounts of storage in 144 square feet. Closet kitchens and airplane bathrooms immediately come to mind.

As Stuart notes, though, the trick is to think cubically. Using an innovative system of movable floors, the cubed homes successfully provide two floors with approximately 288 square feet (for the Cappuccino) of livable space beneath a 12-foot high roof.

“It’s a simple design that can be easily tweaked,” says Stuart, who swears that by converting the living area and storage, one could even sleep up to five people (very cozily) in a pinch.

Stuart moved into the pilot 12-by-12-foot cube in Nanaimo several months ago to do a six-month test to prove just how comfortable and cosy the home could be, during even the coldest part of the year.

“I rented my house, put most of my stuff in storage, and have begun to adapt to my ‘cubic’ life,” says Stuart. “It’s a space I’m proud to bring people into.”

Having made a wager with several friends who doubted he could live in a space that small, Stuart says he is looking forward the approximately $4,000 he will have to donate to the Salvation Army at the end of the six months.

ALLEN-KEY INSTALLATION

While each municipality has its own requirements around building sizes, setbacks and the like, initiatives and incentives around eco-density, which are encouraging carriage and laneway homes, make the cubes a convenient way to create much-needed housing and revenue sources for homeowners.

For example, the City of Victoria is considering a bylaw that would allow carriage homes and detached suites.

Due of the current shortage of affordable housing, the city is offering a subsidy of up to $5,000 to people who will put in legal suites and then agree to rent them for five years.

In the city of Nanaimo, the 10-by-10 Pure unit can be installed without a building inspection or permit on city lots that already have a primary house.

The more spacious 12-by-12 Cappuccino unit requires a fully inspected foundation and permits and falls under the current carriage house regulations, allowing it to be constructed on a corner lot, a lot with laneway access or on property over 10,000 square feet.

The cubes can be built in part–or in the case of the 10-by-10 Pure model, entirely offsite, making it possible to deliver them on a flatbed truck, and installed in minimal time.

While Stuart says that you still need a qualified electrician and plumber to handle the power, water and sewage (which is connected to the primary house), he reports that many people can put the pieces together with little more than a wrench.

“It’s literally a big Allen key that bolts the whole thing together,” jokes Stuart. And yes, IKEA fans everywhere, the company is furiously working on a flat-pack design.

GOING SMALL PROVES HUGE

While you probably won’t see the cubes on the shelves of IKEA any time soon, their small footprints and modest costs — $24,500 for the 12-by-12 model, or around $85 per square foot — have attracted a lot of attention: everyone from college students and houseboat enthusiasts to local municipalities and disaster relief organizations.

Next Thursday, the company will meet with the City of Abbotsford to discuss the cube homes.

It also has recently partnered with Palladium Developments on Vancouver Island to build the homes; two cube show homes, one of each size, will soon available for viewing. For more, visit twelve3.caon the Internet.

SUNNY OPTION

While Twelve Cubed Homes are moderately priced themselves, Stuart says people looking to build carriage houses or laneway homes are often shocked at what they have to pay in hydro connection fees.

While the company’s 10-by-10-foot Pure unit typically costs around $500 to connect, the 12-by-12-foot Cappuccino model could start at around $7,000. In response to this, Twelve Cubed Homes offers a solar model.

While the solar component adds around $3,000 to the cost of the cube, it not only eliminates the hydro fee, but further reduces one’s already modest utility bills.

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

Developer takes over stalled project from owner of Vancouver property

Mary Frances Hill
Sun

For the Spruce kitchens, developer and designer have specified Blomberg for the refrigerators and dishwashers and AEG for the cooktops and ovens. Refrigerators and dishwashers will be faced in the same material as the cabinetry, either rift-cut oak or wenge. Composite stone will top kitchen counters and ceramic tiled backsplashes will run between counters and cabinetry bottoms. For the main baths, developer and designer have specified ‘soaker’ tubs; marble vanities with above -counter square basins; and taps and controls by Danze. In the ensuites, tubs and showers will be separated, the latter behind ‘European frameless glass doors.’ Floors will be heated.

SPRUCE

Project location: Fairview, Vancouver
Project size: 11 storeys, 49 units
Residence size: 1 bed +den, 555 sq. ft.-653 sq. ft.-2 bed +den, 804 sq. ft.-853 sq. ft.
Prices: From the mid $300,000 range
Developer: Intracorp
Architect: Nigel Baldwin/Halkier Architects
Interior design: Insight Design group with Kodu Design
Sales centre: 1595 West Broadway, Vancouver
Hours: noon -5 p.m., Sat -Thu
Telephone: 604-738-7075
E-mail: [email protected]
Web: spruceliving.ca
Occupancy: November 2011 

When Spruce’s builders break ground in March, Joe Walls will probably be nearby, watching and waiting.”We always joke that once they start building the place, we’re going to grab a cup of coffee and sit out on the street and watch,” the buyer of a one-bedroom-with-den penthouse-apartment says.

Wall bought a Spruce apartment three days after Intracorp Development started selling. He hopes to be in his new home by the end of 2011.

“It’s pretty exciting and gives us something to look forward to,” he says. “In the next year, we’ll be getting ready, planning, and buying new furniture for the place.”

Walls’s current residence is nearby, a one-bedroom apartment of just over 500 square feet, with little balcony attached. He and his girlfriend, who spend most of their time in that small place, are stoked about what’s to come: more than 600 square feet, with a spiral staircase leading to their private rooftop terrace–yet another 600 square feet.

Walls says they’re looking forward to twice as many windows as his current home, plenty of storage space. “It’s very open, very light, with lots of windows, heated bathroom floor, and amenities like a gym.

In his early 30s, Walls grew up in the Surrey-White Rock area and has owned most of the homes he’s lived in in his adult years.

But the bachelor days are over, and new needs and priorities factor in.

“As you progress in life you try to move up, so I bought a place with a few more amenities. Being a boutique-style building, I know people who buy into Spruce will take more pride in it, and stay there. There’ll be more security.”

Walls, a cyclist who drives only on the weekends, and then only seldom, takes the bike route on 10th Avenue to his workplace near Cambie.

It was vital to the couple that they stay in the False Creek neighbourhood. With her work downtown, and his job near Cambie and Broadway, the area is convenient for both of them.

On Broadway, Walls and his neighbours can take in a variety of restaurants, coffee shops and retail outlets. The business strip continues east toward Oak and Cambie, where major pharmacies like Shoppers Drug Mart and London Drugs are the cornerstones of the retail district.

A few blocks west sits Granville Street, a destination with higher-end furniture, private art galleries, bookstores, restaurants, and the Stanley Theatre.

The neighbourhoods act as bookends for Walls and his neighbours, as both are hubs of city transportation.

Trains from the Broadway-City Hall Canada Line stop at Cambie and Broadway travel to downtown Vancouver and Richmond. The Granville-Broadway area is lined with coffee shops, bookstores, high-end furniture and small galleries.

Further south of the development is a neighbourhood of a different character altogether, as established homes and apartment buildings sit on quiet tree-lined streets. As one of the very few new developments in the area, Walls sees the building blends into the warmth of the area.

The project was unanimously supported by the city’s Urban Design Panel, which noted in a 2007 Development Permit Board report that its “tower setback” offered a greater sense of variability along that stretch of West Broadway.

“I grew up in the suburbs, and I’m a creature of comfort, so I need a quieter tree-lined street, Walls says.

The site was slated for construction under a different developer, MBA Inc. and JMR Developments, two years ago. As the land’s owners, they chose to redevelop the site, and went to market in October 2008.

But the real estate market downturn hit them hard.

After nearly seven weeks, MBA/JMR realized it was not viable and put the project on hold, according to Intracorp marketing director Carla Bury.

They still own the site, with Intracorp as developer and marketer.

When Intracorp took over, it brought with it a pedigree that inspired some confidence in Walls, he says.

Intracorp built Camera and Pintura at South Granville; Rise, Vista Place and Ventana in North Vancouver; Jacobsen in Mount Pleasant, and Chancellor Place at UBC.

Once Intracorp moved in and the turbulence calmed down, Walls says he felt confident about his new home.

“Any correction in the market that should have that has happened in Vancouver has already happened. We’re excited about moving.”

Birdseye views back and front

The Spruce building will be located at the southeast corner of Broadway and Spruce. The rendering (top) on the left shows the building’s north, or Broadway, and west, or Spruce, elevations and the rendering on the right, its south and east elevations. The Spruce architects are Nigel Baldwin and Halkier Architects. In his presentation to city hall’s Urban Design Panel, architect Baldwin said the siting of the building on the property was driven by proximities. ‘ . . . the tower was set back to create some difference in the streetscape along West Broadway.’ The panel unanimously supported the proposal, with members saying ‘the tower setback along West Broadway as they felt it offered greater variability on West Broadway and helped break down the monotony of the series of small towers that are all in a row.’ (Above left) Baldwin has used the spiral staircases connecting Spruce penthouses and their roof decks elsewhere, 10 blocks to the west, on the recently opened Pulse building. Above right, the south, or lane, elevation, showing the entrance to the parking garage.

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

Many homeowners confused by standards, unaware of potential conflicts of interest

Derrick Penner
Sun

Darcy Zallen holds an inspection report for her newly purchased home as she stands in her master bedroom, while contractor Jeff Bain removes rotten wood from the outside walls. The report did not note the home needed major repairs. Photograph by: Ward Perrin, Vancouver Sun

Darcy Zallen liked the spacious half-acre Maple Ridge property she purchased a lot more than the little bungalow on it, but thought as long as the home was structurally sound, she could live with it.

She needed the outdoor space for her dogs and the work she does for an animal rescue society.

However, despite a property inspector’s report that indicated some minor problems and noted a roof needed to be replaced within five years, Zallen faces spending up to an estimated $40,000 to make major repairs before she can move in.

She purchased the home for $405,000.

“I think I did what I could, I hired an inspector,” Zallen, a civilian employee of the RCMP, said in an interview.

The trouble is, she didn’t know what standards the inspector would be working under, what things he would look at and what things he wouldn’t.

In April, the provincial government implemented a requirement for home and property inspectors to be licensed with Consumer Protection B.C. to bring a measure of order to a previously unregulated industry.

Licensing requires inspectors to be members of one of three organizations that administer training and sets ethical standards and standards of practice for inspections.

However, it remains a buyer-beware environment in which consumers need to know what to expect from home inspections.

Zallen selected her inspector from a list provided to her by the relocation service that handled her move from the Sunshine Coast.

Zallen said she told the inspector that if any major repairs needed to be done, she couldn’t afford them.

“My main concern was the roof, because it was tar and gravel, but it had this weird metal covering,” she said.

The inspector’s report said the roof should be replaced within five years and that interim maintenance would be required. However, he couldn’t determine how many layers there were to the roof or their condition, noting that a core sample would be needed to make the assessment.

However, when Zallen brought in roofing contractors to do maintenance, they told her the roof was beyond repair.

And when other contractors started what she thought were cosmetic renovations, they uncovered a wall that was rotting away.

“You could stick your finger right into the roof where the ceiling meets the east wall,” Zallen said.

For a second opinion, she brought in an independent inspector, who called the initial assessment “one of the worst inspections he’d ever seen.”

That inspector, Bruce Hunter, said consumers need to read and understand the standards of practice, which spell out what inspectors will look at, and what they won’t.

The standards used by the British Columbia Institute of Property Inspectors and the Canadian Association of Home and Property Inspectors (B. C.) say inspections are visual only and do not serve as a warranty for any building components inspected.

“If people knew what wouldn’t be checked, they would have an opportunity to bring someone in [for more detailed examination],” Hunter said.

He added that while the provincial licensing requirement did succeed in pushing inspectors without credentials out of the industry, it did not adequately address a problem he sees with realtors referring clients to certain inspectors.

Hunter said inspectors wind up in a potential conflict of interest if they depend on referrals from realtors for work, or let realtors pay the fees for inspections.

—

FIND OUT MORE

Associations whose members are authorized to be licensed as property inspectors in B.C.

– Canadian Association of Home and Property Inspectors (B. C.)

– Applied Science Technologists and Technicians of B.C., through the B.C. Institute of Property Inspectors

– The National Certification Program Recommendations for selecting inspectors

– Consult widely when looking for an inspector, including asking friends and family members who are happy in their homes about their property inspectors.

– Compile a list of at least three inspectors, interview them and ask them questions so you understand what they can and can’t do for you.

– Read the codes of ethics and standards of practice of the association your inspector is licensed under. They all have information available on their websites.

“We’ve still got a lot of guys, their first client is the realtor,” Hunter said.

While the provincial law that governs realtors doesn’t specifically say they cannot point clients to specific home inspectors, Tyler Davis, communications and privacy officer for the Real Estate Council of B.C., said doing so would be a violation of professional standards.

The Real Estate Council, which is the disciplinary body for realtors in B.C., states in its professional standards manual that when it comes to home inspections, the “safest way” of directing clients is to provide them with a list of at least three inspectors they can interview and choose from.

After that, Davis said, the realtor needs to bow out of the inspection process.

“The [realtor] should not get involved with the relationship between a buyer and a property inspector,” he said, and doing so could set an agent up for discipline by the council.

Scott Russell, president of the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver, said the Canadian Real Estate Association also has rules about disclosing realtors’ relationships with all service providers.

“It’s in our best interest to make sure the client is protected,” Russell said. “Because if something comes along, if a defect or problem is discovered after the fact, the buyer doesn’t just get upset at the inspector, they get upset at the realtor, too.”

Owen Dickie, president of the Canadian

OWEN DICKIE

PRESIDENT, CANADIAN ASSOCIATION OF HOME AND PROPERTY INSPECTORS (B. C.)

Association of Home and Property Inspectors (B. C.) said that while there might be realtors who refer clients to inspectors who are less stringent, agents also come to know which inspectors are more qualified than others.

Dickie added that consumers should follow up any recommendation with their own due diligence by asking questions of the inspector or seeking second opinions.

“I think certain people have false expectations of what a home inspection can do for them,” Dickie said.

“It’s important to recognize that a home inspection isn’t a warranty. It is a visual screening of a home for signs and symptoms of major problems. If an inspector can’t see it, he can’t be responsible for it.”

Peter Link, manager of house and property inspection services for the Applied Science Technologists and Technicians of B.C., said his organization’s code of ethics has always made it clear that the inspector’s loyalty always remains with the client who is paying them: the homebuyer.

Link added that his organization’s advice to realtors is that when clients ask about home inspectors, they should refer them to the government website that lists inspectors and let them choose their own.

In the meantime, Zallen remains disillusioned.

She is following up a complaint with the Canadian Association of Home and Property Inspectors, the organization to which her first inspector belongs.

She also consulted a lawyer who recommended pursuing the mater in small claims court. She said she will probably do that once her repairs are finished and she has moved in.

“What can you do? I’ve got to move in and probably accept it was a bad choice,” Zallen said.

“If I had known [the inspector] was going to do such a cursory job, I would have inspected it myself.”

———

It’s important to recognize that a home inspection isn’t a warranty. What it is a visual screening of a home for signs and symptoms of major problems. If an inspector can’t see it, he can’t be responsible for it.

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

Challenging conversion of old school in East Vancouver saw ‘green’ features inserted into five new townhomes -and the installation of a new level that features a shared rooftop deck

Kim Pemberton
Sun

The renovated schoolhouse in which five townhomes have been inserted is located in a quiet residential neighbourhood on East Georgia. The project incorporates many recycled materials from the original building; fir from the original flooring, for instance, was used for the exterior stairs. The five homes will have an average 1,500 square feet. Main living spaces will be contained on the upper two floors, while basement flex spaces will allow owners to put in a home studio or office, or install a self-contained suite. photos: philip Jarmain

Take an old schoolhouse in Strathcona, raise it 11 feet to put in a new level, install massive structural beams by hand, and make the entire project “green.”

That was the assignment Trillium Project Management took on with a new developer of multi-family projects called Take Root Properties. The result: a unique five-townhome complex at 595 East Georgia that will likely go to market later this year.

“Its been a learning curve, but a really interesting one,” says Trillium Project Management Ltd. owner David Hamilton. “The goal was to be the highest standard, platinum, multi-family project built green.”

Some of the “green” features for the new building include geothermal heat, solar panels, airtight drywall, spray insulation, hard-wired energy-saving lighting, rainwater collection and natural bamboo flooring.

The project incorporated as many recycled materials from the old Saint Francis Xavier School as possible. For instance, for the exterior stairs, the construction crew was able to reuse the fir from the original floors by cutting the wood down to size, then sanding and staining it.

Hamilton says the conditions for the conversion were far from typical, given the age of the schoolhouse — it was constructed in 1940 — and a city requirement to retain the original building’s frame and to reuse most of the material within it.

Adding to the atypical nature of the project was the fact that the schoolhouse sits on a 50-by-122-foot lot in the middle of a quiet, residential neighbourhood. The tight space meant the huge steel beams necessary to support the construction needed to be placed into the structure by hand, instead of by cranes.

The second floor also needed to be taken completely apart and brought down three feet. The construction crew dug a new foundation and essentially dropped down the building. It also raised the entire house 11 feet in order to put in a new level, which features a rooftop deck that will be accessible to all five homeowners.

Another noteworthy feature is the vapour barrier paint that provides an airtight drywall. “It’s a labour-intensive process, but it’s far superior,” says Hamilton, comparing the paint barrier to the conventional drywall insulation.

The project took four to five months in a pre-construction planning phase and 14 months in construction.

“With a little planning at the beginning stage you can come up with economical ideas to allow you to build green. We spent a lot of time with the architect and owner to make sure the ideas fit the budget and still had the element of good design,” says Hamilton.

The lead architect on the project was Bruce Haden of HBBH Architects.

Developer Mark Sheih plans to live in one of the townhomes with his wife, and perhaps sell another to a family member. Sheih, who once served on the Vancouver City Planning Commission that examined how a city be more adaptable, says that one of

the most important design features was the incorporation of flex spaces. This means the homes can easily be changed according to the needs of the occupants.

“It’s taking the idea to the residential multi-family scale, with the schoolhouse project, and asking the question ‘how can we build homes that are built for change?'” says Sheih. “We believe real estate can be a positive catalyst for change in a neighbourhood.”

He says that to help propel that notion forward, the team ensured there were common spaces where the homeowners can interact. These include the common rooftop deck and artist studio spaces, which can be incorporated into all of the homes.

The five residences have an average of 1,500 square feet, with the main living spaces on the upper two floors. The flex spaces in the basement will allow the owner to put in a home studio or office immediately, or install a self-contained suite, since they have been roughed in to accommodate a future kitchen space if that’s required.

Although the housing is zoned residential, the front unit has been designed to convert as future commercial space. The main features here are the large accordion-style wood doors, which fold to each side, and and the polished concrete walls. The room looks out to a large outdoor patio, which has 18-by-

18-inch concrete pavers that will eventually have thyme growing between them to help create a naturally drainage system.

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

Royal LePage expects a 7.2-per-cent increase

Derrick Penner
Sun

Realty firm Royal LePage has come out of the gate in 2010 with the prediction Metro Vancouver’s home prices will inflate another 7.2 per cent this year, as long as the expected mid-year rise in mortgage rates isn’t a dramatic spike.

Royal LePage, in its forecast released Thursday, said that based on the momentum of the sales surge during the last half of 2009, and with mortgage interest rates continuing at near record lows, the first half of 2010 should remain strong.

“The stimulus effect of low borrowing costs has contributed to a sharp rise in demand that has driven activity levels to new highs,” Royal LePage CEO Phil Soper said in a news release.

For Metro Vancouver, that should mean upward pressure on prices, along with a modest increase in sales compared with 2009, a year that saw sales and prices come back at double-digit increases from the downturn-year of 2008.

Chris Simmons, owner of Royal LePage Westside in Vancouver, said in an interview that the firm based its expectations for price increases on how prices performed over the last quarter of 2009.

“[We saw] stronger prices in the last quarter of 2009, and we take a look at that, try to temper the prices and come up with our best guess as to where prices will be for the full year of 2010,” Simmons said.

“I think that seven-per-cent price increase over the full year, [compared with] the full year of 2009 is a pretty reasonable expectation.”

However, what actually happens will depend on how banks respond in the second half of the year as the Bank of Canada is free from its commitment to hold its key overnight lending rate at a record low 0.25 per cent until June 2010.

Simmons noted that the average price of a Metro Vancouver home, across all property types, averaged over the full year, hit $592,000 in 2009, which was only $1,000 off the peak-price year of 2008.

The return of higher prices was counted as the biggest risk to the housing market, if rates were to take a substantial rise, in a forecast by Cameron Muir, chief economist for the B.C. Real Estate Association.

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. analyst Robyn Adamache said her forecast is that mortgage rates could ease upward a manageable 0.5 to 0.75 of a percentage point by the end of 2010. “I think if we have stability in the economy and interest rates don’t go up dramatically, I think our forecast will ring true,” Simmons said.

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun