Designing with purpose, and building above code are topics close to the heart of award-winning guests principal residential designer Khang Nguyen of Architrix Design Studio, and Joe Geluch, owner of Naikoon Contracting.
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Co-Host: Mike Freedman, owner, AI Technology & Design
Co-Host, podcast editor: Jennifer-Lee Gunson: jPod Creations
About the Speaker
Joe Geluch, president, Naikoon Contracting
Born on Haida Gwaii, Joe became immersed in construction from a young age. He started his construction career as a laborer on construction sites with his father’s company and has moved through almost all ranks and positions in the construction business. He is proudly a Red Seal Carpenter, a Gold Seal Project Manager, a Certified Housing Professional and a born businessman who has spent over 20 years in the industry.
Joe is an awarded entrepreneur who has founded several companies in the construction space including Naikoon Contracting Ltd, a boutique, full-service construction firm specializing in a diverse range of innovative projects throughout BC. Joe has led his construction teams to over 40 awards locally, provincially and nationally and has been recognized personally with numerous awards including environmental, community and entrepreneurial awards. Joe’s industry and community impact include founding “Construction Cares” community fundraiser event and being a founding member of Canada’s Net Zero Energy Housing Council. Other volunteer work includes chairing the CHBA-BC Technical Research Committee, BCIT carpentry advisory committee, and Municipal Advisory Design panels, to name a few. Joe is committed to developing the Naikoon group of companies into a national success story. He is passionate about carbon neutrality, Virtual Construction, Off-Site Construction and Mass Timber as well as continuing to develop key leadership staff and young apprentices who are ready to lead the modern-day world of construction. In his spare time, he enjoys relaxing and spending time with his wife and two children.
KHANG Q. NGUYEN – Principal, Architrix Design Studio khang@architrix.com
I believe in a simple, practical and environmentally conscious approach to living and I bring this into the work I do at Architrix Studio. To remove the complexities of our daily grind and to focus on what is important to us is the core of my practice. My role is to provide insightful guidance and environmental awareness into the process of conceiving and planning the place you call home. When I am not working, I make sure I leave the digital world and get into the natural world.
Architrix was formed in 2007 and has grown to be a well established design firm with a network of exceptional builders, suppliers, consultants and municipal planners. We provide planning and design services for all types of residential construction projects from renovations to new homes to boutique multi-family projects.
Our design work explores the possibilities of geometric space, light and flow. We work closely with our clients to map out daily activity, assess current needs and envision future possibilities. We draw inspiration from the personalities of our clients, along with other influential elements surrounding our projects.
Our technical work keeps in tune with current construction practices through our commitment to ongoing resource and research development. With new materials, theories, standards and construction methods being developed year after year we work hard to stay at the top of the knowledge curve. We aim to specify durable quality material, deploy high performing green technologies and implement sustainable theories in all of our projects.
We believe that your home is a profound place of nurture, rest and revitalization. With this belief we design spaces that are conducive to happy and healthy living. We also understand the environmental impact created by our housing needs and respond to this by designing homes that are both environmentally aware and aesthetically elevated.
Here's the Full Transcript of this Episode
Jennifer-Lee:
Welcome to Measure Twice, Cut Once, the podcast from HAVAN, the Homebuilders Association Vancouver
Mike:
It’s Season Three and we’re exploring how our homes can improve our wellbeing.
Jennifer-Lee:
We’ll be looking at the impact of the air we breathe,
Mike:
The water we drink and
Jennifer-Lee:
The acoustic levels in our homes,
Mike:
Smart kitchens,
Jennifer-Lee:
Award-winning designs
Mike:
And leading-edge building construction.
Jennifer-Lee:
We ask the questions.
Mike:
So, you know how to make your home work for you.
Jennifer-Lee:
I’m Jennifer Lee Gunson
Mike:
And I’m Mike Freedman. Now that you here why not hit subscribe and you’ll never miss an episode.
Jennifer-Lee:
Hey, Mike, it’s Measured Twice, Cut once.
Mike:
It sure is Jennifer Lee and I’m stoke for today’s guests. Last episode, we took a deep dive into light and sound, and it became very apparent the importance and value professionals who are experienced in home construction and building design.
Jennifer-Lee:
Absolutely. It always starts with good design
Mike:
And an appreciation for planning with knowledgeable builders for quality construction
Jennifer-Lee:
Here, here, and now you’re talking my language,
Mike:
The buildings we live in, and our quality of life is inextricably linked. The air we breathe and the water, the light and the sound that nourishes the people living in the homes have huge impacts on our health and wellness
Jennifer-Lee:
And speaking of impact, today we have two guests who are making some noise in the local awards circles. We have Joe Geluch, president of Niakoon Contracting and Khang Nguyen, principal, residential designer of Architrix Design Studio. You are both nominated as Georgie finalists and are in the running for the HAVAN awards to be announced in April. Welcome gentlemen.
Mike:
So, Joe, can we start with you? Can you tell us a little about yourself and your company and then Khang, we will switch over to you. We want to learn a little bit about you as well.
Joe:
Yeah, sure. So, Joe Geluch, I’m the owner president of Naikoon Contracting. I’ve been doing this business for most of my life since I was five or six years old, walking around following my father in the general contracting world. Business is made up of really two components. One is sort of part three projects, which would be, not necessarily appropriate for these conversations. And the other is part nine, which will be single family homes, duplexes, triplexes, and these types of things. Thanks for having me.
Mike:
What about you Khang? What brings you here today?
Khang:
I am excited to be here, and I got this great invitation to be here and to share, I guess what we do and to talk about our projects and where I see the housing market in Vancouver and BC headed. Yeah. So, a little bit about myself. I started Architrix in 2007, so I haven’t been doing it as long as Joe’s been building, but I’ve always had a passion for houses ever since I was a little kid. I remember just walking around my neighborhood and just really appreciating all the different houses, mainly not really just architecture but houses. I always remember looking at people’s houses and be interested going through my friends’ houses like exploring. So, it’s pretty interesting now that I’m working as a designer, designing these homes in these spaces, we primarily focus on part nine building. So again, as Joe mentioned, that’s single-family homes up to four units. So, triplexes, duplexes, and fourplexes.
Jennifer-Lee:
And I know we talked about this on Measure Twice, Cut Once a lot about duplexes and other multi-family homes. And I grew up in a duplex. Like my father is a builder. We have a construction company, and it’s interesting to me now that they’re like the hip thing to live in because they were, when I was living in and I lived in a beautiful duplex built by my father, but it’s really nice to see that people are getting on the duplex or even triplex train now and appreciating these because just cuz you live in a duplex, doesn’t mean that they’re small.
Joe:
Yeah. So many opportunities with duplex and tri-plex today that we’re seeing and it’s opening up a different perspective, I think from the marketplace and in what maybe, you know, the past as you describe where it’s totally cool. And hip to be inside of one of these projects.
Jennifer-Lee:
And I think that’s like going back to some misconceptions about duplexes is the fact like the size of them, mine was a regular sized home. It just was attached to another home. And so, people would come in and they’re like, oh, this is how big your home is. Like we thought it was to be really tiny. This is a duplex. So, it’s just like teaching people that it’s just like another type of home and some of them are even getting bigger now because depending on the municipality, you can actually put a legal suite in the bottom too, and then rent it out and give another housing option for somebody.
Joe:
Yeah. So, it’s like a duplex inside of a duplex.
Khang:
It’s very similar to what a single-family home would look like, where you would have the main and the second floor as the principle dwelling and then the basement as a basement suite. So, you can achieve a very similar scenario in a duplex really depends on the size of the lot. Obviously the larger, the lot, the larger the duplex, but if it’s design right, and if it’s designed with intention, then you can definitely make a rental suite inside a duplex. And it really does feel like a single-family home.
Mike:
Do you have a unique philosophy with your company? Can you talk a little about your philosophy and how that influences the decisions you make and how you work with people like Joe and everybody else in our industry?
Khang:
You know, obviously over the years, the philosophy refines and refines itself, as I do more projects as we meet with different clients and as I, and really as policy changes as well, mainly with Vancouver and the densification that’s really happening in Vancouver and the make home policy that’s being explored now with the city, with the city counselors. My philosophy really weighs down to just being simple and focusing on trying to create very practical, pragmatic, and easy to build homes that obviously will look beautiful and unique depending on, you know, the client’s direction through my whole lifestyle. I try to keep things as simple as possible. I try not to travel too far to get to work. I try not to complicate the decisions I make. And I think that comes through in how I design and how I guide clients as well. So, the path of least resistance is kind of where I like to focus.
Jennifer-Lee:
It’s the idea that we kind of need to change our mindset here in Vancouver. We are a global city. And I think sometimes we look down upon living in a small place or something that is maybe not what we think is the traditional space, which is like the home with five bedrooms, five bathrooms, like maybe something that was reminiscent of our childhood home. If we were lucky enough to live in something like that. And I think we need to look to other parts of the world, like other global cities, like New York or London, and it’s nothing new. They’ve been doing the whole idea of like live in your radius, you know, bike to work, social, walk outside being your community, but you’re only living in a small area. So, I think it’s just trying to shift our mindset of like, oh, like people are going to look down upon me if I live in a duplex or a triplex or whatever. And it’s like, no, actually that’s what a lot of other people live in cities
Khang:
Or a simple home. Right. So having a bit more of a simple lifestyle on the simple be home is a good direction for, I’d like to say humanity in general. I think it boils down through COVID and through kind of having a lot of time to think about things in your own home, all by yourself. You start to really focus in on what’s important to you and over complexity, I think being wasteful in many ways, whether it’s building a house or whether it’s making a decision in life to keep things simple, I think is where I like to always veer towards.
Mike:
Where’s the cutoff for that out of curiosity. What’s the difference between a simple home and a complex home? Does it have to do with the decoration or the number of windows in it? Help us understand how you see a simple home is less, more.
Khang:
It’s hard to define that, or it’s hard to, you know, really pinpoint a definition or an answer. But I would say a simple home in my mind would be, you know, to put it in simple terms, just a box, a box with a roof. And then within that box to really create and customize the spaces within as best as you can to, depending on the homeowner’s needs or the environment around the house and the environment that it sits in, but not to over complicate the design and to have superfluous design details and to have material that’s shipped in from Italy or, you know, having big steel overhangs, all that creates a beautiful bespoke home. Absolutely. But where I like to lead our clients is basic and easy to build. And, you know, from Joe’s perspective, he can talk a little bit more about what that means from the construction side of things.
Mike:
Well, that’s great. Joe, I’m curious, now you’re a builder, so you’re not looking at it from the same perspective, what constitutes a simple home from your perspective?
Joe:
Yeah, I mean, from the construction perspective, nothing is very simple these days, is it? We’ve got ever changing building codes, ever changing municipal requirements and bylaws and zoning, and it’s very hard to keep up and, and Khang and other designers and architects do a lot of the heavy lifting on that regard. I would agree with, if we’re looking for simplicity, there is sometimes unnecessary, complex detailing materiality and other things that will cost considerable amount of money and may not realize value for that particular client. So, I think Khang describes his approach and his clients. From our side as a custom home builder, we get a number of different, projects that come in and it comes down to owner requirements and what’s of value to them. So, anything from the high luxury, super complicated home to the very simple energy efficient home and every individual owner’s environments are different. And we have to assess those and then customize a solution and find the right team and the right partners to work with on being able to achieve their objectives. You know, building a home, it’s not a simple thing.
Jennifer-Lee:
Especially with the Step Code. Obviously, it’s good that it’s in place, but depending on what part of the step code you’re reaching, there is a lot more to the home than maybe it was before, especially material wise as well.
Joe:
It’s added layers of complexity from the building application side, from the coordination of all the consultant’s side. That’s the other thing where, you know, you go back 10 years and you go back 15 years and compare the, the number of professionals required to make a building permit application. And in most municipalities here, it might be up to 10 on some, and so that needs to get coordinated. And then you’ve got the Step Code, adding layers of complexity to the envelope and really the fabrication process as we look at it. And it makes even simple things less simple than they used to be.
Jennifer-Lee:
For sure. And do you find a lot of clients that are coming into either one of you that they’re coming with, like a long list of dreams and wishes, or are you finding they’re pretty realistic when they come in and maybe they are looking for more simplicity?
Khang:
When a client initially chats with us, their list is usually quite long and quite involved. And because a lot of the times they don’t necessarily know what they can get in a house. Some clients are very educated, and it is well researched or they’re experienced. So, they know a little bit more about the space they have, but many clients don’t realize what they’re able to do. So, their list is quite long. And part of our process is to go through that and just to home in and pick what would fit and what’s important. So that list often gets paired down to the priority spaces. And then there’s another list of what ifs or, you know, ancillary spaces that if there was extra space that we could try to fit that in. But yeah, the spaces in my philosophy, we look at the spaces and we, again, we try to simplify those spaces or we try to look at combining certain spaces to create multiple or flexible spaces and trying to make the program a lot more easy to put on paper, and ultimately shape into a home that is, is easier to build than Joe’s right.
Khang:
You know, to build a home is very complicated these days and every step of the way, if you’re able to take a step back and to think about potentially a more simple approach, it helps at the end of the day with the bottom line of the ultimately a really complex process.
Mike:
How does the nature of your partnership simplify the process and get rid of some of those challenges?
Joe:
I mean, I can jump on that. I think like an integrated design process in our opinion is the only way to go forward with custom housing and really any type of project. And so what that would mean is that, you know, the, the first two and nowadays three key people are involved in the project would be the, the architect or designer, the builder and the energy advisor is now a, another layer here, which a couple years ago that wouldn’t be on the list yet, potentially depending on what you’re doing, but, but you need those three people together early and often. And then of course you need a client. And so, these client requirements are so important at the beginning. It doesn’t matter. We do everything from little in-fill projects to large, super luxury homes.
Joe:
There’s always a budget right and they’re going to be at different magnitudes, but there’s always a budget. And the client always needs to understand where that budget can be allocated. That creates value for them because it’s different for everybody. Someone might want to spend hundreds of thousands on an audio file type of system and someone else might want to spend none. And so, it depends on, you know where the value lies for, for that owner. And so, we’re always encouraging to spend those funds in areas that you’re going to receive value. You’re gunning to use, you’re going to see, you’re going to touch every day. And to be able to do that a bit of a checkpoint back and forth between the design, the progression of the design and parallel with the progression of the cost estimate and schedule estimate, and other things allows a bit of iteration to occur throughout that process.
Joe:
And get to a point in which the customer will get really what they ultimately wanted. And I think this it’s quite different than from when I started in the industry where you would get, you know, it would be pretty standard. You know, there’d be a building permit. The person might have the permit in hand, and then they’d go start talking to builders and say, Hey, can you gimme a price? And can you start? We don’t see any of that these days ourselves. I think because we pitch the integrated process, but let’s get involved very early, cuz just the building permit application nowadays requires considerable amount of coordination, doesn’t it Khang?
Jennifer-Lee:
And patience because it takes a while. I know we’ve talked about Step Code in our past episodes, but just a little refresher for anybody that might need to know who the energy advisor is and what is their role.
Khang:
We work pretty closely with the energy advisors at the beginning of the design project to determine the thermal values. And then through construction, the energy advisor just, you know, does their testing and, and works with the builder, you know, through construction. But the energy advisor is mandatory now in many municipalities, but it’s not like they didn’t exist before. An energy consultant did exist prior to these mandatory requirements for them to provide information. But previous to these current policies of providing energy models, the energy advisors were mainly in working in the high-performance realm where they would be looking at passive houses or net zero houses or doing hot 2000 models. These are trained professionals who take the design of the house, and they look at what’s being proposed in terms of wall thicknesses, roof, thicknesses, floor thicknesses. And they build an energy model to study how much energy is being used to either heat or cool the house.
Khang:
And they look at window opening as well. They look at all a whole gambit of parameters and then they provide an information or metrics on the performance of the home. And they can advise as to what can be improved to get better performance. So, this was already happening, but mainly with higher performance homes. And now they’re required to provide these models with every home to start to understand how much energy our homes, our housing is needing to heat and cool. And I think this is going to lead to more policy and controlling the energy output or the energy consumption of these homes. So, first step is really to understand what’s happening with energy consumption. And I think the next steps are for policies to control and to mandate certain minimums or maximums for energy usage.
Mike:
Do these numbers correlate to wellness and comfort in the home or is it just a model you use for figuring out the end result?
Joe:
That’s a great question I think being discussed across the Canada, north America now indoor air quality, or I A Q if you are up to speed on your acronyms is something that has been discussed and comfort and how do we measure comfort? Okay. So, a lot of these programs, which Khang spoke to sort of outside of the BC Step Code that are branded energy, your comfort programs, net zero, passive house, these types of labels, they do have comfort components to them. However, the, the big challenge now as what is comfort, how do we measure comfort and what is included in that conversation? And so, there’s some interesting innovations going on out there and some other factors, but for me, for as a high-performance build, or since, you know, going back 15 years, that was always the intent.
Joe:
It was quality, it was comfort and then operational energy performance, or usage of a home and measuring that, which is the focus today is incorrect in my opinion. And I think we’re starting to see change in that. It’s how did we reduce that operational energy and what impact did the activities and materials we used and executed impact energy usage globally. So, this embodied carbon piece. And so, it’s a whole, there’s a whole big, interesting thing going on now where the focus is on operational energy performance. And if you pull back up to the big picture, why is all this happening? Well, it’s all about climate change and it’s all about impact. And so, we’re now looking more at lifecycle analysis and embodied carbon and overall impact of that house from its materials it’s operation, and then it it’s deconstruction or it’s, or its removal. What are we doing at the end with all of these things?
Mike:
I have a question you’re talking about dissembling homes now where I’m at, it seems like 30, 35 years is about when we take down a home based on things built in the eighties. Have we progressed beyond that? Are we now at a point where we can build homes for a longer period of time? And what’s the difference? What determines how long a home stands for?
Joe:
So, let’s look at regulations. So, builder licensing, mandatory home warranty. These kinds of things have all changed since then. And so that’s going to introduce some level of quality standards outside of the BC Building Code. And so, I think, you know, the 2, 5, 10 warranty program introduced in the nineties, I believe became mandatory. And so that’s going to ensure the structure as good as sound, and that the envelope is done well. And just another layer of somebody looking at what was maybe just looked at by building officials, depending on where you are, may have varying levels of how close they’re looking perhaps. So, you know, I’d think there’s no reason we can’t build a single-family home or a structure that’s going to last for a hundred years. There’s absolutely no reason behind it.
Joe:
And so, you know, it is interesting to see now what may happen as we start looking at urban density, you know, consolidated sort of multi-generational families trying to get into the housing market affordable and these new, policies that are going to allow maybe what creates demolition of 30 year old homes to create a neat little four unit or five unit thing, or some type of strategic infill. So maybe it didn’t reach its life, but maybe the zoning or the bylaw changed around it, or the requirements inside of the city changed and cause that building to come down. So, it’s an interesting topic though, like to me, buildings should be, there’s no reason they shouldn’t be constructed to be able to last for a hundred years.
Khang:
You know, it’s interesting that you brought up policy changes, a potential trigger to demolition. I see that quite often naturally where a neighborhood or a whole zone gets up zoned and you end up being able to build, you know, a fourplex or six-plex potentially coming up now, or even like a duplex in the current or in the, in the current regulations, you can build a duplex on any RS zone. So what that’s triggered was, you know, quite a lot of homeowners and, and developers in per perfectly good homes, single family homes, just tearing them down to build a duplex, which often nets, you know, more capital or a quicker sell or the ability to have you know, multi-family or multi-generational living on a lot. So, the zoning change that happens too quickly and too shortsightedly, I feel triggers demolition unnecessarily.
Khang:
So, you know who, and I, I’m not a policy maker, I’m not a council person. I don’t know all the decisions I go around it but be interesting to make certain policies or decisions that are, that are suited for much further down in the future, or much further away in the future. So that future proofs, the zoning bylaws, so to allow for much larger density now, so that the option or the ability to build these larger buildings for much further down the road in the future exists now, so that we’re not having to demolish every time there’s an updated policy change.
Mike:
Well, it’s really interesting. And I read a report, a government report about a year and a half ago by 2050, the vast majority of people in Lower Mainland will simply live in high density buildings. There’s just no way it’s sustainable to have three or four people sitting in a lot when you could have 15 or 20 families sitting on the same lot. We’re, we’re just pinched for space. So, it’s really exciting because I like the efficiency that comes with it. And I like the fact that more people have a place to call home in this beautiful part of the world. Joe, I want to talk to you a little about building and design trends. Can you talk to us about some of the trends you’re seeing in terms of design and building in the city? So, people understand first of all, where we’re going, so they can be ahead of it. And second of all, to give us what you think that future looks like for us in a few years.
Joe:
Yeah. I mean, I think this whole, I guess, really this topic of this missing middle that we’re talking about, you know, the duplex triplex, fourplex, we’re seeing a lot more of that and that’s because zoning and policy is changing to allow that, which makes a lot of sense in my opinion. And so, we’re seeing, I mean, you know, we’re known in the marketplace and always have been as a high-performance builder, one who’s going to build above the code and who’s going to seek higher levels of energy, performance, and comfort, and quality is essentially that. And so that is the type of customer that’s coming to us. And so, the trends we’re seeing now net zero as a concept, so a home that is built to a high level of energy performance and has renewable energy source of some kind to create its own power and on an annualized basis, it will net out at zero.
Joe:
So, it produces just as much power as it consumes on an annual basis. And so, we’re seeing that as a trend, that’s what we do and that’s what we’re experts at. So, it’s probably why we’re seeing that as a trend, that being net zero energy. And then I think, you know, the next thing coming down the pipe is going to be more of a net zero impact or a net zero carbon. So, how did my home get constructed? Where’s it going to go and am I going to be comfortable inside it, while it’s a building. So, we’re seeing that. And then we’re certainly seeing consolidation. So, families consolidating incomes and capital and saying, ”Hey, let’s buy a property” and let’s build a triplex or let’s build a duplex with a suite and let’s get mom down in the suite and let’s get two families upstairs in comfortable, high-quality situations. And so, the size of things is trending down’. The needs of somebody, even in single family where, you know, the 4,500 square foot home was pretty classic years back. And now we’re seeing people with the ability to build that size of a home and sort of saying, hey, you know what, we only need 3,200 square feet and let’s maximize our dollar in quality and not quantity.
Mike:
It’s an exciting trend. I’ve got a question. We talked just a couple moments ago about net zero housing, and that’s obviously a very big part of our future. If thinking about building a home or investing in a home, is there a long term now? I mean, obviously I’m going to save on my resources, but is that net zero home going to make my conventional home worth less as a result of market demand, or simply because it’s going to be more compliant to codes, like help me understand the long game with this house that I’m building. Is it going to cost me more to build a net zero house, but what are my advantages as a homeowner?
Joe:
Yeah, I can jump on that. I mean, I think, you know, the BC energy Step Code is just in its infancy really has prescribed what is going to happen to the building codes as far as energy performance go. I predict it may scale back a little bit as we learn a little bit and we might not get to step five being the be all and all, that’s my little prediction. You can mark that on the record. However, we can see into the future. So, city of Vancouver they’re not using the Step Code as a measure, although, their current regulation is probably around step code four, three and a half, four, depending on where you are and the orientation, all of these other factors. And so, you’re kind of already there as a mandatory code to build what is a net zero ready home.
Joe:
What that means is a home that is built to the technical requirements of the net zero label, meaning it has a very good envelope. It has very good windows. It has air tightness, and it has, HR-V and some other components required in the technical specs. And then all you’re doing is adding a renewable energy source to make a net zero. And so, you know, there’s depending where you are, what your orientation is to the sun and the efficiency of the panels, and a number of other factors there’s cases in this city that could show you a 13-year payback on panels, just from a straight cost perspective. So, you can sign and up for net metering program with BC Hydro, and essentially your meter’s spinning backwards. And you’re getting credits when you’re not using the energy. And so, so in my opinion, you know, to capture comfort, quality, and something that you know has warranty on it for typically 30 years, that’s going to pay you back in 13. If it’s a long family home that you plan to hold for a long time, then in my opinion, it’s a good investment.
Jennifer-Lee:
Well, I’m really excited to learn more from you guys, Joe, Khang, I’m really excited about this design build trends that we’ve been talking about. I want to dive into your personal philosophies a little more, but first we’re going to take a quick break to thank our sponsors.
Mike:
Measure Twice, Cut Once is grateful for the support from our podcast partners, Fortis BC. Their support helps us share expert knowledge and resources like you’re hearing today from Joe of Naikoon Contracting and Khang of Architrix Design Studio to help build and design the home, right for you.
Jennifer-Lee:
Speaking of resources, the BC Energy Step Code program is a provincial standard that is moving to the entire home building industry forward to build homes to better energy efficiency standards, which means better comfort, health, and safety. Be sure to check out better homes bc.ca, where you’ll find a variety of rebates for construction materials, home, energy evaluations, plus mortgage and tax refunds.
Mike:
That’s great information, but I’m really excited to get back to Joe and Khang and continue our conversation. This has been fantastic.
Jennifer-Lee:
So, we talked a little bit about duplexes and the effects that we’re seeing more triplexes. And what were you saying? How many are there now, triplexes? When does it become an apartment building at that point?
Khang:
It’s a good question. When I’m speaking about this new policy is to allow for four to six units on a single-family lot. I I’m really just talking about the Vancouver policies. Other municipalities aren’t quite there yet with their densification plan. So, in Vancouver, the intent is to allow potentially four to six units on a single-family lot or an R S lot. And, currently six would be at least as far as what I know six seems to be the, the, the maximum number. And I’m not sure what other parameters or stipulations are going to be presented around that. So, we’re just waiting to see what, the, the city staff, you know, release,
Mike:
How do they get around some of the challenges, like as an example, I have to be back 25 feet from the street in my municipality, and I can only take up 70% of my yard. If I’m putting six units on there that may change. Have they changed the building codes to facilitate some of this, or is it more creative than that? Where you have to go higher or lower? Like how do they get round putting six units or four units or even two units where once there was one, does that mean we don’t have yards anymore? How does it work?
Joe:
Yeah, I mean, it’s, so I think like there’s a, there’s a bylaw portion to that question and then the energy ties in. And so, this is an interesting one, let’s say inside the City of Vancouver, for instance, in their Vancouver building bylaw, if you build to pass a, of host standard, or you build to a full net zero standard, then they’ll give you a density bonus of 18%. I believe it is. And to build a passive officer net zero home, you need thicker walls, you’ve got different details. And therefore, you may need to encroach on setbacks, both in the front and side yard and might challenge the existing zoning bylaws and other things that have been in place for a long time before new bylaw new policy came into play. And so, we see that often, and Khang could probably speak to it a little bit more, intelligently, but, but the domino effect of, of, you know, a, a new bylaw or new policy implemented.
Joe:
And so, let’s add six-plex to a single-family lot, which then triggers the need to look at the setback and other, other bylaws, and then the environmental piece and it can get quite challenging. So, I think there’s a bit of work to do there for sure, in the City of Vancouver to try and figure out the how on this it’s to announce it. I think it’s a great, you know it’s a great idea. It’s a great concept to allow more housing and more diversified quality housing in the city. But I think it’s going to be interesting on, on the, how, how we do this. And what we’ve found is it’s challenging to do a lot right now, and then things are slow and, and is hard to get answers to questions that, that then need to go through various levels of sort of review from, from 15 different groups.
Mike:
So, Joe, you are up for some Georgie awards, you’ve entered the HAVAN awards. Can you share some of the projects that Naikoon is in the running to win?
Joe:
Yeah, for sure. Thanks. Thanks for that. We have interesting three, projects, involved in, nine different categories and they’re all quite different. So, an infill beautiful single-family home around just over 3000 square feet in Vancouver that we worked on with Kang, with a great, great client and a, and a great, great designer. And, so that’s up for best custom home. And, we’ve got another home, a little bit larger in North Vancouver, also with a great client and great designer. That’s up for a different category of best custom home. And then we’ve got a much larger home out in South Surrey on the high bank waterfront also for a great architect and great, great client. We got lucky. And so, it’s up for, for a different category.
Joe:
So, three custom homes, all in different categories. And then, we’ve added some other, I think my favorite application, we went in for a category called “Best Any Room”, not a category we would typically go after. And the room we entered was the garage in the home, out in South Surrey. And so, this home is a net zero home. It’s got, ground mount solar, roof mount solar and it’s got six Tesla wall batteries in it. So, it could operate for over four days full pull on these batteries. And they’re all displayed beautifully in the garage, two electric cars and a beautiful timber roof. And so that’s probably my favorite of them all.
Khang:
One of our homes is up for an award. That’s the one that Joe mentioned, and that category I believe is best performing.
Joe:
Actually, it’s in for two, so best, best custom home at a certain dollar threshold and then best energy efficient home, or energy labeled
Khang:
Home. Yes. Energy labeled that’s right. That’s right. And then we have another home. That’s a duplex that’s up for, and again, it’s, it’s based on size. So, it’s, the category for that is the best home under 2 million, something like that.
Joe:
Yeah. I can’t keep up on that. That keeps going up though. I know that.
Khang:
So, we have two homes, one a duplex, and then the, the one with, Naikoon.
Mike:
Congratulations. To both of you. Well, well deserved accolades and to be nominated for that is well reflective of the kind of work that you guys both do.
Jennifer-Lee:
Yeah. Congratulations to both of you and Joe being an award-winning nominee. I know that you guys do a lot of work around town and you guys go above and beyond. You build over the basic code. Can you tell us a little bit about that?
Joe:
Yeah, I think typically it’s been our approach from the beginning. One is to be unique to think outside of the box on how we can improve the quality of the building and the quality of the energy, performance and comfort without having to spend a considerable amount of money. And the beginnings of that just comes down to paying attention to detail and really understand the building science behind the project. And so, air tightness is a big factor today. Good quality windows, and a good quality ventilation system or the lungs of the house or the fresh air machine is what’s called an HRV, a heat recovery ventilator. And so those components are imperative to good quality construction, and you know, the codes caught up. I think, you know, we look at some projects, we did, you know, 10, 12 years ago that were, you know, cutting edge on the, on the energy efficient innovation side and, and built to, standards that are now today or become mandatory and code.
Joe:
And so, I think it’s great. I think we just need to keep an eye on what level of mandatory regulation is going into energy performance. It’s happened very rapidly. I’m an advocate of good quality homes and well-built homes and, some regulation around energy performance. But I do think we need to pause for a moment and to take a look at what is being mandated and make sure that it is, it is the right thing. And that it is the right time. So, I think we’re at an interesting time in the marketplace and a lot’s happened in, you know, in, from a code perspective over the last 10 years versus the 50 years in front of that. And so it’s, it’s been interesting time.
Jennifer-Lee:
That is a great pro tip, Joe. Now Khang over to you, what is one parting tip that you can give everyone out there that’s wanting to maybe design their home?
Khang:
I would say a good tip that I would put out there is to have a good team involved and to kind of understand what your goals are for your project, whether it’s a single-family home, whether it’s high-performance home, or a duplex or a triplex or six-plex to really understand what your goal is. And then from there to search out the teams and the professionals that will really take you there.
Jennifer-Lee:
Awesome. Well, thank you guys so much. This has been great, Joe, Khang, thank you for joining us. Today’s episode of Measure Twice, Cut Once. The value of good design and professional contractors of trades who know their craft cannot be overstated. TV can make it seem so easy. And yet from today’s discussion one gains an appreciation for the complexities in permitting and building science. Noting the science is often ahead of the code.
Mike:
Absolutely. You both share great insights on the benefits of keeping design simple to improve our lives in the bottom line when considering achieving higher energy efficiencies. Better quality of living and lower construction cost. I’ve really enjoyed about what is trend in the home building market, the trend towards smaller footprint, and of course the value of smart design. Thank you very much, Joe and Khang. This has been an amazing episode and a really enjoyable one to our listeners. If you’ve enjoyed this podcast, as much as we’ve enjoyed this podcast, please like follow and share with your friends and families. The more followers we have, the more people will find our podcasts and the excellent resources our guests are sharing
Jennifer-Lee:
For notes and links to everything mentioned on today’s episode, including pictures of these award-winning projects, go to www.havan.ca/measuretwicecutonce. Thank you for joining us.
Khang:
Thank you for having us.
Joe:
Thanks for having us.
