Jamie Banfield Design and Babak from Condoworks Design Renovations understand the power of good design when looking to renovate cookie-cutter condo floor plans. Knowing what to look for in a building will help you locate and renovate the right sanctuary for you. Join Jennifer-Lee and Mike on Measure Twice, Cut Once as they explore the possibilities of condo renovations. Condo living has never felt so good!
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About the Speakers
Babak Nikraftar, Founder, Condoworks Design Renovation
Straight out of BCIT’s Construction Management program, Babak’s career began in his early 20’s as a building envelope technician of leaky condos. He witnessed the consequences of bad design & workmanship first-hand, with a front row seat of how buildings perform in the West Coast climate. The experience was eye opening, leading him to seek further construction knowledge. A departure from leaky condos propelled him to new condo construction and eventual key handover to clients.
Having worked for 2 prominent developers in the Lower Mainland, Babak was in the trenches in completing concrete towers or wood-frame buildings from the ground up.
Naturally, the next step was to construction manage and learn the processes that lead to a finished product. The experience exposed him to stakeholder concerns and what the end-user expects in a new building. It was here that Babak’s keen eye for detail developed.
With a vision to better the construction industry by streamlining tasks, Babak has led several successful construction enterprises including new builds and renovations, both in the multi-residential and detached home sectors.
A passion for design and functionality of spaces/buildings, Babak’s wish is to introduce systems and procedures in tackling construction challenges that are common throughout the industry. He foresees technology as a huge game-changer in undertaking construction projects; incorporating on-time reporting and collaborative problem-solving tools to better the industry.
Jamie Banfield Design, Principal Designer
Award-winning interior designer, Jamie Banfield has become a creative force in the industry, and recognized for his signature West Coast style. Specializing in design for residential renovations and custom homes, with a passion for millwork, Jamie and his team have the ability to transform and create well-edited spaces that exude both function and beauty. With a passion for textures and sustainable design, he often uses reclaimed materials, offering a unique perspective to his finished spaces. Recently recognized by the National Kitchen and Bath Association as one of the industry’s top 30 Under 30 in North America, One to Watch by Western Living Magazine, and a Finalist for the Robert Ledingham Memorial – Emerging Designer Of The Year Award, Jamie’s work can be seen in private residences and public spaces throughout Canada. Formally trained in interior design, with a complementary background in manufacturing, construction, and custom millwork, Jamie has an intrinsic understanding of the total design process. From inspiration to final completion, his knowledge, attention to detail, and ability to listen to his clients’ needs, have resulted in aesthetically functional rooms that truly reflect the people who live there.
Jamie Banfield will not be quitting his day job, or lending his talent to TV outlets and Lifestyle talk shows such as: Global TV, CTV, Vancouver, CTV Edmonton, CTV Calgary, That Talk Show and The Marc + Mandy Show just to name a few. Jamie frequently shares his style advice as an international speaker on stages such as: The International KBIS, BC Home + Garden Show, Vancouver Home + Design Show, and the Edmonton Renovation Show, Edmonton Home + Garden Show, Edmonton Fall Home Show, Calgary Home + Design Show, Calgary Renovation Show and The Tacoma Home + Garden Show.
Resources mentioned on this episode.
Ikea – Air purifier
Living walls – ByNature Design
Online plant delivery – Plant Therapy
Rebates BetterHomes.ca
Here's the Full Transcript of this Episode
Jennifer-Lee:
Welcome to Measure Twice, Cut Once, a podcast from HAVAN, the Homebuilders association Vancouver.
Mike:
From codes to kitchens,
Jennifer-Lee:
safety to sundecks.
Mike:
We’ll take you behind the walls and all things homebuilding design and renovation,
Jennifer-Lee:
and give you the ins and outs from the experts.
Mike:
to help you build a renovate the right home for you.
Jennifer-Lee:
in plain language,
Mike:
focused on home building design and renovation.
Jennifer-Lee:
I’m Jennifer Lee Johnson.
Mike:
And I’m Mike Friedman. Now that you’re here, why not hit subscribe? And you’ll never miss another episode.
Jennifer-Lee:
Hey Mike, how’s it going,
Mike:
Jennifer, if I was any better, I’d be you. I’m so happy to be back in the studio again today.
Jennifer-Lee:
Yes. I’m very excited about today’s topic, condo renovations, as I am considering buying into the market and have a lot of questions for our guests today.
Mike:
I hear you. I’ve been learning so much this season. Last week’s episode on duplexes was so interesting on so many levels helping me to house my children down the road, or just for me to age in place. And as also a potential revenue stream for today. Duplexes just makes so much sense.
Jennifer-Lee:
I hear you finding ways to address Vancouver’s affordability issue is so important and when it comes to livability, it is really important to make sure your home that you can afford works for you, especially when you think about living in a smaller condo space.
Mike:
Oh, I couldn’t agree more. So let’s get on with today’s episode, welcome to our guests and let’s get some questions answered.
Jennifer-Lee:
Today we have Babak founder of Condoworks Design Renovations, and Jamie Banfield, Principal Designer of Jamie Banfield Designs. Welcome gentlemen.
Jamie:
Thanks.
Babak:
Thanks for having us. Happy to be here.
Mike:
So before we begin, we always like to get a little bit of background information because we know where you guys are at right now, but want a little bit more information about your journey in the construction industry and why you’re doing what you’re doing today?
Jamie:
Yeah, so my journey in this construction industry, I think is not really unique, but in my eyes when I was going through, it was pretty unique. So I always loved construction. My dad dabbled, I literally would come home and our kitchen would be gone because he had got a good deal on something and he’d play around with it. And, you know, he had electrician, friends, plumber friends, and he would do all types of projects and, and kind of just was living through it all kind of through my childhood. But as a kid, like my mom and dad would go out on vacation or, you know, Hedo for an evening. And I would literally paint my mom’s room with exterior paint and not even know, or like drag their brick kind of storage unit from their TV cabinet into the living room, straight into the dining room and not really understand, but I always had this desire to kind of just, just do things. And I did not understand that an interior designer was actually a career. I thought there was architecture or construction, that’s it. So, I actually thought I was going to get into marketing, headed off to Australia, came back, got a job in construction, got a job at Home Depot after that, and then realized that I could actually go to BCIT. I could learn everything about construction on the design side. And design to me was very much like pillows and drapery, but it’s not really that tact. It’s very much, you know, heavily on finishing materials and cabinetry and space planning and all sorts of different fun materials. So for me, if I was kind of being in it, and that was kind of the journey to get to the end result where I didn’t actually understand that this was even a career path that anybody could take on and, and, you know, construction to me, I think one of the things I love about it is we get to see some sort of end product, right? Somebody buys this piece of paper, maybe it’s a condo renovation for, you know, $400,000 and $40,000 and they’re buying, this is paper. And then at the end of the day, they have something that’s going to impact their overall family.
Mike:
ok, Babak, can you talk a little about your background, how you started in this industry and what keeps you inspired on a daily basis?
Babak:
Sure thing. I started my career in construction, straight out of BCIT as a building envelope technician. That role basically put me in the trenches in front of the leaky condo syndrome that was going on at the time. So this was for me in the early two thousands, I would go to the job sites, and need to have contractors basically peeling off the layers of the exteriors of buildings and exposing the amount of a mold or damage that had happened to the building. So that role exposed me to basically bad design and bad detailing and maybe a combination of the both, and even some materials at the time having been witness to a lot of that stuff, opened up my eyes and made me realize, okay, well, I need to know more about this industry. And my passion was more about, you know, the development side, the building side, just bringing the whole component together as opposed to just the, the envelope part. So that took me back to BCIT construction management program. I came out, I was hired by a local developer here who is very well known. And my first role with them was actually was a customer service, basically agent or person I would give out gift baskets to homeowners and give them the keys to their condos or, or to their units. These are people that had bought pre-construction and were waiting a year and a half to two years and finally getting their keys. So that exposed me to what the end user wants, which today is my client and, what people are looking for in an end product. And so I worked my way backwards from that, and as I said, I see a lot of, sort of repeat things are happening on the interior and exterior, let me work back. Luckily, my employer at the time gave me the opportunity to go back and sort of become an assistant site, super. So from there on every project, I just worked backwards and, and right down to basically demolition and starting a high rise from the ground up right to the day when I gave the keys to the clients. So that was very eye-opening and, and it got me into the game, and it got me to learn a lot. At the same time I sort of got bored with it because I saw the same repeat sort of pattern happening in every unit. So you have to imagine I was a quality assurance guy. I’d have to walk every unit on a daily basis, every floor looking for deficiencies, issues, things like that. And when you do that kind of work, you, you sort of become exposed to you. You pick up errors right away or miscalculations or whatever the issue may have been on site. So from that, and having to be exposed to say interior designers at the time in the show centers and, and sort of delivering the end product, my passion was, it was just bringing all the pieces together. It was, it was the problem solving. It was the scheduling, the managing, dealing with designers. And so today with what I do, I’m basically doing the same thing, but now I’m working with designers and clients enhancing condos and bring it to this state of what we call a sanctuary for them, because they get to pick exactly what they want and how they want it. And we get to be a big part of that.
Mike:
Babak, we talk a lot in our business about return on investment and using that as a formula to calculate whether we go ahead with a project it’s probably the same with condominiums. How do you approach this with a condominium? And is it the similar ROI we can expect if I’m doing a project on, say a standalone home?
Babak:
That’s a good question. It’s a conversation we always have with our clients before the project starts. We always like to ask, you know, what is your end goal? Is this your forever home? Or is this sort of a temporary thing that you’re doing that you will be in for the next, say two to five years, and then maybe flip it and sell it? The real estate market is, you know, in the Lower Mainland, it’s just been going up. The bulk of our clients sort of are people that have owned a condo for quite a bit of time. And so they’ve built a bit of equity in it, whether that was paying down their mortgages or the prices have gone up over the years and there’s opportunity in some areas and neighborhoods and certain buildings. So we’re very upfront and honest with people. If we need to, we can pull up comparable of things that have sold in the neighborhood. And then we sort of go, okay, well, we can do this. We can do that depending where the client is and how much they want to spend. Now, a lot of our work includes sort of larger scope where we gut the whole place, and we just give it a whole brand new function and look, and a design that they’re, they’re looking for. A majority of the time, the return on investment for a client it’s two ways. One is an ROI from a financial standpoint where we’ve had almost every one of our clients who went to sell their place afterwards actually got the highest price point in their building because of the unique renovation that they had in there. And then there’s the other ROI, which it’s a value, it’s a personal value, right? You’re going to be living there. This is your place. If anything COVID has taught us, we may be spending more and more time in doors. So, we want our spaces to be more customized to ourselves. As you know, with developers, they repeat the same pattern, like 40, 50 times in the building. It’s more efficient, but when we come in there, we can actually pick out individual little niches and things that can make the unit more appealing and basically customized to what the client wants. And when they go to sell, the unit is going to be so unique than everything else in the building. It yields them a higher selling price point.
Jamie:
Yeah. And I would say function is like number one return on investment for me. And I think when you’re looking at a condo and thinking of renovating it, I think just taking into account the bare bones and understanding what those are. So not looking at things like, you know, falling in love with the wallpaper or a chandelier or colors of cabinets, but understanding where the plumbing is, how does the bathroom function and kind of looking at this thing as like a clean slate. One renovation that we worked on it’s a condo. It’s a lovely couple. They were recently moving in together. This was going to be their kind of starter home, it was a pretty nice starter home. And when we moved into this space, there’s a kitchen with a peninsula. So when they’re looking at the peninsula, they just see that. And they just think that that’s all they’re going to able to work with. So, you know, I was rereading the survey from that job a couple of weeks ago, and they had asked for more storage in the peninsula, but they also wanted to have a table that can be extended for six people to dine at. Working with the backend, just understanding this. So he’s planning and things that we can move and can’t move. We end up creating this massive kitchen, really large Island, because they actually make their own pasta. They bake, they cook, the husband’s a ridiculously good cook. We were able to give them a dining room for six to eight people without compromising the living room or other spaces. So I think sometimes when homeowners walk into a space, especially a condo, they think that it’s just like cookie cutter. You have to stick with exactly what’s there. But I think purchasing the right condo and having the right team, like a designer that knows what’s doing. And, Babak, you know, from Condoworks that understands how kind of the domino effect works with trickling down walls and moving plumbing and things like that in a condo that I think is the biggest return on investment anybody can have.
Jennifer-Lee:
All about properly planning your space. I know it depends on the actual building itself because of the different structures and everything. But I know that there’s a lot of condo units where there’s a lot of wasted space in the hallways. There’s just like you go into some units and it’s all hallway.
Jamie:
And that’s one of my biggest pet peeves though, is hallways. Like I think if ideally a good space designed out can take away hallways, you know, we can figure something where it’s actually a walkthrough linen closet, or it’s a walkthrough mudroom kind of situation instead of making a hallway and having a laundry room. And that’s the, the condo I was referring to where we kind of played around with the kitchen. We did that. We took away, there was a space that was on paper called the laundry room. And it literally had a washer dryer stack and just some storage, but it was probably like five, six, seven feet long, maybe. But what it did is it actually made a hallway cause it was adjacent to the kitchen. So it made a hallway. Whereas if, you know, we took that out, we were able to build it into millwork and we did the hallway and we made this dining room kind of installation in there.
Mike:
I want to take a little bit back step back towards the planning. You know, we know it takes time in advance to plan condos and a plan renovations because they have issues above and beyond a single family home. I can do a lot more in my house and you can do in a multi density building. So when you’re buying a condo, which is part of a large structure, there’s some things you’re going to have to look for before you even consider purchasing the condo to start this project. Babak, can you walk us through some of the things you might look at the beginning before we might bring Jamie in to start doing a design, to change the space around? What are some of the things that you would look at and maybe what are some of the red flags that you’re looking at when you’re walking through one of these buildings?
Babak:
Sure thing. Uh, well, well, let’s break it down to the first and foremost. So you have two types of buildings. You’ve got the wood-frame buildings and you have your concrete buildings. Your wood-frame condo buildings are not as malleable to sort of moving walls around because you might have structural walls on the way, and you can’t really sort of pull them out or move them out unless you have the structural drawings and you do some investigation. So that sort of is a wood-frame story there. The concrete buildings are a lot more malleable in that sense, in that your steel stud walls that are in there are non-structural. So unless those steel studs actually contain any sort of major wiring or major sprinklers, or those can be manipulated and moved, but if they contain a stack, which is carrying all the, say the drainage from the floors above, then you’re sort of stuck with that, and you have to work around that. Uh, so that’s sort of the two distinctions. So you have a little bit more flexibility on the concrete buildings that you might have in terms of moving walls than a wood building. Now, in terms of flags to look for, or things to be aware of, my first thing I tell people is if you’re purchasing and you’re looking to do renovations, take a look at the strata minutes, take a look at what needs upgrading, take a look at what sort of maintenance fees are involved. And if there’s anything that is being raised in the future that sort of helps paint a picture of the state of the building and how the strata council is managing it, that’s super important. And, if that sort of comes back and everything is good and clear, then the other thing to do, I have a background in building envelopes. So when I walk around a building, I can tell right away, has this been rain scanned or not? Are there enough overhangs or not? Are there a lot of stains on this building and those things, you put all that together and you sort of can paint a picture of what state the unit is in. And then, simple things like if you smell any sort of mustiness in the air or mold, like I’ve been into a lot of units where people are asking me, we want to renovate the whole thing. We want to drop X amount of dollars into it. And I just looked at them and I’m like, well, you have a bigger problem here. This place smells a little bit moldy, or it smells like it’s mildew. So I think you should address that before you do this, because going back to the ROI conversation, maybe you’re not going to get back the amount of money that you’ve put into it. So it’s not just one sort of approach, but you have to take all these things, put them together and weigh the odds and just figure out what the best approach is.
Jennifer-Lee:
That’s why I think it’s so important to take somebody with you that knows this type of stuff. It’s so important because you don’t want surprises later on,
Babak:
Do your homework. If you’re looking to buy a place and perhaps maybe renovated it, take someone with you or spend a little money on an inspector to have a good thorough look at that, once you’ve passed that stage and you feel comfortable, then it’s like, okay, well, we can go onto step two now and have the conversation about, you know, changing the functionality or the look or the design of it.
Jennifer-Lee:
And would that be good advice to someone maybe not necessarily taking the builder with them, but if they go into a condo space and they’re like, Oh, I want to do, and this and this to it, is it, you know, good for somebody to be like, Hey, do you know if I can do this or not? Because, you know, just because you purchase a condo, doesn’t mean you’re going to be allowed to do like, remove that wall, like you said, or put in that dream kitchen that you want to, you might be restricted to what you can or can’t
Babak:
Totally. Yeah. So-so strata bylaws super, super important. A lot of buildings have standardized bylaws, but every building has their own sort of restrictions. And some of that has to do whether they’re being precautionary because of maybe the past of history of somebody may have done something that they weren’t supposed to. And so a lot of stratas sort of have this, these hoops, they want you to jump through and fall a certain amount of rules. You have to submit forms and paperwork and tell them who your contractors are and whether or not they are licensed and work safe. And so, they make you go through the gauntlet for that specific reason. And so it’s important to, to sort of know what you’re allowed to do and not to do. So when you go to do a major renovation, you’ll probably be, you know, you have to go through the permitting rounds. And when you go to apply for a permit to municipality, they’re going to use the last point of reference that they have for that unit on file. And if alterations have been made that don’t comply with sort of the changes there, you’re going to create some, you’re going to stop the permitting process right there, because the city is going to say, well, wait a minute, this is what we have on file, but it’s been changed and it hasn’t permitted. And now you want to change it again. So that could put up some red flags. Some negotiation has to start at that point. But it goes back to your point when you bring us in, we do all that due diligence. We go in and dig up the old files from the city. We see what was there, what was allowed, what has been done. The city to a certain degree, has those records if the permitting was done properly. And then from there we go and do everything the proper and the legal route, so that, you know, everybody’s happy, including the strata and the property managers.
Jennifer-Lee:
And that’s important too. Like you said, making the strata happy because I know that can make or break your innovation as well. Because if the strata, like you said, has been burned before, they’re not going to maybe want contractors because they’re not going to think, Oh, these contractors are going to know what they do put in the proper protection, the hallways, loading the materials in and out in a courteous manner and all that.
Babak:
Yeah. So, so working in condos and in sort of high-rises or low rises where whichever may be, comes with its own sort of, uh, challenges. The logistics are a tough challenge. So imagine you’re basically going into an enclosed space. You’re hauling everything out through a 36 inch door, if you’re lucky, some of the older units have smaller doors. So you have to compartmentalize everything, put her into these dollies, get them out, not damage anything in the process, uh, abide by all the rules and the hours and not bother the neighbours book and elevator. So if you just sort of add the task list, it’s just a long list of things and it’s not for everybody.
Jennifer-Lee:
Yeah. I think that it’s, it’s always important to plan on. Like, I think in basically every episode, we keep saying how the importance of planning is and hiring the right professionals for sure. I know we’ve about it before, but back, but, uh, a little bit about water pressure. I know sometimes water pressure issues with condos, like low flow products impacted by weaker water pressure and higher up the floors you go. Can you tell us how you fix it? A little bit of that, because if someone’s wanting a condo, but maybe their shower is not going to give them a little bit pressure, which I love a good showers.
Babak:
I think we all do. Yeah. I think we all do well. Vancouver, I’ll say in the municipality, their aim is to obviously make you have a low water usage, faucets and taps, and sort of same thing with, appliances and lights. They want you to upgrade everything so that you’re using the least amount of energy and resources. But people might not like that. They want that jetted shower head to be there for them. As far as water pressure goes, the taller up you go, your pressure sort of decreases. A lot of these high-rises have what are called booster pumps. And let’s say, if it’s a high rise, that’s 40 stories up, they might have a booster pump on the 16th floor. And so what that does is all the water that’s coming into the building, this pump, boosters up, ups the pressure again, and raises up. So we’re sort of restricted to what that booster pump gives us. We can’t do a too much in that regard. And then, you know, from, from when we go to permit, they actually ask us, what are you using? What kind of faucets are using? We have to, we have to earn a certain amount of points to show that the condo is going to be more energy efficient or it’ll use less water and things like that. So there’s a fine balance and we try to do our best to meet both ends. Um, if a homeowner wants to change the tap later to something that’s hard pressure they can do. So, but at the end of the day, it’s, what’s coming out of the, uh, the booster pump let’s say, or the pressure head that is going to dictate sort of how much they get.
Jennifer-Lee:
Jamie, from a design perspective, are you seeing a lot of like fancier shower heads and everything that might make Babak’s job a little bit harder when it comes to pressure and everything?
Jamie:
Like our job is to make Babak’s job a little harder, for sure. But you know, in the right way. I think one of the things that comes down to this too, is education. So a typical faucet, you walk into a showroom and you play with the faucet, the manufacturer’s designed it for Babak’s mentioning how the city wants us to have low flow, but that’s not, I don’t think that’s been asked enough in the actual showroom or when we’re vetting these faucets – where is this going to be applied? Okay, it’s in a condo, but how I act like, does it have a booster? Like I think these, these questions are not really asked. So what happens is the homeowner falls in love with this faucet us, this the design team. We look at, you know, the style of the function, how the water hits the sink, you know, inside the shower, they want body jets and they want, you know, a rain head and all these things, and they want this area finished this type of look. And honestly, I think that’s as far as design and, and the due diligence is kind of thing going in. And I honestly think that we need to do more. So like when the homeowner is looking at these faucets, we need to know that, Hey, it’s on the 32nd floor and this is where the pressure is hitting on that floor. And I don’t think that question is asked enough from, you know, sales from the actual manufacturer’s rep educating us as design teams or us asking the clients. But we’re seeing like every bell and whistle you can think of in the shower. And I think this whole realm of rejuvenation has been coming through the last year, really heavy, but it’s been coming for the last like 10 years, or we’re seeing models that are designed for spas. Like they’re designed for commercial use going into homes, such as steam showers or, you know, rain heads or body jets or aroma therapy, chromotherapy where, you know, smell or light is brought into the shower now. And we’re pushing this on the back to, you know, we’ve got this little condo bathroom that was designed for just the tub and a shower head, and we’re trying to stick these seven different fixtures in there, and it’s his job to figure out how it’s going to work properly.
Babak:
You know, and we talked about the water pressure here, but also the capacity of how much power is coming into that unit, right? If you’ve got a hundred amps coming into a condo unit, or even less than that, and your steam shower demands 40 to 60 amps, while you just took more than 50% of your power, that’s dedicated steam shower, well, that’s not going to work unless you turn everything off and you just take a steam shower. Right. I’ve had specs come across my desk that requires sort of up to 70 to 80 sort of amps. And it’s like, okay, well, we can’t make that happen. Sorry. Like, uh, you know, we should’ve thought about this a little sooner. So we are sort of the deliverer of bad news at times. But, you know, there’s only so much power and pressure going into a unit and we can only work within what we have at our fingertips there.
Mike:
We talked about things like electrical plumbing. And, you know, we definitely know we need a permit for a free-standing home. Does a condominium need a permit? And is there a cutoff from when I do and I don’t need a permit just because we don’t want people going down the path and finding out they needed one afterwards. Correct?
Babak:
Sure. So, two sort of schools of thought on that. One is some stratas require you to get a permit regardless. And those are the stratas probably super precautionary and all that stuff. Maybe they’ve been burned, but from a permitting perspective, if you’re just doing an aesthetical change, so let’s say you’re painting the place. You’re changing the counter tops, maybe the cabinets, the floors that doesn’t quite with, the city constitute a requirement for a permit. That’s more of a cosmetic thing. But as soon as you start moving a wall around and you’re moving plugs and you’re moving plumbing and things like that, that’s going to trigger a permit right off the bat. And majority of the work that we do, because we sort of do full guts and all that, we go directly the permit route, regardless because we just want to protect ourselves and also the electricians, the electrical guys, the plumbers, and that way, everybody in that building knows that we’ve gone the correct route. Now that might take a little bit longer because once we submit it to the city, you know, there’s that waiting period where the city’s mercy, but what we can do is engage with the homeowner as early as possible. Once they know they want to go with a rental, apply to get the permission from the strata, because a lot people are not aware. You have to get permission from the strata before you apply for a permit, even when you go apply for a permit package, there has to actually be an authorization letter from the strata saying, you are allowed to do a renovation here. It’s one of the five requirements of the city and the other one being the energy checklist that we discussed earlier and then the drawings are in there. And there’s a couple of other forms that we have to fill up. So all of those things are important. And to your point, people sort of get ahead of the game and they start buying stuff and designing, and they want to renovate, and they haven’t sort of gone through the correct channels. And then they might get a stop work order, which is even worse because the city comes in and it says, where’s your permit. Or they might damage something in the process or even, you know, just make the strata members angry. So you don’t want any of those things on your back.
Mike:
I think one other point as well, correct me if I’m wrong. If I got a buddy who comes to my condominium and starts doing renovation and they cause an issue who’s liable for that?
Babak:
You are.
Mike:
It’s awesome information for people looking to renovate condos. I want to talk more about the pre-renovation process and design trends too, but first we need to take a quick break to thank our podcast sponsors. So hang in there and we’ll be back in 30 seconds.
Jennifer-Lee:
Measure Twice, Cut Once is grateful for the support from our podcast partners, BC Housing, BC Hydro, and Fortis BC. Their support helps us share expert knowledge and resources like you’re hearing today from a Babak and Jamie, to help build design and renovate the home right for you.
Mike:
And speaking of resources the BC Energy Step Code Program is a provincial standard that is moving the entire home building industry forward to build better homes to better efficiency standards, which means better comfort, health, and safety. Be sure to check out www.betterhomes.bc.ca where you’ll find a variety of rebates for construction materials, home, energy evaluations, plus mortgage and tax refunds.
Jennifer-Lee:
There are also rebates for renovations too. Just click on the rebate search tool button on the homepage of betterhomes.bc.ca to find cost saving resources for your next project, or talk to your licensed builder or professional contractor. They’ll help guide you. Now let’s get back to Babak and Jamie.
Mike:
We left off talking about strata and permit times, Babak, can you walk us through the process to help minimize the process? In other words, what steps could we take to help cut down on the permit approval times?
Babak:
Sure. So, the first thing, get the obtain the strata bylaws. Let us or yourself figure out exactly which pieces of documentation or paperwork that they need to be filled out to be submitted to them that will help condense that whole permission process. Now they might demand a layout of what you’ve done or what you’re going to be doing. This is where someone like Jamie comes in with their design. They don’t have to have the full design done yet in terms of finishes and all that, but they need to have the floor plan completed so that the strata has an idea of what’s happening.
Jamie:
Well, they on the permit process is a lot of people are scared of permitting, but like Babak said, we can use that time to efficiently plan out and vet for pricing and stress test solutions literally take the entire design process through the permitting. So if it’s teed up correctly and it’s planned out correctly, as far as timeline goes, the permitting actually is time that we get to working. And, you know, ideally by the time the permits are back in hand, we’ve kind of made our selections, picked everything, Babak’s done all of his costing and we’re ready to go.
Mike:
We touched a bit on the space, but let’s talk a little about noise and air quality, which are very near and dear to me having a family full of kids. What are some of the design features that you use to help with noise issues and to help with air quality, both very important in today’s high density living spaces?
Jamie:
Yeah, I would say noise, the first thing we kind of look at is like very simple, kind of taught in school is noise is going to do one of two things. It’s either going to bounce off of something or absorb into something. So I think the easiest way to understand how to play with that is, you know, if you’re renovating it could be adding textures, right? So it could be adding some sort of textural wall or even like a green space wall or a backsplash or, or other things like that. We wanted to re install window coverings and they want something electronic, but really the housing was not going to work with what was existing in the home. So we ended up building kind of like a coffered ceiling detail on the outside and the homeowner was fighting us on. We don’t want to lower ceiling heights, but it was just on the perimeter. What it also does is it gives avenues for sound to bounce into and die into. So I think on kind of the construction side of things, I think building little alcoves or having shelving that has, you know, open doors on it or, or textural things will bounce sound around, and reduce noise. And then obviously using the right materials. So the right flooring and, you know, even the right installation of flooring. So we can install, you know, an engineered hardwood, but ideally needs to be installed the right way for it to help with sound or, or not have that clicky aspect to it. And I think just on kind of looking at those on a high level, as far as the construction materials will help with sound, but obviously, you know, when you get into the space, a lot of condos, especially ours, you know, we have a lot of windows and that’s something I love, but you know, when you look at it, we have hard surfaces like countertops and, you know, appliances and other things. And all these things bounce sound around, but it’s all adding in softer things, right? Like it could be a living green wall or plants or bring in art that canvas, instead of glass, those little things can help buffer sound. And especially, you know, these days that people are working from home or they’re in their little kind of den office space in a condo, typically it’s all hard finishes, adding little things, softer and things that have depth, things that have texture, will I bounce in and absorb sound a little bit more. And as far as like air quality goes, that’s the topic that is coming up over and over again these days. And realistically, there’s not a lot we can do with renovating a condo. So because we can’t really penetrate the exterior do it with, moving windows, adding in, you know, air systems and things like that. But I think there’s lots of little ways as homeowners to add things to the home, to help with air quality. And it could be installing a living wall and a project we’re working on right now, you know, the homeowner really wants to have, they’ve got the stairs going up to the rooftop. And you know, one of the first ideas that came across was installing this living wall, go all the way up that, that staircase, right. And she’s got this little plant that hangs on the wall that she bought from the company that can install these types of systems and adding little things like that. Like greener plants that will not only help buffer sound, pull out dust, things like that, but it will help with playing around with air quality. And we’re seeing units coming out from like a IKEA,IKEA has just kind of brought out a unit that is to have a filter that’s going to help suck out toxins and bad things from the air. And it’s a little unit from IKEA that hangs on the wall, right? So we’re seeing all different kind of smaller ways to deal with a condo with air quality and noise.
Jennifer-Lee:
When you guys are designing or building, I want answers from both of you on this. Have you guys have ever had to design or build something really unique in the homes that you’ve been doing lately?
Jamie:
Say one of the biggest things coming up right now is people on their pet. We’ve had so many cat litter boxes that we have to build into kitchens or little bench at the front entrances and all through condos. And Babak, we’re working on a project right now where the homeowner, you know, they’ve got two little puppies and we’re building a little step. So it’s, it’s a two platform literally made in the millwork that matches their kitchen. It’s, it’s not the cheapest thing in the world, but they’re building a little two-step platform for the little puppies to, you know, climb up, get out the window, get onto the deck, hang out, do their thing, and then climb back in. So we’re seeing this, this trend of just taking care of pets at home.
Babak:
Yeah. I mean, Same thing that the pet, the home for the pet in a home, is sort of trending a lot. And I think if you sort of follow stuff on Instagram and things like that, you’re seeing more and more cool things like that. I haven’t seen it happen yet, but you know, a faucet that’s above a bowl, that’s built into a kitchen island, right. So the dog can go under and just lounge and drink water from there. And then you’re not basically picking up the bowl to fill it up at the sink. You’re actually doing it right down there and it’s all ready to go. The latest requests we sort of had from a client was a, they wanted TRX anchors put up in the ceiling. So those are those stretch bands that you put up.
Jennifer-Lee:
Oh yeah. I used to do that back in the day at the gym, but they had a special bar.
Babak:
And so I had to bring the client in and figure out first where they, where they wanted it. And then they figured out where they wanted it and I’m like, okay, how do we do this? It’s a concrete ceiling. So we had to go through a structural engineer, we have to go through a building envelope. We had to engineer these special beams to anchor back into the ceiling because that’s a lot of weight that you’re pulling on these things. At the end of the day, if it’s our liability. And we had to bury everything behind drywall so it doesn’t look like there’s a ton of backing there. So when you just put the TRX’s is they attach on like they’re clean onto the ceiling. Right? And it’s, interesting things like that because they’re not the norm, but you figure out a way to work around it and make the client happy.
Jamie:
I think one thing we’re seeing a lot of people just embracing their personality. So they click in from this, you know, they’re living in a house and it’s now like, this is their home. This is them, you know, if there are hobbies or pets or hobbies is working out or cooking, like they’re embracing what kind of makes them happy. And they’re kind of sucking that out of them and they’re, they’re putting it into their home.
Mike:
Jamie, do you think that’s part of a shift because people have recognized that this isn’t an step home. Now this is their forever home, or is it just because of a response to COVID where people are trying to get more of their space. I’m just curious if this is part of a greater shift or a trend?
Jamie:
No, see, I blame on my parents. So, I think what it is is, I think it’s a trend that’s I think going to stick around for quite a while. And I think it’s been brewing for many years, is my mum and dad are at an age where, you know, they’ve worked their butt off. They’ve got this home, they’ve got a bit of cash in the bank and now they want what they want. Right? So back in the day, the kitchen used to be very much functional. Hey, there’s two boys. We’re going to make dinner. Get already here. That’s it. They want cooktops. And they want wall ovens because it’s better function for their kitchen or they want these kind of countertops. And I was explaining to my mom that, you know, she got a certain brand of counter hopper in her home. And I had to tell her like, David Foster has the exact same countertop you have, but you don’t make $400 million a year. Right. You don’t, but you have the exact same colour color countertop in your home. So, I think my mom and dad have, you know, that generation they’re treating themselves, right. They’re both pre COVID. They’re, you know, we’re seeing this trend in, they’re getting out there, they’re shopping more. They’re going to, you know, different restaurants. They’re, you know, spending $7 on lattes. They’re traveling, they’re finding things, traveling, they’re bringing your home. And it’s inspiring. Now we’re seeing all these mixing of metals and woods. But what it’s doing is, is telling my generation that this is the norm. So my generation we’re walking into condos and we’re saying, I don’t want laminate countertops. I don’t want a top end sink. I want, what my mom and dad have, I want, you know, quartz countertops. I want all this undermount things. The home should be designed around me.
Jennifer-Lee:
Well, I also think too, Instagram is to blame as well, because you can see, like you said, you can see people like David Foster or Kim Kardashian, and they tour you through their homes. And then everyone’s like, I want this or that.
Jamie:
We’re finding, like as designers, we’re finding inspiration, like I’m getting inspired by people in Australia or the UK. And, you know, it could be a really fun product or it could be a different way of doing something or just reinventing what’s happening out there. But yeah these, I guess Instagram as an influence is I think it’s kick-starting projects. So it’s making people think like, well, they have that kitchen. I want that kitchen, but it’s also, I think giving reassurance. So before in the past, you know, we would say, okay, we want to paint your cabinetry blue. Well, what they were the only information that we’re really getting on design was these publications that was tailored for that market by a handful of groups. Whereas now with Instagram and just the platforms, they are literally their design style that they’re embracing is tailored by choices. They’re making, that’s going to hit their feet. So I think that’s also come back to that whole topic on people would bring in personality where I think it’s making easier. It’s letting them – like, it’s making a decision. That’s not going to be hard or because they’re seeing it repeated over and over and over.
Jennifer-Lee:
Back to the logistics. But back when people are looking on Instagram and seeing like you, like you said, the steam shower or those fancy faucets, is that making your job a little bit harder for realistic expectations of what can work in a condo and what won’t.
Babak:
Yeah. I wouldn’t say it’s making it harder, but I think I get inspired too. When I see homeowners sort of put out their ideas or their thoughts that gets us excited. It’s like, okay, great. So these people are willing to sort of think outside the box or expand their horizons. And that makes it super exciting for us because we’re like, okay, we’re going to do something unique and different here. And as long as they’re open to that, then it just, it makes our job a lot easier in that sense, because then the dialogue begins and it’s like, well, what if we do this? Have you thought about this? I had a client, there was a beam in the middle of the place. And, um, at the end of the day, we couldn’t do much with it. So we ended up adding a bunch of slats next to it. Sorry, it was a column. And so we put a bunch of like two by wood material and we painted it and then it was like, which colour should we paint? Ah let’s paint it black. I’m like, why don’t we do yellow? And it was just a joke. And the husband’s like, yeah, let’s do yellow. And so now when you walk into their place, you just see this yellow thing just jumped right out at you, but it was so much fun. And then, so we ended up actually painting the back of their door, yellow also at the same time. And so it’s one of those fun things that when you get people open to ideas, that way it opens things up. And the other thing I’m finding, a lot of people are open to is wallpaper now, right? You can get customized wallpaper, you can get any print on that. So people sometimes do their own drawings and then they send it to a print shop at a wallpaper, and then they bring it back and they want us to install it. It’s like, well, that’s really cool. That’s the benefits of Instagram that I see. It’s just exposing people to a lot more ideas. And as long as the end users is open to it, then it just makes all of us sort of unified it in an easier to do the job.
Jennifer-Lee:
And let’s face it. Wallpaper is a lot better than it used to be back in the day.
Jamie:
Well, we’ve got a project right now with the backend wallpaper, just got installed in the powder room and it’s this really dark, which is like a peony kind of look in there and it’s all walls. And we literally pulled tile off the wall to put this on. And it was pretty new tile. But the comment from the homeowner was I’ve a lineup of guests waiting to poop in this bathroom when it’s okay. Cause she’s in love with it. Right. And that’s exactly back to that point of embracing that personality. Like she’s like, I got a list of people that want to poop in this bathroom, right? So that wallpaper has pulled out her personality and we’re all for it.
Mike:
That’s not exactly how I expected a wallpaper story to go. But it’s the happiest ending I’ve ever heard to a wallpaper story.
Jamie:
And it’s going to be stunning. It’s going to be stunning.
Mike:
Well I want some inspiration from my own house as well. Jamie, you blamed your parents personally for some of the changing trends and design. And I do want to bring up your parents and my parents’ generation. There is a lot more emphasis on aging in place. How we deal with our elders is very different than it was a generation ago. Can you talk a little about how you take into account the concept of aging in place in the designs you do when you’re looking at a condominium or, or any kind of unit, really? How, what are some of the fundamentals that you would look at for that and how would you help someone who wants to use their place now, but continue to use it later?
Jamie:
I think aging in place is probably one of my favorite topic. And I think it’s something that needs to looked at regardless of how old you are. So every project we look at a younger, old we bring up aging in place and a lot of people might push it off to like, how old do I actually look? Right? But, but realistically I think there’s lots of little ways that we could make decisions now, but you know, an hour into planning, which will impact whoever’s going to live in this home for however long. And it can be little things like adding backing in certain areas. Like when we we’re renovating a bathroom with that backing, so, you know, plywood or whatever back in needed, so maybe in the future we can install, reach bars, or if we’re going to update into your doors, let’s make sure they’re big enough for wheelchair accessibility. If we’re going to update showers, let’s update. So we can maybe roll a shower in there or a bench to somebody could potentially sit on there if they need assistance for it. Right. But it could be little things, right. Where when we’re looking at a toilet – back to pooping, when we’re picking out a toilet, right, we could do something that’s more comfort height, that’s taller. That’s maybe easier for someone to get on and off of. Or I remember, you know, my, my grandma’s a really good example, right. We renovated her condo and not much, but there was certain things we did in there. And the main objective was to literally keep my grandma in her home. So it was to keep her in her home, but it was more of a way to boost up who she is and, and to keep her lifestyle going the way it should go. So in the shower, we ended up installing a digital thermostat. And so instead of the old diverter that you would turn left to, right. Turn the water on it’s digital. So she presses the button and the water goes on. So, you know, when she wants to have a shower, it’s, you know, grandma one button setting and it’s all to shower, but what it does is it helps her clean the shower. So there’s, you know, as a setting two where she hits that button, she can spray down the shower and she can run that water, you know, for, for five, 10 minutes on super high pressure, super high temperature. And that’s going to rinse that shower. So she doesn’t have to bring in a cleaning lady. Right.
Jennifer-Lee:
And one thing I wanted to touch on before we go, we mentioned a little bit at the beginning, but how important is it to have insurance when you’re renovating a condo? Because I know a lot of people kind of get the idea when you’re building a brand new home, but I know in condos, we were like, I don’t need that. I was like, ah, yeah, you do.
Babak:
Yeah. Hugely, hugely important. I don’t distill this on any of my worst enemies, but if you ever gone through an insurance issue in a strata, it takes forever. I’ve been in that situation where my place was flooded due to somebody upstairs. And we had to live six weeks in a hotel. You had to pack everything up within hours and get out, and the restoration company came in and then the sort of that’s all out of pocket. Right. And then the insurance begin for six months, maybe two years took us two years to get reimbursed for it. Right. So, and we were the sort of the victims, let’s say we weren’t the culprits. Insurance is hugely important. So, first and foremost you should have as a homeowner, your own personal insurance in your condo. A lot of people are not aware of this. You’re responsible for the damages that occur within your unit, if somebody even damages you from above, if that makes any sense because the way the strata looks at it, they take care of the common property stuff. At the end of the day, they’re looking to point the finger at someone and who the culprit is. And so if we’re doing a renovation and something goes wrong and your insurance is not in place, we even have a course of construction insurance someplace during renovations. So that in addition to the homeowners, we always tell the homeowners, make sure you get renovation insurance for this period, because you’re not living here. We will have our secondary insurance on top of that or umbrella insurance. And so now we’ve sort of covered all angles. During that process, it does cost a little bit more, but at the end of the day, think about the other part of it, right? If you don’t have that insurance and something goes wrong, then forget the return on investment, like the headaches and all the money and all that stuff that comes with it. And the secondary thing I should mention is, with the new laws, not laws, but the new sort of requirements for insurance premiums going up in condos, like in my building, it’s gone from 25,000 to a hundred thousand. You don’t want to be liable for that. So we want to have as much insurance in place to protect you as possible. So the premiums are going up – if you pay monthly or annually, but it’s totally worth it in that situation. It is your home, your infrastructure. You’re sharing that building with everybody else, make sure you have as much insurance as possible, especially during a renovation.
Jennifer-Lee:
Babak and Jamie, this episode has been so informative. You’ve given me and Mike and our listeners a lot of great information to help us decide what to look for when renovating a condo and the benefits to making it your home.
Mike:
Oh yeah. This season of Measure Twice, Cut Once is all about finding and building and renovating the home right for you. And we learned so much today as we always do. We talked about the ROI benefits of renovating your space to make it your own, the importance of bringing on a designer, to increase livability and use of space, looking at the bones of a condo versus buying an emotion of what you see today versus the potential processes for working with the strata to minimize permitting times. And of course, different issues faced when renovating a wooden structure versus a concrete structure. If you could leave our listeners with just one last piece of advice, what would it be? And we’re going to start with Babak, because we’re going in alphabetical order again today,
Babak:
Don’t just go at it on your own thinking that you can do it. You might be able to, and I’m not discounting anybody, but a condo has what much more condensed rough ins behind the walls than a house does. So you have to be aware of that. So to you might look like it’s just a wall, but you have no idea. What’s back there, unless you have x-ray vision or you have photos from the beginning. So consult an expert, experienced expert, as early in the game possible. We feel you take something like that on. And that goes with the whole gamut of things. We talked about permitting and strata bylaws and all that stuff. So consult an expert.
Jamie:
Yeah. My tip of advice would be just to build that team. So regardless what project you’re taking on, you’re typically going to build a team you’re going to have, you know, if you’re looking at your investments, you’re going to have maybe a consultant, somebody at the bank to deal with. So just like this home, just build the right team. Right. Bring as many kinds of consultants and people that are going to back you up. So mine would be just build a team.
Jennifer-Lee:
If anyone wants to get hold of you after listening to this podcast, what is your information? How can they find you? What is your details?
Jamie:
I would say, just Google my name, Jamie Banfield Designs.
Babak:
And for us Condoworks.ca and we’re on Instagram. You can get us through our website and we’re on Facebook also and just look us up and we’re there.
Jennifer-Lee:
Awesome. Thank you guys so much. Thanks Babak and Jamie, you’ve given me a lot of great ideas to work with and to our listeners. If you’ve enjoyed this podcast, please like, and follow and share with your friends and families, the more followers we have, the more people who will find our podcasts and the excellent resources our guests are sharing like Babak and Jamie today. I’ve learned so much today about renovating a condo. You’ve got me excited again about the prospect of finding my new home.
Mike:
I look forward to hearing all about your search. In the meantime, for notes and links to everything mentioned on today’s episode, including links of the pictures of the condos renovated by Babak and Jamie go to haven.ca/measuretwiceCutonce .
Jennifer-Lee:
Thanks for joining us. We look forward to sharing next week’s episode when we talk with DOS Design Group about the team to build or renovate your home and the proverbial topic of cost per square foot. Thank you guys so much. This has been Measure Twice, Cut Once the podcast from HAVAN, the Homebuilders Association Vancouver. Thanks for joining us today.
Mike:
For notes and links to everything mentioned on today’s episode, go to havan.ca/measuretwicecutonce.
Jennifer-Lee:
Follow us and review us to help empower homeowners like yourself to make the right decision the first time.
Mike:
Until next time. This is Mike Friedman.
Jennifer-Lee:
I’m Jennifer Lee reminding you to measure twice.
Mike:
and cut once.
