COUNT ME IN

With a Count Me In attitude, the possibilities are endless when building a home to live your life to the maximum. Todd Best of Best Builders talks to co-hosts Mike and Jennifer-Lee about the process of adapting homes for specific physical needs and aging in place, noting there is no better place than home. The key is planning and working with experienced professionals.

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Todd Best: Owner | President

Construction has always been instrumental in Todd’s life. Starting at a young age, each summer was spent on-site working for this father, Garry Best, who did commercial builds. Todd’s passion for building was evident early in life and he never doubted that one day he was going to own his own company. In 1994, Todd acquired his Red Seal in carpentry, and by the age of 27 had started Garry Best Design and Construction, which would later be shortened to Best Builders Ltd. In his spare time, Todd enjoys trips to Disneyland with his family and doing work on his hobby farm in Delta.

Michelle Gentis, homeowner, and mom who built a house for son, living with the use of a wheelchair.

BetterHomesBC.ca Rebates

teamjoshua.ca

Saferhomestandards

College of Occupational Therapists of BC (COTBC)

BC Rebate for Accessible Home Adaptations (BC RAHA)

Healthy Families BC – Aging in Place resources.

Sure Hands – easy one (lift system)

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation – renovating accessible adaptable housing resources.

CMHC Accessible Housing by Design — House Designs and Floor Plans

INTERNATIONAL RESOURCES*

Pressalit (Danish) solutions to homes, assisted living, public spaces, facilities with the aim to increase accessibility with smart design.

THISABLES.COM – IKEA making existing products accessible.

 

An Occupational Therapists Guide to Home Modification Practice.  Australian Occupational Therapist

Residential Rehabilitation,Remodeling and Universal Design NC State University, USA

* Always work with a local, trusted builder, renovator or contractor, to ensure your modifications and renovations are built to local code regulations for the safety and protection of your family.

Jennifer-Lee:

Welcome to Measure Twice, Cut Once the 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, home building design and renovation,

Jennifer-Lee:

And give you the ins and outs from the experts

Mike:

To help you build and 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 Gunson.

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.

Mike:

Hey Jennifer-Lee.

Jennifer-Lee:

It’s great to be back in the studio. And I’m looking forward to our guest today.

Mike:

Me too. After talking with Jake Fry from Smallworks last week about great solutions for affordable homes, it got me thinking about possibilities available today to make all our spaces and all our homes work for us.

Jennifer-Lee:

Yes and of course it comes back to knowing what resources are out there and finding a professional who can help you navigate through the housing solutions that work best for you.

Mike:

Oh, that’s so true. Working with the right builders who have good experience and knowledge is so important. And that leads me to today’s guest and a good friend of mine. Todd Best, president and owner of Best Builders. Todd has been building homes for a long time. Having secured his red seal back in 1994, by the young age of 27, starting Best Builders. He’s an award-winning, multi award winning builder, a long time HAVAN member, and as a fountain of knowledge, welcome Todd.

Jennifer-Lee:

And so nice to see you Todd again, in person. I met you a few times for my parents’ company at different events, Euro Canadian construction. So it’s great to see you once again, in the flesh in person. And, uh, so nice to welcome Michelle Gentes. I’m so excited to share your story today.

Mike:

Hi Michelle. We’re looking forward to hearing about the home Todd helped you build, but first Todd, I’d like you to tell our customers a little bit more about your journey with Best Builders and the inspiration you get from your work.

Todd Best:

I’ve been in construction my whole life right out of high school. My father was an architect for the Department of Public Works and as such, I would work a lot of weekends and after hours. And I always loved the way I love to deconstruct stuff. To see the way stuff went together, I did work for my father a few years where I took my apprenticeship after high school, he did retire early and it gave me an opportunity I would say to kind of branch out on my own. Originally I was doing heritage restoration. That was my first love to be able to restore old homes. It moved into some multi-family. I did a little bit of high-rise work, but I found myself quickly coming back to building custom homes. It was more for myself. I got to be one-on-one with clients, understand what they wanted. I’m a very personable guy. What ended up being my inspiration for Best Builders was a custom company that could take people’s craziest ideas or thoughts, or can my home function in a certain way, and I was able to be creative and be part of the exciting part of the process, which was the dream part of it, I guess. And I think that’s what inspired Best Builders is a personal approach to building a custom home. I want to be approachable, not just a, an owner that sits off in the distance somewhere. So I want you to be able to access me, pick my brain. I want to pick your brain. What makes your home special? What makes it unique, what is it that you really need to operate day to day and be comfortable and have fun and your living space.

Mike:

Todd, you’ve been doing this for a long time. What inspires you now? Obviously the housing business has changed tremendously since you started. What gets you up and gets you excited about each and every day now?

Todd Best:

I’m a pretty, I’m going to say an emotionally driven guy. So I think what inspires me now is I have family members now that are involved in my company. I have both my sons, my son-in-law, my daughter. They all work for the business. This of course inspires me. They can take over a lot of the stuff I don’t necessarily enjoy about the business part of it. Whereas what does inspire me now is I think the personal connection for myself. What inspires me is meeting clients like Michelle. We had a very, I’m going to say an emotional relationship to generate this space for her. And it was emotional for both of us because one, I already knew her son coming into this project, but getting to know like, how do I make his life better? Like, cause I know Josh is a kid and honestly I could, I could go on forever just talking about how wonderful this kid is. Cause he went to school with my kids and seeing how my kids felt about Josh, but to get involved with his life and with Michelle’s life at this level was different. I felt invested. And I think I wanted to invest everything into this and the guys that work for me because they are employees, they got invested into it. And all of a sudden, you know, Michelle could call any one of our guys and go, Oh, Max, I need you to come by today because this was not working quite the way we should. And you know, and she was able to call any one of our family members. I’m going to, I’m going to use the word family, not employees, they’re my family. And that’s what we do is we invite our clients to be part of our family. And I guess that model is what kind of inspires me to keep that model growing, getting stronger and focusing on family first.

Michelle Gentis:

It’s exactly the experience that I had because you know, the original contractor that I had hired, wasn’t listening, wasn’t paying attention. I had no more voice. And I hired him based on the fact that he had a disabled daughter in a wheelchair thinking that I could trust him on that basis. And I made a great mistake in, in that way. To have someone come alongside and say, what do you need? What do you want? And not just the bare bones of what you need, you know, what’s, what’s a dream, right? What would really make things work for you and your family?

Jennifer-Lee:

That’s the best thing we’ve been talking about in the last season of Measure Twice Cut Once. And this season is that bond between builder and client. Because when you have that bond and they know a lot about you, they’re able to make a home, that’s really, truly right for what you need. And that’s the beautiful thing.

Michelle Gentis:

Oh my goodness. You’re just, you’re seeing exactly, exactly what I found in Todd and what I desperately needed because I have a son who he’s now 19, he’s in a wheelchair. He’s not just in a wheelchair. He needs help with everything. I mean, he can’t even put a key in a door and open it, even though he has the use of his hands. He has a neurological disorder that impairs his ability to coordinate his muscles. He’s also unable to speak. So he can’t use the phone, he uses technology for everything and, and he uses people and help for everything. I needed a house that worked for us, right. That made life easier because life is pretty difficult when you have a son that requires so much help. You know, I had this statement in my mind is that I want our home to work for us and me not work for it. So I needed a very low maintenance, very accessible, but very functional home. And I needed somebody to listen to all the details of how our life worked in order to make that a reality.

Jennifer-Lee:

Yeah. And I’m so glad that you found Todd, it sounds like you’ve got a beautiful home. And in your story, like I was just on your website. Your story about you and your son and how you guys do marathons together. Like I’m just, it’s so nice. Can you let us know a little bit about that?

Michelle Gentis:

I was a single mom for 15 years. So just keeping my head above water was a big deal. And one of the things that I did was I just started to run to just to have a strengthen the mental toughness and a friend invited me to run a marathon together with her. And I did the training and I found all of a sudden that because of the fitness, I had more strength to cope with life. I was inspired by a father and son team down in the States who ran marathons together. The son was a non-vocal quadriplegic, much like my son and my son is very social and he loves to be where the action is. And so friends said, why don’t you try running a marathon with him? And I thought, are you crazy? It is hard enough to run a marathon on your own. But anyway, we try to half marathon and it was just, it was just an incredible experience to be a part of a, you know, a community sporting event. And my son got to be in the middle of it. So we started running together and we’ve run the marathon in Chicago and Toronto and lots of races here in the lower mainland. And just, it’s just been a way for us to be a part of the community and enjoy life together.

Jennifer-Lee:

I know there’s no races at the moment because of COVID-19. Are you guys still out there running when the weather’s nice?

Michelle Gentis:

We absolutely are. And we’re excited for when COVID is behind us because we’ve got some big goals. We want to run the world marathon majors actually, which is Berlin, London, New York, Boston Tokyo. So we’ve, we’ve still got some big goals.

Jennifer-Lee:

Well, that’s exciting. Well, please keep us posted when you do that, because I love hearing stuff like that.

Michelle Gentis:

Yeah. Early on. I decided when you find yourself in a situation that is really a parent’s worst nightmare is what’s going to be my perspective on life here. And I decided I didn’t want to just survive. I didn’t just want to keep my head above water, but I wanted to thrive. And I wanted to turn our adversity into an opportunity to, you know, inspire other people because it’s other people’s stories that inspired me. So that’s kind of been my perspective on life. It opens up a whole new world of possibilities. When you look at life that way versus just, you know, hanging on by your fingernails and trying to get through each day.

Mike:

That’s another pertinent reminder that the only limitations we fac in life are the ones we set for ourselves. What a beautiful reminder of that for us. Thank you for sharing that story.

Todd Best:

,When I took on this project, the one thing that really did inspire me was Josh, because I can tell you for a kid who has the physical handicaps, that he does, it doesn’t limit what he wants to try. And I think this is where Michelle and I were first looking at different parts of the house. Even the way the kids do is, Josh has got to try everything. And I think the message we want to make sure is we want to be able to tell people that having a physical handicap doesn’t mean your life and what your enjoyment and your experiences have to be limited by that handicap.

Jennifer-Lee:

Todd, can you tell us a little bit about some of the features in the house, just for people that don’t know that, you know, there’s these different features that obviously helped Joshua in his daily life and what are the differences in maybe some people that have in their regular home?

Todd Best:

Well, I think the big thing for Josh was making the home. it is it’s a beautiful Arthur Erickson inspired condo with a big open floor plan. I think the big thing for us going in was to make it more accessible for Josh in his wheelchair, because he is limited by his wheelchair. So I guess the design challenge was how do we make a home where Josh doesn’t feel like he’s, you know, banging into things he wants to be able to get from his bedroom to the kitchen in and out of the door easily. The more independence we can give Josh, the more he feels like he’s contributing. So I mean, making the bathrooms accessible, the showers, even the toilet, um, Michelle did a lot of research into a very unique lift system, which I’ll give Michelle a hundred percent of the credit for, because she found this system inquired about it. How do I get it into Canada? Because he’s a fully grown man. He’s not easy to get in and out of bed even. And like I said, for Michelle, so yes, she has some help for some therapists, but also being able to let Josh know that I think that it’s not a burden for his mom is maybe a little bit easier for him, it makes him motivated.

Michelle Gentis:

Some of the specific features., things like, as I mentioned, he can’t put a key in a lock, right? We found, which was not, you know, a lot more money was, you know, the latest technology. There’s now bluetooth and digital technology that he has a digital key on his phone and he just has to touch the front door and it activates the bluetooth technology. So he can unlock the front door without having to put in a key or put in a code. Right. It just, it just works on bluetooth technology with powder room, which my son, you know, I wanted him to use right away when we came home to wash his hands, right? Cause he’s wheeling on the wheelchair. And so with a swinging door, it would completely impede the use of the, for a wheelchair to get into that small space and get under the sink. So we incorporated a barn door and there’s not a big cost difference in having a swinging door versus a barn door and sliding barn door just got completely out of the way. And it removed all of the barriers for him. Just fly it into that bathroom, underneath the sink and wash his hands.

Jennifer-Lee:

Just simple solutions that you don’t even think about. And like you said, there are ones that you can add that’s not going to break the bank, but they’re important. And they’re important for Josh to live his daily life.

Michelle Gentis:

Exactly another, you know, another thing that, you know, the shower while we call it the carwash and we put in, you know, again, because of his coordination issues, we put all the sinks that he would access, we put temperature control on so that he can never scald himself.

Jennifer-Lee:

That’s so neat. I didn’t know that there is software out there like that.

Michelle Gentis:

Yeah. So all the faucets have that feature I’m including the shower, you know, of course the 36 inch doors, but also in, in designing the kitchen, right. We wanted him to be able to access everything. So those are the key features. Of course the sinks are all that he can roll up underneath. You know, another thing that comes to mind quickly as his closet, you know, we put all the drawers in the closet that they would open clearing the top of his knees on the wheelchair. That’s just a design issue. That’s not a costing issue. Right. And it’s just thinking through the planning process of, okay, put yourself in the situation and then walk through your day. And that helps you to solve problems before they come up.

Jennifer-Lee:

It’s really about putting yourself into someone else’s shoes

Michelle Gentis:

Yes,

Todd Best:

And they’re more cost-effective because you’re doing it the first time, not, Oh, these drawers are too low. Oh, how’d you going to get in the door? And you find you’re going backwards. I pick a lot of people don’t put enough time into actually asking what’s important. They just kind of go through the motions, get the house done. And then they realized this door doesn’t work. I can’t access this faucet. The cupboards are too low. The cupboards are too high. So do that time up at the beginning and that’s going to make your project more cost-effective because you’re only going to do it once.

Mike:

I love the use of technology. I mean, I deal with technology for a living. I’m not a builder. And to me, one of the most exciting things you talked about is literally how technology can open doors for people, how we can circumvent physical limitations by just leveraging some of the cool tools that are out there right now, and how much more normal, a daily existence he has as a result of some of these simple technology decisions. So good on you for doing that research.

Michelle Gentis:

So he has his iPad or his iPhone with him at all times. And we, you know, we made the home, uh, you know, smart home as much as possible

Todd Best:

He lives on Facebook.

Michelle Gentis:

Yes he does. And so we’ve set up so that he can open up the blinds on his, on his phone. He, you know, so the blinds are all automated. The lights are all automated, you know, and he can control that from his phone. Oh, that’s amazing.

Jennifer-Lee:

It’s so great too, that we have technology and it’s ever changing because you know, I don’t know what we do back in the day with this. And now we’re able to help so many more people with the different types of technology that’s out there.

Michelle Gentis:

I know I shudder to think if my son had been born, you know, even, you know, 10 or 20 years before when he was, because we were fortunate to get on the cusp of, you know, this amazing explosion of technology that was practical boots on the ground, helping day to day life for us.

Mike:

Hey, I just want to go back to one thing really quickly. You were talking about the kitchen earlier. How does he navigate things like the fridge and just generally being, I mean, obviously there’s physical space for him to get around in the kitchen. How does he interact with that? The technology in the kitchen and to make his life easier.

Michelle Gentis:

One of the things as a single mom, I had a little tiny apartment and when no accessible bathroom, no accessible anything. And you know, it was the funniest thing. When he first got into a wheelchair, he rolled around behind the television because he’d never seen the back of the television. He had never been in the kitchen. Being now in our new home. We wanted him to be able to go in the fridge and get a drink out. You would still need help to open up the can, but we installed refrigerator drawers, right? So he could pull up in the drawer and it was, you know, down at his level. So he could reach in, get the drink he wanted and say, okay, here, you know, hand it over to me. I want this beer now.

Jennifer-Lee:

I guess he’s at that age now!

Michelle Gentis:

I’m glad you switched. Now. He seems to like root beer, better than beer. But he had to do the beer thing first, right? And then we put in, you know, fridges, the main kitchen fridge is it’s the French doors that you know, are with the freezer below. So he can open that. Right. And it’s above his wheelchair so he can open it and he can look in, he’d never been able to do that. The pantry, they have snack drawers that come out, right. So he can go into the pantry. He can access those things, which he never could before. It was always having to ask mom for things. Now I wish he needed to ask mom for things.

Jennifer-Lee:

He doesn’t need the help anymore.

Michelle Gentis:

No

Todd Best:

People don’t know how to ask these questions. I think this is the biggest thing you find is people are saying, I didn’t know that existed. Whereas Michelle was always, I mean, always asking questions, like how do we do this? And that’s comes back down to all of our trades as well. If Michelle asked the questions, how do I make this easier? Everyone had a solution. So it comes back to, again, you select that right team, right at the start, someone that’s going to listen to your needs and actually pay attention. Because even little things like the appliances she picked, it all makes Josh’s life easier, which in turn makes her life easier. Because if Josh can turn on the sink, if Josh turns on the sink, she doesn’t have to think, Oh no. Was that the hot water tap? Do I have to run down the hall to make sure he doesn’t burn himself? Because you know, that’s no longer a concern because you’ve taken the precautions and done the research. So Josh can operate in that house alone without you thinking, Oh no, I’ve got to race home. I’ve got to end my day short because Josh is home alone. The home was designed with his safety in mind. And so that he can actually have a friend over to watch a TV show. He can have a little bit of a normal teenager’s life.

Michelle Gentis:

Yeah, and it was really designed with a thought of independence because he’d been so dependent, right? So incredibly dependent having a completely inaccessible house. Everything I approach was how can Josh do this on his own? How can he do this independently? What if he doesn’t have a support person with him? You know, another mindset that I had was there’s a solution for everything. There is a solution. I just have to find it. Todd mentioned the lift system that we have. The lift system is called a Body Support. It’s designed and made in Belgium. It was not available in Canada, anybody who is in a wheelchair and who requires a lift system to be transferred, they will know that we, it is the most antiquated time consuming process because you have to, you know, shimmy a sling underneath you, which, you know, if you can’t move, that’s really hard time-consuming and then kind of like fish loops, you know, hook them up into a lever, and then it lifts you out and then back and then either into a, you know, a bath seat or a bed or whatever. So this lift system that a friend from the States had sent me a video of a few years ago. I thought when I have the opportunity to install, lift, that’s what I want to do. I came up against so many roadblocks. Nobody was bringing it into Canada, but again, I had that mindset. There is a solution. I want this system here. And so I finally found a gentleman who was aware of the system in Ontario. And he had been wanting to be the Canadian representative for that. And so we were his first customer. He went through all the safety standards and got it approved by Health Canada. And so we have that system now in our home. And it, you know, I said, time, time is important. And if it takes me or anybody, five minutes to transfer from the wheelchair to the bed versus 30 seconds, that’s a lot in a day when you have to get in and out of your chair all the time. So, you know, ease of access and ease of use was also a big factor in everything that I was looking at in designing and building our home.

Jennifer-Lee:

You said it – there’s always a solution for everything. And I think that’s so important too, is that’s why you choose a good builder. Like you’ve chosen Todd and you choose a good design team because you should be able to go to them and say, Hey, these are my ideas. This is what I want. This is what’s going to make my home my home. And they can be like realistic. Yeah, we can do that or no. And they’ll guide you. And that’s why you want, we go back to that idea of you want the builder to listen to you.

Michelle Gentis:

Absolutely. It is the key to everything.

Mike:

Todd, Michelle, this has been such a great story on so many levels about empowerment and design, but we do have to take a quick break to thank our podcast sponsors. So please 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 Todd and Michelle 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 with better energy efficiency standards, which means better comfort, health, and safety. Be sure to check out www.betterhomes.bc.ca where you find a variety of rebates for construction materials, home, energy evaluations, plus mortgage and tax refunds.

Jennifer-Lee:

It’s for renovations too. Just click on the rebate search tool button on the homepage of www.betterhomes.bc.ca to find cost saving resources for your next project, or talk with your licensed builder or professional contractor. They’ll help guide you. Now let’s get back to Todd and Michelle.

Mike:

Let’s talk about adaptability. Michelle, in the case of adapting a home to meet the specific needs of a person, where does a person begin when considering how to adapt their home?

Michelle Gentis:

Well, it’s such an emotional, you know, as Todd talked about in the beginning, right? He’s an emotional guy. So am I, and I mean, your home is a very emotional place. When you have a child with disabilities and you know that they’re going to be living with you. I mean, we had to build this home with the fact in mind that, you know, or the likely reality that he’s going to spend the rest of his life with us in our home. You have to really think through this process. The first mistake I made was assuming certain things about the contractor, rather than doing a due diligence on the contractor, interviewing contractors, finding out that you really have to find somebody that, you know, personality wise you work with, but that they’re genuinely interested in meeting the needs, listening to you, you know, hiring a good contractor is I just say that is the single most important aspect of a successful outcome because it’s a work in progress and you’re, you know, you’re going to work out things. You’re not going to figure it all out at the beginning. So that’s both a do. And a don’t, don’t just jump into a contractor for, you know, anyway, really think about that process of hiring a contractor.

Jennifer-Lee:

And that’s important for any house. You’ve got to have good paperwork and you’ve got to have that trust with the contractor. And that’s why we wanted to do this podcast because you gotta figure out who’s right for you. And who’s going to be honest with you. Ok, so Todd, when you’re building a type of home like this, what are some things that people need to know? And where do you start?

Todd Best:

Building a home like this? I think what’s important for me is the communication. When I interview a client, as much as they’re interviewing me, I want to make sure first off we’re both on the same page. A client like Michelle, she’s very creative. She knew what she wanted. They also had budget needs, scheduling needs, her husband is an executive working very long hours. So Michelle’s on her own a lot to make these decisions. So that process was important for her as well, to be constantly informed. These are some of the big things that are important. When you’re looking at a job, whether it’s our renovation, a project like this, where it does require a lot of information, a lot of research, this, these are the things that are important. And these are the questions you should be asking. How much experience do you have? What is the experience? Where do you get your experience from? Can I see a project that’s similar to mine? Can I speak to someone that you’ve done a project like this for? And yes, you need that personal connection. It’s also, what are your needs personally. Michelle like to have some control. These jobs cost a lot of money. Clients should have control. They should be able to at any time say, what am I going to pay for that? And you should be able to tell them, this is what it’s going to cost. This is where, how it applies to your budget.

Michelle Gentis:

And it comes down to having a plan, right? And this was the mistake that happened from the very first, the first contractor that I had hired was there wasn’t a plan. I had lots of ideas in mind and, but to have a concrete plan and then a budget attached to it and then systems in place, and this was a big difference. There was no systems in place. There was no checks and balances. There wasn’t a schedule. And so I felt out of control because I had no idea how much longer it was going to take, how much more money it was going to cost. That was recipe for disaster, which is really, you know, when I met Todd and Todd and Best Builders stepped in, because it was like, let’s just stop here. Let’s reign it in. Let’s figure out what needs to happen. And here’s the plan. Here’s the schedule. And here’s how much it’s going to cost.

Todd Best:

And that comes down to hiring again, the builder with the experience and the knowledge and the resources. So if we needed a question answered, we were able to reach out to resources, quickly, get on top of the product, find out what the product could do for us. And if it suited the need and then I could have a cost and then we put a plan in place to apply it. Clients can use HAVAN and our members and they could actually find out which guys do this job well, and I have no problem if I find a project that maybe I’m too busy, or maybe I just don’t think it’s my niece. I would rather refer a HAVAN member to a client, knowing that they’re going to have that same experience as they would have with me.

Jennifer-Lee:

And Todd, just touching on that. I want to ask you the same question too. What are some questions that the homeowners should be asking the builder? If they’re looking for a home, that’s going to maybe need some special things throughout the home that you know, other builders are maybe not versed in and from you being the homeowner, what questions would you ask? Say if you’re going to build another, not that I’m going to put you through that, but say that you’re going to build another home. What questions would you ask your prospective builder now, knowing what you know?

Todd Best:

I think the big thing that I can come back to again and again is, is it’s not so much the business side of stuff. When you’re first interviewing. I’ll tell prospective clients interview three builders don’t necessarily talk about costs as construction costs or construction costs,. If we’re all playing on a level playing field, which most of us are. The big thing for Michelle and I, when we talked is we had a connection. So when she asked me, what do you see here? I should be asking her a question. How do you need it to function? Now, if that relationship’s going to go anywhere, you’re going to know it in the first 10 or 15 minutes, if you’re wasting your time or not. Because if that contractor goes, I don’t know, what do you want? Or he says, what is it you need? Like, how would you like to see this work? And I’ve got some really cool ideas. You want to hear them? Because that’s how the first conversation should go. I do a lot of design build. It’s really sort of my niche. If you will, we have some other homes that are going on right now. I’m really involved with that portion, the design portion. How do you want this home to function for you and your family? What’s important. What do your kids like? What are your kids’ hobbies? You know, how does, how does, what does Josh do most of the day? What’s really important to Josh? I mean, Michelle and I met, Oh for the first little while we were meeting every day, sometimes five or six hours. And we’d just talk about the daily functions of the home. And we don’t, when we do a photo shoot finally after COVID it looks like a super high-end condo, but there’s no stairs. There’s no bumps. The doors are wide, lots of barn doors, so Josh can move all the doors open. It’s just, we’ve designed it and built it in such a manner that you don’t have to worry about where the knowledge or experience came from, because it was just all part of the package right up front. She did that research realized we were the right fit. I liked her as a fit for a client because we got along well. And even when there was a problem, we were able to do it together because there was never any animosity at the beginning of the relationship. So we just tackle each problem and came up with solution and moved on to the next one.

Michelle Gentis:

The first thing is to have a contractor that you can talk to, that you feel safe to bring up issues and challenges and questions. And someone that is not going to feel like their toes are stepped on every time you challenge them on what about this and why is this costing so much money? And whoa, that’s taken a whole lot longer than what I expected. So I think at the outset to ask the question of, what are your systems in place to make sure we do stay on budget? How are you accounting for your labor and how can we keep track of all of these things? Right? And I think it was a really humbling experience to learn that I was way out of my league. I mean, give me a chance to do this all over again and I will handle it like a pro, but I was, you know overwhelmed, but I paid dearly for the experience that I have now. And that’s something I would love people to be able to avoid. And they can avoid that by finding a contractor that has the experience, I just keep coming back to that word systems, right? To have accounting, to have tracking of costs and labor and so on.

Mike:

Well, a couple of points that you both made. And I think a really, really important points. First of all, and I agree a hundred percent, if you’re working with the right contractor, you know what you want, the right contractor draws it out of you and they know how to facilitate it, to make it happen. And the other thing Todd, you talked about with the design portion of the project, and that’s a really, really important part of the planning process and getting the results you want. So what a great way for us to segue into another facet of this discussion, which is how does the designer and the home builder work together for each unique project, because this is every project is different. This one is obviously uniquely different than some of the other ones. How did you work with the designer? And what recommendations do you have for homeowners as they start this process in terms of the order in which they engage people and how they interact with each other and build their team.

Todd Best:

When we are looking at a project we’re actually trying to find at the same time, a designer that we think would suit that type of project. So I like to get involved with the designer or architect, right at the beginning. We can establish the budget with the client. This is my expectation. And then as we’re designing, it’s not being over-designed because that tends to happen a lot. Clients will sometimes go and they won’t be completely truthful with the architect and they have all these lofty ideas. And before, you know what the builder gets it, then he gets saddled with costing this out and breaking all the bad news. I like to be able to ask the client, what do you want to spend for this home or what he wants button for this reno? And I can that point say, probably not realistic. And then let’s say interview some designers that we like to work with because it is going to be a team. We’ll establish the budget. Don’t want egos involved. We’re going to design that home to suit the client’s needs and design it with that budget in mind. So that’s the same thing with Michelle’s. You had to find people that understood what the limitations were of our, of our space, because it is a concrete building. We couldn’t just move walls wherever we felt like. So there were limitations. Plus, we had Joshua’s accessibility and keeping in mind that this is an absolutely gorgeous condo, where if you had to go in and I told you it was accessible, we probably have to point the features out to you. Cause you can’t see them when you walk in. That’s all good design is what that is.

Michelle Gentis:

Finding a designer is really a challenge. And I hope that more and more designers would start to think in terms of accessibility and aging in place and being able to stay at home longer.

Jennifer-Lee:

Just to move on to another topic, which I want to quickly touch upon is the thought of aging in place. A lot of us don’t think about that when we’re building. We do it at our construction company. Usually, our clients are there to live forever, so we use the use of an elevator. There’s other aspects besides an elevator, that the fact that you can’t get up the stairs. So Todd, on that question, what are some things that you start to do working with your clients to make them live in their house for a longer time and age in place?

Todd Best:

Well, as you touched on, I mean, that’s part of your interview process as well. I think at the end, did you want to find out what is your long-term goal for my home? I mean, some clients want to build homes in five years, I’m going to sell it or I’m going to give it to my kids, but I can say 90% of the homes I built probably in the last 10 years, the clients have said, that’s it, we’re staying here. We’ve talked about the possibilities of, you know, what if you have, what if one of you has a stroke or becomes handicapped and had you talked on elevator. So now how do you access that elevator? If you need a wheelchair, does that have to come in at the ground floor? Is it easy to get through the garage? We’ve built lifts for kids. We’d have a home right now. You know, we’re designing for a woman who has discovered she has an illness and she’s slowly going blind. So we’re going to renovate her home for her to give her an income helper. And also she’s got small kids. So we are currently researching different ideas of how her home can still function the way she needs it to. And we’ve even gotten to the point where we’ve come up with ideas that we’re going to router slots in the floor when she gets near the stairs. So she can feel where the stairs are. We’ve talked about doing slots in front of her door. So she knows which rooms are, which I mean, your memory normally will log you in, but it’s just a little reminder. So she knows she can go down the floor and go, Oh yeah, this is son number one’s bedroom. And this is my other son’s bedroom. I’ve have the stairs are coming up in three feet. So let’s just little reminders as you’re moving through. And that’s just the start of these conversations. But I think aging in place is becoming more and more the norm and even little things like a ramp or how do I get off my back patio, If I’m in a wheelchair? These are things I want to make sure I’m asking the client. We’ve hidden ramps literally in behind planters. You could walk onto the patio and never know there is a wheelchair ramp behind the planter. So even little things like those little tiny design features, they don’t have to make this look like, Oh, you know, you’re worried about being in a wheelchair in 20 years. Because if you design a home, right, it isn’t an where you’re having someone to come in and build, you apply with ramp because you forgot you’re going to eventually age. Do it now while you’re in your forties and fifties design, what if I need a ramp there? And you can even hide it under another structure for now, but as you become older and that need arises, why move? You have your home? You’ve loved your home. A few quick adaptations and your home is completely accessible if you give it the thought upfront.

Jennifer-Lee:

And that is important to think about now. I think a lot of us don’t like to think that we are going to age. So we don’t like to think about that, but it’s very important

Todd Best:

Asking those questions upfront and that’s really, it’s, it’s planning for it right at the beginning. This is what I’m going to do. This is my long-term plan. This is where I want to stay. How do I do it? And letting the builder know that those are your priorities. And then you can make those accommodations.

Mike:

I think the bottom line is this. You can plan now for things that aren’t going to be implemented for a long time, but the key is to plan now. So you have it available. Let’s talk about that very quickly because I think anyone who’s listening to this is probably contemplating a project. So they probably in the planning phase, and this is a great time to have this conversation. What are some of the steps Todd that we can take right now in terms of planning during this phase, so we don’t have to necessarily impact design now, but we can make changes later? What are the, some of the things you’re seeing that are impactful decision-making choices we have right now that will filter down to better lifestyle later?

Todd Best:

A lot of people have simple worries that they’re worried about. Whether they know they have arthritis that’s coming on, or, you know, we have a client, we actually built a closet with a false floor because it was actually an elevator. So in the future, because he is only a young man, but he knows he has bad knees, the elevator could actually take the floor out and he could install an elevator. The shaft was already there. So we were already planning for him to age into that home later. So the thing people have to get over, I think is you’re right, no one wants to admit they’re getting older or that they may need help, but addressing the problem upfront and asking that question, like, how do I, how do I allow for this? If it is an issue or even if you want to sell that home, wouldn’t it be nice to know that you could sell that home to someone that may have accessibility problems and say, Hey, you know what I was thinking about that when I built this home and this is the way I’ve made my home accessible. And with this a little bit of planning at the front, I said, you can do it without making it a big obvious design feature. I mean, it can actually become a part of a feature of your home that can be easily adapted at a later time. So I think that’s, what’s really, I mean, getting enough backing in the wall for grab bars, you can put that in your plans. Do you need the grab bars now? No, but if you need to be in 10 years, that whole walls got backing in it. I could put a lift in that wall. Cause I had thinking about this and I put all my backing it and I’ve got power hidden behind the wall. You don’t need it? Don’t use it.

Michelle Gentis:

My father was a physician and when Josh was younger, they had a bigger shower. And as I mentioned, I did not have an accessible home, so didn’t have an accessible bathroom. So we bathed my son at my parent’s house. And then when my parents did a renovation in their bathroom, my dad was having the contractor, build something in the ceiling for a lift. And I’m like, we don’t need that. What are you like, why are you doing that? That’s but he was thinking, I wasn’t – and it was my child. Who’s going to be a wheelchair bound. Right. So it’s amazing. The blinders that we can have, right about the possibilities, the inevitabilities that we are going to get older. I think it would be like for me as a parent of a child, a son, a young adult now with disabilities, you know, we go to homes and it’s wonderful when we can get around easily, you know, there’s play dates that my son couldn’t go on. And in fact, very rarely was he invited to a play date because the homes weren’t accessible. So if you think in terms of, you know, what, if I had a friend in a wheelchair and could I have them easily over to my home?

Jennifer-Lee:

And the answer is no a lot of the time. I’m like, I have a really good friend that’s in a wheelchair and she can’t really come to a lot of our homes. And even to go to a restaurant, I was telling this to you a little bit earlier, you don’t think about it because a lot of the restaurants in Vancouver, especially downtown, are an older buildings and you actually have to leave the premise to go down an alley to use the bathroom, because that’s their wheelchair accessible bathroom.

Michelle Gentis:

Yeah. It’s unbelievable. Really still how inaccessible much of the city is. And you know, we have friends that say, oh, we can’t have you over because we don’t, you know, we have this whole set of stairs and I’m like, you know what? I’ll carry my son up the stairs, you carry the wheelchair. And that’s what I did for many years. I still have that mindset because that’s just the way I roll. But you know, I think just the fact that we are having this discussion about building an accessible home and aging in place and people are becoming more mindful of accessibility issues. Right. And it just, it makes our whole city, our culture, our community more inviting and more accepting. Right?

Jennifer-Lee:

No. We want to be more inclusive, especially in 2021. And I think that’s what COVID taught us too, is that when we’re separated from a lot of people it’s difficult and there’s people that don’t have the choice because they don’t have, like you said, certain buildings aren’t accessible. So I think we’re more aware of it now. And hopefully we move on to build a better, not to sound corny, but build a better future that we can include everybody.

Mike:

You guys have used planning and technology to level the playing field. That’s beautiful.

Jennifer-Lee:

Michelle, just before we go, I’m on your website right now. And I just have to say that it’s beautiful to see your journey with your son. And I just love that you’ve titled it, count me in. And I just wanted to read a line from your website when you said, ‘when you love sports, but you can’t walk when you love people, but you can’t talk when you’ve got an independent spirit, but you need help to do the basic things.’ I, I just, um, it’s beautiful. So if people want to follow your journey with your son, can you tell us a little bit more about your website and how to reach you?

Michelle Gentis:

Yeah, thank you. Our website is team joshua.ca and you know, we all want to be included, right? We all want to belong. We all want to feel like we can be a part of society. And that starts with having a home that you can access easily and that friends can come over. And, you know, I thought of, you know, so many times we have been in a situation where my son can’t go to somebody’s home because it’s completely inaccessible. You know, I had sort of the cry of a mother’s heart is Count Me In!

Mike:

Todd and Michelle. This episode has been so informative and I’ve really loved having this conversation with both of you. Learning about the options available, make a home work for you to live life to the maximum, or be able to age in place is really a freeing concept. We’ve learned so much today, whether it’s working with the builder who has experience and knowledge in that area, or working with the builder who understands your needs or impactful design decisions and planning and how that can lead to a better quality of life, now and in the future. Before we go, I’m wondering, can you leave us with one last piece of advice? And what would that piece?

Michelle Gentis:

The first thing that came to mind is dream. You know, if, if you find yourself in the very unfortunate situation that you have accessibility issues, disability issues, don’t let that steal your dream. Still continue to dream. And I kept that dream alive as we were designing and building our home because I wanted not just an accessible home, but an inspiring home. So I would say that keep dreaming and, and have a solution oriented mindset. And it doesn’t have to cost a fortune. You know, just some creative thinking can actually go a very long way.

Todd Best:

The big thing where Michelle and I were fortunate because we both love Josh. And I know Josh, we were probably luckier than a lot of people because we already had a prior relationship. But because I shared that passion. When she spoke of her dreams of things she wanted, it was easy for me to visualize having the experience. My last piece of advice to anyone is don’t be afraid to ask for something crazy or impossible. Your contractor should share in your dreams. Should we have a fun relationship. And it should be like chatting with a buddy and you guys should be able to toss ideas back and forth. And he should say, you know what? I’m going to look into that for you. I think I might be able to do a variety of that. So feed on that creativity. If you just want someone that’s going to stare blank faced to you across the table, there’s a thousand builders that’ll too bad, but if you want something special and unique, take the time to interview and find the right guy.

Michelle Gentis:

Here’s a great question. How can I make that happen? How can we make that happen?

Todd Best:

I still get goosebumps. Talking about it. I get goosebumps

Jennifer-Lee:

And Todd, if they want to make it happen with you, a great tie in, where can they find you?

Todd Best:

Well, they can go to our website for sure. www.bestbuilders.ca. You can find us on the HAVAN webpage. We’re there info@bestbuilders.ca reach out consults are always free. I love to come out and just kind of have a great conversation. And I love the creative part of my project. I don’t think I could say that enough. If you want to have an emotional contractor, who’s going to share your dreams and ideas of yet, I’m the right guy.

Jennifer-Lee:

And eat Ben and Jerry’s with you as you cried,

Todd Best:

I’m off the ice cream, yogurt, yogurt. I’m eating yogurt.

Mike:

I’m learning so much about planning for my own home project. Understanding the small adjustments I can incorporate into my home design today to help my family tomorrow is amazing. It can impact our lifestyle, budgets as so much more.

Jennifer-Lee:

Yes, adapting your home to design and build the home right for your family really is about making the home work for you. And on that note, join us next week as we talk with Alex from Level One Construction and Cara of Triple Dot Design about renovating a character home. It will be interesting to hear how an older home could be brought up to today’s standards for maximum comfort, safety, and efficiencies, and keep its unique personality intact.

Mike:

That does sound interesting. My older home is full of characters.

Jennifer-Lee:

Thanks for joining us today. We look forward to talking to you next week.

Jennifer-Lee:

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 haven.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 Freedman,

Jennifer-Lee:

and Jennifer Lee, reminding you to measure twice.

Mike:

Cut once.