You’ve thought about it for so long and now, you are close to start building your home !  What an exciting decision but are you ready ?  Are you stepping down this path for the firts time ?  Nervous ?!…

Like any process, building his home can be tricky and there are many important details to consider as you get started.  Have you decided on a style of home yet ? There are many styles as American, Bungalow, Cottage, Country, Crafstman, and many more.  Try to find the style of a friend’s or a neighbour’s home that you like and you will probably find what you like.  Write down or draw the details you like and and keep it in a file;  once you will meet an architect or any plan designer, you not forget anything.   Browse the Internet and you will maybe find the home of your dream through a Stock Plan Collection, or you can do some modifications of a stock plan through the original designer or do a complete Custom plan.

Where you build is very important too.  If you already own the land you plan to build on, your options will be more open than if you are building in an established subdivision.  One thing very important though;  make sure you have your land before buying the plan.  Some people bought some plans and bought the land after…  They noticed that the home they dreamed of can not be built on the land they bought !

If you buy a land in a subdivision, make sure you know very well all the restrictions and limits from the developer.  These “covenants” are in place to assure that all the homes in the area are worth about the same and this will protect the value of your investment in the future.  Always remeber that a house is an investment that you have to protect and, even if you do not think about it now, you may want to sell it some day !  Protect it !

There are a lot of things to consider about the location of your new home: Distance to shopping, Schools, work have to be thought about.

Finding the right contractor is your next step.  Talk to some friends or relatives about their experiences and make sure, when you have identified the right contractor that you get at least 3 bids plus the names of satisfied customers you can contact.  Always remember the old adage: “If it is too good to be true, it problably is !”  To ensure that both you and your builder are satisfied with the work, make sure the details are spelled out in a written contract.  The time you spend at this stage and on the plan stage will avoid any confusion later on.

With the internet and groups like the Canadian Home Builder Association and your provincial groups, reams of information is available to help plan your home.  The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation also offers useful information including valuable question and answer sheets.

Beyond choosing a good contractor, you will also need a lawyer and a banker to handle legal matters and financing.  Finally, remember that some home builders are more concerned about structural integrity and the attractiveness of your home from the outside.  Remember that the interior should also be designed for practical concerns like - will all the furnitures you already have fit ? Do not hesitate to contact an interior designer before starting to build;  they will help you to maximise your living space and avoid mistakes you will see once you live in your home !

Want to build green ?  Many links like LEED and Built Green can surely help you.

Enjoy !

this post was based on an article from the Cottage and Home Plans magazine provided by Tim-Br Mart. Some information was also supplied by CMHC and CHBA.

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An expert in electromagnetic fields at Hydro-Québec advises against the use of certain radiant electric floors which could increase the risk of infant leukemia.  <<As children are often laying and sitting on the floor, it is to be avoided, not recommended due to the doubts we have on this>>, declared Jan Erik Deadman, labour hygiene counsellor at the company.  <<It would surprise me if Hydro-Québec recommended (these systems) in daycares.>>

This labour health doctor was reacting to the fact that certain of these heating systems, composed of an electric wire typically installed under a ceramic floor, emit a magnetic field measuring up to 100 milli gauss (mG0) at ground level.  According to nine epidemiological studies, a chronic exposure to an average field of more than 4 mG doubles the risk of child leukemia.  In 2002, this is what incited the International Center for Cancer Research, along with the World Health Organization, to class magnetic fields of 50-60 Hertz in Group 2B as ‘potentially cancer-causing’.  The Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation in its Mechanical Equipment Guide for a Clean Interior Environment, that radiant electric floors <<can emit significant electrical and magnetic fields.>>

Four Cancers Targeted

The most solid proofs of noxious effects of electromagnetic fields come from epidemiological studies, explains Health Canada: <<The studies have led to suppositions of the existence of a weak positive association between being exposed to fields of 50-60Hz and leukemia, brain cancer, breast cancer and lung cancer.>> But we cannot exclude that other statistical, environmental or socio-economic factors may be responsible.

Also a researcher at the McGill Faculty of Medicine, Jan Erik Deadman is co-author of a historical study published last July.  It concluded that female workers, whose average weekly exposure was at least 4mG during or within two years preceding their pregnancy, doubled their risk of having a child who will develop this type of blood cancer.  Other studies concluded that chronic exposure to a field of 2mG doubled the risk in children.

Should owners of electrically heated floors disable their system or turn it off before entering a room?  <<The risk is considered too weak and too uncertain to change heated floors in houses and daycares, analyzes Denis Gauvin, biologist at the Institut nationale de santé publique du Québec (INSPQ) Must the population be informed?  Yes.  If people have the possibility of choosing a floor which exposes them less, all the better.>> Electromagnetic fields are composed of electrical fields produced by voltage (live wires) and magnetic fields from amperage (power consumed)  They are measured with a multi meter which frequently acts as a voltmeter, gauss meter and radio frequency and microwave reader.  The intensity of the field and the degree of human exposure diminish rapidly when moving away from the source, easy if the radiant system is in a ceiling but impossible in the case of a floor.

At one foot from a floor emitting 100mG at ground level, the field can measure 16mG, a level at which very brief daily exposures are, according to a recent California study (Li, 2002), associated with an increased risk of false labour.  These fields are weaker in a house where electrical consumption is lower and if the wires are close together and laid out in parallel, their fields have a tendency to mutually cancel themselves out.
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In recent years, the residential construction industry has undergone an unprecedented growth, and it’s noteworthy that the province of Quebec has contributed more than ever to the record construction surge.

The relentless pace, which month after month continues to confound the experts, will, sooner or later, experience an inevitable slowdown. There are some very simple reasons why this will eventually occur: the rise in the cost of labour and building materials, combined with the gradual hike in mortgage rates will prompt people in this activity sector to reconsider their strategy.   

While the phenomenon is still in its infancy stage, it’s been happening for the last few months from a Canadian standpoint. It’s the direct result of housing prices, which, since the beginning of the new millennium, have spiralled, often beyond 50%.  Some people see that as nothing but a good thing, even though the real-estate value of their home is practically wiped out by the proportional increase in costs of buying or building a new house.   

A growing number of home owners, however, prefer renovating their home,  financing the work through the equity that has been built up in their property.  Consequently, they avoid having to pull up stakes to go and live in a residential area that is likely to take a decade to mature from an urban development aspect. 

There are myriad reasons for sake-of-change renovation, as opposed to a straightforward move into another home. Usually, the decision is made once the children have left the family nest. Then it’s a matter of re-appropriating space, with practicality and comfort of the occupants in mind, by enlarging the living room or bathroom to set up your own peaceful oasis, by adding on a solarium or by finishing off a spare room above the garage.  

As residential designers, our knowledge of the housing sector and the need to oversee each of the stages one goes through in bringing a project to fruition has led us, more and more, to contribute not only to the development of plans to carry out the work, but also to play an active consulting role, thereby providing support service throughout the project, if need be.

All the more true, the renovation projects are becoming more sophisticated and expensive as lands and properties value are increasing.

It is no longer uncommon today, to turn a bungalow into a cottage and double the floor space of a home in order to maximize the value of a property located in an area in demand or on the edge of a water-course, for example. This type of transformation, we understand, requests an excellent planning for future use of space.  This is the task that is increasing more and more the workload for designers and creators specialized in residential construction.

If we add other determining factors such as the scarcity of land and urban sprawl, it is likely that the decline in starts of new homes will be largely offset by the major renovation projects in the next following months.

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