Building Your Dream Home
Deciding to build a home on the North Shore is a rewarding process. Some people consider a custom home as the opportunity to build their ideal family home, and some choose to build an age-in-place home as they get close to retirement age.
Customization allows you to add personal interest areas such as:
- temperature-controlled wine room
- media room/home theatre
- game room
- home gym
- swimming pool
- indoor-outdoor entertaining areas
- geothermal and solar solutions for long term payback
If you’ve driven around West Vancouver or North Vancouver lately you’ll see many new custom homes from Horseshoe Bay, Caulfeild, the British Properties, Upper Edgemont, Lynn Valley, and all the way to Deep Cove. With many homes ready for a major renovation the thought of starting fresh is very appealing to those interested in a new home. Custom home builds allow you to create a modern living environment that fits your lifestyle.
Custom Home Features And Layout
Others who build custom homes can’t find a home on the market in West Vancouver or North Vancouver that suits their needs and decide to build a new home from the ground up incorporating everything that they wish for in their dream home. Some of our favourite customized homes we’ve worked on include spacious media rooms, putting greens, hidden rooms with bookcase doors, specialty bars and his and her Master Bedrooms. In addition to designed features in the home, the positioning of the home itself can be personalized to capture the best view of the land use of the property.
Homeowners who decide to build vs. buy a home have the added ability to utilize a parcel of land to their benefit as we see in the home rendering below. Shifting the entrance to the side allowed for a parking area and a unique and beautifully designed covered entrance from the parking zone that extended into the indoor-outdoor entertaining area in the rear of the property. A trusted home builder and general contractor with experience in the local area and unique bedrock and zoning considerations like Upward, help you get the most from your budget and keeps your project on time. We consider ourselves partners with our clients and enjoy seeing their vision of their dream home come to life.
Not taken lightly, the commitment of time and energy to building a new home is high. The process can take up to twelve months or more based on the size of the home, availability of trades and materials and the permit approval timing in your municipal region. As a North Shore home builder, Upward works with many homeowners in West Vancouver and North Vancouver who are looking for a change and who decide to take on the challenge and reward of building a custom home. Partnering with a trusted home builder like Upward who can not only build a custom home but make the process enjoyable is key to getting what you want from the experience and also from the home’s performance and enjoyment.
The homeowners share the benefits of building new and how finding a great general contractor helps with the experience:
We would like to express our sincere thanks and gratitude to..the entire Upward Construction team for working with us to realize our dream of creating our new ‘age in place’ home.
We had a building lot and a vision – where to go from there? Having engaged Upward Construction several years ago to help us with a major 8 month renovation of our previous home, we knew they would be up to the task of assisting us with the construction of our new home. The team was actively engaged with us through every step, from the initial design meetings, preliminary discussions with the District of West Vancouver through decommissioning and demolition of the old home to site preparation and ultimately the actual build itself. Our interests were aligned throughout the process and, as such, we reached our goal efficiently.
Anyone who has built a home knows there are thousands of decisions to be made and that there will be issues and surprises throughout. In our case, we were able to minimize the surprises with planning and by dealing with any issues that arose by meeting them head-on and immediately.
We were fortunate to be building 5 doors from our home at the time and, therefore, able to meet on site at the beginning or end of the day, if necessary. Our site superintendent, maintained excellent and regular communication with us throughout the build. If there was any detail that required further input or our site supervisor thought there was something that may not suit us, he was in touch and we met. I know we had many 5 minute meetings that saved hours of potential changes in the long run.
To build a great home you need to start with a great foundation and to us that foundation starts with a great team.Thanks again to.. the whole construction team for a job well done!
David & Gail (West Vancouver)
Considering A Custom Home Build
The upside of building your home allows your creative input from the start including architecture, sustainable features, and floor plans so that the flow of the home fits your personal needs. In addition, your property may have some natural sloping challenges that can creatively be addressed including incorporating boulders into the home or designing to setbacks in the sloping terrain.
Custom home building is a highly personal undertaking. We meet with clients interested in new home construction in the Vancouver region and they tend to be at different project stages, depending on how far they have gotten in the process. In some cases, they have begun the design phase with an established architect and may have already drafted plans and drawings. In some cases, we are the first person they speak to about their plans, and we work with them to partner them with an Architect who would be ideal for their vision. Once the team is assembled, you can move into the budgeting phase.
How much does it cost to build a custom home in Vancouver?
We get that question a lot. More than a lot. Whether we work on the North Shore, Vancouver or Whistler, homeowners are curious what the cost could be if they decide to build a home. You can equate the question by asking how long is a piece of string; the answer depends on many factors. To simplify the question, the cost comes down to decisions you make along the way. What we know for sure is that the cost of materials is on the rise, costs like lumber, change the cost to build a home on the North Shore and in Vancouver. Looking back at some of our recent custom homes, we average the cost of a finished square foot price on average, including tax at a starting point of $400 – $550 per square foot depending on the size and complexity and can rise from there.
A large portion of the cost to build a home is materials and construction companies don’t control costs for materials. A recent article by the CBC on the soaring cost of lumber highlighted that the cost for lumber between 2019 and 2021 more than doubled. At Upward, we work with a construction agreement that is catered to your needs. Regardless of the type that is chosen, you get full transparency on costs. Typically you pay for the materials, and we charge a standard fee on top to cover our construction management costs. We have transparency built into our process so our clients can log into their project online and see in detail the costs of their project including receipts. Our relationships with material suppliers are built on years of trust and goodwill, and we get the best prices available for our clients as we buy in large quantities for our projects and we have a stable of trusted certified sub-trades that have been working with us for years.
A custom home build is approximately double the cost of a full home renovation. A full home renovation starts with the frame of a house and rebuilds it to a new layout and design. Why the difference? Well, you can imagine the additional step in having to demolish an older home to clear a space for the new build and creating a level space to build the new home on, blasting away bedrock and clearing landscaping. There is more preparation and time needed when building a custom home, and time means cost within your budget. More engineering requirements, cement, reinforced steel structures are needed from the ground (and underground). The time alone between a full home renovation and a custom home build is very different as well. Homeowners who have fully researched custom home builds or have built previous homes expect this cost. They are looking for a construction company experienced in these aspects of building and who won’t cut corners along the way.
At Upward, we have a Site Manager assigned to all construction projects.
- This key member of your team ensures the daily workflow and tasks are completed, and any trades on site are supported to get the job done right the first time and done in a quality manner.
- Our site supervisors are also senior-level experienced construction personnel and carpenters, so they perform work and save you time and money in the long run.
- The Site Supervisor is accountable to you and your neighbours when a project is ongoing.
- The Site Supervisor walks the inspectors through the plans and work being done to ensure the inspections meet the requirements.
Our team is comprised of trained, qualified professionals led on site by the Site Supervisor. Our focus on teamwork and collaboration attracts a dedicated, focused team of knowledgable experts who take pride in their craftsmanship.
How do you budget a custom home build?
We find that the sooner we are brought into a project, the better we can keep costs down based on decisions made early on in the design process. Having built many homes in North Vancouver and West Vancouver, we fully understand each of the municipality’s codes, permit process, solutions to manage the technical terrain in the region, and have first-hand knowledge of underground and natural obstacles that can delay a home build.
As we begin to put an estimate together for a client, the objective is to conceptualize the project to help the client put together a high-level estimate based on their wants, needs and wishes. There are land surveys, structural engineers and various sub-trades that get brought in throughout the job when required, all managed by your Project Manager and Site Supervisor on your behalf.
As the conversation evolves, we see the overall design, budget formation, environment and permit costs that lead to a target estimate. Decisions are made for finishings, and these costs are tied to the homeowner’s preferences and your specific material selections. Most people underestimate the cost of design materials and finishing, so it’s best to fully design your space, including selecting your materials to budget your home build accurately. This advice holds if you are building a three million dollar home or twenty million dollars home. No one likes an unintended surprise towards the end of their project that derails their budget.
Once the budget is approved and the project, the Project Manager leads the team in collaboration with the Architect and Designer to ensure the timeline and budget are followed. As items come up, which they inevitably do, the Project Manager works with you to navigate these items, such as unexpected land obstacles or delays in getting materials due to a Global Pandemic. Relying on experience in resolving technical terrain issues or sourcing from multiple vendors, the Project Manager is your liaison in the process from start to finish. It represents your voice in all key matters involving you as key decisions need to be made.
At the end of the day, the experience of a custom home build comes down to how the homeowner feels about their investment, time and energy on the project.
Upward Construction under the watchful eye of Michael and Geoff built our dream house which we moved into about a year ago. The Upward Team built a high quality house for our family. During the construction Upward was very timely in responding to any concerns we may have had, communication lines were always open and issues were addressed quickly. The Upward Team was extremely professional, responsive and courteous. We even got feedback from neighbors regarding Upward Construction stating how impressed were with the professionalism, thoughtfulness and keeping them aware of the goings on of the project.
Having monthly face to face meetings were very useful. It is worth noting that Upward Construction never takes a short cut in building houses, they are all about quality and great workmanship. This certainly is very evident in the final finished product. We are really enjoying our new home and would like to thank Michael and the rest of the Upward Team for their efforts, diligence and all the hard work they put into building our home.
Kumel & Sultan Thiara
The Process
The Upward Way is our 5-stage process to track the budget along the way so the homeowner remains in control making decisions at key intervals to stay on track for the completion of the project:
- Dream It – Conceptualize your new home build, talk about your needs, wants and desires which leads you to a high-level estimate
- Approve It – Design, budget, site environment and permits lead to a target estimate
- Select It – Final selection of interior finishings and fixtures which leads to a construction estimate
- Build It – Construction begins with a final tracking budget that may have additions based on the execution of the plan
- Move-In – Enjoy your new home!
The focus of our process is communication and guidance through a very complex process.
Learn more about custom home builds we’ve worked on and the story of the builds in Custom Homes. If you are just starting your project for your custom home you may enjoy our article on How Design Helps Your Project Success.
Feel free to contact us at any time to discuss your plans or ideas for a custom home, we would be happy to meet with you.
