Important Considerations

Being a custom home builder is an exciting and rewarding experience, but it also comes with some challenges. An important factor to consider when choosing a lot for your dream home is the geotechnical condition of the site. Different geographic areas have different soil types, groundwater levels, seismic hazards, and other factors that can affect the stability and safety of your foundation and structure. Some of these challenges might only be apparent once you start digging, and they can cause delays, extra costs, and design changes. That’s why it’s important to know what to expect when building in different regions, and how to prepare for potential geotechnical issues. In this blog post, we will dive into the nuances of a custom build on different sites. Below, we will explore some of the common geotechnical challenges that you might encounter in various parts of British Columbia, and how to overcome them.

Site Development in Winter

Debris Clean-Up of Older Homes

High Elevation Areas

Site Landscaping for Water Management

Landscaping is not only a matter of aesthetics but also a key factor in your site’s water management. How you arrange the plants, soil, and mulch around your house can significantly impact how the water flows and drains. You want to create a balance between the bedding areas and the drainage areas so that the water is distributed evenly and does not accumulate near your foundation. Adequate drainage is important for the long-term integrity of your custom high-performing home.

Conclusion

Sources:

1. BC Housing. Housing Foundations and Geotechnical Challenges. https://www.bchousing.org/publications/Housing-Foundations-Geotechnical-Challenges.pdf

As we look forward to the new year, it’s the perfect time to reflect on the remarkable projects that we’ve undertaken in 2023. From custom execute homes to multifamily residential projects, our team has been lucky to work on projects in the heart of the Okanagan and Revelstoke. Join us as we reminisce on our projects in review for 2023 and look forward to the future of construction for 2024 and beyond.

Hemlock Developments: Expanding into Revelstoke

Houses on Westside: Blending Rustic Charm with Modern Design

Purpose-Built Multi-Family Complex in Seaton

In response to the increasing rental challenges in Vernon, we at Brentwell have gotten our building permit and started our build on an exciting purpose-built rental project in the Seaton area. This in-fill project in review, located in a revitalization tax incentive zone, showcased our commitment to providing quality rental housing. With a new 5-unit apartment building, this project offers an excellent solution for those seeking rental properties. As the BC government tightened short-term rental laws, we’ve adapted by adding suites for one-site short-term renters, ensuring compliance with the new regulations while maximizing rental opportunities.

Design Trends for 2024

Designing For Tomorrow

As we bid farewell to 2023, we anticipate the design challenges and insights that the new year will bring. As we reflect on the opportunities, we are grateful for the projects, team and community that has supported us through another year. We remain committed to building with integrity and delivering projects that not only reflect our clients’ visions but also incorporate the latest home design trends and innovative solutions. With a focus on functionality, timeless appeal, and meeting the needs of the ever-changing housing market, we welcome 2024 and look forward to another remarkable year!

It’s that time of year again, a marathon of cooking and entertaining until New Year’s. Are you ready? It’s the time of year when your home and kitchen get a real workout. Preparing dinners for more people than usual, baking pies, frosting sugar cookies, and entertaining friends and family puts your home to the test.

The holidays are a time for gathering, a time to share your home with family and friends BUT hosting can be a challenge for those who have limited space and find it difficult to accommodate larger groups. When deciding how to plan for gatherings and celebrations over the holidays, your most lived-in areas, such as your kitchen, living room, and bedrooms should be considered as multi-use spaces.

Holidays are the perfect time to evaluate your space and your needs while entertaining with family and friends, and here at Brentwell, we see this as a wonderful opportunity to contemplate the design of your dream home. 

Here are some of our thoughts on planning for gatherings and celebrations in your home during the holiday season.

Make more room, for more living(room).

Many homes constructed prior to the 1980s feature clearly divided rooms which can be a challenge for entertaining larger families. The key is to be creative and flexible with the space you have. Use a mix of seating options to ensure optimal use of available space. Arrange furniture strategically such as different groupings of chairs, benches, and floor cushions to provide flexibility and create more casual conversation areas. This will give your space a sense of openness. 

An open-concept home, on the other hand, will combine the primary areas, living room to kitchen, creating one main “living” space that feels spacious and inviting. This gives you the ability to entertain your guests and join in the conversation, while still cooking a masterpiece. With this design, having a focal point, such as a feature wall, built-in cabinets or even a designated TV/entertainment zone will create a comfortable gathering area, perfect for the holidays!

A home office with a twist.

Embrace the festive season. 

In the tapestry of holiday hosting, our most lived-in spaces become vibrant threads weaving warmth and cherished memories. By transforming kitchens, living areas, and even home offices, we elevate hosting to an extraordinary experience. As we embrace the festive journey, may our homes stand as a testament to togetherness and the timeless joy of holiday celebrations. Cheers to creating magical moments within the comfort of our most cherished spaces!

Working with the experts at Brentwell.

Planning for your dream home

If you’ve always had the dream of escaping to the mountains to build your forever home, or your perfect winter holiday getaway, there’s never a bad time to start planning.

Escape seasonally or year round

Perhaps you love the outdoors, but the idea of living out in the wilderness for more than just a weekend sounds pretty isolating. If this is the case, maybe having a seasonal place as part of a communal purpose built rental is the best way to stay connected with other outdoor enthusiasts and invest in a sought-after vacation hub.

Interior feel

When people think of a home’s “style”, the exterior facade often comes to mind. When you spend most of your time inside, especially during long, cold winters, you want your home to be the ultimate comfort haven to escape the brutality of winter. This is why Scandinavian-style interiors have become extremely popular in the past few years. With their warm tones, lots of natural light and open space, as well as lots of plush textiles like furs and tapestries, the interior feel is meant to provide ultimate comfort and be very minimalist.

Houses built for adventure living

Even if you’re hoping to build a seasonal retreat or a full-time retirement pad, consider how you’ll be spending most of your days. Maybe you’ll be entertaining family and friends every weekend and want a place that accommodates the whole crew but also gives everyone enough privacy without feeling overburdened.

There are ways to accommodate this without JUST adding costly extra square footage, such as using lower ceilings and lots of natural light to make it feel comfortable without being too claustrophobic. Or perhaps your pad will be a space for kicking your feet up after adventuring outdoors all day. If that’s the case you might need designated dry and wet zones, as well as lots of storage areas for drying and storing snow/dirt-covered gear.

Things to consider

Some other things to consider may include thinking about how your place sits on a steep site, having spaces meet the right balance of comfort and privacy, as well as using high-performance systems for extreme weather conditions.

Siting the building in high-elevation areas is extremely important. Other than the natural forces of gravity, high-elevation areas often get more extreme temperatures and weather patterns than other areas. Most importantly, they deal with high precipitation which means the building envelope and roof must accommodate for heavy snow loads. This is why many ski chalets and mountain huts have that classic pitched roof, as they need this steep slope for snow and water runoff. Roof styles like flat  and “butterfly” are often avoided for this reason, as they can often lead to excessive build up.

While living in mountainous regions comes with its own set of unique considerations, working with a custom builder means that we’ll work around whatever challenges come your way to make the project truly your own. Building in places with quickly changing weather conditions and high-temperature differentials, we aim to look to use passive design features and high-performance materials as much as possible to leave you with the assurance that your place is built to last. We’ll help turn your dream custom home into a reality, no matter how steep the challenge.

Filling In The Unknowns

Taking the initial leap to start on such a huge investment with a new custom home builder can seem like a huge risk. Custom homes are more than just an investment in your future, but they’re an expression of your lifestyle and personality. It can be challenging to open up to the idea of letting a builder guide you through this process.

Working With A Multi-Faceted Team

Many homebuilders solely work as contractors, and rely on working from job to job on the construction side of things. From our experience, this disconnects the design from the build process. Having an office as our home base, allows for us to have a collaborative meeting space and a place for us to come back to the drawing board when things change. Our diverse team allows for ease on the client side to project manage and coordinate all of the permitting and construction process, so you know you’re working with the best team and suppliers for your particular project. We’ve worked with numerous suppliers over the years and can provide realistic estimates and do all the heavy lifting of sourcing materials within your budget and taste.

Our Collaborative Process

The most exciting part of our job is helping our clients bring a dream to a reality. We’ll work closely with you and your family through initial sketch concepts and help turn them into a reality with our well-versed project management and construction team. Our team loves pushing the boundaries of what’s possible and are always looking for new opportunities to make each project truly unique. 

Okanagan Building Experience

We’ve been working in the Okanagan for over a decade, and have vast experience with local building code regulations. We’re also familiar with geographic and climate differences even just in the Northern Okanagan and surrounding areas of Vernon. We’re weary of differences in precipitation between lower valley regions along with mountain-side areas, and how these affect foundation building and roof loads when it comes to snow build up. 

Everyone wants those uninterrupted lake views, but often forget that building lakeside comes with its own degree of challenges. Even lakeside properties require a different degree of understanding of geographic needs. Typically they have to follow certain shoreline regulations to keep safe distances from flood levels and to ensure properties are secured to enough bedrock. The earlier you’re able to engage a builder in your property purchasing and homebuilding process, the earlier we’ll be able to work through the kinks to make your dream a reality.

Assurance Until The Final Key Handover

Where To Start?

For many of our clients, weighing out paint colours can be one of the most difficult decisions. After going through the process of designing a home from a blank canvas, coming down to the final details of choosing a colour scheme for the interior of a home can seem consuming.

From everything from pearl white to cameo to eggshell to antique white, It can be easy to feel consumed with choice paralysis, especially when colour variations are endless. You might just end up opting to go with a very neutral scheme, either with white or grey hues. For some with more eclectic furniture tastes, this might work well, but we always like to suggest that clients test out colours before shutting them down altogether. Colour can offer that extra personal touch to a home that you may not even realize you were missing.

Creating The Desired Ambiance

We never like to put our clients’ homes in a box. In the same way that we’re adverse to stereotyping or making generalizations about people when we can. Often, relating someone’s preferred design “style” to a historical trend or style can help us communicate and achieve the unique feel of someone’s personal taste. And typically this is some sort of frankensteining of ideas or influences – come together under the same roof!

While your custom home might have a mix of both modern farmhouse but also reflects your spanish-colonial or scottish-tudor roots, you want the overall atmosphere and colour scheme of the hour to feel cohesive and like your own space. Some questions you might want to ask yourself include: 

• What colours speak to the desire feel of the space?
• What types of environments make you feel comforted?

Colour Psychology And Mood

Aligning It With Your Custom Design

When it comes to actually testing and choosing colours, we’d recommend bringing in many paint samples and testing them in various rooms. Try wall tests, and leave them up for a few sleeps at least to solidify any weighted decisions. It’s also important to think about how they might pair with your furniture, and how the lighting can change the way the colour is seen! 

Lastly we’d say have your whole family or all your house occupants have a say in what colours might be chosen. Choosing colours can be very subjective, and while it might be difficult to fully align everyone’s views on preferred choices, coming to a collective decision can make a home feel like it’s that much more personalized.

Get Started Today!

Sources:

1. Shen, Xiaoying. Yang, Jicheng. (Aug, 2022). The application of colour psychology in community health environment design. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9436572/
2. Robinson, Jefferson. (Feb, 2017). Colour semiotics and what they mean in other cultures. https://buzzwordcreative.co.uk/colour-semiotics-and-what-they-mean-in-other-cultures/#:~:text=In%20many%20cultures%2C%20black%20symbolizes,age%2C%20maturity%2C%20and%20masculinity.

What Is A Multi-Family Development?

Need For Neighbourhood Diversity

In growing Okanagan regions, there’s a need for more diverse housing options to deal with the population growth and affordability issues these areas are currently experiencing. According to the most recent regional housing strategy in the North Okanagan, there is a projected need within the next three years for more diverse housing in Vernon. It indicates a need for half of the new builds to be either two-bedroom or small ranchers, one quarter in studios, and the remaining quarter in 3-plus bedrooms.¹ In growing cities such as Vernon or Kelowna, the challenge is that many are afraid of losing the character or “charm” of their local neighbourhoods. Multi-family or multi-generational in-fill developments could potentially be the solution for this, offering cities more housing diversity without building in an intrusive way.

The Missing Middle Or “Little”

Building Community

As local custom home builders in the Okanagan, we’re mostly excited about the potential that multi-family developments have to build community here. Through including a variety of unit types within the same development, this can allow for a more mixed demographic, reducing the amount of gentrification and allowing for more opportunities for affordable housing. 

Multi-family developments also encourage the sharing of amenities between neighbourhood units. This could include anything from shared laundry, to community kitchens and gardens, to shared gear storage. It also potentially opens up the sharing of certain amenities such as parks, daycare or coworking spaces to the surrounding neighbourhood. 

Multi-Generational Housing

Although outside the realm of multi-family developments, multi-generational living is also a housing alternative that could make low-rise neighbourhoods more liveable. While every family is multi-generational, every household is not necessarily. These types of living arrangements typically mean that there are more than two generations of the same family living under the same roof.

Since Covid lockdowns, it’s estimated that more than ever Canadian families are living under the same roof as other immediate family members.³ For many immigrant and working class families, this has been a common arrangement for generations, either out of necessity or socioeconomic circumstances. It’s clear that there’s been a shift where people have wanted to be closer to family than ever. 

Busting Myths About Multi-Family Living

Sources:

1. Regional District North Okanagan. (Dec, 2021). North Okanagan Regional Housing Strategy. https://www.rdno.ca/sites/default/files/2022-02/December_2021_Regional_Housing_Strategy.pdf
2. Cardicelli, Terra. Mazzeo, Terra. (2021). Elevating Low-Rise Development, it’s a Swell Idea https://www.stantec.com/en/ideas/topic/cities/elevating-low-rise-development-its-a-swell-idea
3. Battams, Nathan. (July, 2022) Sharing a Roof. https://vanierinstitute.ca/sharing-a-roof-multigenerational-homes-in-canada-2021-census-update/

Living Big in a Tiny Home

Tiny homes aren’t necessarily a new idea, people have been living in close quarters since the beginnings of permanent settlements, either out of necessity or to compliment a nomadic lifestyle. Whether you’re someone who is looking to downsize and live a more minimalist or nomadic life, a tiny home might be the option for you. 

In this blog we hope to investigate the pros and cons of what it’s actually like to live in a small space, hearing from tiny home residents, and debunking some of the myths of what it’s actually like to downsize your space to the bare minimum.

“You’re Always Together”

Many people often romanticize the idea of downsizing and don’t consider the lifestyle adjustment it takes to be able to comfortably live with less. One woman reminisces on the hardships of constantly being in close quarters with your partner in a tiny home. 

In this short article on tiny living¹, this Alberta-resident talks about the adjustment period that it took to adjust to sync up living habits with her husband and figuring out how to endure Alberta winters together in such a small space. Her takeaway from those years was that it was a good testament for their marriage, and she would recommend having the experience of living together in close quarters for young couples or other newly weds, but not necessarily as a long term solution.

“There were fights and some uncomfortable things, but when I look back at the things that were a little bit of struggle, those are the moments I remember.”

Is It Really Custom?

The Best Homes Are Built On Good Foundations

As custom home builders, we love the challenge of taking on a new project and better understanding how our clients live. We also love challenging the status quo. If we’ve learned anything, it’s that there is no one-size-fits-all solution to home building, which is why we do what we do. 

While the current trends of tiny homes are well-intentioned, they may not be the be-all solution for long-term living. What we appreciate about tiny homes is their consideration of every square inch of space. Which is why we often look to tiny homes for design inspiration for custom builds, rather than limiting space and lifestyle needs to a compact module. 

Work with us today!

Related topics you may enjoy

• Custom Home Additional Dwelling Units
• Custom Home Predictions For 2023
• Custom Home vs. Spec Home
• Homes of the Future: High-Performance Structures

Sources:

1. Unknown. (2023). “You’re always together”: Alberta woman’s takeaways from 5 years of tiny living. https://tinyhomesincanada.ca/youre-always-together-alberta-womans-takeaways-from-5-years-of-tiny-living/

2. Lockhart, Megan. (2021). From 3000 sq ft to 400: how our family’s entire life changed and is still changing by going tiny full-time. https://tinyhomesincanada.ca/from-3000-sq-ft-to-400-how-our-familys-entire-life-changed-and-is-still-changing-by-going-tiny-full-time/

3. BC Homes Research Centre. (2023) Tiny Homes: Alternative to Conventional Housing. https://www.bchousing.org/publications/Tiny-Homes-Alternative-to-Conventional-Housing.pdf

Additional Dwelling Units (ADUs)

Spring in the Okanagan is finally in our foresight! Over the past few months of winter you’ve likely been scheming up your next big yard or housing project. Perhaps you know exactly what you want, but aren’t sure exactly where to start.

You might be unsure about the necessary permit needs, or perhaps you just want to narrow down your options to figure out the most economical solution for your growing family. In this blog we’ll outline a handful of different additions that can compliment your property, without blowing your budget. These various styles of additional dwelling units are aimed at helping you hone in on some of the benefits and potential drawbacks of new builds. 

Additional dwelling units (or ADUs) are a type of independent living space that are fully self-contained. They often include their own kitchens, bathrooms, as well as sleeping areas. Secondary suites aren’t a new concept, however many code regulations in BC have been slow to adapt to changing zoning requirements to accommodate for a greater diversity of housing options. The primary types of suite types include secondary suites, garden suites, laneway houses, and tiny homes.

Garden Suites

Laneway Homes

Tiny Homes

Custom Needs for your Family

ADUs have proven to be a great investment no matter the style you choose. With fluctuating market prices and inflation, choosing to re-invest in your own property might be the perfect solution for your growing or aging family. They also benefit the community by providing more affordable renting options for students and young professionals alike.

As custom home builders, we never compromise quality for size. Our aim is to work through all the specific details early in the design process, to help you figure out what sort of custom solution is going to be the most long-standing for your needs. We collaborate with you from conception to permitting and full completion, walking you through all the added zoning and step code requirements. Get started on your addition today with Brentwell!

Work with us today!

Related topics you may enjoy

• Homes Built For Entertaining
• Custom Home Predictions For 2023
• Custom Home vs. Spec Home
• Homes of the Future: High-Performance Structures

Choosing A Style?

When thinking about your dream home, I’m sure immediate images of certain styles of “traditional” homes come to mind. If you grew up in the Irish countryside, maybe a Tudor-style farmhouse perked in the rolling hills comes to mind. Or if you grew up on the outskirts of a major city like Vancouver or Calgary, where revival Victorian styles were popular during post-war suburban booms, then maybe wrap-around porches and ornamental trim come to mind. 

People are often drawn to styles that are familiar to them or have a personal connection to in some shape or form. While choosing a style might be a useful place to start, it’s important to understand the “how” and “why” behind these styles, before choosing to completely replicate them! 

Arts & Crafts Style

Spanish Colonial-Style

Balance Between Contemporary & Traditional

When building a new custom home, most designs ideally lie somewhere between the contemporary and traditional. Fully recreating a traditional style for the sake of nostalgia or to “fit in” with the neighbourhood can feel a little kitsch, especially when uses for certain materials and elements like decorative columns aren’t practical. But at the same time, contemporary styles shouldn’t feel too bleak or sterile, lacking the character and detail that traditional homes often seem to have. As custom home designers and builders, we hope to help you find your happy medium, reaching a style that feels both timeless and unique to you! 

Work with us today!

Related topics you may enjoy

• Homes Built For Entertaining
• Custom Home Predictions For 2023
• Custom Home vs. Spec Home
• Homes of the Future: High-Performance Structures