Residential Design

From the basic Garage Addition to a carefuly detailled 6000+ sqft Residential Estate and out buildings. I will quote each client a fixed or hourly fee depending upon their project requirements. Residential design requires me to understand how you will live in the house, from how you live in your present home to what you want to accomplish in the new home. Sometimes clients confide in me with some surprising stories. I need to know how each member of the family lives . Sometimes parents are afraid to let their children make suggestions or requests - fearing they will either be let down from high expectations or else just fill my head with too many requests. I actually don't mind as sometimes I can fit a child's favorite feature in as a solution to other design relationship problems. Mostly though I find myself negotiating compromises between the spouses ! Often most difficult part of job! In fact it taught me alot about compromising when it came to be my turn ! Within just 2 yrs of knowing my wife we survived a renovation in one house and have built our new home !!

Onsite Inspection of Work in Progress

I will when requested by the client make stops to check on the job at specific times. Often the client is out of town for a period of time or just wishes some checks at critical steps. Most though I find have a hand in the construction and have strong enough opinions about what they want that they do the majority of the dealing with tradespeople. I will of course often drop by just to see how its going, ( thats when I've taken the majority of my site photos on these pages ! ). I enjoy these stops because it gives me the time to get honest feedback on how the trades like my plans, suggested improvements, and the rationale behind changes a client has made.

Steel Frame Construction

I have had clients contemplating light guage steel framing in the past. I am a big fan of this method of construction. it is straighter, faster, and but not yet cheaper than conventional wood frame, at least as far as Vancouver Island is concerned. More trades need to become comfortable with it for it to become more mainstream in this part of the country. I have attended any and all manufacturer sponsored seminars on the subject and can work with any steel contactor, one of which I have knowledge of is Trend Construction.

Non Residential Design

I am only able legally to design buildings up to a certain size as described in the Architects Act. And that is about as large as I wish to do. I am experienced in everything from small townhouse projects (4 units) to larger ones (12 units); small apartments (8 units - 16 units) as a liason with an architect; small commercial (5000 sq ft strip mall)& small warehouses (2600 sq ft - 4400 sq ft)using structural engineer. I enjoy these as there is more contact with municipal officials, other jurisdictions, more than one client(person) and the technical design relationships always have something new. Most of these projects require an approval process before bulding permit and I am always happy to explain the benefits of a project to anyone, often ratepayers groups, design panels, planning & zoning committees, neighbors, local councils and the like !

Rezoning Applications

Rezonings involve the changing use of a property. It might be a conversion of a heritage house to commercial use or the conversion of some single family lots into a townhouse project. These are almost always contentious as neighbours, by nature, oppose most changes. It is necessary for me to try and find a middle ground where the clients meet their financial objectives and personal objectives with out treading all over the neighbour's concerns. THIS CAN BE DONE. If consultation is done early in the design process (first?) then most problems can be circumvented. Yes, sometimes there is just no way to make everyone happy. If the client is doing his duty and following the local community plan then you have to just put your best argument for the project and try to encourage the council to approve a project that might be not what local residents want (for no other reason than no change), but what is good and desired by the community overall. I have to be the presenter and recipient of alot of the neighbors critisism, like it or not.

Development (Variance) Permits

A process much like a rezoning where an existing building existed but doesn't conform to all bylaws and must be "legalized" before work is done. Other times it is just more control on the building details of a proposed building and landscaping in a rezoning.