Plan your project before construction

Photo Paul McGrath, North Shore News

It's essential for individuals wishing to undertake a renovation or new construction to anticipate and understand the challenges of construction.

Be it a modest renovation or new multi-million-dollar home, individuals will be faced with similar obstacles as they undertake a building project.

In this article I will discuss the most common questions and challenges individuals face.

You may have grand aspirations to build an extraordinary West Coast contemporary style home or maybe you just want to renovate your breakfast nook; regardless, the first thing you'll need to address is your site. As I discussed in my last column, the unique characteristics of a property will inform planning decisions from the get-go and should really be seen more as opportunity than a challenge.

An analysis of the zoning bylaws that pertain to your piece of land is the first step. Setbacks, easements and special requirements are different for every municipality and must be understood before setting pencil to paper. Once you know what you can't do, the next move is to figure out what you can do to best utilize the qualities that your site has to offer. All too often we are confronted with homes that have been built from stock plans that have no relation to their property, with sundrenched windowless walls facing magnificent views or wonderful, inviting gardens with little or no access from a living space within. The placement of your house in the landscape and organizing your plan around sun exposure, views and access to the garden are all critical decisions in the design process and will ultimately help generate a suitable layout for your site.

The question of whether to renovate or build new is another essential point that needs to be answered at the beginning of the process. Comments like "only moving a few walls" or "just pop on another floor" make designers and architects cringe as they recognize immediately what this can entail. Moving a wall actually requires tearing down the existing one, moving and relocating any plumbing and electrical housed within it, refinishing the floors and ceiling that have been disrupted by moving it and then the rebuilding a new wall somewhere else. Moving said wall may entail structural considerations too, potentially reverberating throughout the building structure and resulting in significant costs.

The addition of a new floor to a house is a substantial undertaking that requires structural reinforcement of walls, openings and foundations throughout the existing house making what, on the surface, might seem like an isolated intervention to be, in fact, a profoundly involved one. It is critical to understand from the start of your project that extensive renovations are often more costly than new construction.

There are several strategies in renovation work that we follow in order to maximize a modest budget, recognizing that certain compromises are essential to reach this goal.

The designer needs to critically analyze a residence and identify the major problems pertaining to circulation, function and form and then set about trying to rectify those trouble spots with as little major intervention as possible.

For projects with a significant amount of remodelling, it's often best to contain the renovation work to a specific area of the house. The ideal scenario is the construction of an addition completely independent of the existing structure that works on a number of floor levels. This scenario minimizes intervention to the existing home and often allows residents to remain insitu during construction.

For smaller jobs, simple solutions like opening up a kitchen to a living space can be a cost-effective measure that has a positive effect on the whole house. Even simple ideas like a new colour of paint can transform a gloomy space into an upbeat one. Successful solutions can still be attained even when funds are low.

But that said, the unrealistic budget is one of the most common challenges for the intrepid homeowner.

Individuals routinely embark on building projects without an adequate cost analysis and find themselves sinking in a financial quagmire. It's essential to plan your project adequately before you start construction and to put aside a contingency fund just in case. (I often suggest upwards of 25 per cent of anticipated building cost be tucked away as contingency.)

When it comes time to looking for a builder, the magic word is patience. It's a far better choice to wait for a good one than to go with the unknown. Good referrals and a strong track record are key things I look for when referring a client to a contractor.

The competent builder is someone who makes a job run smoothly, understands the entire construction process and won't incur extra costs or time delays through poor scheduling or inexperience. Individuals wishing to renovate or build new should do their planning homework before construction starts and resolve as many issues as possible with an eraser rather than a crow bar.