Custom Home Resources

The view sold you the lot. The grade came with it. Start with what most people get wrong in both directions. In Nanaimo a one or two unit custom home is exempt from the steep slope development permit. That exemption is from that one permit and not from the slope. The grade still brings retaining…

Where you build in Nanaimo decides more about the project than almost any other early choice, because the lot sets most of the site cost and a fair amount of the design. There is no single best answer to where to build a custom home in Nanaimo: the right area depends on the lot you…

The house does not change when you cross the line. Building outside Nanaimo city limits does not put you under a different building code, because the BC Building Code is provincial and does not care where a boundary runs. What changes is the list of organizations whose sign-off the house needs, and that changes who…

In Nanaimo you can take out up to four ordinary trees from your own property in a calendar year without a permit. The word doing the work there is “ordinary”. The allowance never reaches a protected tree or a significant tree, and it disappears the moment you apply to subdivide or for a development permit.…

A teardown rebuild in Nanaimo means demolishing the older house on your lot and building a new custom home in its place, which is really two regulated jobs stacked back to back on one piece of land: a controlled, permitted demolition, and then a full new-home build. The land you are working with usually already…

Yes, a custom home build needs a property survey, and on Central Vancouver Island how hard a requirement it is depends on which authority issues your building permit. Inside Nanaimo one rule applies, in the Regional District of Nanaimo another, and on Salt Spring another again. The stakes are the same everywhere. If a building…

Fixed-price contracts are usually the better fit when you want cost certainty, lender-friendly scope, and fewer budget surprises. Cost-plus contracts can make sense when the design is still evolving and you accept more variability. The safest choice is the contract that matches your scope clarity and risk tolerance, so review the details with a custom…

A $1.5M custom home quote in BC should not be a single mystery number. It should show what is included across design coordination, site preparation, foundation, structure, envelope, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, finishes, exterior work, permits, warranty, overhead, profit, allowances, exclusions, and taxes. If you are comparing numbers, it helps to review the scope alongside a…

If your lower level is going to be finished, heated, and actually lived in, an ICF foundation is worth a serious look, because it builds insulation and a solid concrete wall into one system from day one. It is not the right call for every home, though. Whether it pays off really comes down to…

There is no single water setback that applies to every Vancouver Island custom home. A waterfront, creekside, lakeside, wetland-adjacent, or ravine lot may need to satisfy local zoning, environmental development permit areas, BC’s Riparian Areas Protection Regulation, flood construction levels, sea level rise rules, and site-specific professional reports before the buildable area is clear. If…