The federal housing agency just opened a public database of approved home designs. Supposedly it’s to “cut red tape” and make affordable builds faster. Are they worth the price tag? The cost estimate for Accessory Dwelling Unit 01 in Ontario is 250k for 634 sq. ft.
Some thoughts on these:
The “oversized triangle cantilevered over a smaller box” minimalist modern look can be cool, and I do like some of the smaller, proportional designs. The way that design language scales to the larger four and six plex units looks kinda silly. Too focused on a cohesive design language across all the designs, even when it doesn’t suit.
Why no overhangs? Canada has weather. Overhangs shade our windows, keeps rain off the walls, provide soffits that vent our roof assemblies. Unvented roofs are expensive to detail well and generally don’t perform as well. Going to look a lot less sleek and minimal when you slap some cheap aluminum eavestroughs on there, or was that omitted deliberately to turn all the rain cascading down the walls into a water feature?
These are supposed to be affordable homes. I dig the attempt at a clean Scandinavian aesthetic. Looks really good with hidden gutter details, heat treated wood siding or shou sugi ban or something, with nice metal tilt and turn glazing. Something tells me that won’t translate well to being slapped together as a budget friendly, beige and off white Hardie clad, white vinyl casement, giant upvote arrow of a house.
This is great, more of this, and more non-accessory buildings.
The post war houses built to support the soldiers and baby boom were sufficient for families, and I think they stood the test of time despite their aging.
Ya, some small/moderately sized single dwellings would be good. I get that part of the goal is densification and the existing plans support that well, but I think there’s room for more compact single family dwellings designed for smaller lots. Maybe even something that’s designed with the idea of future additions where a person can get a starter home built, and add on as their family grows.
I paid 235k for about 600 sqft + unfinished basement. That did include a 1/2 acre lot. The house is about 70 years old and needs extensive foundation/basement work plus the usual renos like floors etc. It is also lacking some modern features like A/C, indoor air exchange, and better insulation all around.
Not sure how much that compares to the new builds and what features are included new. If the new homes include good insulation, efficient appliances like heat pumps etc, then id say the new homes are competitive in our market depending on where you pick your lot. Not necessarily affordable, but for what you’re paying you’re hopefully getting a better quality and energy effeciency than existing homes of a similar size.
FWIW the federal government does offer some incentives for you to re-insulate your home, change your windows and install a heat pump. Whether they’re applicable to your property and worthwhile in your situation is a different story.
Is that still a thing? I know the greener homes grant is ending and not taking new applications. Presumably something else will be implemented in the not too distant future. I will say that depending on the project the grant is a relatively small benefit. We used it for windows, and it covered something like 25% of the cost, but it also meant we had to pay for everything up front and get the rebate back months later. That’s not affordable for a lot of people. The home loan program helps a lot with that but wasn’t available until after we closed our grant.
Yes I’ve been looking into some of that. Since i have a high efficiency furnace im ineligible for a heat pump as far as im aware. As for the insulation i was hoping to use that support once the basement is repaired as it is completely uninsulated. I did a rough manual j calculation and by far the basement is the biggest loss for heat. Idk how accurate it was as i had to guess the r values of my existing insulation.
The cost estimate for Accessory Dwelling Unit 01 in Ontario is 250k
Huh. Based on estimates I happened to see 20 years ago you could’ve built three rather nice houses each one twice that size for less money then. Maybe the rate of inflation has been a wee bit under-reported over the years?
Ya, 20 years ago you could buy a SFH for 150k.Just slightly different now.
WTF it’s like a big insulated shed, with some plumbing/power in it. Someone should sell them in kit for like 50k
100 years ago a family of 8 would be raised out of a house that size. Smaller houses are also cheaper to heat/cool. Sure some people or families need more space, but a small house is far better than being homeless.
