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.
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.