What Would The Neighbours Think?

I wonder if we could build a house like this one? Sustainable and 100% DIY.



If it doesn't totally fit the neighbourhood, we could buy a couple of concrete lions to display out front.

Those lions are so ugly that no one would even look at the house. Instead they would see the lions, their eyes would cartoonishly pop out of their heads, then they'd run screaming.

On the topic of building variances

Still not sure if I'm using the term correctly, but...

Yesterday Rob, Milo, and I went to the park right across the street -- one of the main reasons why we're so desperate to stay in this neighbourhood, if possible -- and met up with one of the local moms and her little boy who we've seen at the park many times before.

While I was chasing Milo from one edge of the park to the other, Rob and this other mom struck up a conversation which somehow led to him mentioning that we were exploring the idea of building a duplex on our lot (provided we could get our landlord to sell it to us for a decent price) -- but that we'd need to get a building variance to allow us to build a larger dwelling than we're currently zoned for.

Well. Turns out that her husband is the development planner for this exact neighbourhood. In other words, he's precisely the person we need to talk to in order to get our building plan approved.

And according to his wife, he's probably going to be very amenable to our ideas. She says his new boss is very "rule-bendy."

Huzzah, huzzah!

You know, it's serendipitous encounters like this that make me think doing the right thing.

Fingers crossed, everyone...

In the zone

The one for two-family residences, that is. So rest assured on that front.

Here's a link to our zoning info: http://vancouver.ca/commsvcs/BYLAWS/zoning/rt-4&4n.pdf

We're in the "RT-4" zone. Close to R2-D2, but without all the whistles and clicks.

The tricky thing is going to be talking City Council into giving us a building variance of 75%.

Not sure if I used the terminology right -- basically, right now our zone (RT-4) allows us to build a dwelling that's 60 some-odd percent of the lot size, 2 1/2 stories max. But that'll give us a duplex that's about 2150 sq feet. That's way too small for our needs, I think.

Still, there's no harm in being prepared. That's why I went and bought a couple of books this weekend on the topic of efficient modern home design. One's on houses in Asia and the other is "500 Ideas for Small Spaces." I'm keen to choose a plan that makes maximum use of the space available, no matter how much space there ends up being.

Here's one good thing to know: Apparently our outdoor patios, decks, rooftop gardens, and garages don't count toward that area, either. Together all of it can't go over a certain amount, but it looks like we'll have a little more space available to us than I originally thought.

So we've got that going for us, at least.

Of course, this whole plan hinges on our landlord following through on his offer to sell us our rental property. It's something he's mentioned several times. But now that we're interested, will he sell it to us at the price he offered us once before?

Please say yes, please say yes...

I just called my landlord

Yup, I phoned him. But he wasn't home.

However, I did talk to his wife, Wanda, and told her that we want to buy the house we're currently renting. And I told her we just got approved for a mortgage. And I told her that we really, really want to buy it.

Did I say too much? Give away my hand? I'd just like to let the rest of you know that I'm not a good negotiator.

Anyway, Wanda said we should get together, have some tea, and talk about it.

I'm going to look at pictures and plans for modular housing, sustainable home design, prefab and steel frame construction, and houses made from shipping containers. What do you guys think about living in old shipping containers?

Zoning Issues

My blog adds will not be near as verbose as the MA educated contributors making my reads a little more dull. However I will give sound entries pertinent to the task at hand.

Can anyone tell me if the potential "lot" has been zoned for a duplex? One of Eric's co-worker's husband is an architect and he says if it has not be zone for a duplex already there is a snow ball chance in hell that we could get it rezoned.

He also had some other very interesting insights about building and maybe the four of us could sit down with him to talk with him? Of course what will end up happening is 2 of each team with be talking with him and the other half will be chasing the boys.

Are you excited?

Those very words dropped from my delightful wife's mouth the other day.

"Excited about...?"
"The possibility of jointly owning/building a duplex?"
"Yeah, very excited about that. Not so much about the [expletive deleted] amount of work that lies ahead."

It's hard enough moving into a new abode. The packing, unpacking, painting, cleaning, culling and keeping your toddler away from the dangerous implements of moving; box-cutter, shrink-wrap, ice-pick, hatchet and chainsaw (maybe this is way our stuff always gets damaged, I've got to pack differently!). Add to that the complexity and run-around of buying a house and you can see why my enthusiasm is tempered.

Now fold in the uber-complex process of building a duplex from the ground-up; gawd, I'm surprised I have soiled myself.

Deep down I'm very excited about this. I have visions of our ground breaking party, clinking glasses and champagne, moving in next to cool neighbours and good friends, and the wicked house-warming party we'd have. But I also have visions of permit offices, zoning applications, the city design committee, contractors, sub-trades, scope management, risk, issues and cost over-runs.

So I'm up for the challenge, but you can't blame me feeling overwhelmed.

This just in...

I just got a call from our mortgage officer at VanCity Credit Union.

We've been approved for a mortage. And it's more than we thought we'd get.

Holy crap!

However, before you get too excited for us, keep in mind Vancouver's outrageous housing costs. This is a city where half a million bucks is almost enough to buy you a used shoebox. If you're really lucky, you might get one with lane access.

But don't hold your breath.