When economic times are tough, it’s common for people to reconsider big-ticket items and future plans—including the design and eventual build of their custom home. That’s an entirely prudent financial approach, but it’s not always the best one if you plan to one day create your dream residence.

Inflation is running high, and many key indicators are pointing to the economy entering into a recessionary phase in early 2023. The good news: Leading economists are saying that a downturn will likely be short-lived, meaning that we can expect some stormy seas ahead but should steer clear of a more damaging economic hurricane. There are signs that inflation is also beginning to wane. We’ve seen the cost of materials such as steel and lumber used in custom home construction begin to fall. Labour costs are also slowly returning to normal levels from their pandemic-era highs.

Starting down the path to realizing your custom home vision can be overwhelming at first. There are many questions to be answered, from the exterior and interior aesthetics (contemporary, modern or transitional styles?) to a projected construction budget and the general flow, features and function of the home. Most importantly, the process requires you and your family to think about how the home will enable you to live better, to spend productive time together—perhaps working, entertaining or simply relaxing—and how to optimize spaces to achieve those goals.

It’s one that’s best not delayed.

A unique custom home opportunity

The coronavirus pandemic changed the way that many Canadians live and work. Virtually overnight, long commutes were traded for home offices and Zoom calls due to COVID-19 social distancing restrictions that prohibited in-person interactions across most industries. Life was disrupted virtually overnight, and no sector was immune. Suddenly, tradespeople were more difficult to hire, supplies ran short, building permits took longer to obtain as municipal staff fell ill and required time off.

Fast forward to today and much has changed. Skilled trades, while still busy, are easier to hire. Building materials are becoming more readily available. And there’s been a sea change in provincial policy. The Ontario government only recently passed Bill 23, the More Homes Built Faster Act, 2022.

The legislation is designed to expedite home construction across the province, the need for which is driven by a range of factors that are fuelling home price inflation. Two of the most notable are housing shortages that are impacting affordability and population growth and immigration that are boosting demand for new homes. It’s estimated that Ontario will need to build about 1.5 million new residential units over the next 10 years. We’ll be providing greater detail on the contents of Bill 23 in a future blog, but the key takeaway is that the legislation should make it much easier to obtain planning permits for custom homes in Ontario moving forward—that includes renovations and infill projects on existing lots. The result should be reduced timelines for design, planning and construction, along with lower total costs for home owners.

Start planning now

As stakeholders in the public and across the residential construction industry digest the contents of Bill 23—including implementation dates of certain sections of the Act, which are still to be determined, in some cases—anyone who has dreamed of building a custom home and has delayed the start of their project due to economic uncertainty or municipal red tape, has an opportunity to act. In fact, they’d be wise to move now if they want to complete their home in 2023-24.

The reason is that as construction ramps up across the province, trades people will once again be in sky-high demand. Home owners who start their projects now can develop designs, work through the likely expedited approval processes and secure the talent they need to build their homes without the risk of project disruption. Waiting could lead to unexpected delays and higher costs merely due to demand for skilled trades. It also enables them to work through the design phase and put shovels in the ground when the expectedly mild recession begins winding down and economic growth ramps up once again.

It’s not every day that a new set of rules is introduced that actually make it easier to realize one of your lifestyle dreams—building a custom home. This is one of them. By taking advantage of these recent developments in Ontario, you can build a residence that caters to your family’s flow and function—both on the home’s interior and exterior—while creating the perfect residence to live and grow.

The David Small Design Team
Contact a member of our team today to learn more about our custom home design process.

There’s something special about the unmistakable coherence of a well-designed custom home. From symmetry and massing to cladding and other architectural adornments, every design thought is well-considered and aligns with the owner’s vision for their dream home. When done right, a custom residence is a refined composition that should only be altered with the utmost care.

The unfortunate reality is that renovations or additions are often carried out in ad hoc fashion. In those cases, the changes to the home are often not harmonious with its original design. Disparate architectural styles are sometimes merged to ill effect, such as unsuccessful attempts to blend modern and traditional, which is just one example of the kind of home improvement that can go very wrong. In those cases, what can seem like daring, bold architectural decisions result in regrettable misfires and client disappointment; the home’s defining characteristics diminished by a desire for something different, but at a steep compositional cost.

In some cases, a contractor may be ill-equipped to bring the renovation vision to life. While their general contracting expertise could be strong, they may not be able to deliver an equivalent level of construction quality to rival that of the primary build. Others may not be able to construct an addition or execute a renovation in a specific style. Think modern designs, which can be particularly challenging to execute. And though some contractors will boast in-house design expertise, most can only produce technical drawings that set the parameters for their building work, rather than conceiving a design that properly aligns with or enhances that of the original home.

That’s why a custom home addition or renovation is best executed with the expertise and vision of an experienced custom home designer.

The many considerations that bring an addition or renovation to life

When the David Small Designs team works with clients to reimagine their home, our goal is for people to see an entirely seamless post-design renovation. The core qualities of the original home and its new elements should always shine through in harmony. Because let’s not forget that major residential updates are most successful when they bring a revitalized aesthetic energy and sense of function to a home. A key question we ask: How can the update foster new conversations and improve the lives of the families that occupy the home?

In that way, enhancements should always maintain a well-considered balance of proportion and scale. New materials (think stone or metal) and façade details can be introduced but should interplay and easily connect with those of the original. Roofline details and angularity should be carefully integrated to avoid awkward architectural juxtapositions.

Budget is also a major consideration when determining how ambitious a custom home renovation or addition can be. The scope of the project will always be dictated by the available funds. To ensure your wishes align with cost, we always recommend engaging with a builder as early as the conceptual design phase to determine the high-level construction budget. And while it can be tempting to eschew a formal design process altogether to save on cost, doing so can result in everything from project delays to permit approval challenges. The success of the final build depends on it.

A Tudor-themed addition

Our Tudor Renovation case study perfectly captures the deft hand needed to enhance an existing design. Completed in 2016, the project brief called for a 500 sq. ft. addition to the second storey and rear of this stunning Tudor-style home in Toronto’s west end—bringing the final area to 2,600 sq. ft. With a setting in a mature neighbourhood, the design required an elegant, understated approach.
As such, we worked to ensure that the appearance of the addition closely adhered to the original Tudor-inspired style, capitalizing on the home’s distinctive history and character, while integrating a softer colour palette that delivered a subtle refresh with enhanced curb appeal. The existing gables and steep-pitched rooflines were carried into the addition to maintain proportioned massing. With its corner lot positioning, the result was both restrained and respectful of the original design, while meeting the owners’ need for extra space for their family.

Crucially, we were able to ensure that the home retained its sense of presence in the community, but with new features that only enhanced its allure and functional utility. Had this project been undertaken with the sole aim of adding more square footage, it would have likely fallen far short of its architectural potential. But with an approach steered by our custom home design team, we were able to create a truly special addition to the neighbourhood—one that will stand the test of time and ensure that a family can live and grow in its new space.

The David Small Design Team
Contact a member of our team today to learn more about our custom home and major renovation design process.

Building a custom family home is about designing a space where you and your loved ones can grow together, build and share memories and live life to the fullest. The considerations that will inform that eventual architectural design are vast and varied, but one of the most important is budget. From materials to labour costs, construction pricing is a key determinant of the look and feel of your future home.

The Build – David’s House Case Study – View More

Complete: David’s House – View More

Of course, no two budgets are ever the same. Every home owner has a specific vision for their future dwelling that dictates how funds will be allotted, why and where. Some may insist that the ‘bones’ of the house be of the highest quality, meaning they’re willing to channel as much money as possible into structural details such as insulation, HVAC or truss systems. Others may prefer to spend more on the aesthetic finishes or technological componentry with which they’ll eventually spend more of their time interacting—fine oak millwork or advanced smart home features, for example.

In our experience, the most successful custom home design projects are the ones that strike a careful budgetary balance between structural and aesthetic or lifestyle features. That’s the key to building a residence that addresses the everyday needs of your family, while nodding to your individual and collective identities and tastes. A custom home should not only serve a functional purpose—offering a wonderful place to live—but it should also make a statement about who you are and what you aspire to be.

The path from the initial engagement with our architectural design team to exploring, revising and ultimately signing off on a construction budget with a builder is rarely linear. It’s part of the journey, one that should be both comfortable and practical, free from unwelcome surprises and full of excitement and potential. It helps to understand that the process of setting a construction budget requires careful consideration and the right team to make it all come together as seamlessly as possible.

Choosing the right architectural designer

Selecting the architectural design team to help set the right vision and compose dynamic drawings for your home is absolutely essential. As with those aforementioned custom home budgets, no two designers are the same. Fee structures will vary, as will quality, but the most important consideration is working with a firm that understands your objectives and is prepared to work to meet your specific needs.

 

An example of a typical floor plan – View More

Peruse various designers’ websites and social media feeds, visit the homes they’ve designed (assuming they’ve worked in your city before) and meet with them (at least virtually) to ensure their aesthetic sensibilities align with yours. At that point you can determine whether theirs is the kind of firm that understands and suggests pricing checkpoints with builders during the design exercise.

Choosing the best home builder for your needs

Most architectural design firms will have a short list of builders to which they refer projects. This is normal. You may have your own list of names from which to choose (either through family/friend referrals or your own research) as you embark on the custom home-building process. The choice of builder will ultimately dictate your eventual construction budget.

Most will price based on a range of factors including the proposed square footage of the home, the quality of materials to be used, the complexity of the home—which will ultimately dictate the pricing and fee structure—and the time and labour they’ll assign to the project. Some will mark up material and finishing costs to some degree, while others will opt to add a project-management fee instead. Some will take a hybrid fee structure approach.

Once your vision is on paper in the form of conceptual drawings, you can then review and have preliminary pricing conversations with multiple builders. Even if there is a preference for one home builder from the start of the process, we always recommend obtaining multiple quotes and then making a balanced comparison based on your home wish list.

Build in flexibility

Your builder should provide an estimate that itemizes the full project scope, a work schedule with details (and any specific nuances) of their fee structure and a sense of items that will be outside the original project scope.

Being comfortable with your construction budget is a vital part of making the custom home experience a positive one. Still, it’s advisable to build a certain degree of flexibility into your budget. Most home owners, at some point in a project, will make design or material changes that impact their budget. Having a financial cushion built into your construction budget—as much as 10 to 20 per cent of the total value of the project—will help to alleviate the stress of constant spreadsheet scrutinizing as you try to keep spending in check.

Your home, your budget

Ultimately, construction pricing is a function of the quality and complexity of the home you plan to build. But as the home owner, you should be in full control of that budget at all times.

Before/After Modern Upgrade

By choosing the right architectural designer and builder—and ensuring that their approach aligns with your vision and project-management preferences—you can make budgetary decisions that deliver a stunning end product.

The David Small Design Team

David Small Designs has gained notoriety for a design approach called Natural Modern—an original school that reimagines post-modern architecture, creating distinctive custom homes that blend seamlessly with their surrounding environment. When asked to elaborate, we often explain our style as being ‘lifestyle-friendly modern.’

Why? A lifestyle-friendly modern home is personalized and aesthetically pleasing, while being comforting and precise in its composition. The term is a nod to the fact that modern design can (and should) be adapted to a home’s occupants, rather than being proscriptive in dictating how those occupants should use the modern space itself. Your home, in other words, should work for you. Not the other way around.

Mere mention of modern architecture in home design evokes a strong emotional reaction from almost everyone. The style tends to either be loved or loathed by homeowners. But it needn’t be polarizing. Modern architecture can prioritize function over form and trust in building materials to define a space, yet still be warm and inviting.

Divergent views of modern

Devotees of modern will point to the classic minimalist creations of Mies van der Rohe (think Farnsworth House) or Philip Johnson (designer of the iconic Glass House), as being near the pinnacle of modern residential design.

In these homes, industrial materials and precise geometry interplay with light and carefully balanced proportions to create a structure remarkable for its lack of ornamentation, yet striking in its reliance on the context of the surrounding landscape for texture—seamlessly connecting outside and in.

Johnson’s Glass House was a major inspiration for The Last House design

And for those very same reasons, modern residential design is rejected by so many who feel it lacks heart. A modern home is indicative of an owner’s identity (or an architect’s vision), but the common critique is that houses in this vein are stark and cold. They may look dramatic in an architecture magazine, but have no place in a family photo album.

To some, modern evokes thoughts of the unapologetically concrete, institutional brutalist structures that were in vogue among some in the architectural elite from the late 1960s through the early 1980s. Many of the buildings aged poorly and were roundly unloved. Some, like Paul Rudolph’s Burroughs Wellcome & Company building in North Carolina, have fallen prey to the wrecking ball. The criticism is not always fair, but it is prevalent—especially when distilled and applied in the context of the family home.

Modern and livable

Among others, Natural Modern draws from several schools including the sleek mid-century modern of Eero Saarinen and Pierre Koenig, and the Prairie School movement made so famous by American architect Frank Lloyd Wright.

The Prairie School’s embrace of angularity, hanging rooftops and geometric patterning—which came to define many a downtown core and some of North America’s fast-growing suburbs through the early to mid-20^th century—were a reaction to the prevailing neoclassicism of the time. But it also reminded contemporary architects that modern homes needn’t surrender their sense of warmth. It was possible to embrace many of the modern movement’s core objectives without compromising a dwelling’s livability and appeal.

As design styles progressed and taste shifted, modern architectural designers began reframing their efforts to place a greater emphasis on the needs of the homeowner. They determined that a modern home should aspire to being more than a functional museum piece. It should be a place to build relationships and memories.

The best of all worlds

In that sense, lifestyle-friendly modern is both cozy and ideally suited to families of all sizes and structures. It’s open, airy and welcoming. It’s defined by clean lines and decluttered spaces. It has space for work, play and reflection, while usually being open-concept and filled with natural light—a beloved modern feature that has been adopted by architects across a wide spectrum of stylistic leanings.

Whether our team is creating custom homes in traditional, transitional and modern styles, our work is anchored by a simple question: How can we produce a design that is beautiful and functions as efficiently and effectively as possible for the family that will eventually occupy it? How do they interact on a daily basis, and what experience do they want their home to deliver? Just as importantly, how can we ensure that the home interacts with its environment so the family can love their time both outside and inside the house, moving from one space to the other and finding enjoyment in both?

By answering those questions and working with clients to clarify their vision before we begin work, it’s possible to create a distinctive design that suits their needs—to build a lifestyle-friendly modern home where they can grow and thrive as a family.

The David Small Design Team