The Journal
Field notes from two decades of building.
Practical, honest writing on planning, materials, multiplex builds and the trade-offs that decide whether a home performs over decades — not just photographs well on day one.
New to the process? Start with the Custom Home Guide — six chapters covering everything between deciding to build and the year-five conversation.
Featured · Industry & Code
The Zero Carbon Step Code: What It Changes for a Burnaby Custom Home
Burnaby requires EL-4, the strongest tier of the Zero Carbon Step Code, on every new home. Here's what that decides about your heating, hot water, and cooking equipment — and what it leaves open.
Latest
More from the journal.
Industry & Code
The BC Energy Step Code, Explained for Homeowners Planning a Build
The BC Energy Step Code decides how every new home in the province gets permitted, yet most homeowners meet it for the first time mid-design. What the five steps mean, what Burnaby requires today, and where Step 5 fits.
Planning
Landscaping and Site Drainage on a Burnaby Lot: Grading, Retaining Walls, and Where Water Goes
The most expensive callbacks a builder sees aren't inside the house — they're in how water moves around it. On Burnaby's wet, sloped lots, final grade and drainage decide whether the basement stays dry. A builder's guide to getting the finished site right.
Craft
Daylighting a Burnaby Custom Home: Light, Orientation, Placement
On the gray BC south coast, natural light is a plan-stage decision, not a window-shopping one. Where the glass goes, which rooms face the sun, and how high the heads sit decide whether a Burnaby home feels bright in December or dim by three o'clock.
Craft
The Primary Suite, Done Right: Layout, Light and Storage in a Burnaby Custom Home
The primary suite is the one room in a custom home you live in every single day, and it is the room people get wrong most often. Here is a builder's take on what actually makes a primary suite good to live in — where it sits in the plan, how it stays quiet, how it gets morning light without baking in the afternoon, and why the walk-in closet is the most under-planned room in the house.
Craft
Designing the Kitchen in a Burnaby Custom Home: Zones and Sculleries
The kitchen is the most-used room in a Burnaby custom home and the most expensive to redo. Here's how we lay out work zones, size the island, plan the scullery, and coordinate ventilation so it still works in twenty years.
Planning
Aging in Place: Designing a Burnaby Custom Home for the Long Term
Most people build a custom home for the life they have at 45, not the one they'll have at 80. The decisions that let a Burnaby home work for both — without making it look like a hospital — are cheap during framing and expensive to add later. Here's how we build them in from the start.
Industry & Code
The Healthy-Home Build: Radon, Ventilation, Overheating in Burnaby
A tight, code-current Burnaby home saves energy — but it's only healthy if you design the air on purpose. Radon control, balanced ventilation, and summer overheating are now code, not upgrades. Here's how they fit together.
Planning
Designing a Legal Secondary Suite Into Your Burnaby Custom Home
A legal secondary suite is a design decision, not a renovation you bolt on later. Here is how we plan a basement suite into a Burnaby custom home from the first drawings — the entrance, the windows, the plumbing stack, the fire and sound separation — so it works as a mortgage helper, an in-law space, or an aging-in-place option without a costly retrofit.
Industry & Code
Wiring a Burnaby Custom Home for the Electrical Future: EV-Ready, Heat Pumps, Panel Sizing
An all-electric Burnaby home runs a heat pump, a heat-pump water heater, induction cooking, and an EV charger off one service. Get the panel and the service sized at the design table, not after the drywall is closed.
Industry & Code
Custom Home Warranties in BC: What 2-5-10 Actually Covers in a Burnaby Build
The BC 2-5-10 warranty is mandatory on every licensed-builder home in the province. Here's what it actually covers in a Burnaby custom build — and where the Burnaby-specific risks sit inside each coverage layer.
Craft
Site Preparation on a Burnaby Teardown Lot: Demolition Through Excavation
What happens on a Burnaby teardown lot between the day subjects come off and the day the first concrete is poured. Disconnections, abatement, demolition, tree protection, shoring and excavation — the work most owners never see.
Planning
Working With the City of Burnaby Planning Department: A Builder's Playbook
How a working builder actually approaches Burnaby's planning and building departments — pre-application conversations, what makes a clean intake, when to push back, and what kills a permit. A playbook for homeowners deciding whether their builder knows Burnaby.
Craft
Roof Design for a Burnaby Custom Home: Pitch, Materials, and Code
Burnaby's roof problem isn't snow — it's water. Pitch, material, ventilation, drainage, and fire-rating decisions that determine whether a custom-home roof carries you for forty years or fails in twelve.
Craft
Choosing Exterior Cladding for a Burnaby Custom Home
Fibre cement, cedar, brick, metal, stucco. The cladding decision is more about the assembly behind it than the panel on the wall — and on the BC south coast the assembly is what fails first.
Custom Homes
Building a Custom Home on a Burnaby View Lot: Design Considerations
A Burnaby view lot is not a flat lot with a horizon. It's a site with sightlines, overlook constraints, tree pressure, and exposure conditions that all want different things from the design — and they all have to be reconciled before the architect draws a window.
Planning
Custom Home vs Spec Home in Burnaby: Which Fits Your Lot?
A decision framework for Burnaby owners weighing a commissioned custom home against a finished spec — and how the city's lot diversity changes the math depending on slope, trees, view and family layout.
Planning
Custom Home Design Timeline in Burnaby, Start to Finish
The honest 14-to-22-month arc of a Burnaby custom home — from signed design contract to keys in hand — phase by phase, with the places time actually gets lost.
Planning
How to Choose a Custom Home Builder in Burnaby
A Burnaby-specific evaluation framework — the credentials that matter, the local questions that separate competent builders from excellent ones, and the verifications every owner should run before signing.
Process
The BC 2-5-10 Home Warranty: What It Covers, What It Doesn't, and How to Use It
The BC 2-5-10 Home Warranty is mandatory for every new home built by a licensed builder in BC — but most buyers don't understand what it actually covers until something goes wrong. Here's the plain-language version, from a builder who carries it on every project.
Design
Multigenerational Home Design in Burnaby: What Actually Works
More Burnaby families are building homes for two or three generations on a single lot — aging parents, adult children, rental income, or all three. The design decisions that make multigenerational living genuinely functional are different from the ones that look good in renderings.
Process
30 Custom Home Terms Every Burnaby Owner Should Know Before Building
The jargon gap between builders and clients causes more misunderstanding than almost anything else in a custom home project. Here are 30 terms — from zoning to airtightness — that come up constantly in Burnaby builds, explained plainly.
Craft
Custom Home Features Worth Investing In — and a Few That Aren't
After two decades of custom builds across Burnaby, Vancouver, and the Fraser Valley, the features that consistently deliver — in daily comfort, durability, and resale — and the ones that look good in a brochure but disappoint in practice.
Process
Custom Home vs Spec Home vs Pre-Sale: What's Actually Different
In Greater Vancouver, the word 'custom' gets used broadly enough to blur the real distinctions. Here's what separates a true custom home from a spec build or a pre-sale, and why the difference matters more than most buyers initially realise.
Planning
How the 10-Metre Height Limit Actually Lands on a Sloped Burnaby Lot
Burnaby's 10.0 m maximum building height is measured against average grade. On a sloped lot, average grade is a calculation — and where the surveyor takes the points can swing your roof line by a foot. Here's how it actually works.
Process
Design-Build vs Architect + Builder: Which Model Fits a Burnaby Custom Home?
Two delivery models, the same end result, very different risk profiles. Here's when design-build genuinely reduces friction and when the traditional architect-then-builder path still makes more sense — with Burnaby-specific context on permit complexity and site conditions.
Process
The Pre-Drywall Walkthrough: What to Check Before Insulation Closes the Walls
Once the drywall goes up, the bones of the house are hidden for the next thirty years. The pre-drywall walkthrough is the homeowner's last clean look at how their custom home was actually built.
Industry & Code
Heat Pumps and HRV in a Burnaby Custom Home: What the 2026 BC Code Requires
Cold-climate heat pumps and balanced ventilation aren't the upgrade anymore — they're the baseline. Here's how they integrate in a current Burnaby custom home, and what to ask your mechanical designer.
Planning
Geotechnical Reports on Burnaby Slope Lots: When You Need One and What It Tells You
On a sloped Burnaby lot, the geotechnical report drives every foundation, drainage, and retaining-wall decision. Here's when the City requires one, what it actually contains, and how to read it as a homeowner.
Craft
Choosing Windows and Glazing That Survive a Burnaby Winter
Frame material, glazing package, low-E coating, install detail. Four decisions that determine whether your windows are still tight twenty years from now or fogging in their first wet season.
Renovations
Renovate, Add, or Rebuild: Reading the Bones of an Older Burnaby Heights Home
A decision framework for owners of older single-family homes in Burnaby Heights, Capitol Hill, and Brentwood — when to renovate, when to add, and when a clean rebuild is the better project.
Process
Why Icon Signs a Pre-Construction Services Agreement Before Any Hammer Swings
A pre-construction services agreement isn't paperwork — it's the discipline that turns a custom-home idea into a buildable, contractable project before the meter starts running.
Craft
Foundations on Burnaby's Hillside Lots: Walkout, Full Basement, or Crawlspace
On a sloped Burnaby lot, the foundation strategy is locked early in design and ripples through every other decision. Here's how we choose between walkout, full daylight basement, and hillside crawlspace.
Industry & Code
BC Energy Step Code in Burnaby 2026: Step 3 + EL-4 Today, Step 5 by 2032
Burnaby's current energy code is Step 3 + EL-4 — a measurable airtightness and zero-carbon target. Step 5 is the 2032 horizon and what some builders already deliver. Here's what each actually requires of the framing, the sheathing, the windows, and the ventilation.
Planning
A Lot Evaluation Checklist Before You Buy a Burnaby Teardown
What we walk a Burnaby teardown lot for before subjects come off — the constraints that don't show up in MLS photos but reshape what you can actually build.
Planning
The Burnaby Custom Home Permit Timeline in 2026: Intake to Issued
A field-note walk through the actual phases of a Burnaby single-family custom home permit in 2026 — from engineering pre-application to digital issuance — with realistic durations, common rejection reasons, and what an owner can do to keep the file moving.
Custom Homes
Building a Custom Home in Burnaby: What 2026 Actually Changes
Three things change for Burnaby custom-home owners in 2026: permits go digital-only, the Energy Step Code tightens, and the tree bylaw quietly drives a lot more decisions than people realise.
Planning
The Burnaby Tree Bylaw: What 'Protected Tree' Really Means for Your Custom Home
Most Burnaby owners only learn about the tree bylaw the day a notice arrives in the mail. Here's how the 20 cm rule, the replacement requirements, and the cash-in-lieu option actually shape a custom-home design.
Decision
Custom Home vs Major Renovation in Burnaby: When Does Each One Win?
Most Burnaby owners walk in with their mind made up. About a third leave with the opposite plan. Here's how the BC Building Code, the tree bylaw, and the lot itself usually decide it for them.
Custom Homes
What Hillside Lots Demand: A Technical Guide to Building in Capitol Hill and Burnaby Heights
Two of Burnaby's most coveted custom-home neighbourhoods sit on real grade. Here's what changes when the lot has a slope, a view, and a tree canopy that all want different things from the design.
Process
How Long Does a Custom Home Actually Take in Burnaby and BC in 2026?
Between sketch and keys, plan on 18 to 24 months. Anyone promising a Burnaby custom home in 12 is skipping steps. Here's where the variance actually lives, phase by phase, with the 2026 regulatory context.
Planning
Planning a Custom Home in Burnaby: The Pre-Build Checklist for 2026
Almost every problem on a custom build traces back to a decision that was rushed or skipped during planning. Here's the checklist we walk every new Burnaby client through before a single line is drawn.
Process
12 Questions to Ask Before Signing a Custom Home Contract in Burnaby and BC
Most Burnaby owners ask three or four of these in their builder interviews. The other eight are where projects actually break. Bring this list to every builder you interview.
Process
How to Choose a Custom Home Builder in Burnaby and Across BC
The Lower Mainland has hundreds of active residential builders. A much smaller number are excellent. Here's how to read the difference, with the BC regulatory checks every Burnaby owner should run before signing.
Process
Architect's Drawings vs Builder's Drawings: What Burnaby Custom Home Owners Need to Know
When Burnaby owners hand us a stack of drawings and say 'we have construction documents,' they almost always have something else. Here's what each scope actually contains, where the friction shows up, and why a digital-first permit world makes integrated practices more valuable than ever.
Craft
Materials That Age Beautifully (and the Ones That Don't): A Builder's Read for Burnaby Custom Homes
After two decades of builds across Burnaby, Vancouver, and the Fraser Valley, we've watched which materials look better in year ten than year one — and which ones quietly betray you. The Pacific Northwest climate sorts them ruthlessly.
Craft
Five Mistakes That Show Up in Every Burnaby Custom Home After Year Three
The mistakes that show up in the first six months are obvious and fixable. The ones at year three are quieter, harder to undo, and almost always trace back to a decision made before the foundation was poured. Here's what BC's warranty system catches and what it doesn't.
Craft
Why We Don't Believe in 'Builder-Grade': A Burnaby Custom-Home Specification Manifesto
'Builder-grade' is the soft language the industry uses when delivering something nobody quite wants to be associated with. Here's why we refuse the category, and what we specify into Burnaby custom homes instead.
Planning
What We Wish Every Burnaby Client Knew Before They Started Designing
Most expensive Burnaby homes get most of the way to great, and stop there. Not because of the brief. Because of assumptions clients held quietly that no designer could fix afterwards. Here are the eight.
Local
Building a Custom Home in the Fraser Valley vs Burnaby: What's Actually Different
Burnaby and the Fraser Valley sit a 50-minute drive apart and feel like different building environments. Soils, drainage, permitting, trades, climate — here's what actually changes when a Burnaby owner considers a Fraser Valley acreage instead.
Craft
The Most Common Year-Five Regrets We Hear From Burnaby Custom-Home Clients
Year-one feedback is mostly excitement and nesting. Year-five feedback is honest. Here are the regrets we hear most often from Burnaby and Greater Vancouver clients, and the conversations they trace back to.
Free Field Guide · 9 pages
Before You Break Ground: The Vetting Checklist for Hiring a Custom Home Builder in BC
The 30 questions we'd want a homeowner to ask any builder — including us — before signing a contract. Use it as a conversation tool when meeting candidates. We'll email you the PDF, no follow-up required.
- How to verify a BC Housing licence and 2-5-10 warranty
- What 'good' looks like for site supervision and change orders
- Five walk-away signs that should end any builder conversation
Build with Icon
Bring your project to the team.
Whether you're a year out from breaking ground or just starting to think about it, a short conversation is the best place to begin.