The House I Built

You know me as they guy who rescues homeowners from bad renovations, who says “rip it off” and makes it right. I've made a career out of it. But I’ll tell you, as a contractor, I’m sick of fixing crap.

Why can't we build it right the first time?

Repairing shoddy work is not easy. You’re dealing with existing structure, with existing mistakes, with other peoples’ choices of inferior materials and bad designs. And a lot of the times you are also dealing with a very frustrated homeowner. And I certainly don't enjoy watching people tell me that their life savings went into fixing an issue that was preventable in the first place. It is very tough for me and my team to read some of the emails from people asking for help.

People have asked me for years what kind of house I’d build if I could take it all down and start again. Well, I built it. The house from my show Lien On Me is a prototype for the houses I believe we should all be building. Think about it: Wouldn’t you love a house that won’t blow down or burn down or rot? A house that won’t have mould (yes Canadians do spell it like that)? A house with the best indoor air quality possible? A house that will be low maintenance, will save you money by being energy efficient and that will outlast you?

The house is a prototype for the houses I believe we should all be building.

While I understand everyone can not incorporate these features into their homes, these are a few things I am very proud of:

• The house has a southern exposure, and we’ve put recessed windows on that side. This means natural shading through the overhanging soffit in the summer. But, it allows sun penetration during winter, when the sun is lower, to increase heat gain during colder months.
• On the top roof deck that faces south, we’ve installed a GreenRoof System. Green Roofs improve local air quality and provide additional insulating values to the rooftop. They absorb rainwater runoff and snowmelt, and keep it out of municipal storm drain systems. 
• Buried under the front lawn is an underground rainwater collection cistern and treatment tank. Rainwater from the roofs is collected, treated and re-used for toilets, laundry and exterior irrigation.

I’m very proud of this house—not just of how it was designed, engineered and built, but also of what it stands for. Building It Right!