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Dale and her husband Eric had always been fond of DIY projects but when they decided to start their own new home building project, they took things to a new level.

The couple had moved to Nanaimo, BC, and were looking to build their dream retirement home to last for generations to come. Their new home had to facilitate multi-family living as Dale’s parents were looking to move in as well.

After extensive research, Linwood Homes provided the best, custom option to help meet their unique living and design needs and the couple built their home together from the ground up using a design and material package.

Home Building Made Easy

Sitting in the open concept living space, naturally illuminated by floor to ceiling windows, Dale says smiling, “it (the home) was probably the biggest DIY we’ve ever come up with.” Dale and her husband took one of the many routes we offer our clients and they decided to build their home entirely by themselves.

The couple had looked at a variety of different lots across Vancouver Island to decide where they wanted to live. They started from scratch with an empty lot. When it came time to look for designers, Dale’s husband reached out to Linwood Homes. Dale says, ” We thought, if we get this package, it would be so much easier than sorting out all of the other things.” She notes how easy and streamlined the build process was with the Linwood Package, “because all the work was being done by us, having the supplies ready, sorted out, calculated, sourced and delivered was huge. It just made so much more sense for us.”

Typically, when you are looking to build a home from scratch, there are many different moving pieces involved. You have to meet with an architect to decide on a custom design, then you go to a builder who will have to acquire materials to build from a local lumberyard, and finally, there is the building process itself which takes a considerable about of forethought – hiring a trusted contractor and organizing all of the related trades involved. With Linwood, we are the architect and lumberyard all in one. Our in-house team helps to facilitate your entire project from start to finish and we truly aim to make homebuilding easy. As a result, we were the ideal option for Dale and her husband.

Eco-Friendly Island Living

Sustainable, eco-friendly living on the island is not only important for energy efficiency, but it’s also an excellent way to ensure you have power when living in an off-grid environment. As Dale explains, “we wanted passive solar and wanted it to be environmentally friendly with options to be more off-grid.” As a result, their home is complete with everything in place to eventually add passive solar as an option down the line. “We have plenty of space if we choose to put in solar panels and during construction, we put in all the piping for that to be an add-on eventually.”

If you are thinking of a passive or net-zero home, it’s best to build the features into your plan, rather than try to add them in later, after the build is complete. It’s always a good option to have and the Linwood team can assist with incorporating these features into your home design.

A Design to Meet Different Needs:

Aging in Place

A home is a place for family, serenity, and togetherness. Often, as in Dale’s situation, homes are built for the whole family and they frequently include room for extended family. At Linwood, many of the homes we have built facilitate muli-generational living. As Dale mentions, one of her main requirements for her home was a space for her parents to live, “my parents are aging and I’m the one that’s going to have to be looking after those situations. I wanted (their rooms) to be connected to the main part of the house so that I can watch out for them. Our stuff is on one side of the house and guest stuff is on the other side of the house and each of the guest rooms has its own ensuite so they can be fully encapsulated that way. And then the middle is shared ground.”

The need for multi-generational homes is becoming more and more popular as the general population ages. It is far more convenient and comfortable for aging parents and grandparents to feel connected and cared for by their families. The team at Linwood Homes can design your home to meet these specific stylistic needs.

West Coast Contemporary

At Linwood Homes, we have over 500+ home designs that you can choose from. We are also able to modify any of the homes you are interested in, as well as build completely custom designs to meet your unique needs. Dale and her husband were looking for a classic, west-coast contemporary home design. She notes, “I really liked the west coast style of the house with the high ceilings and angular pieces.”

“We had heard about the Linwood packages and we brainstormed what we want in the house. I took that drawing and those ideas and compared them to different Linwood designs that were already in existence. I found one that was closest and made modifications and that’s how we ended up with this particular home style.” The couple chose the Bainbridge model as a starting point and made modifications to facilitate their needs. Inside, the home is vibrant and full of life, “we wanted natural colors, natural features and a lot of light. You could just have a white ceiling or you could have something with some personality.” It is beautifully painted and decorated to match their unique style.

Building A Sense of Community

Your home is a place to gather and celebrate the community and presence of those closest to you. This was certainly the case for Dale and her family with their new home. She reminisces about a stormy period on the island that came about after the home was built.  “We don’t have gas here but we do have propane. Periodically on the island, if there’s going to be a storm, trees fall down and powerlines go out.”

“The very first couple months we were in here, there was a big storm and a big power outage, and the neighbors that had brought over meals while we were cooking and done super nice neighborly things all the way along – their power was out as well. We had heat and we had our generator so we had light. I would just phone them up every morning and say ‘coffee’s on!’ and they’d be coming running over. It was so great to be able to give back like that.” A home is so much more than just a place to live and it’s so wonderful that Dale and her family were able to give back in such a way to the community who supported them during the build process.