Squamish is a vibrant and growing town that is attracting new residents faster than new homes can be built. Living in Squamish encourages an active lifestyle, with roughly 24,000 residents enjoying outdoor activities and its focus on health and wellness.
Nestled in the heart of the stunning Sea-to-Sky corridor, Squamish, BC is a small town with a big personality. Squamish offers a unique quality of life that attracts people from all over the world. From breathtaking natural landscapes to a thriving arts community, and a focus on sustainability and wellness, there are countless reasons why Squamish is a great place to call home.
Squamish can be divided into five primary neighbourhoods, each with its unique character and charm. The is usually a modest inventory of building lots and land for sale on the MLS in Squamish, and builders tend to work closely with Realtors® who have their eyes on a few potential tear-down properties.
If you are planning to build a high-performance, sustainable Net Zero Ready house, a Passive House certified home in Squamish, or simply want to adopt best practices for new construction, Coast Essential can take your dream project from design to move in.
Work with our in-house designer to take your home from sketches to floor plans and elevations. We will take care of the permit process, working with the engineers and the planning department to make sure your new build or retrofit fully complies with local bylaws and BC Building Code specifications.
Home renovations are an exciting way to modernize and enhance the aesthetic appeal of your living space. We can help you create a more functional, comfortable, and stylish living environment. Aesthetic home renovations include cosmetic updates such as painting, updating the floor coverings, adding new light fixtures, installing new countertops, and replacing outdated appliances.
If your home spaces need changes to layouts, flow and functionality, a more comprehensive home makeover is needed. Remodels often involve structural changes such as reworking floor plans, moving walls, removing walls to create open floor plans, or adding new spaces, While these projects can involve a greater investment and longer timeframe, they can have a dramatic impact on the functionality, enjoyment and value of your home.
We will work with you to design and construct significant alterations and additions to your home to help meet changing needs while adding value to your property.
Net Zero homes, whether new or existing buildings produce as much clean energy as they consume. They are up to 80% more energy efficient than a home built to conventional standards. Designing a Net Zero house is based on a combination of energy-efficient building design and materials, including high levels of insulation, air-tight construction, and energy-efficient appliances and lighting, with the use of renewable energy sources such as solar panels and geothermal heating and cooling systems.
Squamish homeowners stand to benefit significantly from a Net Zero home. They significantly reduce energy consumption, resulting in lower energy bills. Energy-efficient features such as triple-paned windows, high levels of insulation, and air-tight construction reduce heat loss and prevent drafts, meaning that less energy is required to heat or cool your home.
Net Zero homes also improve indoor air quality and comfort. The air-tight building envelope and super-insulation reduce the infiltration of outdoor air pollutants, resulting in a healthier living environment. Additionally, the built-in filtered fresh air system reduces allergens and asthma triggers, keeping dust, pollen and air pollution outside where they belong.
Net Zero homes are an environmentally sustainable option that can significantly reduce your carbon footprint. They contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and help to mitigate the effects of climate change.
The Government of Canada prioritizes sustainable building design and renewable energy. Transitioning Canada’s existing building stock to net zero over the long term is one of 9 core sections in their 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan. The District of Squamish publishes updates to its District Requirements, as Net Zero homes become an increasingly desirable way to future-proof not only new construction but retrofit existing homes as well.
The Province of British Columbia introduced energy efficiency as a BC Building Code objective in 2008. The BC Energy Step Code allows designers and builders to comply with its requirements using either a “prescriptive” or a “performance” approach.
To comply with the BC Energy Step Code, builders must use energy software modelling and on-site testing, demonstrating that both their design and the constructed building meet the requirements of the standard. To accomplish this, they may use any type of material or construction method.
The high-performance staircase outlines five-step requirements for Part 9 residential buildings, from the current BC Building Code requirements to “net-zero energy ready” by 2032.
A BC Step Code 5 compliant, “net zero ready” home is built to the very same standard as a net zero home. The only difference is the solar or wind power renewable energy source has not yet been installed.
At Coast Essential we aim for the highest construction standards for thermal efficiency and air tightness. Integrating renewable energy through the use of solar photovoltaic (PV) panels, and both air-source and ductless heat pumps, as well as biomass fuel sources and energy recovery technology.
According to the EPA, about one-third of the greenhouse gases are produced by existing buildings. As a society, we can’t address climate change and the inefficiency of older homes by building new net-zero homes. Deep energy retrofits can bring the homes people are living in today up to net zero.
This project was a High-Performance renovation, that took an early 1980’s home into modern architecture and Near Zero energy building. Coast Essential conducted all architectural design work, construction management and services on this project.
It was a unique renovation that took an approach to achieve Green Built Canada platinum certification. It was a complete remodel and restructure to improve the views and entertaining, while hitting deep energy efficiency targets.
The Passive House standard can be applied to both new and existing buildings, and it has been gaining popularity in Squamish. Passive House is an energy-efficient building design standard that originated in Germany in the late 1980s. The goal of the Passive House standard is to minimize the building’s energy consumption by optimizing its design and construction, resulting in a building that is comfortable, healthy, and energy-efficient. The Passive House standard requires buildings to meet strict energy performance criteria, such as airtightness, thermal insulation, and heat recovery ventilation.
The 5 Passive House principles, as defined by the Passive House Institute, are:
Passive House offers several advantages to Canadian homeowners. Firstly, it significantly reduces the amount of energy needed to heat and cool their homes. According to the Canadian Passive House Institute (CanPHI), a building constructed to the Passive House standards uses 80-90% less energy for heating and cooling compared to a typical Canadian home. This can result in substantial savings on energy bills and reduce your home’s carbon footprint.
The Passive House standard improves indoor air quality and comfort. The standard requires a high level of airtightness, which prevents the infiltration of outdoor air, and drafts and reduces heat loss, resulting in a more comfortable living environment. The standard requires a ventilation system that supplies fresh air while recovering heat from the exhaust air, ensuring a constant supply of fresh, filtered air and preventing indoor air pollution.
Homes constructed to the Passive House standard require less maintenance. They have a high resale value and can attract a premium price. With the growing awareness of environmental issues and the need for sustainable housing, Passive House construction is becoming increasingly popular in Canada and around the world.
With the addition of a sustainable energy solution such as a solar panel system, your Squamish Passive House can be upgraded to Net Zero. A net zero home will produce enough energy to cover its needs, and a net-positive home can even produce more energy than needed, selling the surplus to the BC Hydro power grid.
At Coast Essential we aim for the highest construction standards for thermal efficiency and air tightness.
Coast Essential is dedicated to the highest construction standards. Our services include cost estimation, permit submissions, subcontract tendering, and management of the entire construction and evaluation process, according to your budget.
Our in-house architectural design services streamline the transition from conception to construction. It allows for quick permit submission, and if necessary, late-stage design elements following.
Coast Essential’s team of craftsmen, architects, and designers specialize in building custom homes from the ground up, managing every aspect of the building process from start to finish. Building a home involves making hundreds or thousands of individual decisions. An experienced team can be the key to making the process of building your dream home efficient and enjoyable.