With the spiraling costs of living and concerns surrounding climate change, building an energy-efficient green home is becoming more and more appealing. However, many people are put off by the myth that building a sustainable home requires deep pockets and can’t be done on a budget.
But just as with any house, provided you do your research, plan well ahead of time and have a financial “buffer-zone” in place, you can build a dream green home without breaking the bank.
Plan Your Budget Carefully
If you’ve ever spoken with someone who has built their own home, you’ll know that things can change during the construction process and unexpected costs can arise. Project overruns are very common in any type of home construction so it’s best to account for this in your plans.
Before you start, ensure that you have enough money saved or clearance from the bank to go ahead, with a little extra in reserve in case things go wrong. If you are building your green home in stages, ensure you can build until it is at least watertight so that it won’t deteriorate while you chase funds to continue.
When sorting out your budget, you also need to consider where you are going to live during the build, without spending a fortune on rent. Whether you’re looking to rent in Calgary or Vancouver, online rental databases can greatly improve your chances of finding something suitable.
Choose Your Block Wisely
Get the Green Building Project Checklist
Use this handy checklist on your next project to keep track of all the ways you can make your home more energy-efficient and sustainable.
Selecting the right block on which to build your sustainable home is essential, as some lots are less conducive to green builds than others. Not only do you want its location to support a sustainable lifestyle (eg. proximity to transit, school and work) but its aspect should be favourable for warming your home in winter.
Since Canada is in the northern hemisphere in a four-season climate, you want to look for south-facing blocks so you can take advantage of passive solar heating. In warmer seasons, having trees that will shade your dwelling can help to keep cooling costs to a minimum.
Hire a Green Architect
Unless you are highly experienced in the field yourself, then you’re probably going to require the services of an architect to design your sustainable home. You want to find someone who has experience designing LEED-certified or passive solar homes and who can show you a portfolio as proof.
If you’re on a budget, there might be a financial incentive to go with an architect who is just starting out. But in many cases, the experience of the architect is key in ensuring that the green home you envisioned meets your expectations and can be completed without running over budget.
Be Organized
Selecting and sourcing green building materials can take a bit longer when compared to conventional materials as they are sometimes classified as “special orders.” Because of this, you need to plan ahead carefully to ensure that your build stays as close to schedule as possible.
Building material shipment delays can have a devastating domino effect, pushing back other tradespeople for weeks, if not months. So plan well ahead of time, do your research and don’t leave decisions to the very last minute.
Select Sustainable Materials
A key ingredient in designing and building an affordable green home is the use of environmentally friendly and high-performing building materials. This is something that you should discuss with your building team as they will probably have recommendations and ideas about what is right for your situation.
Not only will your choice of building materials impact how well-insulated and sustainable the home is, but it will also impact the cost of operating the home over the long run. Material choice can even improve your indoor air quality or make it worse for the building’s occupants.
You want to look for materials that are durable and environmentally friendly while also being healthy in terms of human habitation. You can do this by carefully scrutinizing the product data sheets of material suppliers to know what goes into their goods.
Invest Wisely in Your Features and Fittings
It can be tempting to blow all of your budget on an amazing kitchen and then just settle for windows at the cheaper end of the spectrum. But installing double (or even triple) paned windows is an investment in the long term and could save you considerably on energy consumption.
If you can’t afford them, at least go with windows with a solar-reflective film so that heat from the outside is reflected in the summer and heat from the inside is retained during the winter.
The same goes for insulation. Invest is the best that you can afford for your floors, walls and attic as it will save you money in the future.
Hire a Builder or Go It Alone
For many people looking to build a green home on a budget, doing as much DIY as possible seems like a sensible solution. But in many situations, this backfires, with the owner lacking the skills and experience to complete a satisfactory job and ending up calling in professional tradespeople partway through.
In some jurisdictions, getting owner-builder plans approved has become next to impossible and becomes a bigger headache than it is worth.
What about helping the builder? Is that an effective way of saving some cash? This depends on the relationship you have with the builder and the skills you can bring to the table. If there’s an area in which you have the expertise and you won’t be slowing your building team down, then chat with your builder about being involved.
If not, consider offering to do the cleanup at the end of each day. It will mean your builders don’t have to stop half an hour early to clean up and can continue working through to the official knock-off time.
Complete the Build Before You Move In
When building on a budget, it can be really tempting to move into the property before it is finished so that you can save money on rent. Not only does this mean living in a mess of building materials, debris and dust but it can be really tempting to put off jobs to “do later” that end up never getting done.
Years down the track when you go to sell the house, you’ll find there are a myriad of unfinished tasks and you’ll never get the satisfaction of living in your fully completed green home.
Once you’re good and ready to move in, we recommend that you read through A Guide to Sustainable Moving From Start to Finish to increase your chances of a smooth moving experience.
Feature image: alluregraphicdesign; Image 1: Anne Nygård
