Vancouver's Real Estate Market

[noclue]

Just some random thoughts.
1. Even though it's aesthetic, try to avoid stucco and flat roofs as it's not ideal in our rainy climate. Stick with a decent wool insulation and not spray foam. Triple pane windows are good. Solar, unless you wanna be self-sufficient or feel good about environmentalism you'll never make back your cost in BC's low electricity costs along with our less than ideal solar climate.
2. Vancouver reversed their ban on nat gas, I don't know if you're going to use heat pumps or radiant heating. Permit timelines are probably the biggest headache in Vancouver proper. Gas vs induction stove is up to you.
3. Dog wash in the garage is very convenient and relatively cheap to install.
4. If it's your forever home, consider installing an elevator or have another master bedroom on the ground floor.

[EvoFire]

I would like to add hot water connection to the garage, or a small instant on hot water unit in the garage.

[Hehe]

One luxury item that I'd suggest to add is home battery backup.

Not only it provides peace of mind in case of outage, with BC Hydro offering time of the day pricing, you could have the batteries to power your entire home (maybe minus some super power hungry equipments) during peak hours and recharging in cheap hours.

Solar, as noclue has pointed out, it's hard to recover the investment. The only way I'd do it is if you've got some fences that you need to do, and they are in a direction that doesn't get too much blockage, you could do bi-facial solar panels instead of actual wood fence. Solar might even be slightly cheaper than good hardwood fences. This plus the batteries, you can get a relatively quick recovery period.

[supafamous]

Originally Posted by ntan

I have a builder in mind but I haven't settled on an architect/designer. Should I also get an interior designer? I'm curious what upgrades people are considering for their own/prospective homes? triple pane windows? solar? We're open to completely gutting the place, extensions, lifting the house (to raise basement ceiling height) if necessary, etc.

Any feedback or tips appreciated!

I'd consider an interior designer a must have - there's just so many little decisions (knob? handle? black? grey? knurled? single or double?) you'll have to make and you'll find yourself constantly doubting yourself or not having enough knowledge to know what options are out there. An interior designer can streamline all of that - they know the vendors, they will ask you how you plan to use something, they know the colour palettes (marble and gold everywhere!) etc.

A small little detail my builder did is that for the window in front of sinks the bottom shelf of the window (not sure the correct name) used the same quartz as the countertop rather than wood - no chance or it ever rotting and now I can use it to stick wet things there to dry. Super handy little detail.

I also have faucet that's touch sensitive - also super handy - I'm so used to it that I hate using the faucets that the poors use now. Don't be a poor, get a touch sensitive faucet.

[RabidRat]

Originally Posted by supafamous

Don't be a poor,

[Harvey Specter]

I started a new build on the west side and it's already turning into a headache. I'll post more details about the build later but if you're planning to do a major reno, make sure you overbudget, not underestimate. And if you're buying an older west side house with plans to gut it be careful about what’s lurking behind the walls. A lot of these older homes have hidden issues like outdated wiring, leaky plumbing, rot, mould and even hazardous materials like asbestos or old insulation that needs specialized removal. All of that adds up fast so go in expecting surprises and budget accordingly.

And speaking of renos, I have a rental property in the Dunbar area and just had a major renovation done last month. It's a 25 yr old house that I purchased in 2018. It's been a rental ever since so as you can imagine the condition went from decent to utter crap. The washrooms had mould, the skylights were leaking which caused more mould, and the carpets were trashed. I decided to use Mr. Build and they did an amazing job. Here's a befor and after for the washroom, it was basically a gut job because the mold had made its way into the drywall.