Located just outside of Sydenham, Ontario near Frontenac Provincial Park, this custom home is a great showcase for what EkoBuilt can do.
Our ticket winners to the Ottawa Home & Garden Show!
Thanks to all who took the time to enter our ticket giveaway for this year’s Ottawa Home & Garden Show. We were happily overwhelmed by the response!
Win tickets! Ottawa Home & Garden Show 2019
We have 20 free tickets to the Ottawa Home & Garden Show 2019, which will run from March 21-24 at the EY Centre.
A sneak peek at current EkoBuilt projects
We’re starting 2019 with a great variety of projects, including single family homes, a two-family shared home, a net-zero multi-unit project and a very modern passive summer camp. Read along to learn more!
Net Zero Perth Townhomes Selling – Don’t Delay!
We’ve been delighted with the interest in EkoBuilt’s development of five townhomes in the PerthWorks Community in historic Perth, Ontario. Two units have already been claimed, leaving only two middle and one end unit for prospective buyers.
Photo from Downtown Heritage Perth
These units represent exceptional value – $289k for an end unit, $279k for a middle unit – for homes that will be net zero in their energy consumption and built to the Passive House standard.
Situated centrally in charming Perth, homeowners will be able to enjoy all that the town has to offer as well as being within commuting distance of Ottawa.
click to enlarge
EkoBuilt is working with homeowners to fully customize their units’ plans to best suit their needs and lifestyle.
The sample floorplans we offer are a great starting point and make tremendous use of the nearly 2,000 square feet of living space on these two-storey towns.
December 2019 Occupancy
Purchase contracts to be finalized by late February 2019, groundbreaking in May 2019, occupancy December 2019.
Purchasing your new home in Perth can be a reality that quickly.
Get all the details from the Perth Town Homes for Sale section on our website, and then please do get in touch. We’re here to answer your questions!
5 EkoBuilt Townhomes for Sale in Perth
EkoBuilt is undertaking a unique development of five townhomes in the PerthWorks Community in historic Perth, Ontario. These five super energy efficient town homes for sale will be freehold, and will be connected to net-metering, resulting in incredibly low monthly utility fees (approx $40/month). We’re aiming for Passive House certification on the units, and each will include EV plugs inside the integrated garage, drain water heat recovery, and much more.
Positioned just four blocks from Perth’s downtown core, the units will be part of the revitalized PerthWorks development. This is a fantastic opportunity to be part of a community development that will have many appealing features.
All 5 units will be fully customizable – you decide on the floorplan that will best fit your lifestyle and needs. You can even decide to convert the planned integrated garage into more living space if that works better for you.
With nearly 2,000 sq ft of living space, these Perth town homes will be spacious and comfortable and have the quality associated with every EkoBuilt home build.
Purchase contracts to be finalized by late February 2019, groundbreaking in May 2019, occupancy December 2019.
Don’t miss out! Get all the details on the 5 EkoBuilt Townhomes.
Visit the EkoModel Home during Passive House Days
We’re delighted to hear that so many of you plan to come out for a visit during Passive House Days 2018. If you’re interested in the Perth development, this is an excellent chance to see and experience an EkoBuilt passive home in person.
Passive House Days, 9 – 11 November 2018
9am to 4pm all 3 days
Visit the EkoModel Home
96 Libbys Road
McNab-Braeside (just west of Ottawa)
Enter to win an Eco-Feu tabletop fire
We’re continuing our promotion of the Eco-Feu tabletop fire feature! We’ve got a Cartier tabletop fire feature from ethanol fireplace maker Eco-Feu of Montreal to give away at the Ottawa Fall Home Show, which is on now through Sunday.
These units make perfect centerpieces and/or accent lighting. Burning for 2 to 3 hours, they feature a soothing, vibrant, real flame.
The Cartier unit when paired with a 4 gallons of fuel would normally total $308.80. Show attendees will be able to enter the raffle to win the unit – it’s as simple as joining our mailing list.
We will also have a complete Eco-Feu catalogue on hand so that attendees can see the other ethanol fire place/feature options. This is an important give away for us, as it helps with communicating the ease of heating a Passive House.
We look forward to see you at the Ottawa Fall Home Show this weekend (we’re at booth #1723)!
Ottawa Fall Home Show Ticket Winners
We have our winners! Congratulations to Lynda Larsen-Baldry, Sharon Irven, Renee Vanderkuip, G Bender, Renee Marcil, Rene Pouliot, Christine Hughes and Dennis Baril, all of whom have won tickets to attend the show next week.
We’re also delighted to announce that EkoBuilt will be the Official Coach Home Builder of the show and we look forward to speaking to homeowners exploring a coach home addition to their property. We’re also delighted to talk about the entire rang of our services and offerings.
Cartier Tabletop Fire Giveaway
We’re also going to be giving away a Cartier tabletop fire feature from ethanol fireplace maker Eco-Feu of Montreal. The Cartier unit – paired with a 4 gallons of fuel – would normally total $308.80. Show attendees will be able to join our mailing list at the show, automatically entering the draw.
We will also have a complete Eco-Feu catalogue on hand so that attendees can see the other ethanol fire place/feature options. This is an important give away for us, as it helps with communicating the ease of heating a Passive House.
Get Tickets!
Finally, if you still need to buy tickets to the show, you can save $3 per ticket by purchasing online. CAA members are also eligible for a special discount.
Win tickets to the 2018 Fall Home Show in Ottawa!
We have 20 tickets to give away to the 2018 edition of the Ottawa Fall Home Show! To enter the contest, just fill in our superfast questionnaire. We’ll pull the names this Thursday, 20 September (one week ahead of the event start).
2018 Ottawa Fall Home Show
27-30 September 2018
EY Centre, 4899 Uplands Drive
Ottawa, ON K1V 2N6
How to plan your Coach House in Ottawa
Intrigued by the possibility but uncertain about the details?
Interest in building a Coach House continues to come from many Ottawa residents, but along with that interest comes a lot of questions and a little confusion. We invariably have to point folks to the City for specific details pertaining to their property, but there is a lot of good information now available that can help residents to do their own research and feel comfortable in understanding their options in the early phases of planning.
The new Coach House legislation is a great boon for many. The potential in particular for an income-generating property right where you live is really appealing to many and it’s a seriously smart investment. But where to start if you have a property and you need to figure out what you can obtain permission to build?
In the fall of 2017, the City of Ottawa published a 32-page document on How to plan your Coach House in Ottawa, and here we break it down into small, easily understood parts. You may still end up reading that 32-page document, but starting here will give you the key information more quickly. We’re also able to clarify some information that is not currently available in that document.
What is a coach house?
Meant to be a gentle form of intensification, coach house are smaller dwellings – usually up to 40% the size of the principal dwelling – on residential properties with detached, semi-detached, duplex or some rowhouse dwellings (the latter must be on a corner lot or have access to a travelled lane).
In fact, any primary residence under 125 m² can accommodate a 50 m² house. For example a 90 m² house would still be allowed to have the coach house of 50 m² just like the 125 m² home. This is welcome news for homeowners of small, post-war homes in Ottawa.
The initial requirements list below is important – if your property doesn’t meet these basic guidelines, you can’t build.
Coach houses must be:
Zoning / building footprint: click to enlarge
- secondary to the principal dwelling
- remain as an accessory use to the main dwelling (and cannot be severed)
- designed and located to be in harmony with the neighourhood and immediate neighbours
- serviced by the principal dwelling’s water/sanitation connections, or by a direct connection when the main dwelling is on a private well/septic
- designed and located to preserve mature trees
Additionally:
- development is not allowed on the floodplain
- for urban lots, the coach house must be in the rear yard (in rural lots larger than 0.4 hectares exceptions are permitted)
- in the urban area, the main dwelling and the coach house must share the same parking area and yards
- the coach house must not exceed lot coverage of 40% of the yard
- max. height not to exceed the height of the primary dwelling (up to 3.6m, or a flat roof of 3.2m in urban areas; 4.5m or up to 6.1m when a garage is included in village/rural areas)
- it’s not possible to have a secondary dwelling unit inside the principal dwelling and a coach house; you may only have one of these
- existing accessory structures may be permitted to convert in part or whole (e.g. garages, sheds or stables) up to a max. footprint of 80m2 (urban area) or 95m2 (rural area)
EkoBuilt’s Capital Coach House with garage (988 sq.ft. ) 1 of 8 designs
2 Storey Coach Houses
“An application to allow the height of up to a two storey coach house in the urban area through a minor variance may be considered where the conditions for minor variances have been considered and the coach house is proposed to contain a garage on the main level.”
From How to Plan Your Coach House in Ottawa, City of Ottawa
Pre-planning considerations
All coach houses require a Building Permit, and any to be sited with private septic/well will also require a Site Plan Control Approval application.
Make sure your planned investment will be viable first by understanding these key factors:
Servicing feasibility: water/sanitation
Your coach house will need full water/sanitation service, just like the primary dwelling. For urban lots with municipal service, you will need to extend that service to the coach house, and this “may mean modifying or replacing the service at the point where it connects with the City’s water and sewermain”. For lots with private well/septic, the coach house will need to connect to these.
In either case, you will want to consult the appropriate professionals to help ensure that you have the best plan and infrastructure in place so that approval is given.
The City of Ottawa does also recommend that any new coach house also have an independent water heater; Ontario building code does not require this, but it’s strongly recommended.
Servicing feasibility: electrical
Naturally you will need to investigate the electrical service for your primary dwelling to see how it may be extended to your planned coach house. Additional capacity will almost always be needed, and you need to develop an electrical plan that will be approved.
Servicing feasibility: grading/drainage
EkoBuilt’s Pinewood Paradise (659 sq.ft.), 1 of 8 coach house designs
A formal grading and drainage plan will be required by the City of Ottawa as part of your application for a Building Permit for any coach house “55 m2 or larger in size and/or for coach houses which are within 1.2 metres from a property line”. It makes good sense to consider grading and drainage as part of any coach house project.
All of these steps are a fundamental part of the planning process, and EkoBuilt can help ensure that you go about this properly. Our team of professionals can make this part of the process much easier, navigating key steps along the way.
Design and placement
Some commonsense factors come into play with the placement and design for your coach house:
- setbacks from property lines will apply and must be adhered to
- height permission will depend on location and lot size (see above)
- privacy for neighbours will be important; entrances and windows will generally face towards the principal dwelling and not outwards toward neighbours
- the Zoning By-law requires a walkway from the coach house to the street of 1.2m in width (for pedestrian access and emergency services), however the walkway may not be used to expand parking on the lot
- the City’s 32-page guide provides excellent visual examples of different urban and rural coach house configurations
Additional costs
EkoBuilt’s Tiny Canuck (499 sq.ft.), 1 of 8 coach house designs
Finally, remember that your new coach house will require insurance coverage and it will also increase the property taxes that you pay.
For a coach house that will be used as an Airbnb rental or another form of income generation, the total cost of a coach house may be well worth it.
Looking for a great solution? The EkoBuilt team is ready to help make your coach house dream a reality, with our expertise, experience and 8 Coach House designs. We can also create a custom design just for you.
Give us a shout today: paul@ekobuilt.com or 613-227-4663.
Download the City of Ottawa’s 32-page document on How to plan your Coach House in Ottawa