LEED Platinum Home in British Columbia

Our recommendations to everyone building a home is for the same, aim for energy efficiency, durability, safe indoor air quality and responsible material choices etc. I would point you to our guide pages to search by category or keyword -

Green building guide for high performance construction techniques

On top of that, we would suggest you take extra time on resilient home design. Since you won’t be there a lot of the time, try to foresee any issues your home may face and add design features to deal with them passively.

Here is a short list of measures you might want to consider that will help protect your home while you are away for long periods, and we have included as many relevant links as we can think of:

Choose a suitable lot to build a home with consideration put towards soil quality, water tables, emergency service access, and close enough to a community so you could have someone on call that can attend to your home regularly.  

Super-insulated homes such as passive house, and designing a home for passive solar heat collection will keep your energy costs at a minimum and also help it stay warm in the event of power failures.

When you suggest a basement, my first thought would be to avoid that and stay above grade. Building a basement is typically a more expensive way to build, and even if you take measures to protect it against flooding, you will still be at risk. A slab on grade house on high ground will safeguard your home against extreme weather events in a changing climate.  

If you do choose to go with a basement, please see our guide to durable and healthy basement construction, and take extra durability measures such as installing a sump pump, possibly a second one depending on water tables, and even a battery backup.

Choose durable roofing materials to protect against high winds, such as a professionally installed and well-fastened metal roof, or a living green roof. Asphalt shingles are the least durable and are susceptible to damage from wind and hail.

Smart homes and home monitoring with devices– control the systems of your home remotely, and monitor for intruders, temperature swings, and get smart phone notices for leaks from basements and or appliances.

We make no secret of the fact that we prefer slab on grade homes over basements, and particularly in your situation. Aside from what we mention above, it’s great to have a retirement home on a single level so you can avoid the need to negotiate stairs if you have mobility issues in the future. That said, we also have information on downsizing and home design for seniors, that you may want to consider now for when your travelling days end.

And to address the issue of cost – yes, you will put more money into a durable and efficient home, but they pay for themselves in the long run. As you plan to stay in this for the long term, we truly believe that the added investment for a greener home will pay off. The best way to keep costs down is to keep the size down and the design simple, so take time to consider how big a home you really need.

There are a lot of 'soft costs' that first time builders may not immediatetly consider - design and obtaining building plans, septic plans, permits and such, so you need to be really focused when initially designing to keep costs at a bare minimum. These pages would be the best place to start - 

Top Tips for Building Sustainable Green Homes on a Budget

How to Stay on Budget When Building a Home

And for general design ideas, I’d say you are  better off starting with a slab on grade and not a basement, and to build the slab yourself if you can. It will likely be cheaper than a (properly built*) full basement foundation, and a polished concrete floor is about as cheap a finished floor surface as you can get and very durable. 

And very importantly, keep it as small as possible at first, but design it in a way that you can easily add onto it if you need more space in the future (see the flexible housing page below). Typically builders will say a home costs about $200-$225 per square foot (though that varies by region), sometimes it will be a lot more, and if you’re careful and do a lot yourself then sometimes quite a bit less. It’s a matter of how complicated the design is, how expensive the materials you choose are, and labour.  

I would also try to use salvaged materials as much as possible, that will help save a lot of money. Start looking now on used material websites (linked below) to see what sort of stuff shows up regularly. This may help you a bit with design and to keep you motivated as well. So, to answer your question, save as much as you can but it is possible to do it with 100K if you don’t have to purchase land (and ideally not have to install a septic system or dig a well) so start saving. Below are a few links that I think will help you achieve your goals, good luck Paul!

• What to look for when buying a building lot
• How to build a home on shoestring budget
• Slab on grade construction step-by-step
• Flexible house design
• Where to buy used building materials