Look, I've been doing this for 15 years now, and honestly? The whole sustainable design thing has moved way beyond just slapping solar panels on roofs and calling it a day. It's about actually thinking through every choice – from where your lumber's coming from to how sunlight hits the kitchen at 3pm on a Tuesday.
These aren't theoretical calculations – they're actual readings from buildings we've finished over the past few years in the Vancouver area.
Average energy reduction compared to standard builds
Water consumption decrease with our greywater systems
Construction waste diverted from landfills
LEED certified projects completed since 2015
I'll be straight with you – we're kinda picky about what goes into our buildings. Every material choice is basically a conversation about embodied energy, local availability, and yeah, whether it'll still look good in 20 years.
We've got this connection with a demolition outfit that saves old growth fir beams from buildings slated for teardown. The character in that wood? You literally can't buy it new. Plus, you're keeping perfectly good material out of the chipper.
Carbon saved per project: ~8.2 tonnes CO2 equivalent
CLT's having a moment, and for good reason. It's strong as hell, sequesters carbon, and honestly? Working with it is just more pleasant than dealing with concrete forms all day. We've been specifying BC-sourced CLT since 2017.
Structural efficiency: 5x lighter than concrete, comparable strength
Indoor air quality's no joke, especially in Vancouver's climate where buildings are sealed up tight half the year. We spec low-VOC paints, adhesives, sealants... the whole nine yards. Your lungs'll thank you.
Air quality improvement: 72% reduction in harmful off-gassing
BC's got incredible stone resources, so why truck stuff in from across the continent? We work with quarries within 100km when possible. Cuts transport emissions and supports regional suppliers who actually know the material.
Transport reduction: Average 850km less shipping per tonne
These transformations show what's possible when you commit to doing things right. No greenwashing, just solid design decisions.
Everyone loves talking about solar panels and green roofs – and yeah, those are great. But sustainable design is also about the boring, unglamorous stuff that actually makes the biggest difference.
We spend hours working out how every stud, beam, and connection affects heat flow. It's tedious as hell, but it's where you lose or save the most energy.
A building's only as efficient as its weakest seam. We do blower door tests on everything and actually fix what we find – not just check a box and move on.
Sometimes the best tech is just... rotating the building 15 degrees. Or extending an overhang by two feet. Simple geometry saves tons of mechanical cooling.
Whether you're starting from scratch or retrofitting an existing building, we can help figure out what sustainable strategies actually make sense for your situation. No cookie-cutter solutions, just honest advice based on what we've learned from doing this for years.
This is how we actually work through a project – not some idealized textbook version.
We walk the site at different times of day, check sun angles, feel the wind patterns, talk to neighbors. Digital tools are great but there's no substitute for being there.
We run building performance simulations early and often. It's way cheaper to move a window in a computer model than on site when the framing's already up.
We vet every major material choice for embodied carbon, durability, local availability, and maintenance requirements. Life-cycle thinking, not just upfront costs.
Details matter. We're on site regularly making sure what we drew actually gets built right. Sustainable design only works if it's executed properly.