Suppliers
Our Builders
We chose this master builder for the project not only for their long standing reputation of excellence in home building and project management, but also for their forward thinking philosophies. To achieve our goals through the building of our home, we needed to work with a builder who could relate to our sustainable ideals while also being flexible to adjust to the demands that new building practices, alternative suppliers and precise building techniques have on the project.The other major consideration when choosing this builder was their reputation for working with the home owner or designer to complete the home as designed.
It takes great skill and organization to take a plan to reality with little to no compromise for the designer or home owner.
Less skilled contractors or builders can run into difficulty working on tricky details or or while implementing new ideas and can consequently use the schedule as leverage to reason for a plan change – a compromise. Branthaven is a no compromise builder.
Michael Leyer, vice president of the Branthaven Custom division lends his years of practical fine homebuilding experience on site. Michael applies his exuberance for sustainable building and new technologies to the project while broadening the set of preferred suppliers for the job.
Bio — Michael Leyer is a licensed General Contractor & Certified Master Carpenter with 25 years experience in Project Management, Design and Construction in the custom home sector. For 15 years Mike was a member of the Cochren Homes team, coordinating and supervising the construction and renovation of some of Oakville’s finest homes. In 2006 Mike opened Signatures Homes Design and Development and in 2007 launched Access Mobility, a barrier-free homes design and renovation company.
Mike has been Vice Chair of the Renovators Council for the Greater Toronto Home Builders Association, Chair for the Education Review Board for Apprenticeship Training programs at George Brown College, Director of Design & Development, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts and Director for Walls of Hope Charity, a local-based charity that gives families a helping hand by providing a 3 day home makeover.
The Lighting Designer
ALD (Architectural Lighting Design Inc.)
Rather than put a bunch of dots on a plan and leave the rest to the electrician, we felt it was important to look to the expertise of a lighting designer when it came to laying out a lighting plan for our home. The lighting designer understands residential construction an the demands of the user. Everything from the amount of light needed for reading or cooking to exactly what colour temperature lighting is best for displaying art. When considering the green or sustainable aspect of the home, the lighting designer is experienced at determining the min/max lighting required, most efficient system for minimizing energy consumption or heat gain and knowledge of the future of lighting systems to ensure the longevity of your choices. Lighting designers also have a very wide knowledge of lighting fixtures to assist you in finding the right fit to suit any style, then guiding you to purchase the lighting or they can purchase themselves at trade rates.
ALD is one of the few small lighting design firms in Canada that are experienced in both design and energy management – they have retrofitted millions of feet of commercial/government facilities with energy saving lighting and systems to assist Canada in meeting energy reduction goals.
Architectural Lighting Design is involved in providing specialty lighting design services for the institutional, retail, commercial, industrial and residential markets.
Hydronic Radiant Floor & Heating Supplies
When it comes to the permanent infrastructure in a home that will get used more than most anything else, the hydronic radiant in floor materials need to be the best available – especially since our system will be set in concrete! Like with other materials and technologies in the house, we chose to select our radiant materials on their merit and not based on what the end contractor might want. However in this case, the contractors being reviewed for the project also recommend IPEX WarmRite Floor materials as their first choice.
IPEX is a Canadian company with offices and production facilities in the local market which also makes them very attractive.
Aside from their reputation for quality products, IPEX is a company committed to creating and supplying products that are improvements over negative environmental legacy methods and technologies. Other products like their flexible no weld plumbing pipes reduce the need for lead and solders, require less copper to make, eliminate pipe knock and require far less labour to install. The result is a very efficient system that is less costly and should far outlast legacy metal plumbing.
Materials
Concrete Floor System – Surface Design Systems
Our house is technically a series of systems – like vital organs in an animal, our systems are linked and integral to the workings and sustainable efficiency of the home. The floor is one such important system that not only has to look good and perform under many years of abuse as a surface, it has to contain and protect the radiant heat tubes that are embedded within it as well as evenly distribute the heat and provide thermal mass.
SDS is an expert in matching concrete flooring technologies with each unique application. This award winning firm from St. Catherines is run by the father and son team of Rick and Lee Cuthbert. Operating since the early ’90s, the company has been fine tuning its expertise in concrete subfloor, concrete based topping solutions and matched sealers and coatings.
From the first communication we had with SDS, they came across as extremely professional and knowledgeable – answering and anticipating all our technical questions, especially those regarding LEED and non VOC demands. With follow up on a few of their many references and testamonials, the word was the same — SDS delivers a high quality product to the expectation of the client.
Stone Work – Diamond Masonry
One of the main features of our house, both aesthetically and functionally is the stone work. Consequently we spent a lot of time focusing on the style, source and construction of the stone. So when it came time to choose a stone mason, we were particular to find a company that could give us a more artisanal approach to their work than supplying the typical stone or composite veneer pattern that is prevalent today.
Diamond Masonry were chosen for their reputation, previous work and willingness to give it their all to achieve an old school artistic look – reminiscent of drystack ledgerock and rubble. 905.741.9478 Hamilton
Stone - Limberlost Stone
That beautiful buff and grey coloured stonework and driveway at our home is locally sourced from Wiarton Ontario’s Limberlost Stone. You name it, they’ve got it – any cut, dimension, boulder or flagstone walk.
Insulation – Jarvis Insulation
The Jarvis team has operated in our area for a couple of generations and has a solid reputation for all types of applications in commercial and residential. Though they would be primarily using traditional insulation, Dave Jarvis has studied insulation methods and materials extensively and tries hard to convince customers that blown foam is where it’s at for all the reasons above. He admits that the price is a barrier of entry for a lot of people but that more and more are making the informed switch. While evaluating contracts from various suppliers, we heard more than a few times that Jarvis was the most knowledgeable and qualified to blow foam in our high performance house and would provide the best guidance and value. This has indeed been our experience.
Stairs and Railings – Clover Valley Iron Works
Pure, simple, art. As a designer, there’s nothing like working with other designers and artists – plain fun. Over the years I’ve had the pleasure of working with Jon Luff of Clover Valley on a number of artistic and industrial design projects that always turned out well. So when it came time to build the house, we knew there would be a multitude of applications for the Clover Valley skill set.
Clover Valley specializes in iron work of all kinds but breaks up their offering into main categories of stairs, railings and displays. For our home, we relied heavily on Jon’s insanely extensive stair experience to turn our designs into a practical application. And practical they are. Though the specialty is stairs and metal, many of the examples I’ve seen utilize a high caliber of finish in wood, plastics, laser cutting and waterjet.
Windows – Pella Windows and Doors
Not just a means to look out, the windows are the je ne sais quoi of the building, the invisible home element that can elevate a simple room into a spectacular room, or frame a purposely austere interior into context.
But more importantly, the windows are holes in your house if not selected properly and positioned in logical places. Windows account for a serious loss in energy because of many factors but simply their materials – glass and wood – are not insulating to the levels your walls are. They are a means of thermal transfer where the warm energy in the home during winter conducts to the colder exterior air – like an electrical connection it zips out through the glass. Conversely in summer, exterior temperatures are sucked toward the cooler interior temperatures while also the summer sun penetrates the interior through the glass heating up interior surfaces.
Consequently you need a good technology to lesson this natural problem with glass. For our windows and doors we chose Pella for the balance of the majority of our criteria; locality, perceived quality, style, energy efficiency and natural resource stewardship.
Wood Products – The house aims to use as much sustainable lumber as possible.
Rona has been a helpful source for FSC dimensional lumber and sheet panels.
Energy Providers
A strong component of thinking toward sustainability is to use what you have available to you, for the context that best suits your situation. So when considering power sources, alternate or mainstream, we concluded that the sophisticated grid that existed could supply the little power we would need as long as it met our criteria for clean sustainable power.
Hence Bullfrog Power. This is what Bullfrog has to say about their service.
Choosing green, carbon-free power is an easy way to do your part to help fight climate change and create a healthier environment for future generations. That’s why more and more homes and businesses are choosing to go green with Bullfrog Power. Bullfrog sources power exclusively from generators who meet or exceed the federal government’s Environmental ChoiceM Program EcoLogoM standard for renewable electricity. Bullfrog’s power comes from clean, emissions-free sources like wind power and low-impact water power instead of carbon-intensive sources like coal and oil.
Making the choice for clean, green power is a breeze. Learn more today about how your home or business can join the growing bullfrogpowered community.
www.bullfrogpower.com