About

If doing an old house net zero renovation were easy, there would be no need for this site. In fact, to get to the starting point, we invested more than a year in exploring options. The time we invested in studying the problem allowed us to gain confidence that we could get to net zero (or at least pretty close). We owe this confidence and our thanks to this team. We are happy to share our list of allies in hopes that it saves you time putting together your project.

HOME TEAM

Don Feinberg & Wendy Littlefield, Owners

Scott + Scott, Architects, David Scott + Susan Scott, Olivia Bull Designer - Working with them could not have been a more positive experience. Named best young architects in Canada by AIA. Vancouver-based.

Taylor McCarthy, Frontera Homes, Contractor & Taylor’s most excellent team of carpenters - Auggie, Brody, Graham, Matt, Gavyn, and Isaac. Winner best renovation over $300,000 Vancouver Island - chpter of Canadian Home Builders Association (for our house)

Matt Grocoff, Off the Grid Consulting - Living Building Challenge Consultant, Ann Arbor based - got us on the right track. Matt retrofitted his heritage home to net zero - and was the first person to accomplish this in the US.

Mark Bernhardt, Bernhardt Construction. Energy Modeling, blower door test and system balancing. He mentored and referred us to Taylor at Frontera.Pioneer of Passivehouse design.

Dan Wicke, Wicke Herfst Maver, Structural Engineers.

Claire Feinberg asked no credit be given for her contribution to this site or the project. I had to object. Designer, organizer, political strategist, educator and all round galaxy of creativity, our daughter, Claire built the architecture of the site on Squarespace and taught me the rudiments of using it …in a day.

We commenced the demo on September 27, 2019. The original plan was to inhabit the house by June 2020. Covid happened and the schedule got delayed. Nevertheless we hit the net zero mark by late September 2020. The OCCUPERM - certificate of occupancy came in the spring of 2021.

The list of people we call “Valued Associates” is long. It is meant to be helpful - not intimidating, This house would not have succeeded to the degree that it did as a net zero model and aesthetic triumph without the help of many fine minds.

We were ble to tackle the job in one fell swoop. But that is not feasible for everyone. There is no need to do everything at once. Any improvement in energy efficiency and local self-sufficiency is commendable. This source list is meant to help you pick and choose - to let you know who we turned to for a particular aspect of the build.

Our best advise is to draw up a master list of what you hope to achieve, get a blower door test, establish a budget, reflect, research and then, once ready jump in with both feet. That might mean tackling one system (say windows) or something more comprehensive. Every bit counts.

Images of the people who made our house are provided by Wendy Littlefield.

VALUED ASSOCIATES

John Ho - Community Energy Specialist City of Victoria (Engineering and Public Works)

Andy Lynch - E15 Build General Contractor, carpentry & joinery certified by City & Guild London, Andy has done important installations in Toronto. He and his wife Moira Wilson have been friends and advisors throughout the build. Moira is a landscape planner who helped guide me to native plant sources and much more. Andy fashioned a beautiful full length mirror out of spare, tongue in groove floor boards (mitre folded).Our highest recommendation.

Broadwell Metal Adam & Slade did the batten rail top cap and the hand bar down the front and back stairs, rail in the kitchen and shower rod. Superior job all round. Beautiful shots of their work on their site - #yyj #victoria #architecture #architecturalmetal #welding #tigwelding #cncplasma.

Steve Unger, Viridian Solar a worker-owned cooperative manager know for outstanding service and education. Steve Unger has since moved on to Shift Energy Group Viridian installed system is working like a charm. Viridian did a case study of the house.

AGN Enterprises aka Andrew Namur - Excavating and 250-888-7644 Andrew and his wife live on a farm and so also the potential for manure. Belgian heritage evident from his logo. Oh we absolutely adore Belgium.

Ralph Amos - Master shingler with 30 years’ experience in this trade (250-516-2508). Like Jim Meunier (brickwork), an independent operator worth waiting for. Absolutely top notch!

Chandra Horth - City Green Solutions, Energy and GHG Reduction Client Services Representative. This service really helps set goals and parameters for green reno.

Elysia Glover - Website collaborator and explainer of all things nonprofit in Victoria.

Shaun St-Amour - 475 High Performance Building -Supply super green building materials and expert training. Huge help on the project.

Accutemp supplied and installed the Mitsubishi Heat Pump. It works great and they were very dedicated to getting everything right. Mitsubishi is doing a case study of our house.

Tony Bunka - Arq Electric - Our contractor, Taylor, often works with Tony (778-977-6789). He was thorough and meticulous.

Bocci Lighting & Manufacturing - Vancouver and Berlin-based lighting company - source of our amazing chandelier and specialized outlets. These lights guaranteed to increase happiness. One of the great design talents of Vancouver - the Pacific Northwest and beyond! Hardly anything in our house has received as much acclaim as our Bocci chandelier which Susan and David Scott procured for us.

Trevor Coey - Bartlett Tree Experts did the pruning at the beginning of the build and the planting at the end. Able and amiable arborists all. Even our wood chips came via Bartlett c/o seismic upgrade work they did at Vic High.

Nicholas Alexander Painting - Nicholas Callow - interior painting and wallpapering FR SA. Experienced with Farrow & Ball paint. Bespoke Design turned us on to them.

Steve Roscoe - The Woodland Flooring Company oiled our floor and ceiling boards. Also agent for the Saicos all natural, vegetable oil-based stains we use and love.

Demitasse Cafe Kitchen & Garden Center - Barbara Gergel - designer, Rob & Kathryn - co-owners great resource for unusual plants. Will return there when landscaping budget allows.

Saanich Native Plants - Our source for custom wildflower mix. Outstanding resource for indigenous plant material.

Ben Brannen - Bespoke Design is the Farrow & Ball retailer for Victoria. He is a consummate professional - Ben helped me hang the Bocci lamp, and repurposed or fashioned the linen curtains. leather saddlebags and an old mink coat into a throw. The design shop is a beautiful Faberge egg of carefully curated objects.

Max Connors - Heat Savers, local shop supplies STUV wood stove - a Belgian high performance wood stove. Heat Savers made sure everything worked right. Stuv rep was on the case as well.

Jim Meunier - Sunburst Stone, Mason (250-880-0881, sunburststone@hotmail.com) Jim used recycled brick salvaged from our old chimneys (plus more) to build our distinctive stoop, stairs & planter. He became the unofficial ambassador for the site. A more talented and kind mason you will not find. Worth the wait.

Michael Ford Design - Millwork throughout the house including the stunning kitchen armoire. The pictures speak for themselves. Michael really cared that what he made worked for us.

Al Hall -Haul It Up Salvage Guru - our dormer ceilings came from a tear down in Uplands he oversaw.

Ivo Zanatta Matrix Marble - Duncan BC - Tjlupana marble quarried at Tahsis on the island by this family-run stone business. Superb resource. Scott & Scott often turns to them when stone is called for. Important local business. They also run Zanatta Winery - the first on Vancouver Island.

Tim Chang & Ben Locking - Loewen Windows Highly performant, super quiet and beautiful windows. Wood inside and metal clad. We could not be happier. Also at work on a case study of the role of windows in energy efficient builds with our house as a case study for the AIA conference in Canada.

Wescon Windows & Doors - Duncan based company of distinction. Our front door came from their reject department. Sister company to Fenstur a great supplier of windows made on Vancouver Island.

Canadian Bavarian Lumber - wood and shingles of the highest order from this mill in Duncan. Worth the visit. Professional to the max. Recommended by Scott & Scott.

Core Landscaping is where we sourced the honeycomb grid porous driveway underlayment for our courtyard (ahem, driveway). Great green Comox-based, woman-run company provides landscaping solutions. Reduce runoff and gain water credits. We topped the grid with pea gravel from GravelMart in Victoria.

Cantu Plumbing - bathroom fixtures from shop in Vancouver. Donna was dream to work with.

Niels Anthonsen & Adam Campkin - Enerlytics modeling got us going on directions for getting to net zero. Adam remained a helpmate throughout the build.

Gord & Ann Baird - Eco-Sense Consulting - Rainwater Harvest system. Home based business in Highlands - their example is inspiring. We implemented only part of what they designed. Authors of book on composting toilets.

Seamus Leslie - Watershed Plumbing- absolutely rock solid sub. A pleasure to work with.

Kimoff Nursery - Saanichton property where we cought for our lovely magnolia.

Part & Whole A beginning, a middle, and an end. Nathan Martell makes beautiful furniture right here in Victoria. In the beginning - we passed Nathan and his partner Lizzy’s Fernwood house and did a double take. Scott & Scott Architects designed it. The middle: We asked Scott & Scott if they would take on our house. The end: When it came to furnishing the house almost all came from auction & second hand store. A place of honor was reserved for a couch by Nathan - see pix in our blog. Local Hero!

Fawcett Mattress absolutely super natural latex bedding. We had them made a hemp covered buttoned day bed for the back bedroom. Geek out on good bedding at this fabulous island made enterprise. Buy local and better here!

We tried minimize our waste but….at the end we had some yard and construction debris to make disappear. The Junk Box - Professional Junk Removal & Recycling came to the rescue. They separate everything, donate furniture to Salvation Army. We had a very good experience with them. Here’s their number 250-658-3944