A sharply executed INFILL
It took a scant two months to demo an old house and build a new modular one that barely disrupted the Wellington Village neighbourhood and fits right in
We’ve all read about the convulsions that infill projects can induce in older neighbourhoods.
First, nearby homeowners, fearful of having the character of their community destroyed by some ungainly structure, band together in protest.
Then the project languishes as the city and property owner wrangle over everything from setbacks to parking.
Finally, there’s the noise and mess as delivery trucks rumble up quiet streets and contractors saw and hammer for weeks on end.
Steve Sharp and Kelli DavySharp wanted none of that when they decided to do an infill in the traditional neighbourhood of Wellington Village.
In a textbook case of how to do things right, they wound up with a home that neighbours and the city like and that was completed in an extraordinarily scant two months and four days.
What’s more, they did it by replacing their existing brick home with a modular house, a factory-built structure trucked in on flatbeds and assembled on site, the kind of project one associates with a cottage, not an urban dwelling.
They’ve tracked the entire
process on a website, likeits
alwaysbeenhere.ca, which is about to be launched.
“It’s a process I couldn’t imagine going as well as it did,” says Steve, 53, a selfemployed accountant with a background in construction who was the project’s general contractor.
What the process yielded was a 2,200-square-foot, 1930s-style Craftsman home that fits its neighbourhood so well that I drove right by it the first time, only noticing the home when I turned around and spotted the stillunfinished landscaping.
Inside, its open-concept design blends a new-home feel with old-fashioned comfort.
“We wanted it to fit in,” says Kelli, 45, a product manager with a software company.
Adds Steve, “We chose to live in the neighbourhood, but that doesn’t mean you just go in and change it.”
The couple moved to Wellington Village from Beacon Hill in 2011, planning to renovate the older brick home they’d bought on a corner lot on Smirle Avenue.
When that proved financially and structurally impractical, the couple started roughing out their own design for a new home and calling architects and builders for quotes.
At upwards of $350 a square foot, building a custom-designed home from scratch also proved impractical and they wound up contacting Guildcrest Homes.
It’s a modular builder based in Morewood, Ont., and has assembled other homes in urban Ottawa.
“I was thinking modular meant plastic walls,” says Steve. “But then we went to the factory and saw what they did, and we decided to try it.”
The couple worked with Guildcrest’s Martin Hagedorn to resolve design issues. Customization to this extent is very common at Guildcrest, says Hagedorn.
CONSULTATION PAYS
Steve also consulted with the City of Ottawa’s planning department in early 2012 before the city’s new infill design rules came into force. He wanted to ensure his and his wife’s ideas would comply with city expectations.
“He did his due diligence and was very receiving of my suggestions,” says Ottawa city planner Kimberley Dandy. Those suggestions included the addition of a door on the street-facing side of the home to address the “public realm.”
The couple has nothing but praise for the city’s planning department. “They were like advisers — it’s a role that people don’t use,” says Steve. “People just assume it’s going to be adversarial.”
The couple similarly got neighbours on side by hosting a backyard get-together last summer to show their plans. That paid off, they say, with 12 homeowners writing letters of support for their project, which the couple presented to the city when seeking approval for the build.
“We welcomed the fact that they were letting us in on what they planned,” says Ross Snyder, who lives a couple of doors away. “They were very transparent. It was a good example of how things can be done.”
He says that’s not always the case in their neighbourhood, where other, less attractive infills have been built. Of course, the couple was not proposing a 20-storey condo tower. Or even a three-unit rental, which an architect told them would be a good investment.
The plan sailed through the city approval process without a hitch, says Steve.
THE BUILD
Demolition of the old home started Dec. 3, 2012, and they moved into the new one Feb. 11 of this year.
“I went to work, and when I came back, it was just about gone,” Kelli says about the demolition of the old brick home. “All the inside was exposed; it felt a bit invasive.”
With winter weather threatening, there wasn’t much time for feelings. The old place was carted off — much of it recycled — the new foundation poured, and the six sections of the home trucked in and swung into place with cranes. It was a neighbourhood spectacle. “I found myself staring out the window and watching it moved into place,” says Fred Goodwin, who lives a block away. “It brought out the little boy in all males.”
The process also brought out the muscle in Steve, who found himself on Boxing Day swinging a pickaxe into the frozen ground to make an electrical trench from house to garage.
Once they had occupancy, the couple worked late into the night for weeks on end, laying 1,800 square feet of hardwood, painting furiously and handling a slew of other interior projects.
That work’s not yet complete, but the finish line is in sight.
THE RESULT
Outside, the home, with its neighbourly porch and half-mullioned windows, is selfpossessed but unassuming.
The couple plans an English garden in front, where they’ve left a large boulder unearthed during excavation for neighbourhood children to clamber on while waiting for the school bus. (Their own children are grown.)
Inside, that gleaming hardwood, unexpected wall angles and the kitchen’s deep purple cabinetry and black granite countertops are both arresting and restful.
“We both love to cook,” says Kelli, “so the kitchen was a primary focus in our design.”
They are also finishing up three decks, one of them off the master bedroom.
All told, the house cost about $175 a square foot, including demolition.
Built to Energy Star standards, it should cost less for energy than the old home, which was half the size, says Steve.
The neighbourhood seems happy, as well.
“It’s not precisely like other houses, but it generally fits,” says Snyder.
Steve and Kelli, meanwhile, are settling in, turning it from a house to a home.
“It was Steve’s co-ordination that brought this all together,” says Kelli. “The schedules were so tight, we thought we’d never get it done.”
“It was fun,” says Steve, “but I will never do that again.”