Finding the right firm to build my Vancouver Laneway House

The last time I wrote about my laneway house, I was still contemplating the options. There is no shortage of companies out there that are wanting to get into the laneway housing game. I did extensive online research, emailed and called about a dozen companies and whittled it down to four contenders. After interviewing them, talking to some of their clients and checking out some of their work I finally came to a decision and selected Lanecraft.

This'll look good in the backyard

Lanecraft is one of the lesser known firms specializing in the design and construction of laneway houses in Vancouver. They don’t have dozens of completed projects that they can put their name to. In fact, at this point they have completed one laneway house (they are in the midst of construction on at least two others and about to begin three or four).

What drew me to them was what pushed me from some of the others. Most importantly, they listened…and they spoke my language. They were not about pressure or sales, they were about creating a space that worked for me…and making it of the highest possible quality. I got the sense that they truly cared about creating exactly what their clients wanted and I did not feel just like another prospect.

In the end, it was their commitment to quality that really made the decision easy. They weren’t going to be the cheapest (although the majority of the firms were in very close proximity price-wise), they weren’t going to be the fastest (much of the time it takes to build is actually driven by timelines set by Vancouver City Hall), but I am confident that they are going to build the highest quality home possible.

While I wanted to make the investment as efficient as possible, price wasn’t the determining factor. I want to build something that will last, something that will add value to my property and that I can be proud of. When I looked at the quality of what other builders were putting up, I wasn’t impressed. There were simply too many examples of workmanship by some of the other firms out there that were of shoddy design and/or workmanship.