The District of Sicamous has narrowed down its options for a library of plans for homeowners to choose from when building secondary dwellings.
Following a call-out issued April 26 that closed July 31, 10 expressions of interest were received by the district and six semi-finalists were reviewed at the Aug. 29 Housing Committee meeting.
Three were then chosen, based on the best prices and what was being offered by each proponent, to be discussed at the Sept. 6 Planning and Development Committee. The district has a budget of $10,000 for the plan library.
The shortlist includes Adaptive Homes from Revelstoke, Hausen Projects Inc. from Victoria and McDiarmid Construction from Salmon Arm.
District staff explained the scope of work from each proponent differs widely but there are pros and cons to consider. The Housing Committee’s main concerns were total cost, and the proponent’s willingness to personally look at Sicamous’ existing lots and decide on building footprints that would fit most properties with options available to the end user of the plan if they wanted the layout to look slightly different.
Adaptive Homes’ total cost to the district would be $6,000 with a $500 royalty per use to the end user. The company said any revisions would be done by another contractor, so prices for that would have to be decided. Three pre-existing designs from Adaptive Homes are in the district’s budget which would already be in line with B.C.’s Energy Step Code 5 requirements and a draft energy model would be included.
McDiarmid Construction, at a total cost of $6,000, agreed to do a site study before submitting plans and will be flexible with plan concept options. Three plans from the company are within budget, with a $1,000 royalty per use for the end user and the rate for revisions around $135 per hour.
Hausen Projects Inc. has a $9,750 price tag but comes with three designs. The $500 royalty fee is waived for the first three uses of each plan, so nine uses total and the company has agreed to scoping meetings, work on concept options and privacy and passive energy considerations, and will do building code updates for free. Minor revisions of any other kind will cost $80-135 per hour.
District staff said the next steps will involve the council narrowing the three choices down to one for purchase at the Sept. 13 meeting. Public engagement will be done, likely including a survey with each design concept to be ranked and a possible off-site open house, if the budget allows.
Read more: Sicamous focused on building secondary suites as affordable housing options