JDL Blog

JDL Homes is excited to announce that we are now a BuiltGreen™ certified builder!

BuiltGreen™ homes are 3rd party certified, energy efficient, and environmentally responsible. 

The BuiltGreen™ designation adds value your home by promoting the use of resource-efficient, environmentally friendly, construction practices and products.

Visit the BuiltGreen™ website to learn more.

We're super excited to be working on our own series of colour palettes for you!

Here is our first - Lisbon Fountain . . . Dreaming of Portugal after days and days of rain! Enjoy!

We are always on the lookout for new sources of colour and design inspiration. Here are two websites that will be sure to help you with inspiration for your next project.

Prepare yourself - they're addictive! Don`t say we didn't warn you!

Pinterest  is a visual-thinkers dream.

This virtual pin-board is a smorgasboard of visual design inspiration. You will find everything from architecture, design, colour, fashion, food, crafts . . . Anything and everything beautiful, delicious, creative and crafty.

You can re-pin Pins from other people's boards onto boards that you create, or you can surf the web and pin pictures and links as you go.

Each Pin is made up of a photo that leads back to the original source website. Found a backsplash you love? Pin It. Add it to your Dream Kitchen board where you'll be able to see it along side the cabinets you love and the flooring you crave. And when your contractor asks you where you found it, you'll be able to click the link to take you back to the supplier's website. Genius.

You can start a board for each project, each room, each obsession.

Start by following a handful of boards created by others, add the Pin It button to your browser's tool bar and Pin away.

You can check out my Pinboards to get you started!

Design Seeds is a new find for me. I wish I knew about it when I was picking the colours for my house!

Jessica Colaluca complies breathtakingly beautiful colour palettes - absolute eye candy. If you're about to start a new project, her website would be a fantastic place to start dreaming.

There's not really much you can say about this fabulous resource; the colour palettes speak for themselves. Gorgeous.

In the spirit of our blog series "Spend a Dollar to Save a Dime", we thought we'd try something a bit different, just to mix it up!

So this time, rather than telling you how to avoid spending a lot of money unwisely, we'll tell you how to spend just a little bit of money very wisely!

Air leaks can account for as much as 30-40% of the heat loss from your house. Weather-stripping is one of the first steps you should take to stop wasting energy and save on the cost of heating your home.

Weather-stripping is a narrow piece of metal, vinyl, rubber, felt or foam that seals the contact area between the fixed and movable sections of a joint. Weather-stripping prevents air infiltration around windows and doors by eliminating gaps between the frames and the moving parts when they are closed. All exterior doors, as well as doors leading to an attic or garage, should be weatherized, as should all operable windows.

Some other benefits of weather-stripping include:

    Improved window performance.
    A more comfortable interior.
    Reduced window condensation and related damage to frames and finishes.
    A quieter home by reducing outside noise levels.
    Keeps sashes from ratteling in high winds.

The typical cost savings for sealing cracks is aproximately $0.49 per linear foot. Your efforts will pay for themselves within three to five years.   

Check out this David Suzuki video on installing weather-stripping:

Please join JDL Homes as we congratulate our trusted partner Modern Classic Building Solutions on the launch of their new website!

Modern Classic is family owned and operated right here in the Lower Mainland. They supply and install quality custom storage solutions and millwork, architectural hardware, windows and doors.

If you are a designer, contractor or speciality stores in the Lower Mainland, check them out!


Congrats guys!

It's November and you know what that means!??? It's time to celebrate MOVEMBER! 

If you notice a lot of bald face men around our job sites this week, don't be alarmed! The JDL Homes crew is proud to be taking part in Movember. We're growing mustaches during the month of November to support Prostate Cancer Canada.

Even Jeff's great big beard has been sacrificed in order to comply with the rules of Movember - everyone must start the month with a freshly shaven face. He's freezing, but excited!

Keep up to date on our Movember mustaches. You should follow us on twitter here.

Check out the City of Vancouver's informative Laneway Housing How-To Guide below. Read about lot-size requirements, design restrictions and inspiration!

Read more about laneway homes on the City of Vancouver's website.

On Saturday, October 1st, the Langford family bundled up the baby and struck out to take in the Vancouver Heritage Foundation's 2011 Laneway House Tour.

While we didn't make it to all the houses, what we did see was inspiring. It was great to see some other builders doing stylish, high-quality work.

Laneway housing has met with some resistance since its introduction to Vancouver in 2009. However, walking through some of these homes it is clear that they are a smart, practical solution for affordable housing in our region.

As a licenced and insured new-home builder, JDL Homes can help you with your laneway home from design to build and all the details in between.

Check out the homes below for inspiration and then contact Doug today for your free consultation.

Small really is beautiful! This 750 square foot 2 bedroom plus garage is full of smart storage and plenty of light. I was impressed that the second bedroom had room for a crib AND a built-in captain's bed.

Lot Size: 50 x 120
Zoning: RS-1
2 bedroom
750 square feet (plus garage)

The nice big balcony was a key feature of this spot. The upstairs living space was an interesting reversal from some of the others which were primarily living downstairs, sleeping upstairs. However, the bakers on the tour wondered if they could survive in a home without a proper oven.

Lot Size: 35.25 x 112
Zoning: RS-5
1 bedroom
921 square feet (including garage)

This home built by the owner was the first stop on the tour. It was absolutely gorgeous and made me think we should build a laneway house for our family and just rent out our main house! Yes, it was that nice. The builder made excellent use of windows, french doors and skylights to keep the entire space feeling bright and airy. All the natural light made you forget you were in a laneway house.

Lot Size: 47.5 x 130
Zoning: RS-1
2 bedrooms
970 square feet (including garage)

At 530 square feet this was the smallest laneway house we looked at on the tour. The house featured  a one-wall galley kitchen, one and a half baths and beautiful french doors opening out from the kitchen / main living space onto an outdoor patio.

Lot Size: 33 x 130
Zoning: RS-1
1 bedroom
530 square feet

Can you believe Thanksgiving is almost upon us? Where does the time go?

It just so happens JDL Homes also celebrates its birthday around this time of year. It's a time for reflection, celebration and gratitude.

As we look back, we are so thankful for everyone who has been a part of our extended JDL family. From clients who have become dear friends, to our trades, to our crew who work side-by-side with us everyday, we are so grateful for your support.

We raise our glass to all of you who have made JDL Homes possible:

From our family to yours, thank you. Here's to many more years.

Cheers,
Doug & Jeff