The Eco Living and Home Tour is thrilled that Green City Builders sponsored the tour again this year, but this time as one of its Presenting Sponsors! We connected with general manager Sam FitzZaland during the busy building season to ask him some questions about his contracting business.
Green City Builders is a general contracting company on Salt Spring Island. Its focus is on energy efficient design and residential construction. It’s also a development consultant and works in that capacity on community, recreation, affordable housing, and farming projects for local nonprofit and public clients.
What sorts of green construction projects are people interested in? Has anything significant or of interest changed in the types of construction or the requests you’re getting in the last 2 years? More and more people are interested in small footprint and net zero buildings. Especially people who are retired and looking to downsize. We have consistent interest in solar PV and passive house building systems.
Have any changes in the building codes affected what people want you to do for them or permitted you to do projects that previously you couldn’t? Not really. We were already promoting energy efficient construction before the recent changes to the code. We might see more change if/when the CRD adopts a more rigorous level of the BC Step Code.
What is the most interesting green construction project you’ve worked on? There have been many! We really enjoyed working with the homeowner on the home showcased on this year’s Eco Living and Home Tour because she had such a strong vision for blending inside and outside and has a great eye for design and landscaping.
If there’s one thing you’d like people to know about green construction or about Green City Builders, what would it be? Some of the best energy efficient features are often the least glamorous or flashy ones. Renovating an existing building, siting a new building carefully to maximize passive solar benefits, hyper-insulating. or installing a heat pump — these can have very big impacts.
Buy your tickets for the Eco Living Tour at Salt Spring Books or online at Eventbrite. The Tour takes place on July 28th from 10am to 4pm. Maps will be available at Salt Spring Books in the week before the Tour.