The New York Times features one of ours:
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For more than a year, Petto Chan refused to consider his wife’s idea of building a small, sustainable house in the backyard behind the large Vancouver home where he grew up with his extended family.
He simply couldn’t get over the stigma of living among the garbage cans and garages that lined the service alley out back (or the laneway, as it known in this city, which has an extensive network of them). He kept envisioning having rats as his neighbors. …
So, starting in about 2011, they spent every weekend for more than a year trudging around with their daughter, looking for a place they liked and could afford on a budget of less than $800,000.
As they soon discovered, it was an impossible challenge — partly because he’s stubborn and she’s picky, but also because Vancouver had been outed as a beautiful, livable city. …
There were huge advantages, it turned out, to building new, in his family’s backyard. And not just because his mother continues to cook for everyone on weeknights. …
Their two-bedroom, 1,050-square-foot laneway house is sleek and energy-efficient, and designed to meet their exact needs.
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And it was more affordable than they expected. Because they didn’t have to buy the land, the total cost of the project was well below their budget: less than $500,000. …
None of this would have been possible, though, if city leaders hadn’t been bold enough to approve laneway houses in 2009, said Bryn Davidson, a founder of Lanefab. “They adopted it citywide, and you didn’t have to get neighbors’ approval,” he said. “As a result, a whole new building industry was created at a time when most of North America’s was collapsing on itself.”
Full story plus pictures here.
wow thats a beautiful home