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Video: Sustainable Design in the Home

August 17, 2015 By John Gower Leave a Comment

Is sustainable design a priority in your home building project?  Do you know how to achieve it? John Gower, residential designer, tours a building site and discusses some of the elements of sustainable design in this short video by Edward Homer. (You can view other great videos on Edward Homer’s YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/EcofilmsbyEHomer)

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Creating the Resilient Home

August 15, 2015 By John Gower Leave a Comment

We’ve created a table that outlines some of the challenges we face in the era of climate change, along with practical ways to respond to these challenges. Can be downloaded and printed as an 11″ x 17″ poster or handout:   Creating the Resilient Home

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The Small House – An Idea Worth Considering

April 4, 2015 By John Gower Leave a Comment

So you’ve found a great piece of property and now you want to build a house. Before going any further you might ask yourself: how big a house do I really need? Well, it depends who you ask.

The building industry, which tries to set the trends and provides much of the new housing in this country, has a standard product (3 – 4 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths, two car garage) that assumes that everyone has the same spatial needs and financial resources. Unfortunately, this marketing-oriented philosophy leaves increasing numbers of us out of the equation, forced to buy homes that are bigger and much more extravagant than we really desire or are able to afford. [Read more…]

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Avoiding Renovation Hell

March 30, 2015 By John Gower Leave a Comment

So you’re thinking about doing some renovations to your older home, but have heard some real horror stories about wild cost overruns and jobs that have gone on forever. How can you help ensure that your project comes in on time and within budget, and doesn’t disrupt your lives? [Read more…]

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Choosing The Right House Plan For You

March 15, 2015 By John Gower Leave a Comment

Now that you are ready to build a house, how do you go about finding the plan which best suits your needs? When building a new home from scratch, your choice of a design is the single most important decision you will make. [Read more…]

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Radiant Heating Systems

February 28, 2015 By John Gower 1 Comment

How Radiant Heating Systems Work
Materials are made up of atoms in motions, as heat energy is absorbed by an object, the vibrational motion of its atoms increases. Temperature or heat is a measurement of the severity of this vibration motion. Now, you ask, what does this have to do with the heating system that I want to install in my house? Well? I’ll get to that, hold on. [Read more…]

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Our Clients Say…

Everyone loves our plans and I have referred you to a number of people who are planning to build.
Zoltan & Jane K.Sakinaw Lake, BC
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We made our final decision to go with your plans based primarily on what we perceived as your ready accessibility and ability to understand our needs. We were not disappointed.
Jim B.New York State
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John designed our lovely home in 2002. We opted for the full package (highly recommended), including interior design and ongoing support throughout the construction process. We can’t say enough about how pleased we are with our home. Every square foot serves a purpose with a harmonious integration into the landscape. John spent much time with us discussing how we spend our time in our home, taking the concept of custom home to a much higher level. We have referred two of our friends to John–ther… Read more
Crosbie & Helen W. Maple Bay, BC
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We’ve been living in it for a year now and are really pleased with the design and the final product. I can’t thank you enough for the extra work you did designing the downstairs living space. It is a perfect floor plan and very roomy. I can’t believe all that we are able to fit in there.  We hope that you are still designing houses when we build our next house!
Patricia B.California
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We worked with John Gower Design on a ‘contemporary craftsman’ style custom waterfront home. His drawings were thorough, well thought out and the assemblies worked well. He responded quickly to our requests for clarification and we collaborated well to refine the specifications as we built. We would be pleased to work with John Gower Designs again.
Kevin F. (Builder)Duncan, BC
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Bud and I wanted to thank you for the plans for our wonderful new home. It was a pleasure to work with you. I was concerned that we might have a difficult time working together with your being so far away. I must admit you made the process very easy. You seem to have a knack for taking what I saw in my mind and making it happen, even better than I could see it.
Bud and Sandy H.Idaho
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Thank you John, for working with us on this home design.  You are so nice to work with, we truly felt important and valued…You helped us solidify our vision into a beautiful home.
Kathy & David L.Saanich, BC
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I am thrilled with your work. I think the drawings look perfect.  I am very satisfied. It is, to me, a fantastic floor plan, and the exterior well achieves all of my design directives re: simplicity etc. Well done! All in all, I think the whole package is entirely excellent. Thank you for the great work.
Brian N.Procter, BC
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Thank you again for a fabulous job on our home design. We absolutely love it! You were definitely able to merge our wish list with the reality of our budget. We love the space configuration.
Anni v.M-BNelson, BC
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Every time someone asks me about the design for our house, I tell them how great you were to work with and how you took my attempts to change things and made them happen on paper. Thanks so much!
Constance and Lee
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Let’s get started on your dream home.

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212 - 2459 Cousins Avenue | Courtenay, British Columbia, Canada | V9N 3N6

Tel: 250.871.8765 | Toll-free: 1.877.366.2502

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