Amber’s (not her real name) dream of owning a custom-built infill home in a beautiful neighbourhood became reality several years back. Much about the process — from working with the experienced builder to the end result — was just as she’d hoped.
But she hadn’t anticipated the ongoing issues with one of her neighbours — starting with grievances even prior to construction — that culminated in a two-year court battle over a tree that spanned both properties.
The neighbour alleged that the tree’s health was affected by the home’s construction and wanted Amber to pay for its removal — with extra money requested for emotional damages.
It was a nightmare.
In the end, the courts denied the need for Amber or the builder — whose lawyer also helped Amber — to pay anything. Meanwhile, the tree remained and kept growing until recently Amber had to send an awkward text to the neighbour asking whether they could hire someone to trim it and split the cost. The cost mostly fell on Amber.
“That text is the only contact we’ve had in years. We don’t make eye contact,” she says.
Rob McAdam, director of Safety Codes, Permits and Inspections for the City of Edmonton, says infill builds can be polarizing, particularly with neighbours. He’s seen fewer complaints and issued fewer orders over the last couple years. But, when he does get construction complaints, many come from smaller scale residential infill projects.
Infill refers to any new residential construction in an established area. Those who build in greenfield development, which is construction on what once was literally a field with no significant development, also deal with noisiness and messiness. But the chances for misunderstandings are higher in infill, where people are less used to the cracks of hammers and trucks blocking their driveways, says McAdam.
“Infill is changing the way our cities look: how dense they are, the liveability of it. There are reasons for it — everything from climate, to transit, getting the most out of infrastructure,” says McAdam. “And then there are people who need to be next door to the construction. And there are people doing the construction — who are also our neighbours and friends — and the construction comes with challenges, and creates mess, and noise and things like that. That’s the bigger picture.”
And infill comes with potentially unique logistical challenges that can present genuine concern in a community. Some established neighbouring trees, for example, really are damaged by construction and can cause damage to homes if they fall. Taking down an old structure, digging a basement and pouring concrete are challenging and potentially destructive. There’s often asbestos to deal with when demolishing an older home. It’s rare, but there have even been cases of owners and constructors without permits.
The City enforces bylaws and the regulations under the Safety Code Act. And there are rules for how buildings should be designed to support mature neighbourhoods, along with details on where different sizes and forms of new housing should go. Owners and constructors are responsible for not damaging adjacent properties, but even with all the proper precautions, things can go sideways — both with construction projects and neighbour relations, McAdam says.
The City implemented a new zoning bylaw in January (Calgary passed a similar bylaw in May) that removed restrictive zoning to open up most residential lots to varied building types, including higher density homes. Depending on the zone, structures could be row housing, apartments, duplexes, skinny homes built on split lots or garden suites, for example. Our metro area is at over one million people and is expected to reach two million in the coming decades. So, the goal is to have half these new million people live in already developed areas.
Infill is here to stay. It’s a reality from an environmental perspective and an economic perspective — using existing infrastructure costs far less than building all new roads, hospitals and schools.
McAdam feels confident the issues are being ironed out. At the time of writing, the City is drafting a resource guide for builders to follow on how to build safely and responsibly. “When owners and constructors have complete information on how to do things safely they usually follow it,” he says. “When they don’t, the City holds them accountable, but we’re committed to minimizing those instances to begin with.
“It’ll be a valuable resource for people who are hiring people to do these things because you’ll have a guide essentially to say [to a builder]: you’re following this, right? And you can make them show you: I want to see your plan to see how you will do this safely and responsibly.”
Andrew Harbinson, co-owner of Homes by Metro, is familiar with the challenges of infill. His company has focused specifically on infill builds over the last 15 years.
“We don’t set our bar too high in infill building that people will be: ‘Oh, that was an amazing experience!’ It’s more like: ‘Well, nobody chased us off the site when we were done,’” he laughs.
He says he’s joking and that many neighbours have told his crews they were very professional. But it’s clear the company spends hours on how to best interact with the neighbours surrounding a construction site.
Before the demo contractor arrives, he has a conversation with the neighbours, to “start a relationship independent of the homeowners themselves.” He explains what’s happening and lets them know that he wants to hear if there are any issues they come across, “because we’re there for a year, but the owners are there for potentially a long time, and we don’t want to spoil that relationship beforehand.”
Harbinson also encourages his crews to build goodwill. If it snows, they’ll often shovel the neighbours’ driveways or sidewalks. And Harbinson chats with neighbours, lets them use things like garbage bins, offers wood for fire places, and just tries to build trust and respect.
Some construction sites pile all their garbage on a private yard and street and have a garbage service pick it up; but Harbinson uses a specific receptacle to make sure everything is contained and not blowing onto a neighbour’s lawn.
“I’m not going to say we have not had confrontations with neighbours. Sometimes it’s completely out of our control, and other times it’s poor management of a situation we did not see happening,” says Harbinson. “But instead of saying: ‘Too bad for you, Mr. Neighbour,’ we were there endlessly to do our best to ensure that they were comfortable with what was going on.”
Harbinson’s regraded homes next to some of the company’s infill projects, and once also fixed a neighbour’s fence that fell into an excavation site due to rain and poor soil conditions.
Sometimes neighbours have had bad experiences with previous infill sites from different builders, so Harbinson says they start off on a bad foot right away. And there are times neighbours watch a site so closely the relationship becomes adversarial.
Harbinson says following bylaws is incredibly important — mud cannot be left for long periods on the public street, for example. But he also says people need to be realistic and not expect mud to be cleared the moment it rains when there was a change in the forecast. And now, he takes photos before and after all construction not only of job sites but of neighbouring homes so that if something happens, he has a frame of reference. There have been times where neighbours mistakenly believe damages were caused by construction, when that wasn’t the case.
Working on infill is not just about the actual construction, it’s also managing the expectations and concerns of all involved.
“We have to manage our customer’s anxiety. It’s their dreams coming to life in a space they want to enjoy with their family. So, I think if the process with us doesn’t go well, then their dream home does not necessarily feel as good as it might, especially when their neighbour is mad at them,” says Harbinson.
This article appears in the Jul/Aug 2024 issue of Edify
