The trend toward modernist home design has brought some interesting architectural mixes to our communities. But it has also brought some significant building challenges, raising the stakes for buyers as they try to select the right builder to craft their next home.
“Flat roofs and glass walls are part of a southern-influenced style, a design that is common in California or Florida,” says Matt Pryce, co-owner of Prycon Custom Building & Renovations Inc. “The challenge is that we’re not building in a southern climate.”
Planning for snowload on a flat roof is not an insignificant matter. Neither is ensuring a glass-walled home is cool in summer and warm in an Ontario winter. “Building this way is often a lot more complicated than building a more traditional Canadian style,” says Steve Pryce, who co-owns Prycon with his brother. “Fortunately, we’ve stayed on top of the building science and the technology, and we know how to build them the right way.”
With more than 30 years in business, and a team of over 20 employees along with a significant network of trusted subtrades and other contractors, Prycon has the depth of talent needed to plan and execute these increasingly complex structures. “The people on our team are all passionate about what they do, and are constantly researching the latest techniques and technologies,” says Steve. “It’s not just Matt and I trying to drink from a firehose of new information.”
Drawing on commercial techniques
Modernist styles often require materials and techniques that were more typically found in commercial construction. The piles of framing lumber that used to define a residential building site are now often replaced by steel studs and beams, capable of framing the large openings that a wall of glass requires. Exterior siding may look like wood but it’s just as likely to be made from cement boards or synthetic lumber. Cement floors, once confined to basements and garages, are now polished and epoxied, equipped with in-floor heating, and sometimes found throughout the home.
“These things require different skillsets, a different workflow than the way we built homes 20 years ago,” says Matt. “It takes discipline and time to keep up with these changes.”
But it’s not just a matter of mimicking commercial buildings. Flat roofs, for example, have been seen in stores and factories for decades. But a residence has much higher insulation and moisture control demands, and water from the roof can’t just be diverted into a storm water management pond the way it can at a warehouse.
“What looks like a flat roof can actually be slightly cambered, with exterior insulation and scuppers around the roof to provide precise waterflow control,” says Matt.
Keeping it controlled
The control systems to keep everything running properly in a modern design can be incredibly complex. “Some of the homes we’re building now have multiple control rooms,” says Steve, “with miles of piping running through the ceilings and walls.”
There are smart home features, zone lighting, windows that go opaque at a touch, whole-home audio, motion-activated or voice-activated systems and more, and they all need to work seamlessly and seemingly invisibly. Everything needs to be programmed and maintained – Prycon has added an ongoing maintenance service to ensure their clients don’t get overwhelmed by the technology.
The biggest challenge is climate control: if it isn’t planned right, the house will always be consistently uncomfortable. Rooms with a wall of glass can turn into solar ovens on a sunny day and ice boxes on a cold night. Open concept homes with tall ceilings can create pockets of hot and cold air, with overheated lofts and chilly bedrooms.
“The amount of care that we put into planning the heating and cooling is incredible,” says Steve. “We’re not just looking at rooms, we’re looking at zones within rooms and ensuring the air is moving properly to keep all parts of the house comfortable.”
Those parts of the house now also include areas that didn’t use to be heated or cooled. “The old-screen porch is now a four-season Muskoka room; the garage has a bar and TV in it and is an entertainment spot; the patio has gas-fired heaters, a kitchen, and another covered TV area.”
Cost control
Managing costs is a vital part of these complex builds, and something the Prycon team has spent years perfecting. “We use project management programs, so that we are tracking everything in real time,” says Steve.
“If a client decides they want to make a change – whether it’s heating the floor in the guest en-suite or adding an indoor pickleball court – we can tell them very quickly how that will affect their cost.”
For all the changes, though, the core of the mission is the same as it has always been: to craft a gorgeous custom home that the client will love. And that’s something Prycon has been excelling at for 35 years.
TEXT A. WAGNER-CHAZALON
PHOTOS ANDREW FEARMAN
