¼C Modern ✳

The catalog · No. 13

The Garden Wall

A low cedar house behind a stone wall. The street sees modesty; the garden sees glass. 2 bed and 1 bath, 1,060 square feet. Small, honest, tight.

The Garden Wall design study render
Study No. 13 · design study render

The two faces

Modest to the street, open to the garden.

From the garden: the whole south face is glass. The house saves its openness for the people inside it.
From the garden: the whole south face is glass. The house saves its openness for the people inside it.
Covered cedar carport off the wall. Car, bikes, a dry way to the door.
Covered cedar carport off the wall. Car, bikes, a dry way to the door.

The plan

Every square foot, accounted for.

Program2 bed · 1 bath
Floor area1,060 sq ft · 1 storey
StructurePost and beam behind stone garden wall
RoofLow-slope shed
EnvelopeStep Code 5 target · ACH50 ≤ 1.0, blower-door verified
Signaturestone garden wall · covered carport

Plan drawn to the render. Room dimensions on the drawing; areas sum to the stated floor area. A construction set follows the House No. 1 pipeline.

BED 1 12'×12' BED 2 12'×12' BATH 8'×6' LNDRY KITCHEN 14'×10' DINING 12'×10' LIVING 26'×12' CARPORT 12'×20' GARDEN STONE GARDEN WALL ENTRY 38'-0" 28'-0" 0510 FT N
The stone wall gives the street its modesty while both bedrooms bank west and the whole living side opens in glass to the private front garden.

The honest number

What it should cost to build.

Site prep + servicesexcavation, utilities to lot line hookups$20,500
Foundationslab or crawlspace, insulated$34,000
Structure + framingpost and beam or conventional, roof structure$54,500
Enveloperoofing, windows + doors, cladding, insulation + air sealing to ACH50 ≤ 1.0$82,000
Mechanical / electrical / plumbingheat pump, HRV, full rough-in + fixtures$61,500
Interior finishesfloors, millwork, kitchen, baths, paint$68,500
GC + contingencysupervision, permits admin, 5% contingency$20,500
Hard cost$341,500

Band $314,000 to $369,000 · $322/sq ft

Cost model v0.1: Okanagan 2026 hard-cost bands from a $/sq ft basis, stated as an estimate, not a quote. Excludes land, design and permit soft costs, and GST. As the House No. 1 build sheet gathers real supplier and trade receipts, receipts replace estimates here, line by line.

Where the money goes further

Small choices that hold the number down.

01Slab-on-grade, no basement

Slab-on-grade, no basement

One pour is the foundation and the finished floor. No excavation for a basement no one uses.

02One roof, one slope

One roof, one slope

A single low-slope shed plane, no valleys or dormers, is the cheapest roof to frame and to keep dry.

03Stock materials, standard sizes

Stock materials, standard sizes

Cedar boards and fibre-cement panels in the sizes they ship in. Almost nothing is cut to waste.

Life inside

The rooms this plan is for.

Living room under an exposed fir post-and-beam roof, glass wall onto the walled garden.
Living room under an exposed fir post-and-beam roof, glass wall onto the walled garden.
An honest kitchen: vertical-grain plywood, butcher block, a window on the stone wall.
An honest kitchen: vertical-grain plywood, butcher block, a window on the stone wall.
Bedroom that slides open to a private gravel court. Two beds, one bath, no waste.
Bedroom that slides open to a private gravel court. Two beds, one bath, no waste.

The details

What you notice up close.

Dry-stacked local stone meeting cedar. Both age; neither needs paint.
Dry-stacked local stone meeting cedar. Both age; neither needs paint.
The post-and-beam connection is left exposed. The structure is the finish.
The post-and-beam connection is left exposed. The structure is the finish.
Where the thin shed roof meets full-height glass, the light gets in low and long.
Where the thin shed roof meets full-height glass, the light gets in low and long.

Grows when you do

Built small, drawn to expand.

The plan is drawn so it can grow. A slab pad and a framed opening are set at the start, so a third bedroom, a studio, or a suite lands on the side already built for it, with no re-doing what is there.

TodayDay one: a blank end-wall and a slab pad left ready beside the carport.
Day one: a blank end-wall and a slab pad left ready beside the carport.
When you need itLater: a matching cedar wing on that pad. Same roof, same wall, one more room.
Later: a matching cedar wing on that pad. Same roof, same wall, one more room.
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