Excavating beside a neighbour: what the code requires of you
The code has an article about protecting adjoining property, and it is written as an obligation rather than a courtesy. On a standard Vancouver lot with a building next door, it applies to most excavations of any depth.
Mark Van Ek · October 27, 2026 · 8 min
When your project actually needs a geotechnical engineer
For a house, the code lists the exact conditions that trigger it. Underpinning is on the list. So is shoring. And the trigger can appear halfway through an excavation that started out ordinary.
Mark Van Ek · October 19, 2026 · 9 min
Sound between units: what the code requires, and the noise it ignores
The BC Building Code gives you two ways to comply and one large exclusion. Footstep noise, the complaint we hear most from people living in new multi-unit buildings, is not covered at all.
Mark Van Ek · October 16, 2026 · 8 min
The building code does not require a heat pump. It requires a number.
Homeowners keep telling us the code makes them install a heat pump. It does not. It sets performance and emissions targets, and equipment choice follows from how you decide to hit them.
Mark Van Ek · October 14, 2026 · 9 min
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