// COMPANY DOSSIER
The Conscious Builder Academy
Online education arm of Ottawa high-performance home builder The Conscious Builder, offering courses, handbooks and group coaching that teach construction business owners how to run, grow and systematize their companies. The parent company builds and renovates custom Net Zero, Net Zero Ready and Passive House homes in the Ottawa region.
📍 Carp (Ottawa), Ontario, CanadaEst. 2010✓ 86% first-party verified
// CLIPS FROM The Conscious Builder Academy
// LESSONS FROM The Conscious Builder Academy
Building code is the legal floor — 'the worst home you are allowed to build by law' — not a quality target; frame every project above it.
Orient a passive-house design toward the south before specifying assemblies; the same wall spec on a north-facing lot will fail certification without upgrading windows and R-values.
Thick wall assemblies must use vapour-permeable materials that can dry in both directions; sealed foam inside high-R double-stud walls traps moisture and risks mould.
Treat the building envelope as skin (perspires but does not breathe) and the ERV/HRV as lungs; eliminating random penetrations then centralising ventilation is the correct air-tightness strategy.
A 1,000-CFM kitchen range hood at -25°C expels ~89,000 BTU/hr — nearly five times the entire heating load of a 4,000-sq-ft passive house; oversized exhaust fans are both wasteful and dangerous with fuel-burning appliances in tight homes.
Use the Integrated Design Process (IDP) from day one: energy advisors, building scientists, contractors, and architects must co-design, because what looks correct on paper is often impractical or expensive to build.
// SELECTED PROJECTS
Casey Grey's own Net Zero / Passive House family home
CompletedBuilder / owner-occupier
Casey and Natasha Grey's own residence: ~20 inches of mineral-wool insulation, triple-glazed windows, ~10kW solar array, ERV and drain-water heat recovery. Built to net-zero / Passive House energy standards; widely cited as the company's flagship demonstration project.
Bill Eggertson Net Zero retrofit
CompletedFeatured case study on The Conscious Builder site (homeowner-directed; TCB's builder-of-record role not explicitly stated)
First-party project page reports 2012 completion and net-zero performance of a 3,500 sq ft 1984 home. The page presents it as a homeowner-led case study, so The Conscious Builder's exact role is not confirmed as primary builder.
// KEY PEOPLE
CG
Casey Grey
Founder & CEO, The Conscious Builder Inc.; founder of The Conscious Builder Academy; host of The Conscious Builder Show
profile ▸NG
Natasha Greypartner
Co-owner / brand partner; co-host of the Conscious Living podcast (children's-book author, background in child and family therapy)
profile ▸// NOTABLE
The Conscious Builder is an Ottawa high-performance home builder specializing in Net Zero, Net Zero Ready and Passive House construction and energy retrofits; the legal entity operates as The Conscious Builder Inc. / Cornelis Grey Construction.
SOURCE ▸The Academy runs an active group-coaching program (e.g. an annual group-coaching plan) and current courses such as 'The Ultimate Hiring Handbook for Construction' and 'Top 5 Things I Wish I Knew', confirming it is actively operating in 2026.
SOURCE ▸Casey Grey is a licensed carpenter with roughly two decades in residential construction; he renamed his business 'The Conscious Builder' in 2010 to focus on building-science-driven high-performance homes.
SOURCE ▸