// ON THE RECORD
The Conscious Builder Inc.
Ottawa-area custom home builder and renovator specializing in high-performance residential construction — NetZero, NetZero Ready, Passive House, off-grid, R-2000 and energy-retrofit homes. Through The Conscious Builder Academy it also sells online courses and mentorship to other construction business owners.
📍 Carp (Ottawa), Ontario, CanadaEst. 2010✓ 57% first-party verified
// CLIPS FROM The Conscious Builder Inc.
“ross elliott said the building code is the worst home that you're allowed to build by law”
“if you turn on 1000 cfm range hood and it's -25 outside you lose 89,000 btus per hour”
“we just renovated a 160 year old stone home and he had a 1500 cfm hood in it”
“when you're getting into a wall that's that thick you need to think about what happens when moisture gets into it”
“i've been on some commercial projects where the leed paperwork is like 20% of the time spent”
“i always tell people you want to think about the envelope of your building as the skin of your body”
“i learned early in my business the guys sitting around that table weren't my competition”
“our deal with our son is like we're not gonna pay you to do”
“my house that i had built for example the backyard was facing south”
// LESSONS FROM The Conscious Builder Inc.
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.
// ON THE RECORD WITH
Homesol Building Solutions Inc.
Works with
Casey Grey's firm hires Homesol (energy advisors / passive-house consultants) for calculations and certification on all passive-house projects.
Canadian Home Builders' Association (CHBA)
Member of
Casey references CHBA's Net Zero standard as the primary certification target his firm aims for.
Passivhaus Institut (PHI)
Regulated by
First passive house certified under PHI; earlier PHIUS attempt failed on one item.
Passive House Institute US (PHIUS)
Regulated by
Attempted PHIUS certification on first passive house project; missed on one requirement.
// KEY PEOPLE
// NOTABLE
Casey Grey founded The Conscious Builder, renaming his existing construction business to The Conscious Builder (TCB) in 2010; he started his construction career at 17, was running projects by 20, and was a licensed carpenter by 21.
SOURCE ▸The company is a member of the Greater Ottawa Home Builders' Association (GOHBA), listed under categories including NetZero Builder/Developer, Custom Homes, Passive House/Net Zero, RenoMark Renovator and General Contractor.
SOURCE ▸Won the Greater Ottawa Home Builders' Association (GOHBA) Housing Design Awards for Green Renovation, Entire Home, in 2014.
SOURCE ▸Casey Grey and his team operate The Conscious Builder Academy, an online school offering courses and mentorship to construction business owners and smaller contractors (HQ 3-131 Wescar Lane, Carp, ON).
SOURCE ▸Building like this in Atlantic Canada?
Be a guest ▸