FAQ

Most custom homes built by White Wolf Homes start at roughly $400 to $500 per square foot. The final number depends on site conditions, design complexity, and finish level. A sloped site in Oak Bay with bedrock costs more to build than a flat lot in Saanich, and those differences need to be priced honestly before the project begins. We provide a detailed, itemized proposal before construction starts so you know exactly what you are committing to.

A preliminary, order-of-magnitude proposal gives you a realistic cost range based on your lot, general scope, and finish level – enough to know whether the project fits your budget before you invest in full architectural design. The detailed, itemized proposal comes once plans and specifications are locked in, and breaks the project down line by line by trade and material. You are never asked to commit to construction pricing before the design is finalized, and you are never left guessing what the preliminary number does or does not include.

A clear sense of your lot and your goals is often enough to start the conversation. If you have floor plans, sketches, or markups, those sharpen the estimate further, and site access helps us assess topography and constraints firsthand. You do not need finished architectural drawings before your first conversation with Kyle.

Most custom homes in Greater Victoria take 12 to 14 months to build once construction begins. The overall timeline is longer when design development, permitting, engineering reviews, and specialized material lead times are factored in. White Wolf Homes provides detailed project schedules and bi-weekly progress updates throughout construction so clients always know where the project stands.

Timelines vary with the scope of the transformation, but most large-scale architectural renovations we take on run several months to over a year, depending on the extent of structural work, heritage requirements, and the condition of the existing building. We provide a project-specific schedule once we understand what your renovation involves.

Our open-book project proposals cover the entire lifecycle of your build: comprehensive pre-construction planning, site infrastructure coordination, municipal permitting, engineering oversight, and a fully articulated level of architectural interior finishes. Every allocation is itemized upfront. You will never have to guess what is included in your contract and what is not.

Every dollar spent on labour, materials, and subtrades is visible to you through client-facing project management software, updated on a bi-weekly cycle alongside your schedule. Rather than a single lump-sum number that protects a builder’s margin if costs shift, you see the real cost structure throughout the build, and any change is priced and signed off before it happens.

Your deposit secures your place in our schedule – because we do book up, it reflects your commitment to moving forward with us. If your start date is still some time away, we phase the deposit: a smaller amount up front to lock in your slot, with the remainder due closer to your start time. From there, payments are tied to construction milestones rather than fixed calendar dates, so payment always tracks completed work.

Yes. Most custom home projects allow changes during construction, though modifications can affect cost and schedule depending on the stage. White Wolf Homes manages all changes through a formal Change Order process. Every adjustment is fully priced, documented, and approved in writing before any work proceeds, ensuring complete transparency throughout.

Quality control is built directly into the schedule, not treated as a separate check at the end. Every project has a dedicated site supervisor on-site daily, and each phase – framing, rough-ins, insulation and vapour barrier, pre-drywall, final – has its own checklist that must be signed off before the Project Manager and site supervisor can move on to the next phase. Kyle maintains direct oversight at every structural milestone on top of that, so issues are caught and resolved before they’re buried behind finishes, not discovered after.

Before you move in, we complete a full deficiency walk-through so every outstanding item is resolved ahead of handover. At the one-year mark, we schedule a dedicated walk-through to address normal settlement items – drywall nail pops, minor shrinkage cracking – as a defined part of your post-possession care. Beyond that, every custom home is backed by the Travelers 2-5-10 Year Home Warranty, and our clients call us with questions years after possession. We answer.

Yes. For clients considering a lot they do not yet own, we can assess buildability, development potential, and realistic cost implications before you commit to a purchase. This is the same site-feasibility lens Kyle applies to every project, brought forward to the decision you have not made yet.

Yes, as part of the overall project scope rather than something you arrange separately. On projects involving an existing structure, hazardous materials assessment and remediation happen before demolition, and where possible we bring in a salvage partner to recover usable material – reducing both cost and what ends up in the landfill.

We take on redesign and rescue projects at both the individual home and large-scale development level. When the 33-unit Paragon Parc development entered receivership mid-construction, we were brought in to resolve over $2 million in structural and civil issues and complete the remaining work – a project that went on to win the 2026 Georgie Award. We bring the same approach to individual homeowners: an honest assessment of where the project actually stands, what is salvageable, and what a realistic path forward looks like.

Our primary service area is Greater Victoria and its surrounding municipalities. We also build in the Cowichan Valley, including Shawnigan Lake, for clients with rural and lakeside properties. If you are in a location we do not typically cover, call us at 250-888-8209 and we will tell you honestly whether the project is something we can take on.

Yes. White Wolf Homes holds BC Housing Licence #47571, is BBB A+ accredited, and Kyle sits on the Board of Directors for the Victoria Residential Builders Association (VRBA). Every project carries full commercial general liability and builder’s risk insurance, and every new custom home is covered by the Travelers 2-5-10 Year Home Warranty.