Frequently Asked Questions(FAQ)

To become a Canadian Home Builders’ Association member, you need to generate a request for membership by contacting the local Association in your area or by filling out a quick form on our website.  

The local association or Executive Officer will get in touch with you within 2-3 business days. Also, please note that it could take up to a month for your membership to be ratified by the local board.

Only one membership is required to access membership benefits at all three levels: national, provincial and local. When you join your local affiliate Home Builders’ Association, you automatically become a member of CHBA’s 9000-member network; in British Columbia and across Canada.

No. CHBA BC courses are open to members and non-members alike. However, members receive a discount on most courses and education events.

To register for these courses, visit our education website at www.cpd.chbabc.org.

Each years’ projects and products built, renovated, developed, created and/or marketed for the period of January – September are eligible for the following year’s Georgie Awards®. For detailed eligibility criteria, visit the awards website at http://www.georgieawards.ca/categories/criteria-and-eligibility.

To be able to enter the Georgie Awards®, your company and/or associate company must be a member of your local home builders’ Association. Find your local Association and join today.

For detailed eligibility criteria on entering the Georgie Awards®, please visit the awards website at http://www.georgieawards.ca/categories/criteria-and-eligibility.

First and foremost, ask yourself what you mean by “Green”. Are you looking for energy efficiency, local building products, low maintenance natural landscaping, healthier indoor air quality, reusable energy etc.? Green is a small word that can describe many things so it is important to narrow in on the focus of the project.

If the goal is to have a sustainable home that is environmentally sensitive, then we highly recommend contacting a certified ENERGY STAR®, BUILT GREEN®, R2000 or Net Zero Builder to consult on the project. If the overall goal is to build a home that uses less energy than a standard home, consult an Energy Advisor to perform a plan evaluation of the home and give you an idea of where the energy usage is projected to be before the home is complete, allowing for necessary adjustments to improve the rating.

If the main focus of the project is energy consumption, contact an Energy Advisor first to perform a plan evaluation and create a pathway to achieving a high EnerGuide rating. You may want to consider the ENERGY STAR, R-2000 or Net Zero program path as well which, in addition to energy consumption, include education and training, sustainable features in the home and overall a healthier,well-built product.

If you have purchased a home with an EnerGuide rating, the energy label is most likely attached to your electrical panel and you may have received a copy of the homeowner report as well. An EnerGuide rating means that an Energy Advisor has modeled your home in specialized software called Hot2000, which along with an onsite test, calculates the energy consumption of the home.

ENERGY STAR, R-2000 and Net Zero qualified homes have less of an environmental impact than traditionally built homes because by design they conserve water and energy, are energy efficient and use recycled or renewable products and materials. They are resource efficient and produce less waste than typical products and have a long life-cycle requiring less maintenance. Materials are also non-toxic and renewable or replaceable within a period of time.

On average, an ENERGY STAR home is a 20% more energy efficient than a code-built home and an R-2000 home is 50% more energy efficient. A Net Zero home produced as much energy annual as it consumes.