<\/p>\n
September 4, 2026 \u00b7 Richmond Hill, Ontario<\/strong><\/p>\n On September 4, members of the Canadian Chinese Construction Association (CCCA) and friends from the industry visited Benestone Construction to explore the logic behind a custom home \u2014 from cost control and structural design to construction management and the “two homes on one lot” concept \u2014 through a completed project on site.<\/strong><\/p>\n On the afternoon of September 4, the CCCA held its Behind the Build immersive project tour, generously supported by Benestone Construction. Led by President Alex Huang, Founding President Raymond Wan and other association representatives, members and professionals from construction and related sectors gathered in Richmond Hill. The event also drew a number of guests interested in custom homes, as well as students of architecture.<\/p>\n Unlike a conventional open house, the focus of the day was not simply what a finished home looks like, but what lies behind it: how is a custom home actually built? How is cost controlled? How does a design get delivered in practice? Which stages are most prone to problems? And how can a single parcel of land unlock greater value through sound planning?<\/p>\n Around these questions, Mr. Mao of Benestone Construction drew on years of hands-on project experience to deliver a highly practical industry talk.<\/p>\n For many owners approaching a custom home for the first time, the first question is usually: how much does it cost per square foot?<\/p>\n Once a project is underway, however, it becomes clear that the cost structure of a custom home is far more complex than a single unit rate. Architectural design, structural design, approvals, construction, materials, equipment, labour and the coordination between trades \u2014 every decision can affect the final budget. The word “custom” itself means the owner has a far wider range of choices.<\/p>\n In his talk, Mr. Mao explained that Benestone Construction uses a management fee model on many of its custom home projects. Owners select the materials and products they prefer according to their own taste, lifestyle needs and budget, while Benestone takes responsibility for overall construction, trade coordination and installation.<\/p>\n This approach gives owners greater transparency and involvement, and allows the budget to be spent where it matters most to them. At the same time, it requires an experienced team behind the project to organise design, materials, suppliers and the various construction stages effectively.<\/p>\n Cost control on a custom home is therefore not merely a matter of finding cheaper materials. What matters more is thorough planning from the outset, and continuous management of every decision throughout construction.<\/p>\n One point from the day’s discussion left a strong impression on many participants: one of the most important decisions in a custom home project is finding a genuinely reliable and experienced builder and professional team.<\/p>\n A custom home passes through a great many stages between design and handover. Insufficient planning at any one stage can trigger a chain reaction during construction \u2014 designs needing revision, materials being reordered, trades unable to mobilise as scheduled. The impact falls not only on the budget, but on the project timeline as well.<\/p>\n Savings that appear at the front end can sometimes be outweighed by higher costs later, where inexperience, poor communication or unsound construction sequencing come into play.<\/p>\n Price matters on a custom home, but so do the builder’s experience, project management capability, supplier and trade resources, and ability to resolve issues on site. The value an established builder brings is not simply putting up a house; it lies in anticipating risk, balancing design, budget, build quality and schedule, and helping the owner avoid unnecessary trial and error.<\/p>\n Mr. Mao also spoke about the importance of the structural engineer in the custom home process.<\/p>\n Many owners focus first on exterior appearance and interior design, but delivering those designs safely and soundly depends on the structural work behind them. In custom homes in particular, large open spaces, staircases, door and window proportions, floor layouts and the connections between spaces can all raise complex structural questions.<\/p>\n A change to the design is sometimes not simply a change of form; it can carry implications for the structural solution, the construction method and the cost.<\/p>\n Architecture, structural engineering and construction are therefore not three independent stages. A good custom home requires architects, structural engineers, the builder and other specialist teams to coordinate closely from the earliest phase of the project. What we finally see is a beautiful house; what sits behind the walls, floors and spaces is an entire system of professional engineering.<\/p>\n Another topic that generated lively discussion was the idea of two homes on a single lot.<\/p>\n For larger lots with suitable dimensions, area and planning conditions, and subject to municipal planning requirements and the relevant approvals, land severance and re-planning can be explored as a way to improve the efficiency of land use.<\/p>\n Drawing on real projects, Mr. Mao explained that for certain qualifying parcels, an existing large lot may be planned to accommodate two dwellings. One common approach is to keep one home for the owner’s own use and offer the other for sale.<\/p>\n For landowners, this offers a different line of thinking from the traditional approach of demolishing an older house and rebuilding a single new one on the same footprint. Land is not only the platform on which a home is built; it is a significant component of the project’s overall value.<\/p>\n Determining the most appropriate development approach \u2014 weighing lot dimensions, planning policy, architectural design, construction cost and future market value \u2014 calls for professional feasibility assessment before a project begins. This again illustrates that a custom home is never purely a construction exercise: it spans land, planning, design, engineering, cost and market value at the same time.<\/p>\n Following the presentation, participants toured a completed project at 36A Elm Grove Avenue in the Oak Ridges area of Richmond Hill.<\/p>\n The home is a two-storey detached residence with 4+1 bedrooms, six bathrooms and a double garage. Public listing information indicates an interior area of approximately 3,500\u20135,000 square feet on a lot of roughly 37 \u00d7 206 feet, with a finished basement featuring a separate entrance and walk-out.<\/p>\n More than the size and specification of the house itself, what drew attention that day were the questions behind it: why were these spaces designed this way? How does the structure support the final spatial effect? How do different material choices affect the budget? How are design, structure and construction coordinated?<\/p>\n Seeing the cost, structural, construction and land planning topics from the earlier talk within a project that has actually been delivered made many abstract questions far more concrete. Participants moved from the fa\u00e7ade to the interior, from material details to construction workmanship, touring and exchanging views as they went.<\/p>\n From drawings to structure, from materials to construction, from budget to finished product, the full logic behind a custom home gradually came into view.<\/p>\n This is precisely the intention behind the CCCA’s Behind the Build series.<\/p>\n What the construction industry ultimately presents to the public is the completed building. For practitioners, however, the most valuable material for exchange and learning is the unseen process behind that result: why was it designed this way? Why was this construction method chosen? How did the budget take shape, step by step? What issues arose during the project, and how did the various specialist teams resolve them together?<\/p>\n Behind the Build aims to visit real companies, real sites and real completed projects, so that what members share is not only the final outcome but also the experience and thinking behind it.<\/p>\n The goal is to move from viewing projects to genuinely understanding them.<\/p>\n Alongside CCCA members and construction professionals, the event drew guests exploring the custom home process as well as students of architecture.<\/p>\n That gave the day’s exchange an additional dimension. For those already working in the industry, it was an exchange of experience, perspectives and resources. For young people still studying architecture and hoping to enter the field, it was a valuable opportunity to step out of the classroom into a real project and speak directly with a working builder and industry practitioners.<\/p>\n A large part of the experience held within the construction industry is accumulated project by project. Ensuring that experience is shared, discussed and made visible to the next generation of practitioners is itself an important part of industry exchange.<\/p>\n A worthwhile association event should be more than a site visit or an exchange of business cards. What matters is that participants leave understanding one more project, one more industry question, and knowing a few more peers with whom they can exchange ideas and collaborate.<\/p>\n The CCCA extends its thanks to Benestone Construction for its generous support of this Behind the Build event, and particularly to Mr. Mao for sharing, from real project experience, an in-depth perspective on custom home cost, design, structure, construction management and land planning.<\/p>\n Thanks also go to President Alex Huang and Founding President Raymond Wan, and to all the CCCA members, industry friends and architecture students who took part.<\/p>\n Looking ahead, the CCCA will continue to visit outstanding companies and real projects through Behind the Build, corporate visits, project exchanges, industry forums and professional talks, connecting expertise across development, construction, design, engineering, building materials, real estate and professional services.<\/p>\n Sharing professional experience, connecting industry resources, and allowing more collaboration to grow out of exchange.<\/p>\n Step into the project to see the detail; step into the company to understand the industry.<\/strong><\/p>\n Canadian Chinese Construction Association \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":26405,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_angie_page":false,"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"page_builder":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[528,530,345,223,547,544,531,543,330,549,545,541,540,550,546,548,538,542,222,539,532,534,529,537,533,536,322,535],"class_list":["post-26415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-behind-the-build","tag-benestone-construction","tag-canadian-chinese-construction-association","tag-ccca","tag-construction-management","tag-cost-control","tag-custom-home","tag-custom-home-builder","tag-industry-exchange","tag-land-severance","tag-management-fee-model","tag-oak-ridges","tag-richmond-hill","tag-site-visit","tag-structural-engineer","tag-two-homes-one-lot","tag-538","tag-542","tag-222","tag-539","tag-532","tag-534","tag-529","tag-537","tag-533","tag-536","tag-322","tag-535"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"CCCA](\"https:\/\/cccaonline.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/%E6%91%A9%E7%9F%B3%E5%BB%BA%E7%AD%91%E6%B4%BB%E5%8A%A8%E4%BA%A4%E6%B5%811-scaled.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n![\"CCCA](\"https:\/\/cccaonline.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/%E6%91%A9%E7%9F%B3%E5%BB%BA%E7%AD%91%E6%B4%BB%E5%8A%A8%E4%BA%A4%E6%B5%812-scaled.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n![\"Mr.](\"https:\/\/cccaonline.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/%E6%91%A9%E7%9F%B3%E5%BB%BA%E7%AD%91%E6%B4%BB%E5%8A%A8%E6%AF%9B%E6%80%BB%E5%8F%91%E8%A1%A8%E8%AE%B2%E8%AF%9D-scaled.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n01 | The cost of a custom home is more than a price per square foot<\/h4>\n
02 | The stage most prone to problems is often the choice of partners<\/h4>\n
03 | Behind every beautiful home, the structural engineer plays a decisive role<\/h4>\n
![\"Benestone](\"https:\/\/cccaonline.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/%E6%91%A9%E7%9F%B3%E5%BB%BA%E7%AD%91%E8%AE%B2%E8%A7%A3%E7%8E%B0%E5%9C%BA1-scaled.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n![\"CCCA](\"https:\/\/cccaonline.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/%E6%91%A9%E7%9F%B3%E5%BB%BA%E7%AD%91%E8%AE%B2%E8%A7%A3%E7%8E%B0%E5%9C%BA-2-scaled.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n04 | “Two homes on one lot”: rethinking the value of land<\/h4>\n
05 | Visiting 36A Elm Grove Avenue: from drawings to a real project<\/h4>\n
![\"Exterior](\"https:\/\/cccaonline.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/36A-Elm-Grove-1.png\")
<\/figure>\n![\"Interior](\"https:\/\/cccaonline.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/36A-Elm-Grove-2.png\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n![\"Material](\"https:\/\/cccaonline.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/36A-Elm-Grove-3.png\")
<\/figure>\n06 | Behind the Build: looking beyond the finished house<\/h4>\n
07 | Passing industry experience on to the next generation<\/h4>\n
![\"CCCA](\"https:\/\/cccaonline.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/%E6%91%A9%E7%9F%B3%E5%BB%BA%E7%AD%91%E6%B4%BB%E5%8A%A8%E4%BA%A4%E6%B5%81-3-scaled.jpg\")
<\/figure>\nClosing: professional exchange, connection and shared growth<\/h4>\n
![\"Group](\"https:\/\/cccaonline.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/%E6%91%A9%E7%9F%B3%E5%BB%BA%E7%AD%91-CCCA%E5%90%88%E5%BD%B1-scaled.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n
\n\u52a0\u4e2d\u5efa\u7b51\u534f\u4f1a\uff08CCCA\uff09<\/strong><\/p>\n