The Circle of Life

Amanda Smart, a hard-working young teacher, had struggled long to afford her first home. Single and full of ideals, she wanted a place to call her own.

When she first stepped through the front door of a FlexHouse, she knew this was a house for a lifetime. The home was clearly designed to allow for future adaptations. It was bright, beautiful and comfortable.

Amanda bought the semi-detached home, even though her mother asked "Why do you need such a big two storey house? You're young. You should buy a starter home and move up later"

In the course of time, Amanda rented the ground floor to Darren Strong, a law student at a nearby university. Amanda moved to the second floor which had its own bathroom and she shared the ground floor kitchen with Darren. With the extra income, she was able to make additional payments on the mortgage.

Life was comfortable and Amanda grew to love her neighbourhood with its interesting shops and friendly people. Then something quite unexpectedly happened. Amanda and Darren became close friends and eventually married.

Darren moved upstairs to the second floor and converted the main floor bedroom into a home office and a small bedroom. Because it was a FlexHouse, the unit was pre-designed to make this a relatively easy and economical conversion. A partition was easy to install and each room had its own window, closet, wiring and lighting.

A year later, Baby Alexander was born. Amanda and Darren adapted the ground floor washroom to serve as a laundry room. All the required plumbing fixtures had been previously installed when the FlexHouse™ was built.

Soon afterwards, Amanda's mother moved in to help look after the baby. To create extra room, the attic was renovated to include a new master bedroom with an ensuite bathroom and walk-in closet. Because the roof design used trusses which provided useable attic space, which had been pre-wired and preplumbed, the conversion was relatively inexpensive.

Sadly, several years later, the Grandmother passed away. By this time, Darren had moved his office downtown and Alexander, now a teenager, took advantage of moving to the first floor apartment. Alexander enjoyed the freedom and his parents appreciated the sound separation between the two parts of the home.

Once Alexander went to university, Darren and Amanda found themselves alone. Since the house was now too big for them, they decided to rent out the ground-floor apartment and use the money to help finance Alexander's tuition.

When Alexander returned home from college, he was accompanied by his new bride, Rachel. Like many newlyweds, they were broke and needed a place to live. Amanda and Darren decided to help out by offering them the ground floor apartment. The apartment and basement below provided a perfect starter home for the new couple.

Eventually, Alexander and Rachel had a baby………………..

The Moral of the Story: From its simple beginning as a basic starter home for a young person, this FlexHouse was able to grow and adapt to the changing needs of Amanda and her family. The key to success of this home was its affordability through all its adaptations and conversions over the years. No matter at what stage in life a person is, a FlexHouse fits the requirements and satisfies the ongoing needs!