Jake Fry
Founder and president
Smallworks
I
n a city of multimillion-dollar teardowns
and living-room sublets, Jake Fry found
one solution to Vancouver's most stub-
born problem: housing affordability.
His answer? The laneway house: mini
craftsmans—from 700 to 1,500 square feet—
that back onto alleyways or side streets and
require a one-stop permit from the city. Eight
years later Fry turned this passion for urban-
ism into a thriving construction business.
In the early 2000s the central Ontario
transplant scaled his knack for one-off renova-
tions into a part-time business, underwriting
his work in the film industry. Coach houses
and backyard studios intrigued Fry: he
drew the link between single-family zon-
ing and its outsized footprint. Fry's one-off
projects began courting attention in the
media as an answer to affordability.
But it wasn't until a new city bylaw
came into place in 2009 that his business
took off. According to Fry's estimates, that
one change opened up between 50,000
and 70,000 plots for infill development.
Pent-up demand led to 200 applications
for infill lots in the first year—and led to a
boom in requests for his product. Small-
works has since completed 86 homes,
with an average price tag of $300,000,
and has 26 more orders on the books.
Thanks to Fry's early advocacy
work and media exposure, Smallworks
became associated with the laneway
house movement, giving it early-mover
advantage. "We're different from other
builders in that we really specialize in homes
that are 1,500 square feet or under," says Fry.
"It's all we do." Smallworks' six-person team
now has its production process down pat,
with homes manufactured almost entirely in
two former Celtics Shipyards buildings, in a
factory line that allows 40-odd contractors to
work on multiple projects at once.
Fry's goal is to increase production to 36
homes a year. "We've done a very good job
branding our product, but we've a ways to go,"
he says. "We want to become the North Ameri-
can leader in small home production." —J.P.
OctOber 2014 BCBusiness 71 bcbusiness.ca
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