The Carmi Home Project in Penticton, British Columbia, Canada, was the Large Residential Winner and the Large Residential People’s Choice Winner in the 2024 ICF Builder Awards. The 5,422-square-foot project used Amvic ICFs. Jason Stutzke, owner of Okanagan Extreme Home Builders, was the general contractor and ICF installer for the project. The home was designed to fit in with the environment on the top of a mountain, and was oriented for beautiful views and included several features to make the home environmentally friendly, including solar panels. An ICF foundation in addition to ICF walls makes the home highly energy efficient.

Wall heights range from 22 feet to 26 feet. Also contributing to the ICF usage was a 2,310-square-foot rear patio built with 8-inch block, a 1,620-square-foot pool built with 10-inch block, and a 2,000-square-foot garage built with 8-inch block. ICF was also used on a perimeter wall all around the exterior of the main home and garage. The ICF installation took only 45 days, and the team estimates that they saved 15 weeks of construction time by building with ICFs. The home was designed with ICFs in mind. Prior to constructing this home, a modular home had to be removed from the site. Then, 10,000 cubic feet of rock was blasted from the site to allow for creation of a build pad on the side of the mountain. Winter weather was a challenge on this steep and high-altitude site.

Architecture and Design
Architecturally, the home includes 24 feet of nano doors, which takes exceptional talent and experience to install. Nano doors are a wall of windows and doors that fold accordion-style. “Preparation on the wall builds and accuracy is key in making sure these doors can be installed properly,” says Stutzke. The nano doors lead out to the pool area and a large deck for entertaining. The layout was intentionally chosen to take advantage of the views. The property was made for fun and entertaining, and includes both a basketball and a tennis court, and no expense spared when designing the kitchen.

Even though the home is larger than an average family home, it has an Energuide rating of 47 gigajoules per year. The lower the number of gigajoules, the greater the energy efficiency. A gigajoule number of 0 would mean that the home produces as much energy as it requires. A typical new home uses 97 gigajoules of energy
per year.

Decision to Use ICF
Stutzke made the decision to build with ICFs. As a builder, he has been using Amvic block exclusively for the past 6 years. Stutzke was able to discuss the benefits of ICF with the homeowners and educated the homeowners about ICF being the best for energy efficiency, which was something they were looking to achieve. “This new build has increased property values by raising the build standards in the area,” remarks Stutzke. “These clients have gone from a 30-year-old modular home that was originally on the property to a complete energy efficient home. The homeowners are 100% happy with their new home.”