About 4Syte Green Building Science

I’ve spent more than 45 years working in construction, energy efficiency, and sustainable cold-climate housing. These days, my focus is simple: helping Indigenous communities build healthier, more durable homes that work better for both people and the planet.

Good housing matters.

Homes shape our comfort, health, finances, family life, and overall quality of life. A well-designed home can reduce energy costs, improve indoor air quality, increase resilience, and create a stronger sense of wellbeing. Poor housing does the opposite — especially in rural, remote, and Indigenous communities where housing challenges are often the greatest.

The good news is that we already know how to build better.

Building science helps us understand how homes actually work — how heat, air, and moisture move through a building — and how practical design and construction decisions affect comfort, durability, efficiency, and long-term performance. Healthy homes can also be affordable, energy-efficient, resilient, and low-carbon.

I first became interested in energy-efficient housing in 1979 after attending Shelter Institute in Maine. Shortly afterward, I apprenticed as a heritage carpenter with Calendar & Associates in Perth, Ontario, earning both my Journeyman Carpenter and Energy Auditor qualifications in 1983, and participated in the first R-2000 Builder Training program in Canada with Oliver Drerup.

Over the years I worked as a carpenter, homebuilder, energy advisor, trainer, and eventually founder of Homesol Building Solutions Inc. in 1999, one of Canada’s early residential energy consulting firms, and was the 13th Certified Energy Advisor in Canada. Later came certifications as a Passive House Consultant (PHIUS and PHI standards), LEED AP (BD+C), and graduate studies in Green Building Science through the San Francisco Institute of Architecture.

For 20 years I led Homesol, a green building consulting business and NRCan-authorized Service Organization delivering ENERGY STAR, R-2000, EnerGuide, ecoEnergy, Net Zero, Passive House and LEED programs across multiple regions of Canada. In 2018, Kathryn and I sold the company to two longtime employees from our Halifax office, stepped away from business ownership and backpacked through Southeast Asia for three months.

We thought we were retiring permanently.

That lasted about two years.

After some time travelling, hiking, and slowing life down a little, I was invited to help support remote First Nations housing and energy projects in Northern Ontario. Since then, I’ve returned to work selectively on projects that feel meaningful and worthwhile — particularly work connected to Indigenous housing, trades training, mentorship, and healthy cold-climate homes. This work has taken me to dozens of communities across Canada’s North.

At this stage of life, I’m less interested in chasing business opportunities and more interested in sharing knowledge, supporting younger tradespeople, and helping communities avoid repeating the same old building mistakes.

I believe good housing can genuinely improve lives.

That may sound simple, but after four decades in this field, I’ve seen firsthand how healthy, durable homes can affect everything from energy poverty and respiratory health to stress levels, comfort, dignity, and long-term community resilience.

Today, 4Syte Green Building Science focuses on practical, real-world guidance for rural, remote, and Indigenous housing initiatives — bringing together building science, field experience, mentorship, and a collaborative approach grounded in respect and long-term thinking.

Or, put more simply:

Helping build better homes for the next seven generations.