Father-Daughter Team Build A Passive-House Duplex in Cottage Country
Last Updated: Feb 26, 2025Rick Zytaruk's retirement was short-lived. The former business consultant thought retired life in Muskoka, Ontario, would include lots of free time. Then, his daughter had a chat with him.
Melinda Zytaruk has not only been in the home-building industry for more than a decade. Currently, she's the general manager and a founding member of Fourth Pig Green and Natural Construction, a sustainable construction company. She's a PHIUS Certified Builder, trained as a Passive House Institute consultant, has completed Canada's Net Zero Home Building Science Training, and is a registered designer.
Table of Contents
- Starting with SEEDs
- An All-Electric Sustainable Duplex
- Do More, Doing Good
Melinda is also the CEO and president of Tooketree Passive Homes, where her dad is now CFO. "Melinda made me aware of how the building industry contributes up to 50 percent of the carbon that's driving climate change," Rick says. "She convinced me that prefab is the way of the future, that stick construction in the rain and snow and heat isn't the best way to do things." Together, father and daughter purchased three lots in Baysville, Ontario, with plans to build and sell homes.
Melinda also inspired Rick to start Tooketree Passive Homes, which constructs panels for panelized prefab home construction. "We decided to build a panel factory and construct environmentally and people-friendly Passive Homes," he says. So, when it was time to build the first home on one of his three lots, Rick and Melinda collaborated. "We grabbed the Passive House baton and said let's build a duplex," he says.
Why a duplex? "Lots of people want a single-family home," he explains, "but a duplex serves a market for families looking after parents, or wanting to keep their adult children close, or who would like to rent one of the units to offset the mortgage." In April, Rick and Melinda's first duplex (with Tooketree panels and built by Fourth Pig) was completed and hit the market. Designed in collaboration with Passive Design Solutions, the duplex features two healthy homes that are also easy on the environment.
Starting with SEEDs
Fourth Pig and Tooketree constructed the duplex with Tooketree's signature SEED (sustainable, ecological, efficient, durable) panels. The company fabricates these panels in its 7,000-square-foot factory in Muskoka. The wood panels include wood-fiber insulation near the exterior (R-8) and dense-pack cellulose and denim-batt insulation on the interior (R-45.3).
As for Rick and Melinda, they're already planning their next Passive House build. "Maybe a four-plex or a six-plex," Rick says. "Lots of people in the area need one-bedroom units. We're so excited to be building resilient, comfortable, healthy homes for people here that not only sustain the community but are also responsible and responsive to the environment."
Camille LeFevre
Camille LeFevre is an architecture and design writer based in the Twin Cities.
