We Build Homes We Would Live in
We believe in responsible, thoughtfully designed spaces that make people’s lives better through good planning.
We are proud of our projects, and love to live in the homes we build. This is a principle we carry with us through every part of our design and development process: we absolutely have to want to live there!
About our founder
Lapis Homes was created by Ryan Jabs, and he remains the driving force behind the company’s vision.
A husband and father of two, Ryan cares deeply that people are becoming increasingly isolated and disconnected through the planning and development of new homes. He has personally experienced the positive benefits of small community living within established neighbourhoods. He has watched his own family flourish in these environments, and understands the transformative effect it has on everyone’s ability to enjoy their homes and feel safe in their spaces. This is what community delivers.
His goal is to bring community back to communities, one small development at a time.
Where does Lapis Homes come from?
Lapis is latin for “stone” or for “milestone,” and buying a home is one of the most important milestones in any person or family’s life. We felt the name fit well with what we do.
You may be more familiar with the lapis lazuli stone. We really love the rich blue patterns in that rock. They remind us of experiences we’ve had growing up around the Salish Sea off of Vancouver Island’s coast and how incredibly lucky we are to live here. The added bonus: With a stone like that, it isn’t too hard for our graphic designers to be inspired.
Our Values
Thoughtfully Designed & Built
Finding the right design – and making sure it fits in with the surrounding community – is the initial focus.
This means matching up the proposed new community with the neighbourhood. And it means delivering something unique and memorable, both to look at and to move through.
Our team and the designers spend months and sometimes years to make sure we get everything right before we build, taking in feedback from municipal planners and the surrounding community to create a space where people love to live.
Connected communities
Most people don’t want to spend their lives commuting and pumping emissions into the environment. That’s why we create homes that are close to where people work and play.
We develop in neighbourhoods that are well connected by transit, cycling routes and sidewalks, so that people can get to where they want to go easily, while leaving the car at home as much as possible. Fortunately in Victoria, that leaves us with many options!
So yes, we are for building responsibly, and that starts with Where.
Building Community
Community is more than a buzz word to us. We build exceptional small multi-family communities that give residents a place to get to know one another and with people in their neighbourhood.
By focusing on the shared experience within the greater community - and how our developments can contribute positively towards that - we add another chapter to the history of Victoria’s most popular residential areas.
Giving Back
Lapis Homes prides itself in putting money back into the neighbourhoods where we work. From our project at Five Two One Foster, we’ve donated $60,000 to the Greater Victoria Housing Society for their project to bring 137 affordable rental homes to Esquimalt. The money will be used to buy furniture and other amenities that will support residents to connect and build community with one another.
From our project at 825 Lampson and 939 Colville, we gave $10,000 to Habitat for Humanity for a future project in Esquimalt or in a core Victoria community, and we made a $10,000 donation to the Township of Esquimalt to add bike lock-ups throughout the municipality (more info soon). We also worked with the Greater Victoria Placemaking Network to buy and deliver 300 copies of the book Happy City to little free libraries across the city. Find out more about that project here.
We’ve also recently partnered with Whole Way House and Greater Victoria Housing Society to bring that organization’s community building work to Victoria. Read more about this important work here.
As Lapis Homes grows, our giving will grow, too.
