Your land can feed you and water itself.

Water Systems

Capture. Store. Recharge.

Every property on Vancouver Island has water moving through it. We design systems that slow it down, store it, and put it to work -- so your land stays hydrated through the driest months. We also handle water licence applications, so you get the paperwork and the construction from the same crew.

• Water Licence Applications & Consulting
• Pond Construction & Dam Builds
• Rainwater Capture Systems
• Swale Systems & Surface Water Management
• Aquifer Recharge & Land Shaping
• Drainage & Overflow Design
• Natural Water Treatment & Bio Filters
• Natural Swimming Ponds

Water Licence Help

Want a pond? We can help with the process.

Building a pond or water system in BC starts with a water licence application. The process is straightforward once you know what to submit and where. We help property owners put together their applications, figure out what approvals are needed, and keep things moving.

Whether it is a simple rain-fed pond or something that touches a stream or riparian area, we can walk you through the steps and handle the paperwork so you can focus on the build.

• Water Licence Application Prep
• Volume & Catchment Calculations
• Riparian & Stream Work Approvals
• Water Security Consulting

Permits & Water Applications

We know how to work within the regulations.

Most water and earthworks projects in BC need permits, notifications, or approvals -- sometimes more than one, often from agencies that don't talk to each other. We've spent ten years working inside this system, and we know which projects need licences, which need notifications, and which can proceed without either. We handle the paperwork and the build from the same crew.

The single most useful thing we offer here is often telling you what you don't need to do. A surprising number of projects don't require the permits, assessments, or studies a property owner has been told they need. Knowing the difference saves real money.

• Water Licence Applications (BC Water Sustainability Act)
• Section 11 Notifications -- work that touches a stream or watercourse
• Riparian Setback Assessments & QEP Coordination
• ALR Commission Filings for Agricultural Infrastructure
• Permit-Exempt Structure Design (under the 108 sq ft accessory threshold)

Greenhouses

A greenhouse for every space.

Passive solar greenhouses heat and cool themselves without external energy. We build at two standard sizes: a 9×12 backyard kit and a 14×20 production unit. Both use single-pitch shed-roof passive solar design -- south-facing glazing, insulated north wall, polycarbonate panels, soil floor, and thermal mass to hold heat overnight. On Vancouver Island's mild coast, that means near year-round production with no hydro bill for heating.

The 9×12 backyard kit. Sized to fall under the 108-square-foot accessory structure threshold in most BC jurisdictions -- which means it goes in without a building permit in most cases. Big enough for serious home production, small enough to install without a planning desk visit. Shed roof, polycarbonate glazing, insulated north wall, soil floor.

The 14×20 production unit. The serious build -- large enough to feed a household year-round and produce surplus. Optional climate battery underneath: buried piping that banks summer heat in the soil and releases it through winter, adding roughly a third to the growing degree days. Built for coastal BC snow and wind loads.

• 9×12 Backyard Kit (permit-exempt in most jurisdictions)
• 14×20 Production Unit (with optional climate battery)
• Climate Battery Builds
• Greenhouse Site Prep & Foundation
• Food Forest Design
• Biochar & Soil Amendment

Community Food

Hyper-local food. Grown by neighbours.

Industrial food travels thousands of kilometres, burns ten calories of energy for every calorie it delivers, and strips nutrients from the land it leaves behind. A productive polyculture on a single residential lot will outproduce a grain field the same size, while building soil instead of depleting it.

The best food on Vancouver Island has never really been in the grocery store. It's the eggs from down the road, the lamb someone raised behind their house, the vegetables on a stand at the end of a driveway with a cash jar. Almost a black market for vegetables -- quiet, neighbourly, and miles ahead of anything trucked up from California.

We build the infrastructure that lets households, strata councils, and community groups join that network. Mini greenhouses on a block. A shared passive solar build. A community food forest on unused land. Local food grown in local soil, fed by local rain.

• Household Food Production Setup
• Community Greenhouse Projects
• Neighbourhood Growing Networks
• Food Forest & Perennial Systems
• Soil Health Assessment

General Earthworks

The foundation work.

Before any water system or greenhouse goes in, the ground needs to be right. We handle site clearing, grading, drainage, and all the heavy machine work so everything built on top performs as designed.

• Site Clearing & Access
• Septic Systems
• Building Pads & Driveways
• Grading & Drainage
• General Excavation

Case Study

2.8 million litres of stored water.

A water security pond on Vancouver Island, built with a four-ring concrete draw system for irrigation and fire suppression. Every cubic metre of excavated material stayed on the property and was used to reshape the contours that feed the pond.

Read the Case Study →

About

10 years of earthworks. Now building the local food system.

I'm Reid. I've spent the last ten years running machines, reading land, and building water systems across the North Island. Septic fields, house sites, ponds, road systems, blasting, drainage -- the full range of what it takes to make a piece of coastal land work.

Over time, I started noticing the same problems on every property: wet spots that should have been dry, dry spots that should have been wet, topsoil washed away after the first hard rain, wells running thin in August, buildings sited where the water wanted to go. None of it was anyone's fault -- it was the result of decades of treating land as a stage for buildings instead of a system that works as a whole.

Swell Farms is the design and build practice that came out of that. We shape land to hold water, build the farm infrastructure that turns a property into a producer, and handle the regulations so the project actually finishes. Based on Vancouver Island. Working across the Island and the Gulf Islands.