Erick Serpas Ventura knows the bones of a good home.

In El Salvador, where he was born, Serpas Ventura was raised in a small house until the age of five. When a civil war broke out, he and his family emigrated to Vancouver.

They settled in a 1920s heritage home held together by ancient trees and handmade bricks, a structure similar to the one featured in the video above. Having lived in a smaller, simpler abode in El Salvador, Serpas Ventura gained appreciation for the people who built their Vancouver home. He says it felt like “a massive mansion” compared with what they’d known back home.

And it caused a twinge of sadness whenever he saw a similarly old but sturdy house being bulldozed to make way for new construction.

So, after a decade in the Royal Canadian Air Force, Serpas Ventura pivoted and founded Vema Deconstruction in 2022. The goal? Reuse the materials — wood, metal, bricks — that make up many of the homes on the West Coast.