Service areas
Where we work
From our showroom in North Vancouver to the houses, cottages and chalets we install in: gas and wood fireplaces across Greater Vancouver, over the water to Bowen Island, and up the Sea to Sky to Pemberton.
North Shore · Vancouver · Bowen Island · Sea to Sky
Our showroom is on Pemberton Avenue in North Vancouver, and the map of where we work spreads out from it in three directions: over the bridges into Vancouver, Burnaby and the Tri-Cities; west along the shore through West Vancouver to Horseshoe Bay, Lions Bay and the ferry to Bowen Island; and north up the Sea to Sky Highway through Squamish to Whistler and Pemberton. It is a large territory for a company with one showroom, and people quite reasonably ask whether we really come to them. We do, with our own crew, and this page says what that looks like place by place.
What stays the same everywhere is what we bring and the shape of the work. We sell and install gas fireplaces, gas inserts and gas stoves, and wood-burning fireplaces, stoves and inserts, chosen from the makers we carry and shown burning in the showroom. The fireplace is ours from the first conversation to the final flame: the choosing, the measuring, the vent run or the flue, the permit and the installation, with the care that comes after. When the work runs to a surround, a mantel, tile or millwork, we plan it with the trades doing it — yours, or ones we bring in. Pricing is given at the showroom, and most projects begin there, with photographs or plans of the room.
What changes from place to place is the house and the road to it. On the North Shore it is the view wall and the strata; in Vancouver, the old masonry hearth; on Bowen Island, the ferry; up the Sea to Sky, the cold, the power cuts and the distance. Gas or wood is a choice you can make anywhere on this map. Wood has one extra map of its own: inside Metro Vancouver it is governed by the region’s Bylaw 1303, and Squamish, Whistler and Pemberton sit outside it. Below, place by place, is what we find when we get there.
Where a detail depends on the address — the gas service, the strata, whether a wood fire has to be registered — we say so, and we confirm it when we measure.
The North Shore: North Vancouver and West Vancouver
The North Shore is home ground. The showroom is here, the crew starts its day here, and a good share of the fires we install are a short drive from the door. Gas or wood, the choice is wide. Valor, which we carry in depth, is built in North Vancouver by Miles Industries, so the gas fire you are considering was made close to where you will see it burning; the wood fires, from Stûv, Morsø and Pacific Energy among others, have their own pages in the Collection.
It is a particular kind of place to put a fire. There are the view houses of West Vancouver and the mountainside, with long walls of glass and stone that want a line of flame; the heritage cottages and mid-century houses of Lynn Valley, Lonsdale and Dundarave, with a small original hearth that no longer works; and the condominiums of Lower Lonsdale and Marine Drive, where the strata, the vent route and the old fireplace opening decide everything. And on a winter night here the power does sometimes go out, which is a good deal of why so many North Shore rooms end up with a radiant gas fire that lights from a battery, or a wood stove that needs nothing at all.
Gas fires were never restricted on the North Shore; the City of Vancouver’s restrictions, now repealed, were about heating in new homes and never crossed the water. Wood fires fall under Metro Vancouver’s Bylaw 1303, which asks for an appliance that meets its emission standard and, inside the Urban Containment Boundary, a registration before use. We check the model and the address before anything is ordered, and in a strata building the correspondence with the strata is ours.
See also: Valor gas fireplaces on the North Shore · wood-burning stoves and fireplaces · wood-burning inserts · wood burning in Metro Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is across the water from us and a short drive over either bridge. The rooms we are asked about there run from the heritage houses of Kitsilano and Point Grey, with their old masonry fireplaces, to the newer houses of East and South Vancouver and the strata buildings downtown, where the vent route and the building’s approvals decide what is possible long before the finish does.
People still ask whether a gas fireplace is allowed in Vancouver. It always was. The City’s restrictions were on natural gas for space and water heating in new homes, never on fireplaces, and they were repealed in 2026 in any case; we wrote about what that means. In a strata building the correspondence with the strata is ours.
For the masonry fireplace that no longer draws, the answer is an insert, gas or wood: a gas insert, sealed and efficient and lit from a remote, or a wood-burning insert that turns the old hearth into a real heater. For a wood fire, Bylaw 1303 governs: the appliance must meet the bylaw’s emission standard, and inside the Urban Containment Boundary it must be registered before it is used. We carry wood stoves and inserts that meet the standard, checked model by model.
See also: Valor gas fireplaces in Vancouver · gas fireplace inserts · the end of Vancouver’s gas restrictions · wood burning in Metro Vancouver
Burnaby and the Tri-Cities
Burnaby is a bridge away from the showroom, and Coquitlam, Port Moody and Port Coquitlam lie just beyond it. The houses are a mix: post-war bungalows with a brick fireplace that has not been lit in years, and new builds that want a linear gas fire in the main wall. The first is usually an insert, gas or wood; the second is planned with the framing, before the drywall goes on.
For a gas fire there is nothing local to work around: the questions are the vent route, the wall and the framing, and those we settle when we measure. All four cities sit inside Metro Vancouver, so a wood fire falls under Bylaw 1303; whether the address sits inside the Urban Containment Boundary, and so whether a certified appliance must be registered before use, is something we check before anything is ordered.
See also: gas fireplace inserts · linear gas fireplaces · wood burning in Metro Vancouver
Bowen Island
Bowen Island is a short ferry crossing from Horseshoe Bay, and everything that reaches the island, including a fireplace and the people who install it, comes across on that boat. A Bowen job is planned around the sailings, the measuring on one crossing and the installation on another, and we confirm the timing when we measure.
Gas or wood both make sense on the island. Whether the house runs on propane or natural gas decides which version of a gas fire we order, and on an island the power can go out in a winter storm, which is why the radiant gas fires that light from a battery, and the wood stoves that need no power at all, are worth a look here. We confirm the gas service when we measure.
The island is a Metro Vancouver municipality, so Bylaw 1303 is the wood-burning rule that applies, but Bowen sits outside the region’s Urban Containment Boundary: islanders make a best-burning-practices declaration rather than register their appliance, as the municipality’s own page explains. Which stoves and inserts are eligible under the bylaw is still checked model by model before anything is ordered, and we WETT-certify the wood-burning appliances we install.
See also: wood-burning stoves and fireplaces · freestanding gas stoves · wood burning in Metro Vancouver
Lions Bay
Lions Bay is the village on the Sea to Sky Highway between Horseshoe Bay and Squamish, its houses stepped up the mountainside above Howe Sound. It is a short drive from the showroom and on our way to Whistler.
Steep lots and narrow lanes decide how a fireplace is delivered, and the gas service decides whether a gas fire is ordered for natural gas or propane. Both are things we confirm when we measure.
A wood stove is as at home here as anywhere on the shore. The village is part of Metro Vancouver, so Bylaw 1303 is the wood-burning rule that applies; whether a given address sits inside the Urban Containment Boundary, and so whether a registration is required, is something we check before anything is ordered.
See also: wood-burning stoves and fireplaces · wood-burning inserts · Valor gas fireplaces on the North Shore
Squamish
Squamish is roughly halfway up the Sea to Sky from North Vancouver to Whistler, on the road we drive to Whistler regularly. The town has grown quickly, and the fireplaces we are asked about are as often for a new house as for an old one: a linear gas fire in a great room facing the Chief, a wood stove in a cabin up the valley.
Natural gas reaches Squamish, and whether it reaches a particular house is something we confirm when we measure; where it does not, many of the gas fires we carry are made for propane, model by model. Squamish sits outside Metro Vancouver, so Bylaw 1303 does not apply to a wood fire here; what applies is set locally, and we confirm it for your address before anything is ordered.
Our page on fireplaces and wood stoves for Whistler homes covers the Sea to Sky more fully, and the Valor page for Whistler the gas fires that suit a mountain house.
See also: fireplaces and wood stoves for the Sea to Sky · Valor gas fireplaces for Whistler and Squamish · wood-burning stoves and fireplaces
Whistler
Whistler is about an hour and a half up the Sea to Sky from North Vancouver, and for a great many Vancouver households it is where the fire is: the chalet, the townhouse, the cabin under the trees. We are in Whistler regularly, and we know many of the contractors there.
Most of our Whistler conversations begin at the showroom, with photographs or plans of the house. Whistler was converted from propane to natural gas when the pipeline from Squamish was built, but not every house is on the line, so a gas fire is ordered for natural gas or propane model by model, and we confirm it before anything is ordered. The radiant gas fires that light from a battery earn their place here: a second home is often empty between visits, and the power does go out in a mountain storm.
Wood is the other half of Whistler. Metro Vancouver’s Bylaw 1303 does not apply here; the Resort Municipality has its own requirements for a wood stove, insert or fireplace, including a strata consent where the home is part of a strata, and we check what applies to your address before anything is ordered. We WETT-certify the wood-burning appliances we install.
See also: fireplaces and wood stoves for Whistler homes · Valor gas fireplaces for Whistler homes · Stûv fireplaces
Pemberton
Pemberton is the far end of the map for us: the village beyond Whistler where the valley opens into farmland, and the rural country around it. It is the last stop on the Sea to Sky, and we go.
Winters are colder here than on the coast, and a wood stove, or a radiant gas fire that keeps working through a power cut, is the natural choice. Whether the house has natural gas or propane is something we confirm when we measure.
Pemberton is outside Metro Vancouver, so Bylaw 1303 does not reach this far; what applies to a wood fire is set locally, and we confirm it for your address before anything is ordered.
See also: fireplaces and wood stoves for the Sea to Sky · Valor gas fireplaces for the Sea to Sky · wood-burning stoves and fireplaces
Questions people tend to ask
Do you come to Bowen Island?
Yes. Bowen Island is part of where we work, and a fireplace for the island, gas or wood, comes across on the ferry from Horseshoe Bay with the people who install it. We plan the day around the sailings and confirm the timing when we measure. For a wood fire, Metro Vancouver’s Bylaw 1303 applies, with a declaration rather than a registration because the island sits outside the Urban Containment Boundary.
Do you install fireplaces in Whistler and Squamish?
Yes. We are in Whistler regularly, with a good working relationship with many of the contractors there, and Squamish is on the road we drive to get there. We install gas fireplaces and wood stoves in both. They sit outside Metro Vancouver, so Bylaw 1303 does not apply to a wood fire there, and we check what applies to your address before anything is ordered. Our page on fireplaces and wood stoves for Whistler homes goes into the detail.
Do you pull the permit, or do I?
We do. Wherever the house is, the permit and, where there is a strata, the strata correspondence are part of the work we take on, as they are on every Maxwell Fireplace job. We will ask you only for what a municipality wants from an owner, such as an authorization for us to act on your behalf where its forms include one.
Can I burn wood where I live?
Inside Metro Vancouver, which takes in Vancouver, the North Shore, Burnaby, the Tri-Cities, Bowen Island and Lions Bay, wood burning is governed by Bylaw 1303: the appliance has to meet the bylaw’s emission standard, every user makes a best-burning-practices declaration, and inside the Urban Containment Boundary the appliance must be registered before use. Squamish, Whistler and Pemberton sit outside the region and follow their own rules. We check the model and the address before anything is ordered, and we WETT-certify the wood-burning appliances we install. Our article on wood burning in Metro Vancouver has the background.
How far ahead should I book?
Earlier than you think, especially in the run-up to winter. The pace is set less by the installation than by what comes before it: the choosing, the measuring, the permit and, for a house up the Sea to Sky or on Bowen Island, the scheduling of the trip. We do not promise a number of weeks on a page, because it depends on the fire and the municipality; come to the showroom with photographs or plans and we will give you the timing when we measure.
Do you serve West Vancouver?
Yes. It is next door to the showroom. The view houses on the mountainside and along the waterfront ask for the same things we plan everywhere: a vent route that respects the glass, clearances drawn against the real wall and, on a winter night when the power goes out, a fire that still lights, gas or wood. Our Valor page for the North Shore shows the gas fires that suit these rooms, and the wood-burning stoves page the stoves.
Where can I see the fireplaces?
In our showroom at 1380 Pemberton Avenue, North Vancouver, open Tuesday to Saturday, 10 am to 4 pm, where gas and wood fires are burning. Bring photographs or plans of the room, wherever the room is, and we will go through the options and the pricing with you there. Every project, wherever the house is, begins in North Vancouver.