What Can I Build On My Lot?

Why does feasibility come before design?

Because design work done against the wrong assumptions is wasted money. Owners regularly arrive with a six-unit multiplex in mind and a lot whose frontage supports four, or with a laneway house in mind on a lot where redeveloping into three units would produce a far better outcome. Both are avoidable with a week of proper checking.

A feasibility study establishes what is permitted, what physically fits, and what the trade-offs are between the options. Only then does drawing anything make sense.

What determines how many units my lot allows?

Four things do most of the work: lot area, frontage, transit proximity, and your municipality’s interpretation of the provincial rules.

Lot area sets the provincial baseline — three units under 280 m² (3,014 sq ft), four between 280 m² and 4,050 m². Transit proximity can lift that to six units where the lot sits within 400 m of a bus stop running every 15 minutes or better, and it removes minimum parking requirements entirely. Frontage is then usually the binding constraint: in Vancouver R1-1, six strata units require 15.1 m (49.5 ft) of frontage, while a standard 33 ft lot generally tops out at three to four.

• Lot area: 3 units under 280 m², 4 units from 280 m² to 4,050 m²
• Transit: up to 6 units within 400 m of frequent service, no minimum parking
• Frontage: 33 ft for 3–4 units, 44 ft for 4–5, 49.5 ft for 6 strata or 8 rental
• Floor space ratio: 0.70 base in Vancouver R1-1, 1.00 for all-secured-rental
• Site conditions: slope, soil, trees, servicing capacity and lane access

What does a feasibility study cover?

We look at the zoning that applies to your parcel and what the current bylaws permit outright. We measure the constraints that decide built form: frontage, setbacks, floor space ratio, height and site coverage. We check the physical realities — slope, mature trees and their protection zones, where services enter the property, and how the lane can be used during construction.

Then we set the options against each other. A laneway house behind the existing home. A duplex. Three to six units as a multiplex or townhome row. Strata sale versus secured rental, and what each does to the floor area you are allowed. The output is a clear picture of what is possible, not a sales pitch for the largest option.

What if the answer is smaller than I hoped?

Then you have saved yourself a great deal of money and time. It is far better to find out that your frontage caps you at four units before you have paid for a six-unit design, and it is genuinely common. Frontage is the constraint owners most often overlook.

Sometimes the answer points elsewhere entirely — retaining and renovating the existing house while adding an ADU, or assembling with a neighbouring lot to clear a frontage threshold. We would rather tell you that early than discover it at permit stage.

What happens after the study?

If the numbers work and you want to proceed, feasibility flows straight into architectural design with our in-house team, then permits, which we manage as your representative. Interior design runs in parallel while permits are in motion. Before construction begins we confirm your move-in date and lock the price.

If the numbers do not work, you stop with a clear answer and no half-finished drawings.

See what happens after feasibility →