Did you know its against Vancouver city by-laws to build a nuclear weapon? Vancouver… so strict… http://t.co/rUz0qRxM Section 10.23
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Eside @CultureCrawl starts tonight! Check out my amazingly talented officemate @andreaarmstrong http://t.co/1jClX9T3
Picked up another laneway house permit! Tradition 2-storey with a balcony and 2-bedrooms going up in Dunbar.
Applied for another Laneway House permit today. Excited about this one, it has a den, a balcony, two bathrooms, and two bedrooms!
I love it when City Hall approves Laneway Plans on the spot!
Laneside is now offering a comprehensive interior design package!
Due to safety concerns Laneside will not be incorporating any of these INSANE space saving techniques. http://t.co/SzNMPnO
Laneside’s last 7 days: 3 laneway house design reviews, 1 laneway house permit application, 1 variance board approval. And now the weekend.
Picking up a laneway permit on Wednesday! Anyone else need one? Contact for free consultation! #lanewayhouse #vancouver
Earth hour tonight 8:30-9:30. Don’t leave anything on. I recommend the large “off” on the electric panel. http://eh2011.com
Interesting article on Vancouver’s earthquake preparedness or lack of… http://tinyurl.com/6f4mfjr #vancouver #earthquake
A new Laneside designed laneway house! Breaking ground on the west side! #vancouver #lanewayhouse http://twitpic.com/4aeyto
One of my wonderful clients and I were recently quoted in the Globe and Mail. The article talks about the growing number of multi-generational homes in Canada. Laneway homes were mentioned because of their ability to affordably house family nearby and, at the same time, in a completely separate dwelling. Follow the link below for the full article!
Byron,
Laneside Home Design, specializing in Vancouver Laneway Homes
byron@laneside.ca
1.778.938.6164
One of Laneside’s most excellent and most excited clients has put a lot of time and effort into cataloguing their entire Laneway House building process. With great ambition they even set up a webcam to record and create a time laps video compilation of the entire building process. With the project currently only half finished they’ve made an interim video with the current progress. Stay tuned, I can’t wait to watch the whole building being constructed!
Byron,
Laneside Home Design, specializing in Vancouver Laneway Homes
byron@laneside.ca
1.778.938.6164
Laneside Home Design is passionate about designing affordable laneway houses (a.k.a coach houses, a backyard cottages or a granny flats) and ensuring that the construction of its homes is performed in a manner that respects the safety of construction labourers.
Since 2005, there have been over 10,000 reported injuries within the BC construction industry. To counter this, Laneside is promoting an innovative marketing campaign called Raise Your Hand created by Work Safe BC. The link provided will send you to the “Rhythm Mixer” an online music station where you can record your own mixes, including drum, vocal, and instrumental loops – all in a Work Safe related theme about knowing your rights on the job site. The Rhythm Mixer is actually quite fun to use, give it a try and you’ll be entered to win an iPad and an Xbox 360.
Follow this link:
http://www.raiseyourhand.com/contest#
Anna,
Laneside Home Design
contact@laneside.ca
In North Vancouver, call it laneway housing, a coach house, a backyard cottage or a granny flat but no matter what you call it, call it a win-win. The recent decision to allow laneway housing in North Vancouver by the city has been warmly welcomed by proponents of eco-density, current homeowners, as well as those seeking affordable housing options.
This announcement follows the move taken by the City of Vancouver in July 2009 to allow for laneway housing builds to take place. Laneside Home Design continues to receive calls by early adopters who wish to take advantage of this recent development. Laneside is offering North Vancouver clients a full-service package, which includes:
- Laneway Plans and Drawings.
- Building Permit Application; a complicated process often tedious for the client and requires the submission of construction drawings)
- Acquisition of Professional Engineer Approval
This package is also being offered with a current 10% discount as an incentive for those wishing to get an early start on building their secondary property (simply tell us you heard about this promotion through our blog). Laneside has a growing list of clients who have already received their building permit and site plans. If you are in the initial stages of deciding whether you’d like to build a coach house, we would be happy to meet with you for a free introductory meet and greet to answer any questions you may have.
The City of North Vancouver is now accepting permits for laneway houses. Here’s what you need to know:
- There are two types of coach housing categories:
- Type A: maximum of 15 feet high and a 800 square feet with an easier permit process
- Type B: maximum of 22 feet high and 1000 square feet with a lengthier permit process
- Backyard coach homes are possible on lots that are the standard width of 33 feet or wider. Lane access is not required for either type A or type B categories.
- Coach homes are meant for rentals or family and cannot be strata titled.
- Homeowners need to provide at least one parking spot for both the main and laneway home.
- Additional details are to be posted on the North Vancouver City’s Website, http://www.cnv.org//server.aspx?c=2&i=320 or please contact Laneside Home Design with any questions you may have.
Anna,
Laneside Home Design
contact@laneside.ca
The City of Vancouver has started to receive building permit applications for laneway homes over the last few months. I was informed today that they have received 13 applications and the first building permit has finally been issued! It’ll be exciting to see what happens over the coming months and into the spring. I’m sure this will be the first of many.
Byron,
Laneside Home Design, specializing in Vancouver Laneway Homes
byron@laneside.ca
1.778.938.6164
There seems to be a lot of interest in laneway housing all across Vancouver. A lot of homeowners are interested and asking questions. Everyone’s first questions are “am I eligible?”, “what will it cost?”, and “what’s it going to look like?”. I’ve been pouring over all these questions over the last few months and I’d like to make the research process a bit easier for others that are interested.
First of all, are you eligible? The first thing you need to ask yourself is which zone your Vancouver residential lot is in. The City is broken up into numerous zones but only two of them are eligible for laneway housing. RS-1 and RS-5 are the only two zones eligible, the good news is these two zones comprise the vast majority of Vancouver’s residential area. At this point the city is making no exceptions for homeowners in other zones, hopefully down the road they will make more zones eligible. If you’re not sure which zone you’re in you can use van map. Its a bit complicated but there is a lot of information on it, including zoning for every Vancouver lot.
Ok, so your lot is in an RS-1 or RS-5 zone, what’s next? It seems simple, but do you have a back lane? If you do not have a back lane or double frontage (a street behind your lot instead of a lane) you are not eligible.
Next, lot width. Your lot must be at least 10 meters or 33 feet wide for you to be eligible. Again, at this point there are no exceptions. Hopefully you have some documentation about your lot that will tell you the width, like a survey plan. If you don’t you can always check the width of your lot on VAN MAP, talk to City of Vancouver zoning staff or ask a professional.
That basically covers initial eligibility. If you meet all three of those requirements (zoning, back lane, lot width) chances are good you can build a laneway house. There are many other by-laws in place restricting the placement of a laneway house on your lot and the size and design of your laneway house. If you’re interested in going through some of that information I recommend starting with the City of Vancouver’s illustrative examples. It’s a fairly comprehensive and easy to follow document going over laneway house by-laws. There are a few examples of laneway houses on laneside.ca as well, illustrating some of the options allowed (inside parking or outside parking, one storey or one and a half storey’s, etc..). For the more adventurous researcher there are the actual laneway house by-law documents.
At this point you’ve checked off eligibility and you know something about the restrictions applying to laneway houses. The next question is “what will it cost?” Depending on the design and finishing of a laneway house the costing can vary quite a bit. You could build for as low as $100,000 or as high as $300,000 or more. As a rental suite a laneway house can easily be profitable. At this point its time to have a professional look at your site and discuss with you the various options available. The more specific the design of your laneway house is, the more specific the construction cost is going to be.
If you have any more questions about eligibility, design or construction cost you can comment on this entry, email or call. I hope this has been helpful to anyone looking to build a laneway house.
Byron,
Laneside Home Design, specializing in Vancouver Laneway Homes
byron@laneside.ca
1.778.938.6164