Garden Suites Toronto

BVM Contracting has first-hand experience building garden suites in Toronto, and things are just beginning to heat up for us in this space! By combining our experience with new home building and home addition projects in Toronto we are your first call when evaluating your property's eligibility and feasibility for a garden suite.

Reach out to receive a free, complimentary property and zoning evaluation!

Summary of Garden Suites in Toronto

1. Benefits of building a garden suite in toronto

2. Key Considerations before deciding if a garden suite is the right choice

3. What we offer our Garden suite Customers

4. Frequently Asked Questions

5. Garden Suite construction Costs

6. Featured Toronto Garden Suite Project

7. Featured Garden Suite Information and Blogs

1. Increased Property Value

   Although it is more of an afterthought, there is a notable property value increase when you build a garden suite due to the additional income potential that incumbent buyers can use to support mortgage applications. The rental value of your garden suite is the key driver for the overall property value increase, so make sure you understand your local rental market to make the most informed decision about the best configuration for your garden suite to maximize ROI. Will it be a bachelor unit or would a larger family unit give a better value increase? It will be important to talk to your local real estate agent to get more information. If you do not have a resource we can get you in contact with one of our real estate rental experts.

2. Additional Income

   If your goal is to create an income property then a garden suite will be able to help create long-term income on your property. Again, it will be important to determine which configuration and size of garden suite will get you the best value per dollar, so we recommend working with us for the construction costing in conjunction with a real estate team to figure out your best option that gives you the best ROI.

3. Flexible Living Space

   Adding a garden suite to your property allows for a whole new space that you can use as a long-term rental, additional space for your family, short-term rental, multi-generational living with more independence, and more! It allows for a completely separated living space which will give you more privacy compared to a basement apartment renovation. “No more smelling what the basement tenant is cooking” for the win!

4. Cheaper than buying a property in Toronto

   The no-brainer option for families with a little bit of extra space in their backyard and an adult child who is priced out of Toronto’s expensive real estate market is to repurpose that money to build a secondary dwelling on their property. Since the land has already been acquired the only wrinkles to sort out are zoning, construction costing, and financing. Luckily BVM Contracting has the expertise and the network to get you all the above information (and more) so you can make the most informed decision about your garden suite project. Learn more by reaching out to us!

5. Additional Housing for toronto

   The addition of garden suites is one of the tools in the City of Toronto’s toolbox for hopefully adding additional housing in Toronto. Though the City of Toronto is notoriously one of the slowest jurisdictions in Ontario for getting permits, there have been hundreds of garden suite projects started since the program started. More options for adding density will lead to more density being created, and garden suites are a potential solution for densifying properties in Toronto.

   Garden suites are not the only option when it comes to densification though, and we can evaluate what your best options are for your given property and budget constraints. Reach out to us for a free, no-obligation project consultation, you will be glad you reached out!

1. Zoning Regulations

   Even though garden suites are allowed to be built in Toronto doesn’t mean that every property will be able to build one. It is important to reach out to a home builder that can help you determine if your property can feasibly build a garden suite. Ideally this is the first question you get answered so you can pivot to other residential property densification options.

   BVM Contracting can help guide you through any potential zoning constraints of your property and get our design professionals involved if needed to make sure you have all of the information you need to make an informed decision.

2. Space and Design for Garden Suites

   Garden suites can only be so large and can only take up so much space in your backyard. It is important to set expectations about the amount of space you are going to be able to unlock by building a garden suite, because it is usually only anywhere between 300-1200 square feet. It is also important to understand that you are likely going to be dealing with some sloped walls/ceilings for the second level if you decide to complete a 2-level garden suite, which may take away from the overall design.

   There is always the option of going through Committee of Adjustment to get relief from some of the rules that prevent you from maximizing the space of your garden suite. BVM Contracting works with seasoned architects and permit designers that have a lot of experience with guiding clients through Committee of Adjustment, so if you are looking to maximize the space that your garden suite takes up please feel free to reach out to us!

3. Construction Costs for Garden Suites

   Building a garden suite is one of the most expensive projects per square foot that you can build in Toronto. The reason for this is due to the relative size of the suites versus what the suites need to be self-contained units. Since a 400 square foot garden suite still needs a kitchen and a bathroom and will need to hook up the same type of utilities from the main home as a 1200 square foot garden suite, those costs get concentrated in the smaller square footage.

   For example, if the cost of a bathroom is $25 000, a kitchen is $40 000, and the utilities are $30 000 (for a total of $95 000) to create a garden suite, but one garden suite is 400 square feet and the other is 1200 square feet, the cost per square foot of doing all of this work in a 400 square foot garden suite will be $237.50 per square foot and $79.17 per square foot for the 1200 square foot garden suite. This is the reason why a smaller garden suite will usually carry a higher per square foot amount (usually $500-$700 per square foot) versus a larger one ($450-$600 per square foot).

   BVM Contracting is currently working on a garden suite cost calculator to help people better forecast their garden suite home building costs in Toronto, but in the meantime please feel free to reach out to us to get a customized cost estimate for your project!

4. Impact that garden suites have on Neighbours and neighbourhoods

   Since many garden suites end up at Committee of Adjustment in Toronto it will be important to understand your neighbour’s and neighbourhood’s stance on garden suites. I know what you are thinking, “why does their opinion matter?”. It is because your neighbours and neighbourhood get to submit feedback about your proposed project whenever it goes to Committee of Adjustment. They can write letters of support and letters of opposition and show up to your hearing to give feedback about your design. You would be surprised how much sway a community has with Committee of Adjustment has when they are united in opposing a development. Granted their opposition remarks and feedback have to have merit (i.e. they can’t just show up and say they don’t want the garden suite because they don’t like you) but it is still an important consideration when navigating the process of garden suite design and permitting.

   This is also a friendly reminder to not burn bridges with your neighbours and to keep them in the loop about your intentions, it goes a long way when you want to develop your property!

5. Utilities and Services

   This is probably one of the most misunderstood aspects of building a garden suites, but the most important for ensuring that it becomes a fully functioning self-contained dwelling.

   The minimum requirement for getting a functional garden suite is to have a working plumbing system and electrical to the accessory dwelling unit. In Toronto, you need to connect the utilities for the garden suite from the primary dwelling to the garden suite (in other words, you cannot directly connect plumbing/electrical/gas from the road to your garden suite). This means that if any of your existing utilities need to be upgraded (electrical service, water service, natural gas service) you may need to consider those costs in the overall cost of creating a garden suite.

   All-electric garden suites are the most popular due to the ease of set-up, reduced utility connection costs (you don’t need to run a natural gas line), and the advancement in cold-climate heat pump technology. With that being said it also means that if you do not have a 200 amp panel and service at your home, you will either have to bring in a new 100 amp service (separate from the main home’s service) to supply the garden suite, or upgrade your existing panel to 200 amps and run a 100 amp line from the 200 amp panel. Is your head spinning yet? Let’s continue. The same goes for plumbing upgrades, it would be a really bad idea to not upgrade your water supply to at least 3/4 inch (on both the City side and private side) in order to serve both the garden suite and main home.

   The other consideration for utilities and services is whether or not you should separate the services to allow for separate billing between the garden suite and main home. There is an additional cost to this but it sometimes makes sense depending on the use case of the garden suite and/or main home. It might make sense to separate all of the utilities if you plan on renting one or more of the units out to long-term tenants. The short-term bite in cost might save you a lot in reduced utility bills and stress.

6. Financing Your Garden Suite

   Once you get a representative idea of costs and zoning constraints for your property it is time to figure out your financing options. Usually the most popular avenue to financing garden suite projects is to utilize the equity in the property to refinance an existing mortgage (or get a new mortgage for the property). There are also alternative financing options that make sense depending on your individual assets, liabilities, and income. We have partnered with a multi-unit financing specialist to take the stress out of finding the best financing option for your garden suite (or any other multi-unit development) project. Please reach out to us to learn more!

• No-charge, no-obligation property evaluations to determine your property’s eligibility for a Garden Suite in Toronto. Using our design partners we can review the zoning for your property to determine the likelihood of success for your project getting a permit before you invest any money.

• Accurate Budgeting with Minimal to No Investment. Using our database of completed Garden Suite and Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) projects we will be able to confidently give you a budget for your proposed Garden Suite before you invest any money into the design and permitting. The goal is to give you an accurate cost for your garden suite before you commit to a permit designer or architect.

• Honest and Real Advice. As a local, family-run General Contracting company in Toronto we believe that honesty is the best policy. If you are looking for real and transparent advice please feel free to contact us! We don’t sugar-coat the complicated process of building a garden suite but will give you the information you need to make the most informed decision.

• No-cost design-build services. If you decide that building a Garden Suite is the right decision we can connect you with one of our design partners and work with you during the design process to make sure your design doesn’t increase the costs over and above your budget. Have you already chosen your permit designer or architect? Great! We work with whoever you would like to partner with for your design as long as they allow us to be a collaborative partner in the design process. We do not charge anything for being part of the design, we complete this so we can make sure your construction costs stay within your budget and to also to prove that we are the right home builder for your Garden Suite project!

Try out our Garden Suite construction cost Calculator below

We touched on this in a bit of detail above, but the key driver to cost per square foot of the garden suite is the size of the garden suite. The smaller your garden suite is the higher your cost per square foot will be (see item number 3 above in the “considerations: section). For smaller garden suites (300-650 square feet) you can expect to pay between $500 to $600 per square foot, and is hugely dependent on how much work is needed to set-up the utilities properly. For larger garden suites (650-2000 square feet), you can expect to pay somewhere between $400-$550 per square foot.

Now if you have read some of our other blogs and pages you have probably realized that we hate giving people cost per square foot numbers, but realize it is a necessary evil in an industry that is riddled with companies that don’t want to put in any effort to help property owners figure out the true cost of construction. With this in mind, we usually take things a step further and prepare a comprehensive garden suite budget that gives you the total estimated cost of construction along with the considerations and assumptions made. We do not need drawings to give you realistic pricing because we have a robust database of past garden suite projects that we have priced out and use regularly to determine pricing for future projects.

Reach out to us today to learn more about how we prepare our preliminary cost estimates (hint: we actually listen to you and ask the right questions).