February 28, 2019
How your property might affect your custom build.
Property Considerations: How your property might affect your build .
As we enter the spring real estate market in Greater Vancouver, many people are our searching for the perfect property for their new custom build home. Others are considering tearing down their current home, and rebuilding on their existing property.
We receive calls daily asking, “How much does it cost to build a new home?”. What most people don’t realize, is that the property they own, or about purchase has a large impact on what the final build cost will be and how their home can be designed.
Whether you are looking to tear down your existing home, or purchase a new property to build on, we always encourage you meet with us first as we can do a property assessment. This assessment allows us to determine any potential risks and/or costs that your property might have on your new custom build.
This list is not intended to scare you away from building, but instead to help you understand how some initial research can prepare you for selecting the right property or establishing an accurate budget.
Here is a full list of items that items that some of our clients have experienced with building in North Vancouver, Burnaby and Vancouver.
Easements and right of ways
- Easements and right-of-ways are on properties for numerous reasons and it is important to know that permanent structures are not allowed to be built on them. It may be for a future side walk or road or might carry gas or city service lines.
- Even though your property may meet the size requirements for the size of home you are wanting to build, the easement or right-of-way my impact that resulting in you not being able to build the size of home you originally desired.
- Before purchasing the property, understand how a easement or right of way may impact any future build.
Creeks
- Any body of water on or near your property typically comes with a set-back of 15 to 25 feet from the top of bank. If the body of water runs through your property, it could severely impact the size of home you are allowed to build. Even a creek running through a neighbour’s property or a park could impact how your home is designed.
- A current property in North Vancouver has a creek running through the front corner of it. The set-back is not an issue for this home, but due to the flood risk, the owners either cannot build a basement, or must spend thousands of dollars more to “tank (special water proofing)” their basement to protect from at 100-year high water/flood potential.
Trees
- As municipalities like the City of Vancouver restricts trees from being cut down, a tree can have a big impact on how your home is designed, and the way foundations and garages are built. Its important to remember that trees on your property and on your neighbour’s property can both have an impact on your build.
- A current custom build in Vancouver has had to build a special garage foundation with a grade beam to protect the roots resulting in an additional $10,000 in costs to build their garage. A current Burnaby custom build has had to place its garage in the middle of their property severely impacting their back yard to protect trees that are in their neighbour’s property.
Set-Backs
- All properties have front, rear and side yard set-backs that they need conform to.
- Sometimes an older neighbouring home doesn’t conform to today’s set-back rules. A custom-built home in Vancouver is currently facing this issue, and the result is that they have to add special fire proofing materials to the entire side of the house to make up for their neighbours home.
- If the older home you are building has an old chimney, the City of Vancouver will require your builder or demolition crew to dismantle that chimney by hand if they consider that it might be a risk for the chimney to fall into a neighbouring home during demolition.
City Services (Storm and Sanitary)
- Storm (rain water) and sanitary (sewage) connections are unique for every property. When new homes are built, connecting to the municipality systems isn’t always straight forward and can result in added costs.
- Adding pumping system is sometimes required which might add an additional $2,500 to $15,000, or more in costs.
- To avoid pumping, some municipalities will allow you to pay them to adjust the height of the city connections. This typically has the same cost as pumping.
- Other applications, like recent custom home build in North Vancouver was required to store all storm water on their property with special underground tanks. For these home owners, it involved an additional $25,000 in costs.
- Storm and sanitary servicing for your property may have no additional costs or could add potential costs between $10,000 and $50,000.
Age of existing home
- Homes of all ages and generations are being torn down. Its important to know when the home you would like to tear down was built and if there are any generational concerns to be aware of.
- The city of Vancouver requires additional recycling rules for homes of certain generations and puts restrictions on certain heritage homes. Asbestos and other dangerous materials can also be found in homes of certain generations and can result added costs for the safe removal of it.
- Abatement (removal of hazardous materials) can have a cost of a few thousand dollars or can increase your demolition budget by up to $20,000 to $30,000. There are ways to find this out in advance by working with the right professionals.
Grade/Slope of Property
- While many properties in the City of Vancouver are relatively flat, many properties in North Vancouver and Burnaby have severe slope. Whether your property seems flat, or has a lot of slope to it, retaining walls may be needed and can add a few thousand dollars to a build, or possibly up to $100,000 plus of additional costs.
- Retaining walls can be very effective in making a property more usable and architecturally attractive, but it is important to know before starting, how potential retaining walls could affect your budget.
Soil and/or Bog Conditions
- There are certain neighbourhoods in Greater Vancouver that are old peat bogs (dried up lakes and ponds), resulting in unstable soil conditions. In order to build a foundation that will not sink in the soft soils, pile driving is required to establish a sold footing deep below the soft soils. To learn more about potential bog locations in Vancouver, read our article here.
Size of property, zoning of property and building restrictions
- A “standard” 33 X 122 property can be found in Burnaby and Vancouver, but it is important to know that the same size home can not be built on both. Different cities, and different zones within the cites allow for different sizes of homes.
- A 33 x 122 property in Burnaby allows for a 2,415 sq.ft. home while the same size property in Vancouver allows someone to build a 2,818 sq.ft. home.
- Before purchasing your property, understand how the city and zoning affects the build potential.
Let's start by talking, and build from their. Call us today to discuss your property and building goals.
Brad Cowden
New Home Consultant/Project Manager
bradc@wallmark.ca
604-803-9273
