Garden Suite Construction
Garden suite construction across Metro Vancouver, detached backyard secondary homes designed, permitted, and built as one seamless project, for lots with or without lane access.
What a garden suite is
Garden suite construction in Metro Vancouver produces a detached secondary dwelling built in a property's backyard, and unlike a laneway house, it doesn't require the lot to abut a public lane. That's exactly why it's the right category for most of our service area outside Vancouver and Burnaby, where rear-lane frontage is the exception rather than the rule. The same basic structure goes by different names depending on the city: Richmond and Delta call it a garden suite, Surrey's own program is literally named "Coach Houses & Garden Suites," North Vancouver calls it a coach house, and Coquitlam frames it as an accessory unit under its Small-Scale Multi-Unit Housing rules. It's one product with different local names, not five different products.
When a garden suite makes sense
For many homeowners it's the only option, the majority of lots outside Vancouver and Burnaby simply don't have lane access, so a laneway house isn't available to them and a backyard suite becomes the path to adding a second dwelling. Beyond that, the reasons mirror any secondary-suite project: generating rental income from an underused backyard, housing family members with fully separate living space, and making full use of a larger lot. Eligibility varies meaningfully by city, though. Richmond requires the principal dwelling to stay owner-occupied, and Coquitlam ties the unit allowance to lot size, larger lots of 4,050 m² and up only qualify for one accessory unit rather than the higher allowances available on smaller parcels. Knowing which set of rules applies to your property is the first real decision in any garden suite project.
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What's required for a garden suite
Permitting and design basics follow the host city's program, and the honest central point of this section is that these numbers vary significantly from one municipality to the next. Richmond caps garden suites at 484 sq ft (45 m²), single-storey only. Surrey allows 35–75 m², extending up to 120 m² on eligible larger lots. North Vancouver requires a self-contained unit on RS-1 zoned lots with a 0.9m landscape buffer. Delta requires checking Zoning Bylaw No. 7600 and offers a free ADU Concierge Service to help scope a project early. Coquitlam's allowance depends on lot size under its SSMUH rules. Because the exact size, height, and setback limits differ by municipality, the practical first step for any homeowner is a property-specific eligibility check, which is exactly what a free consultation covers.
Garden suite FAQ
In practice, nothing, they're the same product under different names. Richmond and Delta use "garden suite," North Vancouver uses "coach house," and Surrey's program is named "Coach Houses & Garden Suites" to cover both terms. They all describe a detached secondary dwelling built in a backyard, without needing the lot to abut a lane. The label changes by city, the structure doesn't.
No, that's the key difference from a laneway house. A garden suite sits in the backyard and doesn't depend on a public lane, which is why it's the standard option for lots in Richmond, North Vancouver, Delta, Surrey, and Coquitlam where rear-lane frontage is uncommon. If your lot does abut a lane in Vancouver or Burnaby, a laneway house may also be available.
Because size, height, setback, and even unit-count limits differ by municipality, Richmond's 484 sq ft single-storey cap, Surrey's 35–120 m² range, Coquitlam's lot-size-based allowance, the reliable way to know is a property-specific eligibility check. A free consultation confirms your city's rules, your lot's eligibility, and what's actually buildable before you commit to a design.
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