A second home brings flexibility

When you’re building a new home and you want to build the most house you possibly can on your lot, why not build another house?

Carriage homes, laneway homes or backyard suites are easier than ever to build. Whether it’s a free-standing structure or a suite above a garage, the City of Calgary is loosening its grip on zoning bylaws in an effort to create density. And before you wonder if Calgary needs more density, consider this. Calgary, with just 1.4 million people, has the same footprint as the five boroughs of New York City, population 9 million.

Carriage homes are generally allowed throughout Calgary’s residential communities, with approximately 97 per cent of all residential parcels allowing this use, says Lisa Kahn, land use bylaw leader for the City of Calgary.

“Many things contribute to whether or not backyard suites can be developed, including the type of development on the parcel currently there and how much of the parcel has already been developed,” she says.

The city’s website at Calgary.ca lists the information applicants have to provide for the development permit and will help identify potential barriers to a successful application.

Carriage suites are big in Vancouver and catching on in Calgary, especially in neighbourhoods like Altadore, Ramsay, Crescent Heights and the infill community of Currie, by Canada Lands Co. They take up no more yard space than the garage does.

Currie is where Jeff Hayter and June Fitzmartyn-Innes built a new 3,600-square-foot custom home with Crystal Creek Homes, adding a 600-square-foot, one-bedroom suite above their triple-car garage off the back lane.

The construction of the suite, built to Crystal Creek’s standard specs, added $150,000 to $165,000 to the cost of their home, but as a potential source of rental income, the added expense was more than justified.

“It’s a pretty good deal when a condo that size, anywhere near inner city, is $250,000 and up,” says Hayter.

The thought of additional revenue was only a possible perk for the suite, which includes a full kitchen decked out with granite countertops and stainless steel appliances. With three sets of parents between them, the couple wanted to ensure there was accommodation for at least one of them as they grow older. Even with their 3,600-square-foot home, it was important to have that additional space to bring the family together, only under two roofs.

“My wife grew up with her grandma in the house. It was important to her to have a place for our parents to come to,” he says.

In the meantime, Hayter uses the carriage house as an office where he manages his three businesses.

Outside of Calgary, carriage homes are evident in Harmony, a community in Springbank by Bordeaux Developments and Qualico Communities. New home builders Broadview Homes, Sterling Homes and Daytona Homes are building two- and three-storey laned estate homes with rear detached garages as part of Harmony’s Aspen Collection, the perfect scenario for a good-sized carriage suite as part of a new build on a larger lot.

Homes in the Aspen Collection are 2,000 to 3,000 square feet, with an additional 1,000 square feet of living area in a carriage suite if a buyer chooses to build a triple-car garage in the rear.

“That’s the maximum size we can build,” says Broadview sales manager Bruce Staszczak.

A carriage suite would add about $160,000 to the purchase price, he says.

Airdrie has also loosened the reigns on carriage homes, and local builders like McKee Homes will be building backyard suites for new home buyers in Bayside, a community by Genesis Land Development.

Bayside is zoned for carriage suites, but buyers who choose this option still have to apply for a development permit, which McKee will do on their behalf.

“There are certain criteria we have to meet with carriage suites,” says sales manager Jamie McLachlin.

The lots in Bayview that McKee has been allotted for carriage suites are 42 to 46 feet wide, which are significantly larger than a typical laned lot. As a custom builder, McKee can reconfigure one of its current laned models to fit the lot, plus design a carriage suite over a double or in some instances, triple-car garage. The size and style of the suite depends on the intended use of the living space and can be customized to fit the buyer’s requirements.

McKee has already sold a few homes with carriage suites in Bayside.