Custom Home Builder in Abbotsford, BC

For a home, the City wants proof before it issues the permit. Abbotsford’s Building Bylaw says a building permit for a building that includes a residential occupancy must not be issued unless the applicant provides evidence, under section 22 of the Homeowner Protection Act, that the building is covered by home warranty insurance and the constructor is a licensed residential builder, or that the owner has provided an owner builder declaration and disclosure notice authorization. Under a custom-home contract, BC Housing says registering and enrolling the home falls to the licensed general contractor rather than the homeowner. Kyrax Developments Ltd. holds BC Housing Residential Builder Licence #57802, in good standing, as a General Contractor and Developer; verify it on the BC Housing Licence Registry. Sources: City of Abbotsford, Building Bylaw, 2018, section 65; BC Housing, Register a New Home, verified September 2026.

A complete package, submitted online. The City’s February 2025 checklist for new residential buildings says incomplete submissions cannot be accepted, that a Building Permit Portal account must be created before submitting, and that application fees are due at submission; for a new dwelling the non-refundable application fee is $750, or $712.50 with a Registered Professional, and it is credited towards the building permit fee at issuance. The minimum package includes a title search retrieved within the last 30 days, the registered covenants, easements and rights-of-way, a letter of authorization signed by each owner, a topographic survey from a BC Land Surveyor for infill and rural properties, architectural drawings, and the Energy Step Code documents. The Building Bylaw adds that an application is not treated as made until the requirements of section 35 are met. Sources: City of Abbotsford, Submission Checklist, Residential New Building (February 4, 2025), Building Code, Bylaws & Fees and Building Bylaw, 2018, sections 35 and 38, verified September 2026.

Step 3 of the BC Energy Step Code, proven by two blower door tests. The City’s February 2025 bulletin says Step 3 has applied to all new building permit applications for single family buildings since May 1, 2023, with EL-1 provisions to measure and disclose operational greenhouse gas emissions added from March 10, 2025. The application carries an energy model and a pre-construction compliance report, and the bulletin warns that applicants who don’t use conservative airtightness assumptions risk homes that miss Step 3 and a delayed occupancy at final inspection. It requires a mid-construction blower door test before the insulation inspection, which may not be necessary if air-tight drywall is used, then a post-construction test with at least 48 hours’ notice so a Building Official may attend, and a home energy label on or near the electrical panel. The City’s Step Code web page, still headed with the 2018 code revision, describes the mid-construction test as strongly encouraged. Sources: City of Abbotsford, BC Energy and Zero Carbon Step Code Requirements for Part 9 Buildings (February 4, 2025), BC Energy Step Code and Building Bylaw, 2018, section 14.1, verified September 2026.

A demolition permit, with the services dealt with under two bylaws. Abbotsford’s Building Bylaw says no one may demolish a building unless a building permit for the demolition has been issued, and that permit expires 6 months after it is issued. Where the house includes a water service installed 20 or more years before the date the City receives the demolition permit, the Waterworks Regulations Bylaw requires an application either to have the service permanently disconnected and removed at demolition, or for a building permit for the new house, in which case the City inspects the service and decides whether it is temporarily disconnected or permanently disconnected, removed and replaced. Before any building sewer is disconnected, the owner applies for a disconnect permit; the City lists $750 plus GST each for sanitary and storm, and it inspects the sanitary connection before reconnection. Sources: City of Abbotsford, Building Bylaw, 2018, sections 18 and 69(2), Waterworks Regulations Bylaw, 2017, section 6, Sewer Regulations Bylaw, 2017, section 15, and the sanitary and storm disconnect permit pages, verified September 2026.

It depends on the lot. Abbotsford’s Development Cost Charges Imposition Bylaw imposes its charges on subdivision approval and on building permits, including permits for a building with fewer than 4 self-contained dwelling units, and the City’s 2023 application guide says DCCs are generally collected during the subdivision phase for projects in urban areas but may also be required for projects on older properties or outside the urban areas, including a new residential building on land zoned for agricultural use. Where they apply, the City’s rate summary effective February 1, 2026 lists, for a single detached lot, up to $57,032 in development cost charges, depending on which of the bylaw’s sectors the lot is in, and a $7,828 amenity cost charge under the separate amenity bylaw, $64,860 together, plus the school site acquisition charge. The City does not accept credit cards for DCCs. Sources: City of Abbotsford, Development Cost Charges Imposition Bylaw No. 3174-2021, sections 3 and 4 and Table 1, Amenity Cost Charges Imposition Bylaw No. 3637-2025, the Development & Amenity Cost Charge Rates Summary, the Residential New & Additions Application Guide 2023 and Development Engineering, verified September 2026.

Only as the Tree Management Bylaw allows, in force since March 1, 2026. Protected trees include any tree of at least 20 cm DBH, or 10 cm in a tree retention area, and a property with a building permit application for a new principal building counts as undergoing development: where construction or site disturbance will affect protected trees, the owner provides a tree survey, an arborist report, a tree removal and retention plan and any replacement tree plan, and complies before any development-related activity starts. The City may refuse a tree permit while a building permit application for the same property is under active review. Tree protection barriers around retained trees within 4 metres of the adjacent property are installed, inspected and approved before construction or site disturbance. Replacements follow Schedule D, one to eight trees for each protected tree of 20 cm or more removed, by size and species. Securities are $2,000 per retained tree, or $5,000 for a tree of at least 60 cm DBH or a significant tree, capped at $100,000 per site application, plus $750 per replacement tree on a property undergoing development. Properties in the Agricultural Land Reserve are exempt. Sources: City of Abbotsford, Tree Management Bylaw No. 3600-2025, sections 12, 15, 22 and 47 and Schedule D, and Tree Management, verified September 2026.

On our projects, a custom home runs 12 to 18 months from permit to handover. That is our own clock, and it starts once the permit is in hand. Before it, the City’s Building Permit Wait Times page shows a queue rather than a duration: which submission date plan review has reached for new and addition residential homes, and how many applications are pending. After it, the Building Bylaw has a permit expire if work is not started within six months of issue or is discontinued for 12 months after the last inspection, and every permit expires two years after issue unless extended; the City says every effort is made to book inspections within 1 to 2 business days, with at least 24 hours’ notice. Sources: City of Abbotsford, Building Permit Wait Times, Building Bylaw, 2018, sections 66, 67 and 70, and Inspections, verified September 2026.

Elevations on paper before the permit, and sometimes a survey after. For a single family dwelling, the Building Bylaw asks for lot grading plans, including the elevations of the dwelling’s four corners on an infill lot, and the width, slope and location of the driveway out to the centre line of the street. On an infill lot in an established subdivision it also wants a current posting and topographic survey by a BC Land Surveyor, and a plan with the invert elevations of the storm and sanitary sewer connections at the property line and the minimum building elevation that keeps gravity feed to those connections. The City’s checklist adds a storm infiltration or detention design for building projects in urban areas, and shoring plans where excavation deeper than 1.2 m is in the Steep Slope Development Permit Area or close to adjacent properties. The City may require a post-completion lot grading survey, which it accepts before occupancy is authorized. Sources: City of Abbotsford, Building Bylaw, 2018, sections 40, 94 and 98, and the Submission Checklist, Residential New Building, verified September 2026.

Fill, drainage, charges and trees. The City’s checklist says proposed buildings and driveways in the ALR that need fill or soil deposits beyond the Agricultural Land Commission’s regulation limits must apply to the Commission for a Notice of Intent, that building permits cannot be issued before the Commission grants the exemption, and that sand and gravel for the underslab aggregate counts as fill. The same checklist wants a storm infiltration or detention design for projects in agricultural areas with 10% or more aggregate lot coverage, and a Fraser Health record where a septic system is proposed. On land zoned for agricultural use, the City’s 2023 application guide lists development cost charges for a new residential building, while the Tree Management Bylaw does not apply to ALR properties. Sources: City of Abbotsford, the Submission Checklist, Residential New Building (February 4, 2025), the Residential New & Additions Application Guide 2023 and Tree Management, verified September 2026.

Set hours and a clean street. The Sound Regulation Bylaw lets construction that disturbs neighbours run only from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday to Saturday and 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Sundays and statutory holidays, with demolition counted as construction, and an application for an exemption must reach the Chief Building Official at least 10 business days before the work. The City’s Good Neighbour Guide asks builders to keep roads and sidewalks around the site clean of mud, gravel and debris, keep driveways, sidewalks and lanes clear, and not park on boulevards, and its application guide says a new driveway, or altering, relocating or repaving one, needs a Highway Excavation Permit from Engineering. Sources: City of Abbotsford, Sound Regulation Bylaw, 2017, sections 11(c) and 14(b), the Good Neighbour Guide (updated 2025) and the Residential New & Additions Application Guide 2023, verified September 2026.

At 75% new construction. The City’s 2023 residential application guide sends a project that proposes 75% or more new construction, excluding the foundation, down its new-building path instead of its additions path, and a new dwelling there needs the Energy Step Code compliance report and BC Housing approval. The City’s Step Code bulletin says its provisions apply to new construction only and do not apply to renovations. Sources: City of Abbotsford, the Residential New & Additions Application Guide 2023 and the Part 9 Step Code bulletin (February 4, 2025), verified September 2026.

Yes to both. Kyrax Developments Ltd. holds BC Housing Residential Builder Licence #57802, in good standing, as a General Contractor and Developer; verify it on the BC Housing Licence Registry. Renovations in Abbotsford are covered on our Abbotsford home renovations page and our Abbotsford bathroom renovations page, and custom homes elsewhere on our Surrey, Langley and Burnaby pages.