Custom Home Builder in West Vancouver, BC

Yes, unless you build it yourself as an owner builder. Under the Homeowner Protection Act, a municipality must not issue a building permit for a proposed new home unless the applicant shows that it is covered by home warranty insurance and will be built by a licensed residential builder, or that it will be built by an owner builder. The District’s Building Bylaw repeats the rule, and its application checklist wants the BC Housing New Home Registration Form before the permit issues. 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. We also build custom homes in Vancouver, Richmond, Burnaby and Delta, and renovate homes in West Vancouver. Sources: Province of British Columbia, Homeowner Protection Act, section 30(1); District of West Vancouver, Building Bylaw No. 5340, section 11.10, and the single family application checklist (January 2026), verified September 2026.

Online, as a complete package. Since April 15, 2021 the District has taken applications only through its Document Upload Centre, with drawings digitally sealed; emailed applications, wet seals and incomplete submissions are not accepted. The January 2026 checklist asks for a title search no more than 30 days old, the Housing Form the District now collects under the provincial Housing Supply Act, a BC land surveyor’s topographic survey from the last 6 months, Schedule B letters and insurance declarations from the building envelope, geotechnical, structural and civil engineers, the energy advisor’s documents, and land development plans for stormwater, erosion and sediment control, traffic management, site servicing, the driveway and landscaping. The application fee is $150 or 50% of the permit fee, whichever is greater, and is non-refundable, and the land development review fees are collected with the application. Sources: District of West Vancouver, Building Permits: Single Family, the application checklist and Fees and Charges Bylaw No. 5383, 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. The District’s Building Bylaw gives an application 180 days from the date it is complete to reach a permit, and a building permit is valid for 18 months from issue, a demolition permit for 6. A building inspector may extend a permit by 6 months: once without charge for a project valued over $500,000 where work has proceeded in a timely manner, and otherwise on request with a fee, which for a single-family dwelling is 25% of the permit fee for the first and second extensions and 50% after that, and never less than $500. Sources: District of West Vancouver, Building Bylaw No. 5340, Part 2 and sections 17.8 to 17.11, and Fees and Charges Bylaw No. 5383, verified September 2026.

A separate permit with its own conditions. The District treats the demolition and the new house as two permits, each with a Housing Form. Before a demolition permit issues, the owner gives a vacancy date, pays the capping and inspection chamber fees and has every service capped at the property line, and the application carries a legal survey showing the trees and a scope of work signed by the owner and the demolition contractor. After demolition the site is backfilled and levelled, erosion and sediment controls go in, and the owner declares how the debris was disposed of, at Metro Vancouver licensed facilities. The fee for demolishing a house is $2,015, a $25,000 damage deposit applies to a demolition permit issued without a building permit, and a property on the District’s heritage register gets no demolition permit until its building permit is issued. Sources: District of West Vancouver, Building Bylaw No. 5340, Part 16, Building Permits: Single Family, the Demolition Material Recycling and Disposal Report and Fees and Charges Bylaw No. 5383, verified September 2026.

Step 5 of the Energy Step Code, or Step 4 if the house meets level EL-3 of the Zero Carbon Step Code. The District has required that since November 1, 2023, and its Building Bylaw sets it for Part 9 buildings; its Step Code page gives EL-3 for a house as modelled emissions of no more than 2.5 kg CO₂e per square metre a year, up to 800 kg a year. An energy advisor is involved at design, construction and completion: the energy design report has to be available at the rough-in framing inspection, a mid-construction House Performance Report goes in at the insulation and vapour barrier inspection, and an as-built report at the final. Sources: District of West Vancouver, Building Bylaw No. 5340, sections 26.1 and 26.5, BC Energy Step Code and Inspections, verified September 2026.

The District issues electrical and plumbing permits; gas goes through Technical Safety BC. Technical Safety BC lists the District of West Vancouver as issuing its own electrical permits only, and the District says it does not issue or inspect gas installations. Its Building Bylaw covers plumbing, fire sprinkler, drainage and hot water heating permits, with a drainage permit for drain tile, foundation dampproofing, the building’s sanitary and storm sewers and its on-site water lines. The District’s permit pages say electrical and mechanical permits are taken out by a provincially qualified contractor, unless the inspector is satisfied the applicant has the knowledge and skills for the work, and that contractors need a West Vancouver business licence, or an inter-municipal licence for a business based in North Vancouver. Sources: Technical Safety BC, Jurisdiction; District of West Vancouver, Building Bylaw No. 5340, Parts 14 and 15, Building Permits: Electrical and Building Permits: Mechanical, verified September 2026.

Yes, under a permit and within limits. On single and two-family lots the District’s blasting bylaw allows blasting or rock-breaking only for the house, garage, coach house, driveway and parking shown on a building permit in good standing: up to 400 m³ of rock on a lot under 885 m², 600 m³ on a larger lot and 800 m³ on a newly consolidated lot, with no more than 45 m³ removed by splitting. Rock hammering and on-site crushing are not allowed. Blasting happens Monday to Friday, not on holidays, within the noise bylaw’s hours and never from December 17 to January 2; affected owners get 48 hours’ notice, or 7 days’ for work of more than two days, and vibration may not exceed 50 mm per second. The owner carries $5 million of insurance, the permit costs $1,125 with a $10,000 damage deposit, and a post-blast survey must be accepted before the first forming inspection. Sources: District of West Vancouver, Bylaw No. 5130, Parts 6 and 10 to 12 and Schedule D, Blasting and Rock Breaking and Fees and Charges Bylaw No. 5383, verified September 2026.

Depending on the lot, a wildfire, creek or foreshore permit first. The Wildfire Hazard Development Permit Area, approved by Council on December 14, 2020, takes in every property within 100 metres of a forested area, about half the District. A new house with habitable space there needs a wildfire hazard development permit approved before the building permit application, unless a covenant with wildland fire requirements is registered on title, and its guidelines place new buildings as far from the forest interface as reasonably possible, at least 10 m or no closer than existing buildings, built with fire-resistive materials. In existing neighbourhoods, development within 15 m of the top of a watercourse bank needs an Environmental Development Permit, with no new development within 5 m of the bank, and in the Foreshore Development Permit Area building or altering a dwelling needs a development permit. Sources: District of West Vancouver, Wildfire Hazard Development Permit, Environmental Development Permits and the Official Community Plan, Schedule ii, guidelines NE 1 and NE 2, verified September 2026.

Registered professionals for the ground as well as the structure. The District’s Building Bylaw requires a registered professional’s design and letters of assurance for the foundation, excavation and geotechnical components of every new house, for excavations steeper than one to one to the property line, and for retaining walls more than 1.2 m high, and a retaining wall of that height needs a building permit. The checklist adds a sealed geotechnical engineer’s letter confirming the site class where applicable, and a metal fence at least 1.8 m high must surround any excavation within 3 m of a property line until it is backfilled. At the final inspection the District wants Schedule C-B letters from the structural engineer, the geotechnical engineer and the building envelope consultant, and a final survey showing all buildings and retaining walls. Sources: District of West Vancouver, Building Bylaw No. 5340, sections 7.7, 9.3 and 19.1, the application checklist and Inspections, verified September 2026.

More of them once the lot is being developed. The District’s Tree Bylaw, as amended on December 15, 2025, protects any tree 75 cm in diameter or more, and on a parcel being developed with a new house any tree of 20 cm or more, from the day a building, demolition or development permit is applied for until the building permit is closed. Trees on District land, including boulevards, are protected too, as are species such as arbutus, Garry oak and Pacific dogwood over 20 cm. No tree cutting, site preparation, demolition, excavation or construction may start until tree protection barriers are installed and inspected by the District Arborist. Each protected tree removed needs a replacement tree and a $1,000 security, up to $10,000; the permit costs $330 plus $120 for each additional tree and is posted where it can be seen from the street. Sources: District of West Vancouver, Tree Bylaw No. 4892, Part 4 and sections 5.2, 5.3 and 7.1, Tree Cutting Permit: Private Property and Fees and Charges Bylaw No. 5383, verified September 2026.

Often new connections, installed by the District at the owner’s cost. Every new construction application needs a site servicing plan by a professional engineer, and the District encourages applicants to confirm servicing before setting building elevations and to have its crews install the connections before work starts on site. When a permit issues for a new house, the District installs a new water service if the existing one is more than 29 years old, and new sanitary and storm connections with an inspection chamber at the property line if there are none or they are 40 years old or more; younger ones are video-inspected and replaced if badly damaged or made of asbestos cement or clay. Each water service has its own District-installed meter. A stormwater management plan by a professional engineer is required for any new house, a pumped system needs a covenant on title, and at the final land development inspection a driveway may be no wider than 4.5 m. Sources: District of West Vancouver, Site Servicing, Waterworks Regulation Bylaw No. 5260, Sewerage and Drainage Regulation Bylaw No. 5263, stormwater plan guidelines and Final Land Development Inspection, verified September 2026.

Construction noise is allowed from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on weekdays and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays, and not at all on Sundays or holidays, except in the Rodgers Creek and Cypress Village areas, where the bylaw allows 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.; loading and unloading runs from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. and not on Sundays or holidays. During construction the owner posts a sign naming the person responsible, provides a toilet on site, keeps debris, soil and water on the property and follows the approved traffic management plan. No one may occupy the house until a certificate of occupancy issues, which needs the letters of assurance, accepted inspections, an as-built survey by a BC land surveyor and any required off-site works, and before occupancy the owner lists every contractor on the project. Sources: District of West Vancouver, Noise Control Bylaw No. 4404, section 6.1.2, and Building Bylaw No. 5340, sections 7.7 and 13.1 to 13.3, verified September 2026.