Multiplex Builder in Vancouver, BC

Yes. Kyrax Developments builds multiplexes in Vancouver as a BC Housing licensed residential builder and developer, licence #57802, in good standing as a General Contractor and Developer; verify it on the BC Housing Licence Registry. The City defines the form plainly: a multiplex, or multiple dwelling, “has 3 to 8 dwelling units across 1 or more buildings on a single site”, and each unit has its own external access. Because every unit is a new home, the Homeowner Protection Act bars the City from issuing a building permit without evidence of home warranty insurance and a licensed residential builder. We also build custom homes and laneway houses in Vancouver, coach houses in Surrey, and renovations across the city. Sources: City of Vancouver, Build a multiplex; Province of British Columbia, Homeowner Protection Act, section 30(1), verified September 2026.

A development permit first, then a building permit for each building. In the R1-1 district a multiple dwelling of no more than 8 units is a conditional approval use, not an outright one, which is what puts the development permit at the front. The City lists the set as one development permit, one building permit per building and one demolition permit where an existing building comes down, and says to apply for the development permit first. Where the proposed buildings have one or two units each and the site is not in the First Shaughnessy District, the City lets you apply for everything at once and processes it together. Its guide adds that you should wait until the development permit’s prior-to conditions are met before applying for building permits, and notes that neighbourhood notification is not required in R1-1, RT-7 or RT-9. Sources: City of Vancouver, Zoning and Development By-law, R1-1 District Schedule (June 2026), Build a multiplex and the Low Density Housing Options How-to Guide, verified September 2026.

Not every lot qualifies, and the tenure decides the unit count. The R1-1 district schedule permits a multiple dwelling only on a site that consists of a single lot on record in the Land Title Office before October 17, 2023 or created by subdivision, that provides vehicular access from the rear of the site, and that is not located partially or fully within a designated flood plain. The maximum floor space ratio is 1.00. Where the residential floor area is secured as 100% residential rental tenure the maximum is 8 dwelling units; with any other tenure it is 6. Those are the gates we check before anything is drawn. Sources: City of Vancouver, R1-1 District Schedule, sections 2.2.7, 3.1.1.2 and 3.1.1.3, verified September 2026.

Three storeys at the front, two at the back, and a front yard that keeps its trees. In R1-1 the maximum building height is 11.5 m and 3 storeys, except for rear buildings, which are 8.5 m and 2 storeys. The minimum front yard is 4.9 m, the minimum side yard 1.2 m, and the minimum rear yard 10.7 m, or 0.9 m for buildings in a courtyard configuration. No building may be more than 19.8 m deep or 17.4 m wide, and buildings located on a site frontage must stand at least 2.4 m apart. Every dwelling unit needs at least 7.4 m² of balcony, deck, roof deck, patio or other outdoor space to the satisfaction of the Director of Planning, and no exterior stairway may exceed 2.4 m in length. The trees are a condition of the use itself: a new multiple dwelling is only permitted if a site under 15.1 m wide retains one existing front-yard tree, or a site 15.1 m or wider retains two, with trees planted where they cannot be kept. Sources: City of Vancouver, R1-1 District Schedule, sections 2.2.1, 2.2.2, 3.1.2.5 to 3.1.2.11, 4.3.4 and 4.3.5, verified September 2026.

Commercial connection permits, applied for by an engineer. The City lists a multiplex among the building types that need a commercial sewer connection permit and a commercial water connection permit, and says to apply for two separate commercial permits because larger connections are required. Its instruction is direct: have your BC-registered professional engineer, mechanical or civil, apply for the sewer permit and the water permit before applying for building permits. A certification form for public sewer connections follows for every building except a multiplex of three to four units split across two buildings, and once the City approves it, it schedules each service connection and water meter installation. Sources: City of Vancouver, Sewer and water connection permits, verified September 2026.

Usually Part 9, and a storey can change the answer. The City’s guide says multiplex buildings are generally evaluated under Part 9 as a Group C residential occupancy, but in some cases under Part 3, and that your design professional should confirm which applies. The by-law’s line is 3 storeys or less in building height with a building area not exceeding 600 m². Two things push a multiplex over it: anything other than a stair or mechanical enclosure on a roof counts as a storey, and a sunken patio typically means a basement counts as the first storey, so a building that reads as three storeys in zoning terms can be a four-storey building under the by-law and land in Part 3. Even in Part 9, Part 4 applies to any building with more than two principal dwelling units, and Part 5 to Group C multi-family buildings over two storeys or 600 m². Sources: City of Vancouver, the Low Density Housing Options How-to Guide and Vancouver Building By-law 2025, Volume 1, Division A 1.3.3.2 and 1.3.3.3, verified September 2026.

Yes, and Vancouver has its own design rules for it. The Building By-law requires all newly constructed buildings to be provided with an automatic sprinkler system, with exemptions that reach only temporary buildings, small one-storey non-residential storage buildings and detached garages and carports. For residential buildings of up to eight units the City’s January 2026 bulletin sets a modified NFPA 13R design: a combined supply with a dedicated riser, dual check valve and flow switch for each dwelling unit, tied into the interconnected smoke alarms; an audible and visual strobe outside every unit’s principal entrance; sprinklers in all rooms, closets and compartments; a separate independent exit to the exterior for each unit, with no public corridors or shared exits; no fire department connections; and a note on the permit drawings saying the design follows that option. Sources: City of Vancouver, Vancouver Building By-law 2025, Volume 1, Division A 1.3.3.6, and Bulletin 2025-003-BU (January 12, 2026), verified September 2026.

On a lit path from the street, with the units numbered in order. The City’s guide tells designers to watch firefighter travel distance on deep sites: an entrance more than 45 m from the street curb is subject to additional requirements under the Building By-law. It also requires a 1.2 m side yard on a multiplex so the access path to the rear units meets the by-law’s width, keeps every unit entrance addressed and accessed from the street rather than the lane, and asks for a well-lit address marker at the front showing where the rear units are, with an additional strobe light at the front of the side-yard path where rear entrances are not visible from the street. Addressing is one building address per building, with unit numbers running sequentially from 1, left to right as you face the front. Sources: City of Vancouver, the Low Density Housing Options How-to Guide, sections 3.6 and 3.8, and Vancouver Building By-law 2025, Volume 2, Article 9.10.20.3, verified September 2026.

The by-law’s path for residential buildings of one to three storeys, with two blower door tests. A building under four storeys of entirely residential occupancy follows either the performance path or the prescriptive path in Article 10.2.1.4. On the performance path the thermal energy demand intensity is 20 kWh per square metre a year, the mechanical energy use intensity target scales with conditioned floor area, and greenhouse gases are met one of three ways: at most 265 kg CO₂e a year, or a greenhouse gas intensity of 1.5 with emissions at most 500 kg CO₂e a year, or all building systems, equipment and appliances supplied by electricity. Those figures are calculated for each house in the building. A pre-construction energy checklist goes in with the permit application, a mid-construction checklist carries a blower door test, and the as-built report carries another, against a maximum of 2.5 air changes an hour at 50 pascals. Sources: City of Vancouver, Vancouver Building By-law 2025, Part 10, Articles 10.2.1.4, 10.2.2.4, 10.2.2.20 and 10.2.2.21, verified September 2026.

Development cost levies, a development permit fee by floor area, and a building permit fee by construction value. Residential floor space at or below 1.2 floor space ratio, the band a multiplex sits in, carries a city-wide development cost levy of $49.88 per square metre plus a utilities levy of $31.25, $81.13 per square metre in all, at rates effective December 10, 2025. The development permit fee for a multiple dwelling issued as an outright or conditional approval is $1,720 for each 100 m² of gross floor area up to 500 m², $856 for each additional 100 m², capped at $69,300. The building permit fee is $217 for the first $5,000 of construction value, $13.90 per $1,000 up to $50,000 and $7.04 per $1,000 above it. Demolishing the existing house adds $1,570. The City bills levies, charges and damage deposits before it issues the permits. Council has also approved an Amenity Cost Charge By-law effective September 30, 2026, in addition to the levies and applying to all new development, which the City says will work like a levy in its rate categories, timing, waivers and exemptions. Sources: City of Vancouver, Development Cost Levies Bulletin (August 2026), the schedule of development and building permit fees (2026) and Build a multiplex, verified September 2026.

A demolition permit, a hazardous materials clearance and three inspections. Nothing can come down until the permit issues, and a hazardous building materials assessment has to be finished before any salvage work, with a qualified abatement contractor removing what it finds. The City inspects three times: a tree barrier and pre-demolition inspection before the permit issues, after which abatement may proceed; a demolition notification inspection before machine-assisted demolition, with the hazardous materials report and any post-abatement clearance report; and a final inspection with the site clean and the recycling and reuse compliance report and receipts filed, which is when the deposit refund is processed. A pre-1950 single detached house or duplex needs a recycling and reuse plan under the Green Demolition By-law, with at least 75% of materials by weight reused or recycled, or 90% for a character residential building. That deposit is $15,310, with a $469 fee. Sources: City of Vancouver, Bulletin 2026-002-BU (July 28, 2026), the demolition permit checklist and the fee schedule, verified September 2026.

Anything from 20 cm across, and the barriers gate the permits. The Protection of Trees By-law stops applying only below 20 cm of trunk diameter measured 1.4 m above grade, except for replacement trees and hedges. The owner installs a protection barrier for each retention tree on the site, on adjacent property within two metres of a boundary and on any street beside the site, before demolition, excavation or construction begins, built at least 1.2 m high from snow fencing on stakes no more than a metre apart, and keeps it in good repair throughout. No one is entitled to a permit for demolition, excavation or construction until the Chief Building Official has inspected and approved each barrier on the site, and the City Engineer each barrier on a street. On a site of standard depth, 41 m or less, the City requires existing trees to be kept in the front yard and does not require one-for-one replacement past it. A tree permit is $113 for the first tree in 12 months and $324 for each one after. Sources: City of Vancouver, Protection of Trees By-law No. 9958, sections 2.2, 7.5 and 7.9, the Low Density Housing Options How-to Guide and the fee schedule, verified September 2026.

Parking is optional, rainwater is not. The Parking By-law requires no off-street parking spaces anywhere in the city except visitor spaces, at a minimum of 0.05 and a maximum of 0.1 per dwelling unit, and accessible spaces once a building holds at least seven units; in R1-1, vehicle access has to come from the lane unless the City Engineer issues a crossing permit with the development permit. Most new buildings must manage rainwater on site, and a multiplex at or below 1.0 floor space ratio on a site up to 1,000 m² follows the small site pathway, where detention storage runs from 3,400 litres on a site up to 400 m² to 7,200 litres on one up to 1,000 m². Construction noise on private property is allowed 7:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays and 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturdays, with none on Sundays or holidays. Work has to start within six months of the building permit, and an occupancy permit is required before anyone moves into a multi-unit residential building. Sources: City of Vancouver, Parking By-law, Section 4, Rainwater management, Construction noise, Occupancy permits and Build a multiplex, verified September 2026.