Backyard Dwellings & ADUs in BC
Solutions / Backyard Dwellings & ADUs
More Space. More Possibilities. A self-contained home, a place for guests to stay properly, or a room of your own, designed and built for the property you already own.
Discuss my backyard projectWho this is for
A Second Building on a Property You Own.
This route is for people with a house and a yard, and a need the house does not answer: a parent or adult child who wants their own front door, a place where guests can stay properly, or a room away from the daily noise. What can be built depends on the property (its size, its services, and how a second building is defined where you live). Those questions are settled with your municipality, and nothing on this page assumes the answer.
Three different needs
Family, Guests, or Work.
These look similar in a photograph and behave very differently in practice. The need decides how self-contained the building has to be, and that decides what has to be run out to it.
01 · Independent family living
A home in its own right
Someone lives here day to day, so the building cannot borrow from the house.
- Inside it
- Its own kitchen, its own full bathroom, sleeping and living space, and its own entrance. Nothing essential is shared.
- What it adds on site
- A second household draws on water, waste, hot water and power at the same time as the first. Capacity, not just a connection, is the real question.
- What it is not
- Not a converted basement or a room over the garage. It has to stand on its own.
02 · Guest accommodation
A private place to stay
People stay for a weekend or a season, then go home.
- Inside it
- A bedroom and a full bathroom, plus somewhere comfortable to sit. A kitchenette is optional; a second full kitchen is usually not needed.
- What it adds on site
- The bathroom is the significant addition: water in, waste out, ventilation. Winter guests also need heat that works when the main house is empty.
- What it is not
- Not a second household. Think of it as the best room in the house, standing apart from it.
03 · Studio or workspace
One room, one purpose
The space exists for the work, not for living in.
- Inside it
- An open, light-filled room. No kitchen or bathroom unless the work genuinely calls for one. A sink or a shower changes the servicing.
- What it adds on site
- Power and heat are essential, often at higher loads than a bedroom. Water and waste only if the use needs them.
- What it is not
- Not a shed with a desk in it. Insulation, glazing and acoustics are what make it usable all year.
Find your fit
Not Sure Which of the Three You Need?
Three questions: what the space is for, how self-contained it has to be, and how much room you have. Your answers come with you to the enquiry, so none of it is asked twice.
A provisional starting point only, not a feasibility assessment, an approval, or a decision about your property. What can be built is settled locally.
Question 1 of 3
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What will the new space be for?
Compare the approaches
Three Ways to Add Space.
A dwelling, a guest space and a studio are built differently and serviced differently. Compare them side by side to see which one answers the need you actually have.
Secondary dwellings
A self-contained home in the yard: kitchen, bathroom, living space and its own front door. The fullest form of additional living space.
Explore modular homes- What it provides
- A complete living space with its own kitchen, bathroom and living area, separate from the main house.
- Best suited to
- Family members or others living independently, where privacy on both sides matters.
- Self-containment
- Full kitchen and full bathroom, its own entrance. It has to work without the main house.
- Servicing
- Water, waste, hot water and power at household levels, plus the capacity to carry a second household.
- Site & access
- Room for a dwelling footprint in the yard, delivery access, and space to run the services out from the house.
- Local rules
- Secondary and garden suites are defined municipality by municipality, including size and siting. We confirm what applies to your property before design commits.
This comparison is orientation, not an approval. What may be built on a property (its size, siting and use) is decided by the authority having jurisdiction, and we do not promise it.
Verified examples
Models and Work You Can Actually See.
Published models from our current catalogue, and completed projects we have published. Nothing here is a concept drawing.
Property checks
What to Check Before Design.
Seven things to work through on your property, ideally before a design is drawn. Each one is a question to answer, not an approval to rely on.
Nothing on this list is a permission, and none of it settles what your municipality will allow. It tells you which questions to answer first, and which to ask locally.
Setbacks and lot coverage
How much of the lot is already built on, and how far a new building would have to sit from the property lines.
Delivery and lifting
The route a truck and crane can take: gate width, overhead lines, turning space, and the distance from the street to the building area.
Foundation
Where the building would sit, what it sits on, and what the ground does there: slope, fill or rock.
Water and waste capacity
Not just a connection: whether the existing water service, well, septic or sewer can carry another building.
Power
Where the panel is, whether there is capacity for another service, and how far the run has to go.
Privacy, both ways
Sightlines between the new building, the main house and the neighbours, and how the yard is actually used.
Integration with the existing home
How the two buildings relate: shared entries, paths, lighting, landscaping, and where the services join.
Scope and responsibilities
What Summit Takes On, and What Stays Yours.
The proposal sets out the agreed scope in writing. Design and building are what we do; site coordination can be included where the project needs it and the trades are available. Every property is different, and a first enquiry does not include a full feasibility study.
01
Design and building
Design work, documentation, materials, fabrication and the finishes listed in the proposal, the core of what we are engaged to deliver.
02
Site coordination, where agreed
Coordinating site preparation, delivery and the connection trades can be part of the scope, subject to what the property needs and who is available locally. It is agreed and priced in the proposal, not assumed.
03
Owner responsibilities
Property information, survey, local applications and fees, and any trades you engage directly. Where those stay with you, they are named as exclusions rather than left vague.
04
What a first enquiry is not
Not a feasibility assessment, a permission outcome or a priced design. It is a conversation about whether this route fits the property, and what the next useful step would be.
How it works
From First Conversation to Handover.
The same four Summit stages, with the steps that change for a secondary dwelling. Expand a stage to see what we do, what you do, what exists at the end of it, and what is still unresolved at that point.
Stage one: Understand · One conversation
Start with the property and the need
Before anything is drawn, we establish who the space is for, how self-contained it has to be, and what the property looks like today.
What you do
- Describe the property and what is already on it
- Say who will use the new space, and how often
- Share anything the municipality has already told you
What Summit does
- Understand the need behind the request
- Say early if a different type of building would serve you better
- Give a first read on whether the yard and services look able to take it
What you have at the end
A written brief for the space, and a first read on the property.
Still unresolved at this stage
- The survey or existing site plan has not been seen yet
- The local rules for a second building are not yet confirmed
Scope and cost categories
What the Price Is Made Of.
No budget is published here. A backyard building carries several separate costs, and the proposal sets out each one with inclusions and exclusions for your property.
01
Design and documentation
Design work, drawings and the documentation the project needs, listed in the proposal.
02
The building
Model or bespoke design, materials, fabrication and the finishes included in the scope.
03
Site preparation and foundation
Clearing, the building area, access works, and the pad or foundation the building sits on.
04
Servicing from the house
Extending water, waste and power, plus any capacity upgrade those connections require.
05
Delivery and lifting
Transport distance, permits where required, crane or lift, and setting the building.
06
Applications and fees
Local application fees and any reports from other consultants, shown separately rather than absorbed.
No cost range is published, and no income is assumed or promised. Figures depend on the property, the access, the servicing and the agreed scope, and they are set out in a written proposal once the direction is defined.
Want a working figure rather than a list of scopes? Compass takes the building, the options and the packages and returns a preliminary investment to react to.
Your next chapter
More Space, on the Property You Already Own.
Tell us about the property and what the space needs to do. We will tell you what still has to be checked before it can be designed.