604-728-5682 info@eurohouse.ca
Coach Houses & Infill

Coach House Builder in West Vancouver

Proposed Bylaw 5446 would change one thing about coach houses that matters more than all the rest: you would be able to sell one, not just rent it. We design and build coach houses across West Vancouver, on the steep lots, the treed lots and the ones with a wildfire development permit over them.

Ask about your lot →
Proposed, not yet adopted

Ownership coach houses depend on Zoning Amendment Bylaw No. 5446, which goes to three readings on 21 September 2026 and then needs Ministry of Transportation and Transit approval before adoption. Rental coach houses are already permitted today. Read the full explanation of Bylaw 5446 →

The change that matters

A coach house in West Vancouver has always been a rental. You could build one, you could let a family member live in it, you could collect rent, but you could not separate it from the main house and sell it. That is why so many owners looked at the numbers and decided the return did not justify the disruption.

Under the proposal, every dwelling on the lot except a secondary suite may be stratified or rented, at the owner's choice. A coach house becomes an asset you can sell, gift to a child, or borrow against separately. For an owner who has held the property for decades and is asset-rich rather than cash-rich, that is a different conversation entirely.

Coach houses are also the most popular of the new forms locally. In the District's 2025 Official Community Plan housing review, 79% of respondents supported them, ahead of townhouses at 77%.

A house and a coach house on one West Vancouver lotAn axonometric lot with a two-storey house at the front holding a home and a secondary suite, and a smaller coach house behind it next to a lane. Height dimensions show the front building at 8.0 metres and the rear coach house held lower at 6.4 metres. Callouts note that under the proposal a coach house could be sold rather than only rented, that it shares a single 0.65 floor area ratio budget with the main house, that three buildings are permitted on lots over 930 square metres, and that the previous coach house floor area bonus of up to 74.3 square metres disappears. A separate note records that a secondary suite still cannot be stratified.THE HOUSE AND THE COACH HOUSElane8.0 m6.4 mThe front building stays the primary forma coach house behind it is held lower, at 6.4 mWHAT WOULD CHANGE— You could sell it, not just rent it— Shares the lot's 0.65 FAR budget— Three buildings on lots over 930 m²— The 74.3 m² bonus disappearsUNCHANGED— A secondary suite cannot be stratified
The relationship the bylaw protects: the front building stays the primary form, and a coach house behind it is held to 6.4 m.

What the rules would allow

  • Height. Where there is more than one building on a lot, the front building may reach 8.0 m and the rear building is capped at 6.4 m. That is the deliberate scale relationship West Vancouver is trying to preserve, and it shapes what a coach house can be: two storeys, but a modest two storeys.
  • Floor area. There is one all-inclusive budget of 0.65 for the whole lot, with a maximum of 0.45 for the principal dwelling. A coach house comes out of the remainder.
  • How many buildings. Lots of 930 m² (about 10,000 ft²) or larger may have three detached buildings, so a principal house plus two smaller ones. Below that, two.
  • Setbacks. Rear yard setbacks depend on the configuration and on whether the site has a lane. With two or more buildings and a lane, the proposal allows 4.57 m; without a lane, 7.6 m.
  • Tenure. Stratified or rented, your choice. A secondary suite is the exception and still cannot be stratified.
How many separate buildings are permitted, by lot sizeTwo axonometric lots. On the left, a lot of 930 square metres or larger, marked with a green check, holding three detached buildings: a principal house, a coach house and a second smaller building. On the right, a lot smaller than 930 square metres, marked with a red cross, holding only two buildings. A note below states that additional units are always optional and never required, and that an owner can still build one house with a secondary suite and nothing else.HOW MANY SEPARATE BUILDINGS?Lot 930 m² (10,000 ft²) or largerup to three detached buildingsLot smaller than 930 m²two buildings only, to avoid crowdingAdditional units are always optional, never required.An owner can still build one house with a secondary suite and nothing else.
Whether your lot can carry a third building comes down to a single number: 930 m².

The trap in the new floor area rules

This is the part that will surprise owners of larger homes, and it is worth understanding before you get attached to a plan.

Today, a coach house comes with a density bonus of up to 74.3 m² (about 800 ft²), on top of what the lot otherwise allows. The bonus shrinks if the existing house already exceeds its floor area allowance, but for many owners it is genuinely additional space.

The proposal removes that bonus and replaces the whole system with one all-inclusive ratio. The upside is certainty: every square foot counts, there is nothing to interpret, and two neighbours with identical lots get identical entitlements. The downside is that if your house is already close to 0.45 of your lot area, the coach house has to come out of the 0.20 that is left. On a 731 m² RS4 lot that remainder is about 146 m², or roughly 1,570 ft², shared with any garage.

If your house is smaller than the maximum, you are in a better position than you were. If it is at or near the cap, the arithmetic is tighter than it looks. Either way the answer is a number, not an opinion, and it takes about ten minutes to work out. Check your lot →

The all-inclusive floor area ratio budget under the proposed four-unit zoneA single bar divided into three parts totalling 0.65 floor area ratio for the whole lot: 0.45 for the principal dwelling, 0.15 for a detached accessory building such as a coach house, and 0.05 for vehicle storage. An axonometric lot shows the three buildings those slices buy. A note lists what the all-inclusive ratio replaces: basement and attic exclusions, the coach house bonus of up to 74.3 square metres, the secondary suite bonus of up to 46.5 square metres, and the vehicle storage exclusion of up to 41 square metres.ONE FAR BUDGET FOR THE WHOLE LOT0.45FARPrincipal dwelling0.45 FAR maximum0.15FARDetached accessorycoach house or second building0.05FARVehicle storagegarage or carport=0.65total, every building on the lotThe owner decides how to spend the budget across buildings.WHAT THIS REPLACES— Basement and attic exclusions— Coach house bonus of up to 74.3 m²— Secondary suite bonus of up to 46.5 m²— Vehicle storage exclusion of up to 41 m²
One budget for the whole lot. A coach house is funded from what the principal dwelling does not use.

Why a West Vancouver coach house is not a Vancouver laneway house

People compare the two constantly, and the comparison is misleading. A laneway house on a flat 33 ft Vancouver lot with a paved lane behind it is close to a standardised product. West Vancouver is a different site every time, and the site is what drives the cost.

  • Slope. Most of the District is on a hillside. A rear yard that falls three metres across the building footprint means retaining walls, deeper foundations, and often a geotechnical engineer before anything else happens.
  • Access. Many lots have no lane. Getting an excavator, concrete and materials to the back of a property past an existing house, sometimes down a steep driveway, is a real line item, and occasionally it is the line item that ends the project.
  • Trees. The tree bylaw governs what can come out and what must be replaced. Mature trees frequently decide where a second building can physically sit, and sometimes whether it can sit anywhere.
  • Wildfire development permit area. Roughly half the District's land sits within about 100 m of undisturbed forest. For new construction there the permit has to be approved before a building permit application, which adds four to six weeks and requires a wildfire hazard assessment from a qualified professional, an arborist report, a survey, drawings showing exterior materials and a fire-resistant landscape plan.
  • Servicing. Water, sewer and electrical service to a house built in the 1960s or 1970s may need upgrading before it can carry another dwelling. This is routinely underestimated.
  • Step code. A coach house is a new building and has to meet current energy and carbon requirements, which is a real cost on a small floor plate where envelope area is high relative to floor area.

None of this makes a coach house a bad idea. It means the honest range for a West Vancouver coach house is wide, and anyone who quotes you a per-square-foot number before walking the site is guessing. We would rather look at your lot, tell you what the site is going to cost you, and let you decide with the real number in front of you.

What it costs to build

Our construction cost for new multi-unit work in West Vancouver currently runs $450 to $650 per square foot. A coach house tends to sit in the upper half of that range rather than the lower, for the reason set out above: it is a small floor plate with a lot of envelope, roof and foundation per square foot of living space, and it is usually the hardest part of the property to reach.

  • Access. A lot with a usable lane and room to work sits near the bottom of the range. A steep driveway, a tight side yard, or craning material over the existing house sits near the top.
  • Lot terrain. Flat and stable is the low end. Hillside, retaining walls, deeper foundations and a geotechnical engineer move you up quickly.
  • Finishes. A well-built rental-grade interior and a high-end owner's residence are not the same building, and the gap between them is most of the spread.
  • How many buildings. One building with shared walls costs less per square foot than the same floor area split across two or three separate buildings, because you pay for more envelope, more roof and more foundation.

As an illustration, a 700 ft² coach house at $450 to $650 is roughly $315,000 to $455,000 of construction, and on a sloped lot with no lane it will be nearer the top of that than the bottom.

The range covers construction. It does not include land, District fees and development cost charges, design and consultants, geotechnical and arborist reports, survey, landscaping or furniture.

We do not hold a per-square-foot number against a project and neither should you. It is a planning range, useful for deciding whether to keep going. The number we stand behind is the fixed price we give once we have walked the lot and the design is complete.

How we work

  1. Lot review. Zone, lot area, floor area remaining after the existing house, which development permit areas apply, slope, trees, covenants on title, and how we would physically get to the back of the property.
  2. A number, early. A realistic cost range and permit timeline before drawings, so the design is calibrated to the budget rather than the other way round.
  3. Design and approvals. Drawings, the reports the District needs, and the submission. West Vancouver permits are slow by design: 8 to 14 weeks for something simple and 22 to 44 weeks for a custom home or major project, and those numbers are stable rather than a backlog.
  4. Fixed price. We work to a fixed-price agreement, which on a project this size is what stops a coach house turning into an open-ended commitment.
  5. Build and close out. Including the servicing, landscaping reinstatement and the strata paperwork if you intend to title it separately.

Eurohouse Construction has built in West Vancouver since 2009, with 25 Georgie and HAVAN awards and more than 100 completed projects. We are a BC Licensed Residential Builder, bonded, WorkSafeBC registered and carry $5M general liability. See our custom home building and renovation work, or the wider infill and multiplex section.

A coach house is the smallest step. At the other end of the same bylaw, two assembled lots would be allowed a 1.2 floor area ratio and 50% site coverage. Townhouses on assembled lots →

Coach houses in West Vancouver: FAQ

Can I sell a coach house separately from the main house?

Under proposed Bylaw 5446, yes. Any dwelling other than a secondary suite could be stratified or rented at the owner's choice, which means a coach house could be sold, transferred or financed on its own title. This is new. Today a coach house in West Vancouver can only be rented. The bylaw has not been adopted yet, so confirm the current position before you plan around it.

How big can a coach house be in West Vancouver?

There is no single number, because the size comes out of the lot's floor area budget rather than a fixed allowance. The proposal sets one all-inclusive floor area ratio of 0.65 for the whole lot, with a maximum of 0.45 for the principal dwelling. Whatever the main house does not use is available for a coach house and any garage. On a 731 m² RS4 lot with a house at the 0.45 maximum, that leaves roughly 146 m², about 1,570 ft², shared with vehicle storage.

How tall can a coach house be?

Where a lot has more than one building, the proposal caps the rear building at 6.4 m while the front building may reach 8.0 m. That difference is deliberate: it preserves the long-standing West Vancouver pattern where the frontmost building reads as the primary form and anything behind it stays secondary. In practice it means a modest two storeys rather than a full-height second house.

Do I need a lane to build a coach house?

No, but it changes the setbacks and it changes the cost. With two or more buildings and a lane, the proposed rear yard setback is 4.57 m; without a lane it is 7.6 m, so you need a deeper lot to fit the same building. A lane also makes construction access far easier, and on a West Vancouver lot without one, moving an excavator and materials past the existing house is a genuine cost item worth pricing before you design.

What happened to the 74.3 m² coach house bonus?

The proposal removes it. Today a coach house attracts a density bonus of up to 74.3 m² on top of the lot's normal allowance, reduced if the existing home already exceeds its floor area. Under the new approach every square foot counts toward one all-inclusive ratio and there are no bonuses or exclusions at all. If your existing house is well under its maximum you are likely better off; if it is close to the cap, the space available for a coach house is tighter than it is today.

How many buildings can I have on my lot?

Lots of 930 m² (about 10,000 ft²) or larger would permit up to three detached buildings, so a principal house plus two smaller ones, for example a coach house and a detached garage or a second small dwelling. Lots below 930 m² are limited to two buildings, which matches what most West Vancouver lots allow today for a house and a coach house.

Does the wildfire development permit apply to a coach house?

If your property sits within the Wildfire Hazard development permit area, which covers roughly half the District's land, then a new dwelling triggers it. The permit must be approved before you can apply for a building permit, typically adding four to six weeks, and it requires a wildfire hazard assessment from a qualified professional, an arborist report where protected trees are affected, a survey, architectural drawings showing exterior materials, and a landscaping plan using fire-resistant species. It is manageable, but it has to be sequenced correctly or it will hold up the whole project.

How long does a coach house take in West Vancouver?

Plan on the permit rather than the build being the long pole. West Vancouver building permits run about 8 to 14 weeks for simple work and 14 to 24 weeks for more complex projects, and a development permit for wildfire or environmental hazard sits ahead of that. Design and consultant reports come before both. Construction itself is usually the most predictable part of the schedule.

Thinking about a coach house?

Send us the address. We will tell you how much floor area you actually have left, whether your lot can carry a third building, which permits apply, and what the site conditions are going to cost you, before anyone draws anything.

Ask about your lot →    Check What You Can Build →

Sources and status. Zoning provisions described here are from the District of West Vancouver council report of 20 July 2026 on proposed Zoning Amendment Bylaw No. 5446 and its Appendix A working approach. The bylaw is proposed, has not been adopted, and may be amended. Diagrams are Eurohouse Construction's own illustrations, simplified for explanation. This page is general information, not planning, legal or design advice. Confirm current requirements with District of West Vancouver planning at 604-925-7040 or SSMUH@westvancouver.ca. Last updated 1 September 2026.

Primary sources