43 replies to this topic

[akimbo]

After 7 months of haggling with the City of Victoria, we finally got our building permit, but now our contractor has "family issues" and can not commit.  It's quite a big job:  we are extending the entire west wall of our home by 5 feet which means adding a shed roof and work on footings.  Also a complete kitchen and bathroom reno.  We evicted our downstairs tenant and have begun some demolition, so we are just a tad stressed.

 

[nagel]

I used Protoge Developments.  Ripped the roof off my place and added a second story.  I highly recommend them.

 

http://www.protegedevelopments.com/

[VicHockeyFan]

After 7 months of haggling with the City of Victoria, we finally got our building permit, but now our contractor has "family issues" and can not commit.  It's quite a big job:  we are extending the entire west wall of our home by 5 feet which means adding a shed roof and work on footings.  Also a complete kitchen and bathroom reno.  We evicted our downstairs tenant and have begun some demolition, so we are just a tad stressed.

 

All that for 5 feet eh?  5 feet by how long?  I guess I mean how much more sq. ft. are you getting?

[akimbo]

All that for 5 feet eh?  5 feet by how long?  I guess I mean how much more sq. ft. are you getting?

 It's 215 square feet of new space.  5 x 40' and a roof extension to cover it.  BTW, If you legalize your secondary suite, it limits any further addition to your home to 20 square meters (215 sq ft).  And there is an odd bylaw that you can not add additional exterior staircases if you have a secondary suite, so we had to get a variance for that.  Hence the delays, hence the loss of our contractor. 

[akimbo]

I used Protoge Developments.  Ripped the roof off my place and added a second story.  I highly recommend them.

 

http://www.protegedevelopments.com/

Thanks Nagel, I'll give them a call.

[VicHockeyFan]

Are you able to vault that shed roof?  Sometimes that looks awesome.  And not really more expensive, other than a few hours extra drywall work, and a sometimes a stronger beam carrying the rafters (probably not in your 5' case).

[akimbo]

Are you able to vault that shed roof?  Sometimes that looks awesome.  And not really more expensive, other than a few hours extra drywall work, and a sometimes a stronger beam carrying the rafters (probably not in your 5' case).

Hmmm,  I don't think so.  A shed roof seems to be the simplest solution.  I was going to attach a drawing but cant seem to do it on this platform, other than link to a site. 

[nagel]

Hmmm,  I don't think so.  A shed roof seems to be the simplest solution.  I was going to attach a drawing but cant seem to do it on this platform, other than link to a site. 

Use snipping tool.

[akimbo]

Use snipping tool

Thanks, here is the section drawing.

Attached Images

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[VicHockeyFan]

Oh, I see, you are coming off an existing slope roof.  OK, never mind.

 

I was thinking of this, off the wall.

 

 

 

[sebberry]

After 7 months of haggling with the City of Victoria...

BTW, If you legalize your secondary suite, it limits any further addition to your home to 20 square meters (215 sq ft).

The city is hard at work cutting red tape, I see...

[Mike K.]

Hey, only seven months. That's pretty good!

[akimbo]

Oh, I see, you are coming off an existing slope roof.  OK, never mind.

 

I was thinking of this, off the wall.

 

 

Oh, that's much simpler than our project, but thanks.  I got the names of a few more contractors.  Everyone is so busy right now. 

 

Off-topic, I hope the province decides to include Victoria for the 15% tax on foreign ownership.  As a 'refugee' from Vancouver, I'd hate to see the Vancouverization of Victoria.  Sure, everyone likes the idea of their property values going up with all the Chinese buyers, but at the end of the day you end up living in an emptied-out, hostile, monster house neighbourhood.  My old Vancouver neighbourhood is unrecognizable and no one lives in those ugly new houses.  The trees are gone (hey, what's a 200 fine to a billionaire) and so are all the old lovely gardens.  Hope Victorians wake up to this ugly threat before it's too late. 

[MarkoJ]

Hey, only seven months. That's pretty good!

 

Yea probably below average........I wonder why no one ever blames the city bureaucracy to contributing to unaffordability? The process is so complicated that only those with $$$$$ cash can every consider any sort of LEGAL renovation.  The remaining 95% do it without permits.

[akimbo]

Yea probably below average........I wonder why no one ever blames the city bureaucracy to contributing to unaffordability? The process is so complicated that only those with $$$$$ cash can every consider any sort of LEGAL renovation.  The remaining 95% do it without permits.

One (of many) things that really bugged me about legalizing our suite, was that we had to create two separate heating systems.  After buying an expensive heat pump system for the entire house, we were not able to use it to heat the downstairs (fire code says you can't share any heating ducts), so our tenants have baseboard heaters, which they leave on all day.  We were not able to get two separate hydro meters because we had to have all the construction completed first, which meant having all the wiring, and separate heating systems, drywall, finishing etc.  In other words it was impossible to get occupancy status until everything was completed using one meter.  At the end of the day, we spent $40,000 to get an extra $200/mo rent and we pay more for electricity.  The reno will take 16 years to pay for itself.  Moral of the story, think twice about legalizing your suite. 

[lanforod]

our tenants have baseboard heaters, which they leave on all day. 

 

No reason for those to be on all the time. Programmable thermostats? Wifi ones, that you can check the status of without access?

[Bingo]

One (of many) things that really bugged me about legalizing our suite, was that we had to create two separate heating systems.  After buying an expensive heat pump system for the entire house, we were not able to use it to heat the downstairs (fire code says you can't share any heating ducts), so our tenants have baseboard heaters, which they leave on all day.  We were not able to get two separate hydro meters because we had to have all the construction completed first, which meant having all the wiring, and separate heating systems, drywall, finishing etc.  In other words it was impossible to get occupancy status until everything was completed using one meter.  At the end of the day, we spent $40,000 to get an extra $200/mo rent and we pay more for electricity.  The reno will take 16 years to pay for itself.  Moral of the story, think twice about legalizing your suite. 

 

I have friends who put in a legal suite and did everything by the book. They put in separate baseboard heaters, separate laundry, separate hot water tanks and a separate hydro meters.

The tenants pay those bills themselves and the upstairs residents have warm floors at the tenants expense.

I doubt that anyone has their baseboards cranked up at this time of the year.

[sebberry]

The reno will take 16 years to pay for itself.  Moral of the story, think twice about legalizing your suite.

Well clearly the solution to lack of housing is to bring in a vacancy tax.

[akimbo]

I have friends who put in a legal suite and did everything by the book. They put in separate baseboard heaters, separate laundry, separate hot water tanks and a separate hydro meters...

Separate meters would have been great, but the City and Hydro made it impossible for us.  I spent hours on the phone with Hydro, but no can do.  Baseboards are not on now but they do laundry almost every day.  A friend of ours put coin-operated washers + dryers in his rental unit. 

[akimbo]

No reason for those to be on all the time. Programmable thermostats? Wifi ones, that you can check the status of without access?

Tenants were baffled by the programmable thermostats and so they just left the heat on all day.  We went back to simple on/off.