Secondary suites

Just if you want to build it yourself, right?

But yeah, as we were saying on CFAX this morning, this will amount to very little in the grand scheme of things. Few homeowners want to entertain the idea of tenants on their property, let alone paying significantly higher property taxes for the privilege.

One caller called in to say we were too negative, but it is what it is. It's great the City has made the process slightly easier for those who want to build a garden suite but there's nothing to get excited about if the hope is for a flood of new housing units.

If you want to take out the paperwork to build you have to write the exam or higher a licenced builder.  It is actually way more problematic than it appears.  Licenced builder $$$$$$$$$ and exam impossible to pass.  You can't go get the paperwork then hire contracts for their respective parts (framing, plumbing, etc.) without exam.

Why not just hire one of the companies dedicated to garden houses?

Most people do not have the imagination to design or the competence to hire their own subcontractors.

Because it will likely add 30 to 50% of the cost doing an all inclusive package.  If we are so concerned about affordability you should be able to go out and get a permit to build a 400 sq/ft structure and organize your own trades. It wouldn't be that complicated on such a small building.

Design and constructions are typically two separate things.

It is like saying why owner-builder your SFH, just hire a builder for $60,000 - $120,00 to manage it for you.

Edited by MarkoJ, 15 April 2017 - 07:53 AM.

Just if you want to build it yourself, right?

But yeah, as we were saying on CFAX this morning, this will amount to very little in the grand scheme of things. Few homeowners want to entertain the idea of tenants on their property, let alone paying significantly higher property taxes for the privilege.

One caller called in to say we were too negative, but it is what it is. It's great the City has made the process slightly easier for those who want to build a garden suite but there's nothing to get excited about if the hope is for a flood of new housing units.

Agreed. So you save a couple thousand dollars in permits and a couple of months waiting for the bureaucracy to work through the paperwork yet you still have the $50K to build the suite and the hassles of dealing with the construction and process.  

I honestly wonder where Helps gets her info from. She thinks that we are going to see people lining up starting Tuesday to get permits for garden suites and she mentioned Thursday on CFAX that she thinks that there will be more people walking and cycling across the new bridge then there will be drivers.

Edited by spanky123, 15 April 2017 - 08:09 AM.

she thinks that there will be more people walking and cycling across the new bridge then there will be drivers.

Ya, that was quite something.

I double checked and the comment was in the TC and not on CFAX and she said that there would be more people walking and cycling then in cars (not just the driver!).

I honestly wonder where Helps gets her info from. She thinks that we are going to see people lining up starting Tuesday to get permits for garden suites and she mentioned Thursday on CFAX that she thinks that there will be more people walking and cycling across the new bridge then there will be drivers.

"About a dozen residents have made inquiries since Victoria council decided April 13 to remove rezoning requirements and allow garden suite permits to be approved by city staff.

“We don’t have a formal application yet, but the uptake has certainly started in terms of interest,” said Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps."
- http://www.timescolo...h.cPkMjnEY.dpuf

...“We don’t have a formal application yet, but the uptake has certainly started in terms of interest,” said Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps."

She must have a hand in the promotion for V2V as well.

"About a dozen residents have made inquiries since Victoria council decided April 13 to remove rezoning requirements and allow garden suite permits to be approved by city staff.

“We don’t have a formal application yet, but the uptake has certainly started in terms of interest,” said Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps."
- http://www.timescolo...h.cPkMjnEY.dpuf

Ha ha.....no **** there are no applications.....the first applications won't come in for months and 90% of people will just give up and not even give it a try.  Can't submit a formal application without this -> https://www.bchousin...er-builder-exam and that is a 3 month process assuming you can pass the exam which is extremely difficult to pass.

I can't believe how much false information is being spread.....and then in 5 years people will wonder why no garden suites have been built.  The city removed the rezoning but slapped the HPO onto garden suites (I've confirmed with city staff) so basically net gain of absolutely zero.  Remove one barrier and tout it to the media pretending like something is being done to help the housing crisis, introduce another barrier that is even tougher and don't mention a word.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQwiczQTYcE&t=7s

Edited by MarkoJ, 07 May 2017 - 02:31 PM.

She must have a hand in the promotion for V2V as well.

Are there any builder licensing requirements if I want to knock down our existing garage and build, say, a new 37m²... garage with plumbing and electrical? We have a 40amp cable from the house already, and I think there's room to draw more (200amp service, gas hot water + heat for 2,000 sq ft house). Would it be possible to run gas to the garage too?

Are there any builder licensing requirements if I want to knock down our existing garage and build, say, a new 37m²... garage with plumbing and electrical? We have a 40amp cable from the house already, and I think there's room to draw more (200amp service, gas hot water + heat for 2,000 sq ft house). Would it be possible to run gas to the garage too?

Sounds like you would need to pass the builder exam to undertake that project without a contractor.

Is it the sewer/water hookups that would require a licensed builder, or just the involvement of trades in general?

Edited by ARealKickInTheAscot, 21 July 2017 - 08:45 AM.

http://www.timescolo...dows-1.23186909
 

Oak Bay councillor wants to bring secondary suites out of the shadows  


Bill Cleverley / Times Colonist
FEBRUARY 28, 2018 06:00 AM
 
It’s time to restart the conversation about legalizing secondary suites in Oak Bay, says Coun. Tara Ney.
 
Ney has introduced a motion that would see a made-in-Oak Bay policy developed to bring secondary suites out of the shadows.
 
Oak Bay is the only municipality in the capital region that doesn’t regulate secondary suites, even though it’s acknowledged that there are probably hundreds of illegal suites throughout the municipality.
 
Council deferred consideration of the item this week until March 12. But just putting it on the agenda was enough to see residents on both sides of the issue jam into the town hall to make their opinions known.

[...]

Edited by sebberry, 01 March 2018 - 11:22 PM.
Trimmed article

"Gentle Densification". You just can't make this stuff up folks.

 

http://www.timescolo...dows-1.23186909

rambaldi, I've trimmed the content copy/pasted from the TC's website out of respect for the copyright holder. 

In the future, please only reproduce the first couple of paragraphs of any copyrighted work, and link to the source article as you have done.

Thanks

Is it the sewer/water hookups that would require a licensed builder, or just the involvement of trades in general?

So I am not sure what your question is so I will answer some of the possibilities

If you are building a new home regardless, you require a licensed builder or pass the owner-builder exam from BC Housing.  If you build your own house, there is no rules that you must actually physically build your house, you can subcontract out the individual trades

If you are just specifically talking about sewer and water hookups - the municipality will bring the services to the property line at the property owners expense

For the hookups from the property line to the house - if you are building your own house you can install your own plumbing under the code.  If a licensed builder is building the house it must be done by a journeyman plumber.  Regardless of who does it, it must be inspected by the municipality

Bowker Collection is the third condo building to be built in Oak Bay since the 1990’s, if not the 80’s.

Densification is a foreign concept for Oak Bay.

Pretty sure my parents had a Bowker Collection album from the early 60s.  Somekind of early electro-pyschedilic folk-funk.

Pretty sure my parents had a Bowker Collection album from the early 60s.  Somekind of early electro-pyschedilic folk-funk.

Bowker Collection: https://archive.org/...wCWnfZUurIYp4vY

Edited by todd, 02 March 2018 - 12:10 PM.