Legal Basement Suites: Calgary – The First 4 Steps

Many people are interested in adding a legal basement suite to their homes but are unsure where to start. You already know the value that having a legal secondary suite can offer you, now it is time to get this process started! In this article we will take a look at the steps needed to begin building your suite.

Step 1: Make Sure Your Home is “Suite-able”

Not every home can be turned into a legal basement suite, although regulations have recently changed making this process simpler than ever. The City of Calgary has many regulations that need to be followed to ensure that the homes people live in are safe. And if you are needing to make major changes to the house in order to meet those requirements, it may not be worth it for you.

We wrote an article on The Top 3 Requirements for Adding a Legal Basement Suite to Your Home that you will want to take a look at. It looks at the three biggest potential challenges that homeowners face. The City of Calgary website also has a list of requirements that can be found here.

Once you feel confident that you could add a legal suite to your home, you are ready for the next step.

Step 2: Get Quotes from Contractors

Whether you decide to use a professional General Contractor, or contract the suite yourself, you will want to get some quotes. I would recommend a minimum of three.

Having a professional take a look at your home is valuable for a few reasons. Firstly, they can point out things that you may not have caught. A good contractor should have an idea of the legal requirements to suite a home, and will be able to quickly see what steps need to be taken. They can help you imagine where rooms or kitchen sinks could go, and will also be able to point out some of the challenges you will need to find solutions for.

Secondly, it is really important that you get quotes from multiple contractors, as they may have differing opinions or suggestions on how to suite your basement. You can take all of their unique ideas into consideration, and mix and match them if you like.

When my wife and I were looking to buy our second home, we were pretty sure that the home could be suited, but the first contractor we brought in said that it could not be done. This was obviously some disheartening news to hear, however when we had our second and third contractor come to look at the house, they both said that the home could easily be turned into a suite. We ended up buying and suiting the home with very little hassle. This example goes to show that you want at least a couple opinions!

Thirdly, you can get a better idea of the actual cost of suiting a home. Average out the quotes that you get, and you should get a fairly accurate idea on how much it will cost to do the renovation. If you plan on contracting the home yourself, and doing a bit of the work then you could take 15%-30% off the prices that you are quoted.

Step 3: Create a Floor Plan

Make sure that this is the suite that you want it to be! Whether you hire a contractor, or do it on your own, make sure that you are a part of this process. The City of Calgary site has examples of what a floor plans should look like. They can be made using professional programs, or could even be submitted hand drawn on graph paper, so long as you follow the guides.

I would recommend measuring the space with a tape measure and drawing your own plan on an iPad. You can easily make changes and adjustments on the fly, and see what you think would be best for the space. If you are a fan of the life simulator The Sims then you will really enjoy this part of the process.

Spend a little time fiddling with the plans and show it to family, friends, and other professionals to get their thoughts. Make as many tweaks as you want to during this process, but know that whatever you submit is what the finished product needs to look like. Dayna is very good at creating floor plans and laying out spaces efficiently, so feel free to get in touch directly for our feedback too!

Once you feel happy with your floor plan it is time for step 4.

Step 4: Apply for Permits

You can find the steps to apply for a permit on the City of Calgary site here.

Although the idea of applying for a permit may seem daunting, it is actually a really simple process. All you need to do is fill out a basic application form, and submit the floor plan that you made, along with the site plan (a drawing of the entire property and what is on it). Twice.

Make sure you bring two copies of your floor and site plans as you are applying for both a Developer Permit as well as a Builders Permit. You can either submit your permit in person or online. I went in person. Although there can be a bit of a wait, your permit gets reviewed by an engineer while you are there and they can let you know if there are any changes that you need to make immediately. It still goes through a full approval process, but I found it to be quite educational.

No need to worry about plumbing or electrical permits unless you plan on doing that work yourself. The person you hire will pull those permits on their own when they need to.

Once your permits have been approved then you are ready to build a basement suite!

To Sum It Up

Although building a legal basement suite might sound like a scary undertaking, once you break it down into smaller parts the process actually isn’t all that challenging. Once you have finished this, the next task will be actually building the suite, which is a fun and rewarding process.

How did you find starting a Secondary Suite? What problems are you currently facing? Let’s talk about them in the comments section below. We’re happy to help however we can!