Garden Suites · Markham, York Region
Garden suites in Markham, designed, permitted and built: we check the lot against the zoning that covers it, place the suite around the trees the city protects, run the water, sewer and power from the house and file the set with the Building Standards Department through ePLAN, then build the suite with our own crew.
What’s included
A garden suite is a small new house with all of a house’s rules, on a lot that already has one. The zoning check comes first, because it decides whether there is a suite at all. In Markham the package goes to the City of Markham Building Standards Department, and it is drawn to that department’s checklist.
Before anything is drawn
Lot size, setbacks, height, coverage, tree protection and servicing, checked against the by-law to confirm what fits.
The design
Layouts that get living space out of a small footprint, with a second storey where the by-law allows it.
Built to stand alone
Foundation, framing and roof designed by our P.Eng for a building with no neighbour to lean on.
Move-in condition
Kitchen, bathroom, heating and finishes chosen for a unit that will be rented or lived in by family for years.
The package
Find your situation below. If it’s there, this is the service, and the card underneath is everything you get from our one office.
05 common situations
07
items in your package, all from one P.Eng and BCIN team.
Drawn & stamped in-house
How it runs
Four steps, starting with the one that decides everything else: whether the lot allows a suite at all.
We measure the lot against the by-law and tell you the largest suite that fits, or that one does not, before you spend on design.
Plans, structure, mechanical and site drawings from one office, filed with the city and answered until the permit is issued.
Excavation and foundation, framing, rough-ins, exterior and finishes by our crew, inspected at each stage.
Water, sewer and electrical connected, the final inspection passed, and the unit ready to rent or move into.
Case files
Open any file for the scope, the disciplines involved, what we delivered and what the owner came away with.
A compact two-storey suite in a Toronto backyard. Architectural and structural drawings, zoning review and a framing package that makes every square foot count.
Delivered
New living space on a lot the owners already had.
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Structural walls came out and rooms were added to open the plan. Beam and column design, permit drawings and renovation coordination through to final inspection.
Delivered
An open layout where the load-bearing walls used to be.
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A code-compliant second unit with its own entrance, fire separations between the units, HVAC design and the full permit package.
Delivered
A legal second unit that brings in rent and adds property value.
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A new build taken from the client’s sketch to occupancy, with the architectural, structural and mechanical design done by one team.
Delivered
Built to the client’s own plan, with one team answering for every discipline.
Start a project like thisA two-storey garden suite laid out to get the most usable space from the footprint, designed and permitted as a rentable unit.
Delivered
Rental income and a higher property value.
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A dental office converted into a supermarket. Interior renovation, a new plumbing system and fire separations upgraded to the Ontario Fire Code.
Delivered
A dental office reopened as a supermarket, compliant with the Ontario Fire Code.
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A custom covered porch that turns the front of the house into usable outdoor space. Addition design and structural drawings for the permit.
Delivered
More usable outdoor space and added home value.
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Site grading to manage drainage and prepare the land for a new driveway, drawn as a grading plan for the site alteration permit.
Delivered
Drainage handled and the land ready for a new driveway.
Start a project like thisPhoto plates
Additions, basements, kitchens, new builds and commercial fit-outs. Drag a row to scrub through it, or open any photo full size.Tap any photo to see it full size.
21 platesResidential, commercial & new build
The drawing set
Framing schedules, wall assemblies, dimensions and a city review stamp, as issued. Client title blocks are trimmed off to protect the people we drew them for.
Drawing set
Sheets in this set
Sheet title
Existing basement plan
The existing house recorded before any design: beams, joists and bearing walls.
Drawing no.
2 of 5
Service area
From the office we cover the whole GTA, north to Barrie and Orillia, east to Peterborough and Cobourg, west to Kitchener and Brantford, and down through Niagara.
46 across 8 regions
York Region
Toronto & Peel
Halton
Durham
Simcoe & Dufferin
Waterloo, Wellington & Brant
Hamilton, Niagara & Haldimand
Kawarthas & Northumberland
Past the 90-minute line
We've also completed projects in London and Strathroy. Farther out than that? Call (416) 990-9179 and ask.
Permits filed with municipalities including
Before you call
Anything we haven’t answered here, we’ll answer on a call. The first consultation is free.
(416) 990-9179To Markham. The application goes to the City of Markham Building Standards Department, not York Region, as a new building on your lot with a drawing set of its own. Markham’s Site Alteration By-law 2011-232 covers larger sites; detached infill and additions go through the city’s Residential Infill Grading and Servicing (RIGS) review instead. Whether a detached suite falls under the RIGS review is something we confirm with the city, and the grading and servicing are drawn to that standard either way. We draw the suite, file it and answer the examiner’s comments until the permit is issued.
Only if the lot is in a TRCA Regulated Area, near a valley, a watercourse or a floodplain. TRCA’s rule covers building anything there, so a suite needs its permit, and Markham will not issue the building permit until you have it. Grade changes are covered too, so on a regulated lot the suite’s grading needs TRCA’s permit whatever the city’s own grading review asks. TRCA asks for a pre-submission consultation, and we run its Regulated Area Search for your address.
Under Zoning By-law 2024-19, Markham permits additional residential units only on lots containing a detached, semi-detached or townhouse dwelling. No more than two can be located entirely within the house, and where an additional residential unit is located in an accessory building, only one is permitted in the house. Additional residential units are not permitted in a GWY1 zone or within hazard lands as prescribed by the Toronto Region Conservation Authority.
Yes, at 20 cm across or more. Markham’s Tree Preservation By-law 2023-164 regulates the injury or destruction of private and City trees, and property owners must apply for a permit before injuring or destroying any private tree with a trunk diameter of 20 centimetres or more, measured 1.37 metres above ground level at the base of the tree, regardless of the tree’s health or risk level.
Yes. We take on garden suites across Markham, including Unionville and Thornhill, about half an hour from our Richmond Hill office. The first consultation is free, by phone or on site.
Three things to start: property address and a survey, if you have one; whether the suite is for family or rent; and photos of the backyard and the side-yard access. Send those and we tell you what the City of Markham Building Standards Department will ask for before we quote.
On most lots it is Comprehensive Zoning By-law 2024-19, with the additional unit rules in Section 4.9.9 as amended by By-law 2026-44. Some Markham properties sit outside 2024-19, including land still under a site-specific appeal, so we check the City’s interactive zoning map for your address before taking the setbacks and height from the right by-law.
Through ePLAN. Markham reviews permit drawings electronically, and the applicant logs in to read the mark-ups, so we pass each round to you with our answers before uploading the revised sheets. Because a detached suite is a new building, the Building Standards Department reviews its site plan and servicing along with its floor plans and structure.
Section 4.9.9 of By-law 2024-19 is written for a unit in an accessory building, and a detached garage is one, so a suite above it is treated like a suite in the yard. Whether the garage can carry it is a structural question: its footings and walls were sized for a garage, so we check them before a second storey is drawn, and our findings go into the set the Building Standards Department reviews. The added height still has to fit the by-law that covers the lot.
It can. Thornhill and Buttonville are heritage conservation districts under Part V of the Ontario Heritage Act, as are the Unionville and Markham Village cores, so a lot in any of the four carries the district’s requirements on top of the zoning by-law. We ask the city what the district expects of a new building in the rear yard before the suite’s size, roof and cladding are drawn.
Searched & answered
Short answers to the garden suites questions people search most, and the broader topics they lead to.
Not covered here? Book a free consultationA garden suite is a self-contained home in the backyard of a house, detached from the main building, with its own kitchen, bathroom and entrance. Local by-laws set its size, setbacks and height, and those rules differ from one municipality to the next. Fine Engineering measures a lot against them at the start of every garden suite project.
There is no single figure. A garden suite is priced like a small house, and the lot then moves the total up or down through the length of the service run from the house and how easily machines can reach the yard. Fine Engineering prices each suite from a written scope after the zoning check, and the first consultation is free.
Most often because water crosses a property line, the ground slopes too gently away from the house, or the swales and elevations do not tie into the survey. Reviewers also return plans that lack erosion control, or an engineer’s stamp where one is required. Fine Engineering designs grading to each municipality’s own criteria and revises the plan to answer the reviewer’s comments.
Within limits the municipality sets. Its lot grading criteria give a minimum slope, so water runs away from the house, and a maximum, beyond which the change in level needs a retaining wall. The figures differ from one municipality to the next, so a plan follows the local criteria rather than a rule of thumb. Fine Engineering sets the slopes and any walls in one design.
The measures that keep soil on a site during construction: silt fence along the boundaries, a mud mat at the driveway, protection over catch basins and cover on stockpiles. Municipalities often make them a condition of a grading or site alteration approval and inspect for them. Fine Engineering puts erosion and sediment control on every grading plan it draws.
Often, yes. A tall retaining wall, or one that holds up a driveway, a building or a neighbour’s yard, generally needs a building permit and an engineered design, and a wall that changes the grade can also need a site alteration permit. Low garden walls usually do not. Fine Engineering confirms the height that triggers a permit on the site, then designs the wall and the grading around it.
Good to know
In Markham the reviewer is the City of Markham Building Standards Department. Every Markham lot sets its own terms: rear-yard depth, setbacks, height limits, tree protection and the route for water, sewer and power decide whether a suite fits.
We walk the site with the survey, usually within a day or two of the call, before anything is drawn, then file the garden suites package to the City of Markham Building Standards Department’s own checklist.
Markham’s housing ranges over heritage village cores in Unionville and Markham Village surrounded by 1980s to 2000s subdivisions and newer planned communities like Cornell. Behind a house in an old village core, a suite is new construction beside an older building, so heritage status is checked early. In the subdivisions and planned communities, the setbacks against the yard depth decide it.
On a Markham lot near a valley or creek, TRCA comes up in two ways. Section 4.9.9 of By-law 2024-19 does not allow additional units on hazard lands as TRCA prescribes them, or in a GWY1 zone, so a suite cannot go on that part of a lot at all.
A lot inside TRCA’s regulated area but off the hazard land is a different case: the suite can still be built, with TRCA’s own permit first. We read both maps for your address at the zoning stage, so you know which case applies before any drawings are paid for.
Water, sewer and power for a garden suite usually run from the house across the yard, and the trench cuts roots just as a foundation does. Markham’s Tree Preservation By-law 2023-164 counts injuring a tree as well as removing it, so a trench through the roots of a protected tree needs a tree permit. We route the trench around those trees where the yard allows and show the route on the site plan with the suite.
Contact us
Send us the address and we’ll tell you whether a suite fits the lot, on a free first call.
First consultation free(416) 990-9179