Venture Pacific

Guide, renovations and additions

Renovations and additions in Metro Vancouver.

Renovation decisions are made in a specific order, and taking them out of order is what costs money. What the lot and the zoning permit comes before what the addition should look like. What the existing building actually contains comes before a firm price. Whether the household stays in the house comes before the programme. And inside a strata, the corporation's approval comes before the city's permit. This guide works through each of those in the order a project meets them.

Written by Mark Van Ek. Figures re-verified 2026-09-23.

60%

Cladding surface at which envelope renovation licensing applies

$10,000

Cost threshold for envelope renovation licensing, with the 60% test

3/4 vote

Strata approval for a significant change to common property

Section 71

Strata Property Act provision governing common property change

Key takeaways

  • Staying inside the footprint avoids the zoning questions an addition reopens.
  • Richmond requires a permit to alter, renovate or repair an existing building, footprint change or not.
  • Older houses often sit closer to the property line than current setbacks allow, so an addition may have to step in.
  • Renovation scope behind finishes is established by opening up, after the contract is signed.
  • An allowance covers a decision not yet made; a contingency covers a condition nobody could see.
  • Envelope repair crossing 60 percent of a cladding surface and $10,000 requires a licensed renovator and warranty coverage.
  • An occupied renovation costs more to build and takes longer, because trades follow the household.
  • In a strata, altering common property needs written approval, and a significant change needs a three quarter vote.

The decision that shapes every other one

A renovation that stays inside the existing walls is a design and construction question. An addition is a zoning question first. Setbacks, height limits, floor area, and lot coverage all apply to a building that gets larger, and they set the envelope any addition has to fit inside.

Older Metro Vancouver houses add a complication. Many were built under rules that have changed, and a house sitting closer to a side property line than today's setback permits is common. The existing position is generally accepted as it stands, and the addition is held to the current rule, so the extension may step in from the line the existing wall follows.

Both routes need a permit. Richmond requires a building permit to alter, renovate, or repair an existing building or structure and to make plumbing, gas, or electrical changes, and Metro Vancouver cities publish similar lists.

Why renovation prices move, and what to read in an estimate

A new build is priced against drawings of a building that does not exist. A renovation is priced against drawings plus a building nobody can see inside. What sits behind the walls, under the floor, and beneath the finishes is established by opening up, which happens after the contract is signed.

Four discoveries account for most scope changes: altered or undersized structure, water damage around windows and wet areas, services at the end of their life, and hazardous materials in older houses.

This is why two line items in an estimate mean different things. An allowance is a placeholder for a decision the owner has not made, and it resolves when they decide. A contingency covers conditions nobody could see. On an older house, an estimate carrying no contingency assumes the concealed condition of the building is perfect.

The work that changes who is allowed to build it

Most renovation work sits outside builder licensing. Building envelope repair is the exception. BC Housing's requirements apply where work repairs defects allowing unintended water penetration, or the damage caused by it, and where the work affects 60 percent or more of any cladding surface and costs $10,000 or more, which becomes $2,000 per unit in a multi unit building. Both conditions must be met.

Qualifying work needs a licensed renovator, warranty coverage, and a Building Envelope Renovation Schedule signed by the consultant, the licensed renovator, and the owner or strata corporation, with the warranty provider's approval, submitted with the permit application.

A project can cross this threshold during the work rather than at the start, because a re-clad planned for one elevation can grow once the sheathing is uncovered.

Strata renovations answer to two authorities

Inside a strata, the city reviews the work and the strata corporation controls the property the work touches. Under the standard bylaws, altering common property, including limited common property, requires written approval from the strata corporation, and approval may be conditional on the owner agreeing in writing to take responsibility for the expenses relating to the alteration.

Section 71 of the Strata Property Act adds a vote requirement where a change to common property is significant in use or appearance: a three quarter vote at an annual or special general meeting, with a majority vote for electric vehicle charging infrastructure, and an exception where immediate change is necessary for safety or to prevent significant loss or damage.

The order matters more here than anywhere else in a renovation. Strata plan, bylaws, corporation approval, then permit. A permit confirms the work meets the building code and says nothing about whether the owner may carry it out on property the owners hold collectively.

Chapters in this guide

Footprint or addition

Working inside the existing footprint, or extending beyond it

What changes when a project crosses the existing walls.

Read

Scope and unknowns

How renovation scope is discovered, and why estimates move

What opening up reveals, and how to read a change in scope.

Read

Living through it

Living in the house, or moving out

Occupied and vacant renovations, and how each one runs.

Read

Strata renovations

Renovating inside a strata

Approvals, votes, and who carries the cost afterwards.

Read

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a building permit to renovate a house in Metro Vancouver?

Usually yes. Richmond requires a building permit to alter, renovate, or repair an existing building or structure, and for plumbing, gas, or electrical changes, and other Metro Vancouver cities publish similar requirements. Some minor work sits outside the requirement, such as decks under 600 millimetres above grade in Richmond, so confirm the threshold with your own municipality.

What is the first question to answer on an addition project?

What the zoning permits, because the permitted envelope determines the design rather than the other way around. Setbacks, height, floor area and lot coverage set the shape an addition must fit inside, and protected trees and registered easements reduce it further. A design produced before those answers describes a building that may not be permitted on that lot.

Why do renovation quotes from different builders vary so much?

Often because they assume different things about the concealed condition of the building, and because they carry different allowances and contingencies. A quotation with many large allowances is provisional in those areas. One with no contingency on an older house assumes what is behind the walls is sound. Comparing the assumptions matters more than comparing the totals.

How much contingency should a renovation carry?

Enough to cover the concealed conditions that are realistic for the age and type of the house, which is a judgment the builder should be able to explain in specifics rather than as a percentage habit. Ask what the contingency covers, what would have to happen for it to be spent, and what an investigation stage before final pricing would cost instead.

Is it worth opening up parts of the house before agreeing a price?

On a house where structure or water damage is the main risk, usually yes. A targeted investigation stage converts the largest unknowns into scope that can be priced, which narrows the range of outcomes for the rest of the project. It costs money and it replaces a risk carried through the whole build with a known quantity priced once.

Does my strata or the city approve my renovation?

Both, for different things. The city reviews the work against the building code and issues the permit. The strata corporation controls common property and limited common property, and under the standard bylaws altering either requires its written approval. Obtain the strata approval first, because a permit says nothing about whether you may build on collectively owned property.

What makes a strata alteration significant enough to need a vote?

Section 71 of the Strata Property Act applies where there is a significant change in the use or appearance of common property or a common asset, and requires a resolution passed at an annual or special general meeting. A three quarter vote applies to those changes, with a majority vote for electric vehicle charging infrastructure changes.

Will living in the house during the work save money?

It raises the construction cost, because protection is installed and removed repeatedly, trades attend the same areas more than once, and services are cut over in stages. Whether the total is lower depends on how that increase compares with alternative accommodation for the period, and on the value of living inside a construction site, which appears in no quotation.

Can a renovation be done in phases so the house stays usable?

Where the house divides into zones that can genuinely be separated, yes. Each zone is completed before the next begins so the household always has a working part of the house. A house where the only stair, the only bathroom, or the main service run sits in the middle of the work resists phasing, whatever the drawings suggest.

How do I know if my siding project crosses the envelope renovation threshold?

Measure the work against both of BC Housing's conditions, because each one alone is not enough. The first is whether it affects 60 percent or more of any single cladding surface, assessed surface by surface rather than across the whole building. The second is whether it costs $10,000 or more, or $2,000 per unit in a multi unit building. Establish this before pricing, since it changes who may carry out the work.

Can a renovation cross the licensing threshold after it starts?

Yes, because the requirements follow the work rather than the original intention. A re-clad planned for a single elevation can pass 60 percent of a cladding surface once the sheathing is uncovered and the scope grows. Identifying the risk of crossing that line early lets the licensing and warranty arrangements be made before the work reaches it.

Related reading from the Journal

Sources and references

Rate and regulation figures on this page were re-verified on 2026-09-23. Construction cost ranges come from Venture Pacific's own Metro Vancouver projects and are described as such wherever they appear.

  1. Building Approvals, frequently asked questionsCity of Richmond. Accessed 23 September 2026.
  2. Building Envelope Renovations, licensing and warranty requirementsBC Housing. Accessed 23 September 2026.
  3. Strata Property Act, sections 70, 71 and 90.1 to 90.3BC Laws, Queen's Printer. Accessed 23 September 2026.
  4. Common property and limited common property in stratasProvince of British Columbia. Accessed 23 September 2026.
  5. BC Codes, the British Columbia Building CodeProvince of British Columbia. Accessed 23 September 2026.

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