Journal
The Journal.
Plain-language guides to custom home building and renovation, plus multiplex development, zoning, and what BC's new housing rules mean for Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley homeowners and investors.
Homeowner Guides
You own a Vancouver lot and you're not sure what to do next. Start here.
You own a single-family lot in Metro Vancouver and you keep hearing you could build more homes on it. This is the order things actually happen in: what to check first, what a feasibility review tells you, how a partnership works, and when a builder gets involved.
Trent Praski · September 5, 2026 · 9 min read
Zoning & Policy
Does your lot's frontage qualify for 5 or 6 units? Vancouver's real thresholds
Lot area alone does not decide whether a Vancouver lot reaches five or six units under R1-1. A second number, frontage, has to clear its own bar, and most standard 33-foot lots fall short of it before area is even a question.
Trent Praski · August 30, 2026 · 10 min
Multiplex 101
Multiplex vs multi-family: what's the difference?
A multiplex and a multi-family building both add homes to a neighbourhood, but they sit on the land, and in the zoning code, very differently. Here's what actually separates the two.
Trent Praski · August 30, 2026 · 7 min
Multiplex 101
What is a multiplex? Duplex, triplex, and fourplex explained
A multiplex is one building split into three to eight homes, each with its own front door. Here's how that differs from a duplex, a triplex, and the multi-family buildings people often confuse it with.
Trent Praski · August 30, 2026 · 8 min
Multiplex 101
How a strata council actually works in a small multiplex
In a strata with fewer than four lots, there's no election, every owner sits on the council automatically. That single rule shapes how fast a triplex or fourplex strata can move, and how much a disagreement can slow it down.
Trent Praski · August 30, 2026 · 7 min
Multiplex 101
Strata vs freehold multiplex ownership in Surrey
Surrey's houseplex program sets clear rules for lot width and lane access, but the city's public zoning pages stop short of naming a fee-simple option the way Burnaby's do. Here's what that means for a Surrey lot.
Trent Praski · August 30, 2026 · 8 min
Multiplex 101
Strata vs freehold multiplex ownership in Burnaby
Burnaby is the rare Metro Vancouver city that writes fee-simple rowhouse subdivision directly into its zoning bylaw. Here's what that option actually requires, and when strata is still the better fit.
Trent Praski · August 30, 2026 · 9 min
Multiplex 101
Strata vs freehold multiplex ownership, explained
Strata and freehold are two different ways to split ownership of a multiplex among several owners, and the choice changes who sits on the strata council, who pays for the roof, and what a lawyer registers at the land title office.
Trent Praski · August 30, 2026 · 12 min
Homeowner Guides
Questions to ask before developing your Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley lot
Before you sign anything to develop your lot into a multiplex, there are questions that separate a sound partnership from a costly mistake. Here are the ones we'd ask.
Trent Praski · August 27, 2026 · 7 min
Homeowner Guides
Where do you live while your lot is redeveloped?
If you're partnering on a multiplex on the lot you live on, you'll need somewhere to stay during construction. Here are the real options, the timeline that sets how long, and the costs that drive each one.
Trent Praski · August 26, 2026 · 7 min
Construction
How we build quality control into every multiplex project
Quality on a multiplex isn't an inspection at the end, it's a series of checkpoints built into every phase. Here's how we catch problems while they're still cheap to fix.
Mark Van Ek · August 25, 2026 · 7 min
Homeowner Guides
The 2-5-10 home warranty, explained for new multiplex owners
Every new multiplex unit in BC comes with mandatory home warranty insurance. Here's what the 2-5-10 actually covers, what it doesn't, and how it transfers when you sell.
Trent Praski · August 24, 2026 · 8 min
Partnerships & Capital
How We Evaluate Whether a Multiplex Project Is Worth Doing
Before we commit to a development, we work through four questions: where is it, what does the zoning allow, what will it cost to build, and does the result justify the risk. Here is what that review looks like from the inside.
Trent Praski · August 23, 2026 · 9 min
Construction
What to expect during multiplex construction in Vancouver
From the day the excavator arrives to the day you get keys, a Vancouver multiplex build moves through predictable phases. Here is what each one looks like on the ground, the inspections, the draw schedule, the deficiency list, and the warranty that starts at the end.
Mark Van Ek · August 23, 2026 · 7 min
Cost & Feasibility
Vancouver multiplex fees in 2026: DCL, the new Amenity Cost Charge, and what September 30 changes
Every Vancouver multiplex project faces a stack of city-collected fees before construction starts: a Development Cost Levy, a new city-wide Amenity Cost Charge starting September 30, 2026, and permit charges. Knowing what each one is, and what the September 30 deadline changes, is part of building a real pro forma.
Trent Praski · August 20, 2026 · 11 min
Financing & Partnerships
Funding a multiplex: equity and construction financing explained
Building several homes where one stood costs more than most owners expect, and the money arrives in stages, not all at once. Here's how equity and construction financing fund a Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley multiplex, explained in plain language.
Trent Praski · August 18, 2026 · 8 min
Investor Insights
Vancouver's net-zero bonus: 19% more buildable space on your multiplex lot
Vancouver offers a 19% floor space ratio (FSR) bonus to multiplexes that meet net-zero energy standards. That bonus represents real added value, and the construction premium to earn it is smaller than most people assume.
Trent Praski · August 16, 2026 · 11 min
Financing & Partnerships
How the GP/LP partnership model works for landowners
If you own a Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley lot but don't want to become a developer overnight, the general-partner / limited-partner model offers another path. Here's how a GP/LP partnership lets a landowner contribute land, sit in the capital stack, and share in the result without running the build.
Trent Praski · August 14, 2026 · 9 min
Construction
BC Energy Step Code: what it means for a new multiplex
The BC Energy Step Code sets how energy-efficient a new multiplex has to be, and it shapes decisions from the wall assemblies to the heating system. Here's what it means for a Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley build in plain language.
Mark Van Ek · August 12, 2026 · 8 min
Zoning & Policy
Vancouver reversed the gas ban. Here is what it actually means for your multiplex.
Vancouver City Council voted 7 to 4 on May 27, 2026 to allow natural gas heating in new homes again. For homeowners building multiplexes, the real impact isn't the heating equipment, it's shorter BC Hydro timelines and fewer mid-design reversals.
Trent Praski · August 10, 2026 · 9 min
Homeowner Guides
The City of Vancouver multiplex permitting process, step by step
From a first feasibility check to the building permit and final inspections, here's the City of Vancouver multiplex permitting process explained in plain language, what each stage involves, which drawings you need, and where projects tend to slow down. Updated July 2026.
Trent Praski · August 8, 2026 · 7 min
Design & Planning
Trees, easements, and site constraints on a Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley lot
A mature tree near the rear lot line or a utility easement running through the yard can quietly reshape a multiplex design. Here's how trees, easements, and other site constraints affect what you can build on a Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley lot.
Trent Praski · August 6, 2026 · 9 min
Design & Planning
Strata or rental: choosing the tenure for your multiplex
Sell the homes as strata lots, or hold them and rent? The tenure you choose shapes everything from how many homes you can build to how the project makes money. Here's how to think it through.
Trent Praski · August 4, 2026 · 11 min
Design & Planning
Parking and bike rules for new multiplex homes in Vancouver
Parking rules have changed dramatically for new multiplex homes, and that change shapes how much of your lot goes to homes versus cars. Here's how parking and bike requirements work in Vancouver and across Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley.
Trent Praski · August 2, 2026 · 8 min
Design & Planning
Setbacks, height, and floor area: the rules that shape your multiplex
Three quiet numbers, setbacks, height, and floor area, decide more about your multiplex than almost anything else. Here's what each one means and how they combine into the box you get to build inside.
Trent Praski · July 31, 2026 · 11 min
Design & Planning
Designing a multiplex that fits the neighbourhood
A multiplex that respects its street is easier to permit, easier to sell, and a better place to live. Here's how we design homes that add density without feeling out of place in Vancouver and Burnaby neighbourhoods.
Trent Praski · July 29, 2026 · 10 min
Financing & Partnerships
The feasibility review: how to know if your lot pencils out
Before a single drawing is made, a feasibility review tells you whether your lot can carry a multiplex and what it would take. Here's what we actually look at, and why a yes or no isn't the same as a number.
Trent Praski · July 27, 2026 · 14 min
Design & Planning
From single-family lot to fourplex: the development timeline
Turning a single-family lot into a fourplex is a sequence, not a single leap. Here is how the stages actually unfold, feasibility, design, permitting and construction, and where the time really goes.
Trent Praski · July 25, 2026 · 7 min
Multiplex 101
Rezoning vs building under existing zoning: which path is yours?
One of the biggest changes from BC's housing rules is that many multiplexes no longer need a rezoning. Here is how to tell whether your project fits under existing zoning, and why that path is so much faster.
Trent Praski · July 23, 2026 · 7 min
Construction
What drives construction cost on a small multiplex
Two fourplexes on neighbouring Vancouver lots can cost very different amounts to build. The reasons are knowable, site conditions, servicing, design, code level, mechanical systems, and finishes each pull the number. Here is what actually moves construction cost, without a single invented figure.
Mark Van Ek · July 22, 2026 · 7 min
Homeowner Guides
Sell, Develop, or Hold: Which Makes Sense for Your Vancouver Lot?
Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley homeowners sitting on a developable lot have three real options right now: sell, develop with a partner, or hold. Each one has a different payoff, a different timeline, and a different risk profile. Here is how to think through all three honestly.
Trent Praski · July 21, 2026 · 7 min
Investor Insights
Reading a multiplex pro forma: the numbers that matter
A multiplex pro forma is a story told in numbers, and a misleading one is easy to build. This is how to read every major line, find the assumptions doing the heavy lifting, and spot a pro forma that's selling rather than estimating.
Trent Praski · July 21, 2026 · 7 min
Investor Insights
An investor's guide to Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley multiplex projects
Multiplex projects sit in a different risk-and-return category than buying a finished rental or a pre-sale condo. This guide walks an investor through how these deals are structured, what to ask before committing capital, and where the real risks live.
Trent Praski · July 20, 2026 · 8 min
Financing & Partnerships
Sharing the risk: how a development partnership protects homeowners
A homeowner who tries to develop their own lot carries every risk alone, capital, permitting, construction, and the market. A GP/LP partnership is built to spread that risk. Here is exactly how the protections work, where your equity sits, and where the protections stop.
Trent Praski · July 19, 2026 · 8 min
Zoning & Policy
Frequent transit areas: how transit unlocks more homes on your lot
Being within 400 metres of a prescribed bus stop can raise the homes your lot is allowed to hold from four to six under BC's housing rules. Here is what "frequent transit" precisely means, where the transit-oriented tier goes even further, and how to tell if your lot qualifies.
Trent Praski · July 19, 2026 · 8 min
Investor Insights
What is your land worth to a developer?
A Vancouver lot is worth more to a developer than its listing price, because a developer values what can be built on it. Here is how that calculation actually works, and why no honest answer comes without a property-specific analysis.
Trent Praski · July 18, 2026 · 8 min
Investor Insights
Build to Rent vs Sell: The Multiplex Tenure Decision That Changes Your Return
You can build the same 6-unit multiplex and either sell every unit as strata or hold all of them as rental. The building is identical. The economics over the next 25 years are not.
Trent Praski · July 17, 2026 · 6 min
Zoning & Policy
New Westminster and Coquitlam: SSMUH across the eastern suburbs
The same provincial housing law that reshaped Vancouver landed in New Westminster and Coquitlam too. Here is how two very different eastern cities translated it into local rules, including one detail about Coquitlam's transit that surprises almost every owner.
Trent Praski · July 15, 2026 · 8 min
Homeowner Guides
Multigenerational housing in Metro Vancouver: building a multiplex for two generations
Surrey alone has nearly one in ten households living across two generations under one roof. Multigenerational housing built as a multiplex under Bill 44 is now the most practical way to make that work, separate legal units, separate front doors, separate lives that stay connected.
Trent Praski · July 13, 2026 · 6 min
Zoning & Policy
Richmond's RSM zoning: building a multiplex on your lot
Richmond rezoned about 27,000 single-family lots into four RSM sub-zones for small-scale multi-unit housing. Here is what each one lets you build, and the local rules, flood levels, sub-zone lot sizes, the sixth-unit condition, that quietly shape the real number of homes.
Trent Praski · July 11, 2026 · 8 min
Financing & Partnerships
How Much Does It Cost to Build a Multiplex in Vancouver? (2026 Guide)
Most homeowners who ask about building a multiplex think about the cost of construction. That's only part of the bill. Here's a plain breakdown of what a triplex, fourplex, or sixplex actually costs to build in Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley in 2026, from hard construction to city fees to the total all-in number.
Trent Praski · July 9, 2026 · 8 min
Zoning & Policy
Burnaby's small-scale multi-unit housing rules in 2026
Burnaby put its SSMUH zoning in force in 2024, and by 2026 there's enough built experience to see how it actually works. Here's what the R1 district permits, how the transit bonus reaches further here, and how it differs from Vancouver.
Trent Praski · July 7, 2026 · 7 min
Multiplex 101
What "missing middle" housing means for Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley
"Missing middle" is the housing that sits between a single house and an apartment tower. Here's why Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley lost it for decades, and what it looks like coming back to ordinary lots.
Trent Praski · July 5, 2026 · 10 min
Multiplex 101
Multiplex, duplex, or townhouse: which fits your lot?
A duplex, a fourplex, and a row of townhomes can all be legal on the same lot. The right one depends on width, access, and how you plan to own and sell the homes, not on which sounds biggest.
Trent Praski · July 3, 2026 · 7 min
Zoning & Policy
Vancouver's R1-1 zoning: a plain-language guide for homeowners
Vancouver folded most of its single-family neighbourhoods into one zone: R1-1. Here's what it permits, what "Residential Inclusive" really means, and how the rental option changes the math.
Trent Praski · July 1, 2026 · 10 min
Multiplex 101
SSMUH explained: what Bill 44 means for your Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley lot
Bill 44 forced every Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley city to allow multiple homes on lots that used to permit one. Here's what the legislation actually requires, and where it stops short of a green light.
Trent Praski · June 29, 2026 · 10 min
Common questions
About the Journal
What topics does the Venture Pacific Journal cover?
The Venture Pacific Journal covers Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley multiplex development, specifically BC's Bill 44 / SSMUH rules, GP/LP partnership structure for homeowners and investors, feasibility reviews, city-by-city permitting guides (Vancouver R1-1, Burnaby SSMUH, Richmond RSM), construction timelines, financing, and missing-middle housing strategy.
What is SSMUH and how does it affect Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley homeowners?
Small-Scale Multi-Unit Housing (SSMUH) is the BC provincial policy, enacted under Bill 44 in 2023, that requires municipalities to allow three to six homes on most standard residential lots without a rezoning. Lots within 400 metres of a frequent transit stop can add a sixth unit. This affects most Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley homeowners, including those in Vancouver, Burnaby, Richmond, Coquitlam, and New Westminster, by dramatically expanding what they can build on land they already own.
What is a GP/LP partnership in Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley multiplex development?
A GP/LP (General Partner / Limited Partner) partnership is a limited-partnership structure for real estate development. In a Venture Pacific arrangement, the homeowner contributes their land as equity and becomes a Limited Partner. Venture Pacific acts as General Partner, contributing capital, design, permitting, and construction management while carrying the construction risk. Proceeds are shared at project completion according to the partnership agreement.
How long does a Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley multiplex development take from lot to completion?
Most Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley SSMUH-compliant multiplex projects take 18 to 36 months from the start of the feasibility review to occupancy: six to twelve months for design and permitting, and twelve to eighteen months for construction. Projects requiring a rezoning or development variance permit take longer. Venture Pacific's Manchester Living project, for example, had its rezoning approved December 2023 and is expected to complete August 2026.
Does the Journal cover custom home building as well as multiplex development?
Yes. The Journal is organized into two sections: Build, covering custom homes, renovations, and construction contracts and costs, and Develop, covering multiplex development, SSMUH and Bill 44 zoning, GP/LP partnerships, and city-by-city permitting. Each post is tagged into one of these two sections so readers can filter to the topic that matches their project.
Can I get new Journal posts without checking the site?
Yes. The Journal publishes an RSS feed at venturepacific.ca/rss.xml that any feed reader can subscribe to. New posts on both the Build and Develop sides appear in the feed as soon as they go live, so a reader following BC housing policy or construction-cost updates does not need to check the page manually.
Are the Journal's zoning and permitting guides specific to one city?
No, they cover multiple Metro Vancouver and Fraser Valley municipalities separately, because SSMUH rules differ by city. Vancouver's guide explains the R1-1 zone, Burnaby's covers its R1 SSMUH district, and Richmond's covers the RSM zone. A homeowner should read the guide for their specific municipality rather than assume the rules match a neighbouring city.
Who writes the Venture Pacific Journal?
Journal posts are written by Venture Pacific's own team members and credited by name on each post. Most bylines link to that person's team profile page. This keeps the byline tied to a real, identifiable person rather than an anonymous company account, so a reader can check who is behind the zoning, financing, or construction guidance in any given article.
Let's talk about your property
A conversation, not a commitment.
Whether you're curious about the multiplex value of your land or looking to partner on a missing-middle build, we're here to start the conversation.