Between about $355,000 and $570,000 to build, plus utility connections — and the honest version of that answer is that the spread inside it matters more than the number. Here is what moves it, what a suite earns once it is up, and which costs anyone can actually document.
Checked 2026-08-06 · Planning figures, not quotes.
| Build | Planning estimate |
|---|---|
| One bedroom | $355,000 |
| Two bedroom | $570,000 |
| Utility connections, on top | $30,000 – $80,000 |
These are KYRAX's own mid-range planning figures, not quotes. They exist so you can decide whether the idea is worth pursuing. Real quotes across this region in 2025 and 2026 have run from roughly $275,000 to $840,000, and that spread is not noise — it is the difference between a small suite on a flat serviced lot with lane access and a large one on a sloped lot that needs a new connection run to the street.
None of these is knowable from a postcode, which is why this page does not print a cost per city.
Most of what a build costs is site-specific and no municipality publishes it. These are the exceptions — charges and requirements a city has actually written down.
Each row carries the survey it came from and when. They are not directly comparable: an asking rent advertised in 2026 and a survey of what sitting tenants paid in 2025 measure different things, and the gap between two cities in this table is sometimes the gap between two methods. No survey measures laneway suites specifically, so every figure describes comparable rentals rather than laneway homes as a class.
| Municipality | 1 bed | 2 bed | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Burnaby | $2,050 | $2,700 | asking rents, 2026-08 |
| Coquitlam | $2,050 | $2,600 | asking rents, 2026-07 |
| Delta | $1,550 | $1,760 | CMHC survey, occupied units, 2025-10 |
| Langley City | $1,765 | $2,211 | CMHC survey, occupied units, 2025-10 |
| Langley Township | $1,765 | $2,211 | CMHC survey, occupied units, 2025-10 |
| New Westminster | $1,900 | $2,500 | asking rents, 2026-08 |
| Richmond | $1,676 | $2,018 | CMHC survey, occupied units, 2025-10 |
| Surrey | $1,950 | $2,450 | asking rents, 2026-08 |
| Vancouver | $2,400 | $3,200 | inferred band, 2025-10 |
What a suite costs on your property depends on how big one is allowed to be there, whether it fits behind the house, and how the lot is serviced. The free check answers the first two from the municipality's own data.
Our planning range runs from about $355,000 for a one-bedroom to about $570,000 for a two-bedroom, before utility connections. Those are KYRAX's own mid-range figures for working out whether the idea is worth pursuing, not quotes. Real quotes across this region in 2025 and 2026 have run from roughly $275,000 to $840,000, and the spread is real: size, site access, servicing and finish move it more than the municipality does.
Because it would be made up. Five of the nine city files record their own build-cost figures as carried from a neighbouring city rather than researched separately, and the utility-connection band is identical in all nine. Publishing a ranked table off those numbers would tell you one municipality is a few thousand dollars cheaper than another on the strength of a figure that was copied. Where a cost genuinely is city-specific and documented, it is listed above with its source.
It depends on the municipality and on what is being measured. The table on this page gives each city's figure with the survey it comes from and the date, because a 2026 asking rent and a 2025 survey of occupied units are not the same number and should not be read as one.
No. Budget $30,000 to $80,000 on top for connections, and more where a city requires a new sewer connection specifically — Vancouver does, and its charge is documented above.
The rules change at every city line. These pages are built from the same bylaw reads.
Build figures on this page are planning estimates and not an offer or a quote. Rent figures describe comparable rentals in each municipality, not laneway suites specifically, and are stated with the survey and date they came from.