Garden Suites & Laneway Homes
A detached home in your backyard. Toronique builds garden suites and laneway homes that add living space, rental income, or multigenerational flexibility to your Toronto property.
Add a Second Home to Your Property
Toronto now permits garden suites and laneway homes on most residential lots, giving homeowners the ability to build a fully self-contained dwelling in their backyard. These are not sheds or accessory structures. They're real homes with kitchens, bathrooms, bedrooms, and independent mechanical systems, built to the same code as any residential property in the city.
The use cases are compelling: housing an aging parent close to family, creating a private space for an adult child, generating rental income on a property you already own, or building a detached home office. With development charges waived for up to six units per lot, the economics have never been stronger.
Toronique manages the entire process, from assessing your lot's eligibility and navigating the permit requirements through construction and final inspection. We bring the same structural knowledge, trade coordination, and guaranteed pricing model that we apply to every project we build.
What We Build
Garden Suites
A detached residential unit built in your rear yard, independent from the main house. Garden suites can be one or two storeys depending on your lot and zoning, and include full kitchen, bathroom, living, and sleeping areas. We handle foundation, framing, mechanical systems, insulation, exterior cladding, and interior finishing to deliver a move-in ready home.
Laneway Homes
If your property has rear laneway access, you may be eligible to build a laneway home, a detached dwelling accessed from the lane rather than the street. Laneway suites follow specific City of Toronto guidelines for setbacks, height, and servicing. We manage the design coordination, site planning, and construction to ensure full compliance while maximizing usable space.
Lot Assessment & Feasibility
Not every lot qualifies for a garden suite or laneway home. Setback requirements, lot coverage limits, tree protection bylaws, and servicing constraints all affect what's buildable. We assess your property's eligibility before any design work begins, so you invest in planning only when the project is viable. This step alone saves homeowners thousands in wasted architectural fees.
Permit & Approvals Management
Garden suites and laneway homes require building permits, and in some cases, minor variances. We prepare and submit all documentation, coordinate with the City of Toronto, and manage inspections throughout the build. Our familiarity with the city's review process helps keep approvals on track and avoids the back-and-forth that delays most applications.
Why Build a Garden Suite with Toronique
General Contractor, Not a Prefab Company
Many garden suite builders sell modular or prefab units dropped onto your lot. We build site-constructed homes from the ground up. That means your garden suite is designed for your specific lot, built to your specifications, and constructed with the same materials and methods as a custom home. No compromises on layout, ceiling height, or finishes because of a factory template.
Servicing and Site Work Done Right
Connecting a garden suite to water, sewer, electrical, and gas requires careful coordination with utility providers and the City. Grading, drainage, and foundation work need to account for your main home's existing systems. As a general contractor, we manage all of this, the below-ground work that prefab companies subcontract out and rarely supervise with the same rigour.
Guaranteed Pricing, No Surprises
Garden suite projects are full of variables: soil conditions, utility connection distances, grading challenges, tree protection requirements. These are the details where budgets spiral on open-ended contracts. We assess all of it upfront and deliver a guaranteed flat-rate price that covers the complete scope, from excavation to final inspection.
Garden Suite and Backyard Build Projects
Our experience building custom homes and managing complex site work across Toronto translates directly to garden suite and laneway home construction.
New Build
Custom Home
2025
9 Salonica Avenue
New Build
Multiplex
2026
560 Atlas Avenue
New Build
Multiplex
2025
171 Cedric Avenue
New Build
Custom Home
32 Saintfield Avenue
New Build
Landscape Design & Build
2025
56 Misty Crescent
Landscape Design & Build
2024
39 Denlow Boulevard
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. As of 2022, the City of Toronto permits garden suites on most residential lots across the city. Laneway suites have been permitted since 2018 on properties with rear laneway access. Both are subject to specific zoning requirements including setbacks, lot coverage, and height limits. We assess your lot’s eligibility as the first step in every project.
Garden suite construction in Toronto typically ranges from $250,000 to $500,000+, depending on the size, finishes, and site conditions. Key cost factors include foundation type, utility connection distances, and the complexity of grading and drainage work. We provide a guaranteed flat-rate price after a site assessment and design review.
Garden suites in Toronto can be up to two storeys and must comply with lot coverage and setback requirements in the zoning bylaw. The maximum buildable area depends on your specific lot dimensions and existing structures. Most garden suites range from 500 to 1,000+ square feet. We determine the maximum footprint during our lot assessment.
A garden suite is a detached dwelling in your rear yard, accessed from the main property. A laneway suite is also a detached rear-yard dwelling, but it’s specifically built on lots with rear laneway access and follows different setback and access rules. Both are self-contained homes with full kitchens, bathrooms, and independent systems. The distinction is primarily about lot access and the applicable zoning provisions.
Construction typically takes 6 to 10 months, depending on size and site complexity. The design and permitting phase adds another 3 to 5 months. We include a guaranteed completion date in every contract so you can plan accordingly.
