There's a number of duplexes in that area being built on that lot size - the one across the street is a 33x115 and the duplex sold for about $1.5m apiece. FSR for Vancouver duplexes is .7 though so it's better to build a triplex instead at 1.0FSR - with the modifications to the zoning (reducing the front yard depth to 10% of lot depth) it's a lot more feasible to build a duplex + coach house than before and still have some kind of backyard.

Does a duplex + laneway count as a triplex? Or does the 3 units have to be together in the main building?

Technically it's a called a Multiplex once it hits 3 units and you can either have it all as one building or have it split up. For the 3600sf lot we're talking about they could build a 3.5 story main house that's 3-4 units that's ~50ft deep and you'd have a backyard (including carport) that's 44ft deep.

re: Laneway - it's only a laneway if it's attached to the detached house (not strata). Once it's strata it's a coach house.

Reference: https://guidelines.vancouver.ca/bull...w-to-guide.pdf (starts at page 19) (I was incorrect about the setback in Vancouver, it's not 10%, it's 16 feet - that's better than the old 20% rule but still a bummer)

Should be a triplex if the laneway is its own title, if it's part of another unit then no.

It depends on the city's zoning interpretation.

Duplex/triplex/fourplex will all be contained in one building. A laneway is a separate building under BC Building Code.

When I was working for one of the big-bads, we had someone walk away from a 7 figure deposit. Yes, 7. Nobody cried, as the unit went way up in value by the project closed.

This was ~5 years ago though, so might be a different story today with so many pre-sales completeing under water or barely breaking even. I imagine the smaller developers would do everything they could to force you to close so they can pay off their construction loans.

I thought the loans are partially paid for by the deposits + some funds from the developers themselves? How do they pay it back if units don't fully sell? Or people walk away? I guess they get to pocket the dp + get to resell at market. I thought they had to have x% sold inorder for banks to give funding.

how many units did this person buy or was it just one?

Those of you with dual deep or dual wide townhouse garages:

What are the pros and cons of each? I figure the dual wide is the preferred choice.
Is there a minimum you looked for? Ex 11'x40' or 19'x19'
Things to look for other than false online size specs?
Minimum roof height matter much?
Strata bylaws against "car work"?

whats a "townhouse" ?!

i knew/know people in TH's, when it's dual deep, obvious con is musical chairs with cars.
some ppl do an addition of a room on the back spot (prob illegal) for another room.

sometimes the outside driveway is very short, and difficult to park a car in it, unless it's a smaller one.

I don't know if it's official but in my vocab there are townhouses and townhomes. Both strata of course but I define townhouses as units with attached garages so they basically look and feel like a house just that you're in a strata and there are many other "units" around you. Where as townhomes I define as the newer but not so new ones where the units are generally stacked. So there's unit below and one above and no garages. The parking is an underground parkade like a condo.

@GLOW and for the short drive ways in front of the garages a lot of strata's actually won't allow you to park there but huge YMMV.

There should be a ban on using "townhouse or townhome" terminology, on units that do not have their own garage.
Those are just condos, even if it has its own street level entrance. Carport at minimum.

19x19 is criminally small for a 2 car, but if you only have a corvette then it should be more than big enough. i just looked at a corvette is only 15' long so that actually leaves a lot of room in front when you park it if you use the hanging tennis ball trick to make sure you dont leave much space behind you when you close the door.

i think tandem is pretty awesome for one car, but i also think you should buy a place that doesnt only meet your current needs but potentially your future needs. if you buy a tandem and your wife also drives then it will be annoying.

also my friend has a tandem with just one car and they require him to put his bins inside the garage, so getting them out of the garage requires him to park really off to one side or to move his car in order to get the bins in and out.

Dual wide all the way. 25' x 25' please. Our X5 is 16' and 3" according to Google. I need AT LEAST 20' for the garage to be functional, get out of here with that 19' bs.

A regular 9' ceiling should clear most cars, but if you want a roof box on a SUV it's not gonna fit.

Keep in mind 99% of garage doors will open upwards, so you loose height from the opener and door. You can get a wall mounted opener instead of a ceiling mounted one, and with a custom rail you can gain some space, but you aren't gonna do that in a row home and chances are you don't have an extra high ceiling to make it really worthwhile.

In terms of gotchas with a rowhome garage, some builds place the hot water tank and furnace in the garage, depend on how it's laid out they might just frame a corner out to place the utilities. Then your 19' garage is now only 15' in that corner, good luck fitting anything more than a Corolla on that side.

And 100% agree on the glorified condo bit.

My friend lives in a townhouse in Richmond. He has the tandem garage, he hates it. He said it's a pain in the ass to juggle the cars. His wife comes home before him and she leaves before him in the morning, so it's a pain in the ass.

Not sure if this is common, but outside his garage is a tiny car port that can not fit a car. so he can't park outside his garage.

Literally across from him are townhouses with double wide garages and they have a full sized car port outside their garage, so they can technically park two cars outside if they wanted.

It's a cost thing though. The townhouses across the street cost more than his.

I think tandem is better, cuz usually you can walk straight to the back yard if you have one and you have added space underneath the stairs, storage. Side to side is a bitch if you don't have a driveway. Also you don't really have any storage space around the cars unless your car is very small.

Strata bylaws can't stop you from working on your cars in your garage, but they can certainly get you for producing excessive noise if you make loud noises during inappropriate hours, or is loud too frequently.

I know someone who has helped his friends work on their cars in his garage, and he has been accused by strata for operating a car repair business out of his garage, strata warning letters and all. In practice, these strata warnings have no teeth because someone would have to proof you are in fact operating a car repair business in your garage -- taking payments for the work and such. But it is exceedingly difficult for others to collect that evidence.

back when house hunting i passed on a duplex i really liked b/c of a single garge + driveway. i knew i'd go insane playing musical chairs with the wife and where it was located did not allow street parking.

i've always defined townhouse and townhome (though I think realtors/builders use them interchangably playing silly bugger for whatever gets most traffic)

townhouse: separate entrance, no one above/below you, like a rowhouse

townhome: separate entrance, can be someone above or below you, exterior walkway <--i've seen this style advertised as townhome before by developers

if you can envision what i'm saying.

Tandem garage townhouses are more narrow too

My garage is about a 19x19, it's pretty cramped but at least if I need to I can scoot whatever I'm working on towards the middle and not be so tight up against the wall. You wouldn't be able to do that with a dual deep.

Roof height get as much as you can. It'll depend on the cars but if it's tall enough you could squeak in a lift and be able to store 2 cars in one bay if needed.

Duplex basically isn't really worth the extra $ cuz it's pretty much always single garage and shitty parking pad if you're lucky. And the garage is tiny. I'm not paying $1.6 for single parking space. You can easily get side by side parking + wide parking pad for cheaper and a duplex isn't that much bigger than big townhouses.

Tandem is garbage, there is almost no scenario where you are both the last one to leave home and the first one to get home assuming both of you work... so you're constantly having to jockey cars.

It only works if you have only 1 car... or the first car is one you rarely drive and even then it's a bit of a pain... might drive it even less if you gotta move something else out and put it back in everytime you take it out.

Yeah where I park my trailer, it effectively turned the other half of my driveawy into tandem parking for my Mazda and my F150. It is a bit of a pain in the ass when I want to drive the Mazda. I should really gravel a section of my front lawn and move the trailer over there, but I like my lawn and want to see the mountains and not the trailer out of my living room window.
On the bright side, I've gotten really good at backing the F150 out between the trailer and the gate post with only like 6" of overall clearance to work with lol

That's why tandem+ driveway is the way to go, 3 cars, or 4 if you can find side by side with driveway