What fits on your lot?

Most lots in Vancouver that were zoned RS (single-family residential) before 2023 now fall under R1-1 zoning, which allows 3 to 6 units under Bill 44 and BC's Small-Scale Multi-Unit Housing (SSMUH) rules. Whether you can build 3, 4, or 6 units depends on your lot size, frontage, and the specific city. Enter your address on VanPlex for an instant check.

Construction costs run $450 to $550 per square foot for a standard Metro Vancouver multiplex. A typical fourplex — around 5,200 sq ft — totals $5.6M to $8M all-in, including design, permits, development cost charges (DCCs), and construction. VanPlex generates a property-specific budget when you run a PlexScore™.

R1-1 is Vancouver's Residential Inclusionary zone, which replaced the old RS single-family zones in 2023. Under R1-1, landowners can build up to 6 units on a standard lot — or up to 8 units if all units are rented at below-market rates. This opened roughly 71,000 Vancouver lots to missing-middle housing for the first time.

A Vancouver development permit for a standard SSMUH multiplex typically takes 3 to 6 months, followed by 2 to 4 months for the building permit. Projects that match the as-of-right zoning rules move faster than those needing discretionary review. VanPlex tracks 791 active Vancouver multiplex projects and can provide a current neighbourhood estimate.

PlexScore™ is the output of VanPlex's multiplex calculator: a feasibility rating for any BC address, scored 0 to 10. It combines zoning eligibility, lot geometry, estimated build cost, projected unit prices, and return on equity into one number. A score of 7 or higher means the project is likely profitable under current market conditions. The score takes 5 seconds to generate.

PlexRank has scored 205,047 lots across six BC cities: Vancouver (71,186), Burnaby (36,905), Kelowna (36,117), Coquitlam (27,874), Richmond (25,919), and the City of North Vancouver (7,046). Every score comes from the same address-level model that powers a PlexScore™ lookup.

No. Zoning only establishes the legal right to build, not the economic case for building. VanPlex's lot-by-lot analysis in Kelowna found roughly 75% of that city's rezoned properties are not economical to convert under current construction costs and financing, which is why a PlexScore™ check on your specific address matters more than the zoning bylaw alone.

David Babakaiff, VanPlex's co-founder, has built homes in BC for over 25 years and was formerly principal of Alair Homes Vancouver. The construction cost, timeline, and approval assumptions inside every PlexScore™ come from that hands-on building experience rather than a generic spreadsheet model.