Utility Upgrades for Garden Suites and ADU’s in Toronto

Garden suites (otherwise known as an accessory dwelling unit (ADU)) by themselves are self-contained and separate dwellings from the primary home on a property, but that does not mean that the primary dwelling will not be affected during the course of construction. Learn more below about the key considerations for utility upgrades on your property before planning on building a garden suite in your backyard.

NOTE: ALL OF THE INFORMATION BELOW ALSO TRANSLATES TO LANEWAY SUITES IN TORONTO!

Consideration 1: Plumbing Upgrades

Incoming Water line Size

When you are planning on adding additional plumbing fixtures to a property it is always a good idea to evaluate the size of the incoming water supply line to determine if you will be dealing with any avoidable pressure drops when multiple fixtures are turned on at the same time. The default assumption that should be made is that you likely have 1/2 inch incoming water supply, unless the City of Toronto has already come through your neighbourhood to complete the city-side water service upgrades. If you have a 1/2 inch water line and expect to add an additional laundry/kitchen/bathroom to a garden suite (which is usually the minimum requirements) you will want to pay to upgrade the supply line size to prevent pressure drops and poor water pressure.

Plumbing Upgrade costs - City side

The cost to upgrade the water supply size on the City side can be found on The City of Toronto website. Note that in most scenarios that include new home construction (like new home builds, laneway housing, and garden suites) the City of Toronto will make you pay for both the Supply and Drain Line upgrades if they have not yet been upgraded, but reach out to the Toronto Water Counter to determine what will have to be completed to satisfy your permit application for a garden suite.

Plumbing Upgrade costs - Private side

The other important consideration for plumbing upgrades is the above fees only cover the work to upgrade the plumbing on the City-owned property, and not your own. You will also need to upgrade the supply (and possibly drain) line on your own property, which will cost additional money. Note though that the City of Toronto hires a third-party utility contractor to upgrade the plumbing on the City side of your property, and sometimes if you talk to them they will also give you a price to complete the private side as well. Worst case scenario is that you work with your chosen General Contractor to complete the work on the private side of your property.

Plumbing between garden suite and primary Dwelling

The last important consideration is the plumbing connections between the garden suite and primary home. Since the utilities for the garden suite need to be fed from the primary home (beneath the footings), it is imperative that there is a portion of the scope dedicated to figuring out what the best route will be to run the utilities out. The best way to do this is to find where the drain exits the home (which is usually where the supply line/water meter are located) and try to run the trench from the garden suite to the primary residence to this location. This will reduce the amount of work that will need to be completed in the basement, but sometimes this is unavoidable for homes with little to no access on either side of the home. An experienced General Contractor will be able to help you with this evaluation.

Consideration 2: Electrical Upgrades

Upgrade Primary Panel to 200 amps

It will always be recommended to upgrade your panel and service to 200 amps if you have not done so already. This essentially becomes required when you add a garden suite, especially if you are not planning to run natural gas out to the garden suite. The cost to upgrade to a 200 amp panel will vary depending on what is currently existing, what type of wiring you have, and the location of the panel, so it is best to start this conversation as you are working out your budget for the garden suite with your General Contractor. Note that you will also need to consider the costs to upgrade the service with Toronto Hydro, which will be an additional cost on top of the cost to get the new panel installed. You as the home owner will be responsible for paying this fee since your name is on the account.

Running Electrical to Garden Suite

For running the electrical out to the garden suite you would essentially utilize the same trench that you would run the plumbing out of, except the electrical wire will need to be separated vertically from the plumbing (and will end up being closer to grade). An electrician would run out wiring to install at least a 100 amp panel to the garden suite, which would be plenty of power for a standard-sized garden suite.

Need and larger or separate electrical service?

If you are looking for a larger or separate service to your garden suite, you can discuss that directly with Toronto Hydro to get pricing for an additional service that would directly serve the garden suite (instead of sub-metering off your primary dwelling’s electrical panel). This will cost more overall but you will be able to more effectively meter electrical use between dwelling units, which might make for less stress in the long run.

Consideration 3: HVAC and GAs

To run or not run Natural Gas?

With the recent advancements with cold climate heat pumps you can easily get away with not running natural gas out to a garden suite and enjoy year-round comfort. This will save you quite a bit of money for the HVAC and gas work for the garden suite, but might not be the best idea for everyone. If you want to get gas run out to the garden suite you will want to get that included in the building costs for a garden suite, but you will also have to confirm that your existing natural gas meter is sized properly to allow for the additional gas fixtures to be installed. This will involve submitting an inquiry to Enbridge to determine if the additional gas fixtures will be covered by the existing size of the gas meter and line. If any changes need to be made to allow for a larger flow rate then that will be an additional charge that you will want to get a quote for through Enbridge and account for in your overall costs.

Conclusion

Many times home owners get strung along by General Contractors that are not showing them all of the associated costs for a project, and with the introduction of garden suites in Toronto we expect this to be a huge problem. It is an exciting prospect to be able to build a new dwelling on your property, but make sure you are doing your research and asking the right questions before committing to the project. Hopefully the information above serves as a good foundation for your research into your properties viability for a garden suite, but if you have any other questions please feel free to reach out to us!

Best of luck in your Garden Suite planning process!

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About BVM COntracting

BVM Contracting is a full-service General Contractor or Home Builder located in Toronto. We provide home renovation and building services for major home renovations (kitchen renovations, bathroom renovations, basement renovations, full interior renovations, home additions, lot severances, and new home construction). Our goal is to help guide our clients through the process of renovating their home, from concept to completion.

Further than providing General Contracting and Project Management for major home renovations, we also offer value-added services such as renovation financing, renovation rebate consultations and services, building permit and design services, smart home installation services, and real estate investor services.

To learn more about our offering by visiting our services page.